Mega-Evolution

Do you like Mega-Evolution?

  • Yes, I love everything about it!

    Votes: 114 53.5%
  • I like the majority of the designs, I just don't like the concept.

    Votes: 32 15.0%
  • I like the concept, I just don't like the majority of the designs.

    Votes: 46 21.6%
  • No, I don't like Mega-Evolution very much.

    Votes: 21 9.9%

  • Total voters
    213
If you don't think mega slowbro is the tits then gtf outta my face

but really tho I hated em at first but they grew on me pretty quick. Like regular pokes some designs are fuckin sex (ampharos, banette, houndoom, mawile, sceptile, sableye) and then there's literal piles of cancer (salamence, tyranitar, swampert, manectric, blastoise), and the rest is mostly meh. Gard's and Kanga's are the most simple and some of the better ones IMO. But cha I like megas, spiced things up nicely
 
For me, I like the majority of the designs but I pretty much don't exactly like the concept of mega-evolution. I don't know why I don't like it as much, but a part of me says that I would have liked the concept a whole lot better if all the Pokemon were given equal importance and all were given mega evolutions. But if Pokemon has taught me anything, it's that we can't always have what we want.
 

Codraroll

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An interesting thing I don't think has been brought up yet, is that we could potentially see several Mega Evolutions of the same Pokémon in the future. With regular evolution, in case of branched evolution you have to make a choice and stick with it. Branched Mega Evolution, however, lets you switch freely from battle to battle.

There is precedence in Charizard and Mewtwo already, and I don't see any reason why this feature should remain exclusive to them. If a Pokémon gets popular enough, GameFreak might feel like giving it another "form", without making up any plot reasons why, or scrapping/diminishing the old forms in any way (unlike, arguably, what was done with Electabuzz and Magmar among others).

It's interesting from a design perspective too. Is, say, Venusaur's appearance and battle performance carved in stone? Do we have to stick to the typings, stats and abilities that were granted it generations ago, only leaving us to expand its movepool if we want to do things differently? Until Gen. V, this was true. You could add new Abilities, that's true, but since Abilities can't easily be changed, that meant you'd have to specifically breed a new Venusaur if you wanted it to play differently.
All this was changed when Mega Evolutions were revealed and Venusaur got an entirely new overhaul. The same Pokémon, as we've known it since RBY (or GSC, if you want to be technical with the Special stats) isn't bound any more by the limits imposed to it by the design choices made almost twenty years ago (yikes!). The base form remains the known-and-loved walking plant we've used so fondly over the years, but if we want to do things differently, it can totally be done via Mega Evolution - without diminishing or discrediting the base form in any way.

And, what happens if a Mega Evolution turns out to be disliked? Nothing prevent the designers from making another Mega Stone, another Mega Evolution, while the fans of the "original" still can play with their favourite to their hearts' content.

So, if GameFreak ever feel like revisiting old and popular Pokémon in some future game, the can take an old fan favourite or two and revitalize them with a Mega Evolution. Does one of them have a Mega already? No problem! Nothing prevents them from making another. They don't need any more plot/lore excuses beyond "oh look, we discovered a new Mega Stone!" either.

It's not like I expect us to get a third Charizard any time soon, or that we'll see another Mega Manectric or Medicham come ORAS, but I strongly believe that we're going to see more branched Mega Evolutions within a generation or two (although, not that I'd take bets on it...). Popular designs are popular for a reason, and there is a lot of buzz to be gained by dragging them into the light once more. There is a lot of potential for creativity in Mega Evolutions, not just upgrading a Pokémon, but maybe changing it completely (if only when traditional "upgrading" has already been done by some previous Mega Evolution), and they could do many strange things if they want without ruining any original designs. What about Megas with wholly different typings than the originals, such as reversing a starter triangle?
 
An interesting thing I don't think has been brought up yet, is that we could potentially see several Mega Evolutions of the same Pokémon in the future. With regular evolution, in case of branched evolution you have to make a choice and stick with it. Branched Mega Evolution, however, lets you switch freely from battle to battle.

There is precedence in Charizard and Mewtwo already, and I don't see any reason why this feature should remain exclusive to them. If a Pokémon gets popular enough, GameFreak might feel like giving it another "form", without making up any plot reasons why, or scrapping/diminishing the old forms in any way (unlike, arguably, what was done with Electabuzz and Magmar among others).

It's interesting from a design perspective too. Is, say, Venusaur's appearance and battle performance carved in stone? Do we have to stick to the typings, stats and abilities that were granted it generations ago, only leaving us to expand its movepool if we want to do things differently? Until Gen. V, this was true. You could add new Abilities, that's true, but since Abilities can't easily be changed, that meant you'd have to specifically breed a new Venusaur if you wanted it to play differently.
All this was changed when Mega Evolutions were revealed and Venusaur got an entirely new overhaul. The same Pokémon, as we've known it since RBY (or GSC, if you want to be technical with the Special stats) isn't bound any more by the limits imposed to it by the design choices made almost twenty years ago (yikes!). The base form remains the known-and-loved walking plant we've used so fondly over the years, but if we want to do things differently, it can totally be done via Mega Evolution - without diminishing or discrediting the base form in any way.

