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Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
I’m wondering if the notes regarding transferring to and from Z-A might be partially related to how Champions handles Pokemon's EV spreads, given Mega Dragonite is usable in the latter game. Champions allows you to allocate stat points in a way that a Pokemon can have the equivalent of a 252/252/12 spread at Lv. 50, which won’t work with the current 510-EV point system.
the japanese pokemon youtube channel lists today's trailer as the "final trailer" so we might not get any more mega reveals until the game is out
So ZA backwards I can understand. How many Pokemon do we really swap between games anyway? The majority of Pokemon I have never go back to their original games (would be impossible of course for my Pokemon Ruby caught pokes to go back). What I think is interesting is this is likely a setup for a Gen 10 break with Gen 9.
I unironically love that Mega Delphox has a double beard to go with her old man hairy ears. Peak seasoned wizard design.
I feel like not talking about anything new from the game at all over the next month would be even more odd than already announcing DLC.
Possible we just don't get another trailer-trailer but reveals or teasers could still happen? I dunno. Guess they could just ride out retalking about everything shown for another month. Their reveal cycle for this game is so whack
By instituting the one-way transfer rule, they've permanently made it so that after a bunch of near misses, no one ever has to worry about No Guard Fissure Machamp.
To wit:
Ultimately, though, Machamp is likely not the primary culprit behind the decision to institute a one-way gate. Rather, that seems to stem from the decision to add SP-LA as a language option, in addition to the old SP-EU (value 7). Whatever value the new language option will have, if Pokemon caught with it could transfer back to earlier games, those games would see the new value as corrupt data and not know how to handle it. Similarly, gen 7 games supported Chinese as a language option while gen 6 didn't, and all Pokemon (not just the Chinese ones) were barred from going backwards to avoid introducing compatibility errors.
To wit:
- It was possible to use TM27 to teach Fissure to Machamp (or Machop) in VC RBY, then transfer it into