And, what happens if a Mega Evolution turns out to be disliked? Nothing prevent the designers from making another Mega Stone, another Mega Evolution, while the fans of the "original" still can play with their favourite to their hearts' content.

So, if GameFreak ever feel like revisiting old and popular Pokémon in some future game, the can take an old fan favourite or two and revitalize them with a Mega Evolution. Does one of them have a Mega already? No problem! Nothing prevents them from making another. They don't need any more plot/lore excuses beyond "oh look, we discovered a new Mega Stone!" either.

It's not like I expect us to get a third Charizard any time soon, or that we'll see another Mega Manectric or Medicham come ORAS, but I strongly believe that we're going to see more branched Mega Evolutions within a generation or two (although, not that I'd take bets on it...). Popular designs are popular for a reason, and there is a lot of buzz to be gained by dragging them into the light once more. There is a lot of potential for creativity in Mega Evolutions, not just upgrading a Pokémon, but maybe changing it completely (if only when traditional "upgrading" has already been done by some previous Mega Evolution), and they could do many strange things if they want without ruining any original designs. What about Megas with wholly different typings than the originals, such as reversing a starter triangle?
Well, it's still not-so-freely to switch between them if they continue in the way Charizard and Mewtwo have 'branched' Mega Evolutions. At least not on the cart. You're still stuck with whatever nature it has and what moves it has. Sure, you can change the moves and run a nature that both can use to some success, but certain ones will likely require a very tedious trip to the Move Reminder to have them remembered one by one, or be completely gone if they were tutor moves/the Pokemon wasn't caught or hatched in the gen 6 games.

But it's hard to argue that multiple Mega Evolutions for the same Pokemon add a sense of unpredictability. It can be a fun surprise against a friend you're battling online to have their Blissey be taken out by Charizard X because they were expecting it to go Y. And then again, it's possible they could do branches that aren't one physical/mixed and one special. I think Charizard and Mewtwo are it for now, but I'd hardly be surprised to see Zygarde getting the Mega Evolution treatment and branching out to better handle Yveltal and especially Xerneas when Game Freak revisits Kalos before moving on to gen 7, and possibly one or two others.
 

Codraroll

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Well, I say that nature, and to some extent moves, are of second-rate importance to most players. Only those who really bother with optimization look too deeply into it, but most Pokémon players are content with whatever they got when they first obtained the Pokémon. At any rate, Mega Evolutions are usually so powerful that they hit plenty hard enough for all in-game purposes, and also in friendly battles. More serious, or even competitive, players will probably be happy with training multiple Charizard, for instance. When breeding for perfect Charmander, it's great to know that many different Natures will be useful if the Pokémon is raised accordingly (as long as you aren't relying on Egg moves, of course).
 
Well, I say that nature, and to some extent moves, are of second-rate importance to most players. Only those who really bother with optimization look too deeply into it, but most Pokémon players are content with whatever they got when they first obtained the Pokémon. At any rate, Mega Evolutions are usually so powerful that they hit plenty hard enough for all in-game purposes, and also in friendly battles. More serious, or even competitive, players will probably be happy with training multiple Charizard, for instance. When breeding for perfect Charmander, it's great to know that many different Natures will be useful if the Pokémon is raised accordingly (as long as you aren't relying on Egg moves, of course).
It's true. I have two different Lucario: one physical and one special. I don't use the special one often due to the physical one being a perfect doubles partner with my Gengar for Battle Maison and Le Wow.
 
Instead of just giving examples, I'll go just go down the line and list why I like or dislike new final/mega evolutions (split evolutions don't count)

Pinsir-a much more drastic change, being unique and seperate from Scizor. The problem is it feels more like a counterpart than an evolution of Scizor, and that bugs me.
Pinsir is not an evolution of Scizor. I'm not sure where you got that from.

I actually like a lot of the designs, especially Mega Gallade, Mega Lopunny, and Mega Absol (why no Dark/Fairy). However, I don't really like the concept and believe Sableye and Mawile should have gotten normal evos.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus


Rayquaza's and Lati's silouette appeared in the introduction of Mega Evolution II lecture,
possibly hinting that their Mega will be revealed soon.
As far as the Law of the Conseravtion of Detail is concerned, that's esstentially a confirmation. I just hope they change the designs because of how much they suck.
 
As far as the Law of the Conseravtion of Detail is concerned, that's esstentially a confirmation. I just hope they change the designs because of how much they suck.
I somehow highly doubt that.
Welp, Garchomp, you had a good run, but now I have a new least favourite Mega. //glares at Latis
 

Pikachu315111

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Rayquaza Info:
Not only that, on October 5th, Pokemon Get*TV will be making an announcement regarding Rayquaza. Not to mention the Livestream on October 2nd that'll be giving out more ORAS info.

My Quick Thoughts On Mega Evolutions:
I know I'm a bit late, but still want to share some of my thoughts.

I like the concept of Mega Evolutions but not how it was handled. I mainly have a few problems with it:

1. For Pokemon who were 2nd stage or have a definitive 1st stage (like Lucario) then giving them a Mega Evolution helps them become more competitive. However for Pokemon who are alone in their evolutionary family or their 1st stage isn't that "good" they really should have gotten another evolution. I think that Houndoom, Mawile, Medicham, Manectric, Banette, Absol, Sableye, and Audino had one more evolution to them.

2. When I hear something is called a "Mega Pokemon", I would think it would be just as strong as a Trio Legendary (BST of 580). Yet, a few Mega Pokemon's BST don't (many which I mentioned should have gotten an evolution). It just seems to me that in addition to giving a Pokemon an addition 100 BST, those who's BST don't equal or go above 580 maybe should be given intervals of 50 more BST until it does. Like Mega Absol would have a BST of 615 (465 + 100 + 50) and Mega Mawile would have a BST of 580 (380 + 100 + 50 + 50).

3. Now for the most part I like the Mega Evolution's designs, but there are some which are a bit headsctratching. To me a Mega Evolution should look like what a normal evolution of that Pokemon would look like. Yet M-Charizard X is just a black Charizard with blue flames and tattered wings, M-Gengar looks like a wily Gengar with a random third eye, M-Pinsir was pretty much just given wings, M-Aerodactly has random rock spikes growing from its body, and M-Absol pretty much just grows a wing. Now there are exceptions, but somehow those exceptions were able to integrate into the Pokemon's design that it fits. And yes I do know there are much more little details then the ones I mentioned so they're not exactly the same, but I'm just going by general terms. To me some designs just need to go back to the drawing board.

4. While most Mega Evolutions do keep with the Pokemon's basic feel, some just decide to go a bit of a different direction with the Pokemon. Shouldn't a Mega Pokemon just be a more advanced version of that Pokemon, why are you changing it? Like Lucario's offensive stats were switched (sure, they weren't that far apart to begin with and most did use it as a Physical attacker. But maybe if M-Lucario did vastly improve its Special Attack it could become a good Special Attacker. Afterall its "signature move" is Aura Sphere). Also I recall them saying they'll be mainly increasing M-Altaria's offensive stats even though its a defensive Pokemon. Now I don't mind if they have multiple Mega Evolutions that go into different aspects of the Pokemon (like Charizard having a "proper" Mega Evolution and then one that makes it into a Dragon-type), but I think they should have a "proper" one first before going into variants.

5. Some Mega Pokemon weren't really given Moves that could make full use of the changes done to them. Gyarados should have been given more Dark-types, or at least Crunch. Gardevoir could have been give some of the more powerful Special Normal-type move. Also Sharpedo would be good to get the other biting moves and Lopunny more Fighting-type moves. OH, and Charizard and Ampharos should have a way of getting Draco Meteor, like maybe if they're holding their Mega Stone they can be taught it.

6. Now that Mega Evolutions exist, I'm afraid that GameFreak will no longer do anymore normal evolution for previous generation Pokemon. Why give them a normal evolution and waste a dex slot when you could just give them a Mega Evolution? The only previous generation Pokemon I can see getting evolutions now is Eevee (when they feel like it, mostly when they have a new thing they want to show off like new evolution method or type). Though I guess we could still get pre-evolutions.

But these are the early days of Mega Evolutions.
 
Rayquaza Info:
Not only that, on October 5th, Pokemon Get*TV will be making an announcement regarding Rayquaza. Not to mention the Livestream on October 2nd that'll be giving out more ORAS info.

My Quick Thoughts On Mega Evolutions:
I know I'm a bit late, but still want to share some of my thoughts.

I like the concept of Mega Evolutions but not how it was handled. I mainly have a few problems with it:

1. For Pokemon who were 2nd stage or have a definitive 1st stage (like Lucario) then giving them a Mega Evolution helps them become more competitive. However for Pokemon who are alone in their evolutionary family or their 1st stage isn't that "good" they really should have gotten another evolution. I think that Houndoom, Mawile, Medicham, Manectric, Banette, Absol, Sableye, and Audino had one more evolution to them.

2. When I hear something is called a "Mega Pokemon", I would think it would be just as strong as a Trio Legendary (BST of 580). Yet, a few Mega Pokemon's BST don't (many which I mentioned should have gotten an evolution). It just seems to me that in addition to giving a Pokemon an addition 100 BST, those who's BST don't equal or go above 580 maybe should be given intervals of 50 more BST until it does. Like Mega Absol would have a BST of 615 (465 + 100 + 50) and Mega Mawile would have a BST of 580 (380 + 100 + 50 + 50).

3. Now for the most part I like the Mega Evolution's designs, but there are some which are a bit headsctratching. To me a Mega Evolution should look like what a normal evolution of that Pokemon would look like. Yet M-Charizard X is just a black Charizard with blue flames and tattered wings, M-Gengar looks like a wily Gengar with a random third eye, M-Pinsir was pretty much just given wings, M-Aerodactly has random rock spikes growing from its body, and M-Absol pretty much just grows a wing. Now there are exceptions, but somehow those exceptions were able to integrate into the Pokemon's design that it fits. And yes I do know there are much more little details then the ones I mentioned so they're not exactly the same, but I'm just going by general terms. To me some designs just need to go back to the drawing board.

4. While most Mega Evolutions do keep with the Pokemon's basic feel, some just decide to go a bit of a different direction with the Pokemon. Shouldn't a Mega Pokemon just be a more advanced version of that Pokemon, why are you changing it? Like Lucario's offensive stats were switched (sure, they weren't that far apart to begin with and most did use it as a Physical attacker. But maybe if M-Lucario did vastly improve its Special Attack it could become a good Special Attacker. Afterall its "signature move" is Aura Sphere). Also I recall them saying they'll be mainly increasing M-Altaria's offensive stats even though its a defensive Pokemon. Now I don't mind if they have multiple Mega Evolutions that go into different aspects of the Pokemon (like Charizard having a "proper" Mega Evolution and then one that makes it into a Dragon-type), but I think they should have a "proper" one first before going into variants.

5. Some Mega Pokemon weren't really given Moves that could make full use of the changes done to them. Gyarados should have been given more Dark-types, or at least Crunch. Gardevoir could have been give some of the more powerful Special Normal-type move. Also Sharpedo would be good to get the other biting moves and Lopunny more Fighting-type moves. OH, and Charizard and Ampharos should have a way of getting Draco Meteor, like maybe if they're holding their Mega Stone they can be taught it.

6. Now that Mega Evolutions exist, I'm afraid that GameFreak will no longer do anymore normal evolution for previous generation Pokemon. Why give them a normal evolution and waste a dex slot when you could just give them a Mega Evolution? The only previous generation Pokemon I can see getting evolutions now is Eevee (when they feel like it, mostly when they have a new thing they want to show off like new evolution method or type). Though I guess we could still get pre-evolutions.

But these are the early days of Mega Evolutions.
I dunno, it's nice that a Mega Evolution can potentially do something different than its base form. Charizard though could care less about Draco Meteor. Only X becomes Dragon-type, and it gets access to the much preferable Outrage thanks to Tough Claws. And a few Attack-boosting moves to make it even scarier. Not too sure about Mega Ampharos, though. Lopunny appears to be getting High Jump Kick, and that's really all it needs for Fighting moves. I think Game Freak was done with evolutions to previous Pokemon by gen 5. They could have still made some that were only available after obtaining the National Dex, keeping with Black and White's gimmick of no old Pokemon until the National Dex, but they didn't and again chose not to this generation. I'm positive Eevee will still receive one or two every other generation, at least until there's an Eeveelution for every type save Normal, but that's it. And I'm utterly baffled as to why the hell anyone would want pre-evolutions. They'd require some stupid Incense to breed, and are almost always a pain in the butt to raise, all for the sake of being heart-meltingly cute and one or two (egg) moves the line wouldn't otherwise learn. I'd be perfectly happy if we never see another pre-evolution for previous Pokemon.
 
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Pikachu315111

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I dunno, it's nice that a Mega Evolution can potentially do something different than its base form. Charizard though could care less about Draco Meteor. Only X becomes Dragon-type, and it gets access to the much preferable Outrage thanks to Tough Claws. And a few Attack-boosting moves to make it even scarier. Not too sure about Mega Ampharos, though. Lopunny appears to be getting High Jump Kick, and that's really all it needs for Fighting moves. I think Game Freak was done with evolutions to previous Pokemon by gen 5. They could have still made some that were only available after obtaining the National Dex, keeping with Black and White's gimmick of no old Pokemon until the National Dex, but they didn't and again chose not to this generation. I'm positive Eevee will still receive one or two every other generation, at least until there's an Eeveelution for every type save Normal, but that's it. And I'm utterly baffled as to why the hell anyone would want pre-evolutions. They'd require some stupid Incense to breed, and are almost always a pain in the butt to raise, all for the sake of being heart-meltingly cute and one or two (egg) moves the line wouldn't otherwise learn. I'd be perfectly happy if we never see another pre-evolution for previous Pokemon.
1. I'm okay with a Pokemon being able to do something different, but it just seems odd for that to be it's sole Mega Evolution. It would be like if Mega Mewtwo X was the only Mega Mewtwo. It's VERY powerful and kicks some serious behind, but it's far from how Mewtwo originally plays (that said that's another Pokemon who needs moves to make use of its type change. Mewtwo's strongest physical Fighting-type attack is BRICK BREAK and it doesn't get Psycho Cut or Zen Headbutt!). We need a Mega Move Tutor, some guy who you can show a Pokemon with a Mega Evolution too and will say "Oh, that Pokemon has a Mega Evolution that's so and so, I can teach it these moves so that it can REALLY break loose with its new found power". Obviously he'll be a post-game character and probably be in the Battle Frontier or similar place (and require shards or another hard to get item), but I think it would be worth it.

2.
True, but it would be nice for Charizard to at least have the option, I'm sure Mega Charizard Y wouldn't mind being able to summon meteors to hit Dragon-types even harder with it high Special Attack (sure it has Dragon Pulse, but 130 compared to 85 is a bit of a difference).

*M-Charizard Y fighting with M-Charizard X*
Mega Charizard Y *mocking M-Charizard X*: ~Ooh, look at me! I'm part Dragon-type now and everyone LOVES me, even GameFreak! They love me so much that they apparently forgot they gave my another Mega Evolution.~
Mega Charizard X: Oh, boohoo, jealous?
Mega Charizard Y: Maybe a little, but you know what I'm not jealous of?
Mega Charizard X: What?
Mega Charizard Y: Dragon-type weakness. DRACO METEOR!
*M-Charizard Y uses Draco Meteor*
Mega Charizard X: Son of a-... *Draco Meteor hits* IN MY DYING BREATH I REMIND MEGA CHARIZARD Y HE'S STILL 4X WEAK TO STEALTH ROOOOOCK...!
*It's super effective!*

3. Mega Lopunny looks like it could be a Close Combater. Maybe also Drain Punch but that could be pushing things. Of course both moves will be Egg Moves so you'll have to choose between the two.

4. For BW I was willing to let them get away with it as they were trying something new. Make a generation which didn't rely on any old Pokemon. That meant they pretty much needed mainly all new Pokemon and they did a nice job, of course they threw that idea out the window come BW2. But with XY they introduced the Mega Evolution idea and decided to double down on it even though they had no clear idea where they fully wanted to do with the concept.

5. I wouldn't write off a Normal-type Eeveelution. Normal-types deserve just as powerful Eeveelution as the other types. Obviously it'll be a result of something gimmicky but if done right I can see it working. Or maybe have the Eeveelution Mega Evolutions be half Normal-type, that could work too.

6. I think they need to expand on the Baby Pokemon idea like maybe have them learn some Egg Moves naturally or even moves that Pokemon can't normally learn. Pichu can learn Parabolic Charge, Cleffa with Draining Kiss, Igglybuff with Boomburst, Togepi with Defog (have you seen Misty's Togepi cry? That thing has lung capacity), Tyrogue with Sucker Punch, Smoochum with Aura Sphere, Elekid with Wood Hammer, Magby with Eruption, Azurill with Rapid Spin, Wynaut with Moonlight, Budew with Sludge Wave, Chingling with Perish Song, Bonsly with Head Smash, Mime Jr. with Moonblast, Happiny with Nightshade, Munchlax with Slack Off, Riolu with Mach Punch/Drain Punch/Water Pulse, & Mantyke with Roost. And these are just examples. Of course this is a Mega Evolution thread, if we want to delve deeper into this topic it could probably make for a thread of its own.
 
On the contrary, if a Mega Evolution is just nothing but an advancement on it's form with nothing new, it becomes stale and arguably useless.
Mega Latis are confirmed and they are by far the worst to me because they literally have nothing changed about them other than the absolute necessary stats. They're still Dragon/Psychic, they still Levitate, and for whatever damn reason their most significant stat that defined them, Speed, was not changed in the slightest.
Look at Mega Abomasnow and Mega Tyranitar. What was the point in them? They bring nothing really new to the table, they're the same type and ability, and while Mega Tyranitar is good I just see it as an absolute waste because it offers nothing new to Tyranitar.
A good Mega Evolution, imo, has to offer something new to be interesting - whether that be just a new ability or type with the Pokémon to play around with in addition to a stat boost (Pinsir, Sceptile, Charizard Y), making it COMPLETELY different (Charizard X, Gengar, Lopunny), or at the very least giving it enough slight changes so that a new option becomes available to it (Slowbro).
Some Pokémon are just literally so bad that they need their Mega to be completely different for it to be good. Look at Mawile - in one gen it went from being one of the more useless NU 'mon only used as a joke to fucking Uber. While yeah I think some balancing should be in place so they don't go to Uber, that's a Mega to me. Giving new, powerful options to a Pokémon that make it very, very good and very, very fun to use.
 

Pikachu315111

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On the contrary, if a Mega Evolution is just nothing but an advancement on it's form with nothing new, it becomes stale and arguably useless.
Mega Latis are confirmed and they are by far the worst to me because they literally have nothing changed about them other than the absolute necessary stats. They're still Dragon/Psychic, they still Levitate, and for whatever damn reason their most significant stat that defined them, Speed, was not changed in the slightest.
Look at Mega Abomasnow and Mega Tyranitar. What was the point in them? They bring nothing really new to the table, they're the same type and ability, and while Mega Tyranitar is good I just see it as an absolute waste because it offers nothing new to Tyranitar.
A good Mega Evolution, imo, has to offer something new to be interesting - whether that be just a new ability or type with the Pokémon to play around with in addition to a stat boost (Pinsir, Sceptile, Charizard Y), making it COMPLETELY different (Charizard X, Gengar, Lopunny), or at the very least giving it enough slight changes so that a new option becomes available to it (Slowbro).
Some Pokémon are just literally so bad that they need their Mega to be completely different for it to be good. Look at Mawile - in one gen it went from being one of the more useless NU 'mon only used as a joke to fucking Uber. While yeah I think some balancing should be in place so they don't go to Uber, that's a Mega to me. Giving new, powerful options to a Pokémon that make it very, very good and very, very fun to use.
I'm not saying they shouldn't change at all. What I'm mainly referring to is with stats. If you change a Pokemon's purpose too much stat wise then you'll end up sort of having the player specifically raising a Pokemon of that species for the sole reason to Mega Evolve, you won't be able to just give any of Pokemon that species the Mega Stone. For M-Lucario this isn't as obvious since it's Attack and Special Attack were so close people use it as a physical attacker anyway because that was where most of its powerful moves were (and even then M-Lucario's offensive stats are still about even, they just now lean on the physical side). However let's take M-Charizard X. It may have even offensive stats but it's Ability means if you want to take full advantage of it you'll use it as a Physical attacker. This means you'll probably raise a Charizard who has its IVs good in its Attack and pay no attention to Special Attack. But the thing is that means for now on to be competitive that Charizard would ALWAYS needs to Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X since normal Charizard is a special attacker. However, like I said, Charizard who were trained to focus on their Special Attack do have a Mega Evo option via Mega Charizard Y. So Mega Charizard X to me is just a variant (that said, I wouldn't mind a Mega Charizard that was a special Fire/Dragon-type, but that's for another topic).
Now most Pokemon do stay with their strongest stats when they Mega Evolve, however there are some who try changing and don't have another Mega Evolution. I know I'm jumping the gun a bit, but Mega Altaria was said it'll be getting a significant raise in its offensive stats. Why? It's suppose to be defensive. I'm not saying it's offensive stats shouldn't get a boost, but the main boost (if they're only one Mega Altaria, which there is) should be to its defensive stats. Now this means a normally trained Altaria who'll most likely be trained to be defensive won't be given the Mega Stone as you'll want to specifically train an Altaria that's offensive based so take advantage of Mega Altaria's increased offensive stats. Now I'm sure its defensive stats will also get boosted, but they said the main boost was to offense and at best that means it's offensive and defensive stats will be equal to one another when they could have instead focused on defense. A defensive Dragon/Fairy-type sounds like it could make for a very good wall, or at least an interesting one.

I fully encourage GameFreak to change typings and Abilities if Pokemon (infact I'm disappointed if they don't), but I do think the Pokemon shouldn't stray from how it plays or else you'll end up specifically training a Pokemon to just Mega Evolve and if you're using a different Mega Evolution there's no chance of you using it since its stats are too different from how it normally is played thus outperformed.
 
I'm not saying they shouldn't change at all. What I'm mainly referring to is with stats. If you change a Pokemon's purpose too much stat wise then you'll end up sort of having the player specifically raising a Pokemon of that species for the sole reason to Mega Evolve, you won't be able to just give any of Pokemon that species the Mega Stone. For M-Lucario this isn't as obvious since it's Attack and Special Attack were so close people use it as a physical attacker anyway because that was where most of its powerful moves were (and even then M-Lucario's offensive stats are still about even, they just now lean on the physical side). However let's take M-Charizard X. It may have even offensive stats but it's Ability means if you want to take full advantage of it you'll use it as a Physical attacker. This means you'll probably raise a Charizard who has its IVs good in its Attack and pay no attention to Special Attack. But the thing is that means for now on to be competitive that Charizard would ALWAYS needs to Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X since normal Charizard is a special attacker. However, like I said, Charizard who were trained to focus on their Special Attack do have a Mega Evo option via Mega Charizard Y. So Mega Charizard X to me is just a variant (that said, I wouldn't mind a Mega Charizard that was a special Fire/Dragon-type, but that's for another topic).
Now most Pokemon do stay with their strongest stats when they Mega Evolve, however there are some who try changing and don't have another Mega Evolution. I know I'm jumping the gun a bit, but Mega Altaria was said it'll be getting a significant raise in its offensive stats. Why? It's suppose to be defensive. I'm not saying it's offensive stats shouldn't get a boost, but the main boost (if they're only one Mega Altaria, which there is) should be to its defensive stats. Now this means a normally trained Altaria who'll most likely be trained to be defensive won't be given the Mega Stone as you'll want to specifically train an Altaria that's offensive based so take advantage of Mega Altaria's increased offensive stats. Now I'm sure its defensive stats will also get boosted, but they said the main boost was to offense and at best that means it's offensive and defensive stats will be equal to one another when they could have instead focused on defense. A defensive Dragon/Fairy-type sounds like it could make for a very good wall, or at least an interesting one.

I fully encourage GameFreak to change typings and Abilities if Pokemon (infact I'm disappointed if they don't), but I do think the Pokemon shouldn't stray from how it plays or else you'll end up specifically training a Pokemon to just Mega Evolve and if you're using a different Mega Evolution there's no chance of you using it since its stats are too different from how it normally is played thus outperformed.
I feel Charizard X is a rather bad example for your case. It needed to be physically-orientated to avoid just being a dragon-type Charizard Y, who is a much more enhanced version of Charizard than anything else - I guarantee you if Charizard and Mewtwo only had one mega each, they'd be much closer stat-wise to their Y Megas.
Altaria... really makes sense to me. For just about every Mega there needs to be some offensive power behind it to make it worthy to the target audience who, of course, are kids, who would really want something really awesome and strong. So since Altaria has really shitty 70 base attacking stats it does make sense to increase them significantly so the kids using it would see a difference. At the same time, however, they aren't detracting from it's role - it is getting increased defences and alongside that, it's getting what is probably one of the best defensive typings in the game. The way I see it you would totally be able to use Mega Altaria for the defensive role it's always had due to it's typing being so damn good, while also not being set-up bait due to having a really scary attack movepool of draco meteor, fire blast, pixilate hyper voice/double-edge etc. At the same time, it also gets new options in dragon dance, fast tank, etc. - do realize that base Altaria's bulk is still a really solid 75/90/105, and that is still going up even if the focus is on offence. If you've trained your Altaria in defensive stats and given it a defensive moveset? Mega Altaria will use that really well and indeed make it better. The only change you might want to make is to make it's sole attacking move fairy, but aside from that... I don't know why you think Mega Altaria will not be an incredibly good defensive Pokémon. The changes made are the exact right balance to keep both kids and us happy.
 

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I feel Charizard X is a rather bad example for your case. It needed to be physically-orientated to avoid just being a dragon-type Charizard Y, who is a much more enhanced version of Charizard than anything else - I guarantee you if Charizard and Mewtwo only had one mega each, they'd be much closer stat-wise to their Y Megas.
Altaria... really makes sense to me. For just about every Mega there needs to be some offensive power behind it to make it worthy to the target audience who, of course, are kids, who would really want something really awesome and strong. So since Altaria has really shitty 70 base attacking stats it does make sense to increase them significantly so the kids using it would see a difference. At the same time, however, they aren't detracting from it's role - it is getting increased defences and alongside that, it's getting what is probably one of the best defensive typings in the game. The way I see it you would totally be able to use Mega Altaria for the defensive role it's always had due to it's typing being so damn good, while also not being set-up bait due to having a really scary attack movepool of draco meteor, fire blast, pixilate hyper voice/double-edge etc. At the same time, it also gets new options in dragon dance, fast tank, etc. - do realize that base Altaria's bulk is still a really solid 75/90/105, and that is still going up even if the focus is on offence. If you've trained your Altaria in defensive stats and given it a defensive moveset? Mega Altaria will use that really well and indeed make it better. The only change you might want to make is to make it's sole attacking move fairy, but aside from that... I don't know why you think Mega Altaria will not be an incredibly good defensive Pokémon. The changes made are the exact right balance to keep both kids and us happy.
My Charizard example was to point out if Mega Charizard X was the only Mega Charizard. Mega Charizard X is a physical attacker mainly while normal Charizard is a Special Attacker, so had Mega Charizard X been the only Mega Charizard you really wouldn't be able to use a normal Charizard which would be trained in Special Attack (well you could, it has equal offensive stats, but it wouldn't be getting the bonus from Tough Claws). But since there is another Mega Charizard that is Special Attack oriented, that normally trained Charizard can Mega Evolve into that.

And for Altaria, as I said it'll offensive stats would probably be near equal to its defensive stats so defensive Mega Altaria would still have its place, though with its specifically increased offense and it getting Pixilate it seems like they want to make it into an attacking Pokemon. But to do that they'd need to put a good portion of the 100+ BST into the offense stats since they're both 70 (and I have doubts that if they keep them balance they'll go past 110). But I'm just saying if it went a bit more defensive it could have those stats go quite a bit high. Sure it won't hit as hard (it would still get points in its offensive, just not as much) but with it being able to stay out longer it'll balance that out. Hmm, though with all this offense and defense talk we totally neglected its Speed stat...
 
My Charizard example was to point out if Mega Charizard X was the only Mega Charizard. Mega Charizard X is a physical attacker mainly while normal Charizard is a Special Attacker, so had Mega Charizard X been the only Mega Charizard you really wouldn't be able to use a normal Charizard which would be trained in Special Attack (well you could, it has equal offensive stats, but it wouldn't be getting the bonus from Tough Claws). But since there is another Mega Charizard that is Special Attack oriented, that normally trained Charizard can Mega Evolve into that.
Then it's a completely redundant point because you're talking about a 'what if' scenario that doesn't exist. Even then, if 'Zard X was the only Mega 'Zard, it would have had a stat spread much similar to Mega Charizard Y, based on the fact that every other Mega Evolution seeks to improve their best traits in some way.

And for Altaria, as I said it'll offensive stats would probably be near equal to its defensive stats so defensive Mega Altaria would still have its place, though with its specifically increased offense and it getting Pixilate it seems like they want to make it into an attacking Pokemon. But to do that they'd need to put a good portion of the 100+ BST into the offense stats since they're both 70 (and I have doubts that if they keep them balance they'll go past 110). But I'm just saying if it went a bit more defensive it could have those stats go quite a bit high. Sure it won't hit as hard (it would still get points in its offensive, just not as much) but with it being able to stay out longer it'll balance that out. Hmm, though with all this offense and defense talk we totally neglected its Speed stat...
Many Megas who have most their stats increased completely ignore their speed, or in some cases (heracross, camerupt, abomasnow) even decrease it so they have more points dumped into their other stats.
 

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Even then, if 'Zard X was the only Mega 'Zard, it would have had a stat spread much similar to Mega Charizard Y, based on the fact that every other Mega Evolution seeks to improve their best traits in some way.
Didn't we just have a discussion where you defended Mega Altaria not improving its best traits?
 
Didn't we just have a discussion where you defended Mega Altaria not improving its best traits?
I was stating it does improve it's best traits by saying it's defensive stats increased anyway, it got better at tanking and it got one of the if not the best defensive typing in the game though...?
And even then, Mega Charizard X, funnily enough, DOES improve the special attack regardless. Again, it's a moot point, Mega Charizard X is clearly just physically orientated because Mega Charizard Y is specially orientated, I really do not understand your complaint when you're complaining about a what-if scenario.
 

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I was stating it does improve it's best traits by saying it's defensive stats increased anyway, it got better at tanking and it got one of the if not the best defensive typing in the game though...?
And even then, Mega Charizard X, funnily enough, DOES improve the special attack regardless. Again, it's a moot point, Mega Charizard X is clearly just physically orientated because Mega Charizard Y is specially orientated, I really do not understand your complaint when you're complaining about a what-if scenario.
Yeah, but its defensive stats weren't the ones being vastly improved. Though Dragon/Fairy is a pretty good defensive type.

And I was just using Mega Charizard X as an example that it can be different because Mega Charizard Y acts as a sort of proper/expected Charizard Mega Evolution. A Charizard trained to become Mega Charizard X will only ever be used as a Mega Charizard X since normal Charizard is a Special Attacker. However a Charizard trained in Special Attack can both be used as normal Charizard and also as a Mega Charizard Y. It's also the same deal with Mewtwo. However for some Mega Evolutions like Altaria and a bit for Lucario (even though it was sort of always used as a Special Attacker. We need better Special Fighting- and Steel-type moves) is that they've changed it stats around so that it works a bit differently which would mean a Pokemon of that species who was trained as you normally train it might not quite work as well when it Mega Evolves, you need to train a deviant member of that species to take some more advantage of that species sole Mega Evolution.

We're talking in circles here. Obviously we're seeing things too differently, so let's agree to disagree. I'm seeing they're trying to fundamentally change how certain Pokemon are used between its normal and sole Mega Evo, you don't. There's really nothing more to discuss beyond that.
 
Mega Charizard Y has a pretty good base 104 Attack stat, so a Charizard bred for Mega Charizard X could be used for a Mega Charizard Y, which is sometimes done in competitive to lure in and beat special walls.

There was a pokemon designed like that, though. Venusaur was highly offensive with Chlorophyll and Growth allowing it to hit hard and fast in sun, and Mega Venusaur is a more defensive mega with its boost to defense and special defense.
 

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Mega Charizard Y has a pretty good base 104 Attack stat, so a Charizard bred for Mega Charizard X could be used for a Mega Charizard Y, which is sometimes done in competitive to lure in and beat special walls.

There was a pokemon designed like that, though. Venusaur was highly offensive with Chlorophyll and Growth allowing it to hit hard and fast in sun, and Mega Venusaur is a more defensive mega with its boost to defense and special defense.
I guess that can work, considering Chansey and Blissey's presence. Let them figure out why Mega Charizard Y knocked them out with a Brick Break or Power-Up Punch.

And its true it's biggest stat is now Defense but it's only by 1 or 3 points. Normal Venusaur's main stats are its Special stats which are almost even to its Defense stat, Special Attacker being 1 point apart and Special Defense being 3 points apart. So thus any Venusaur that was trained in its Special stat can be evolved into its Mega Form and take full advantage at what it has to offer.
 
Mega Charizard Y has a pretty good base 104 Attack stat, so a Charizard bred for Mega Charizard X could be used for a Mega Charizard Y, which is sometimes done in competitive to lure in and beat special walls.

There was a pokemon designed like that, though. Venusaur was highly offensive with Chlorophyll and Growth allowing it to hit hard and fast in sun, and Mega Venusaur is a more defensive mega with its boost to defense and special defense.
Venusaur was always designed as a defensive Pokémon; Chlorophyll and Growth are just general staples of grass-types that made sense to put on Venusaur. Doesn't make it designed for offence.
 

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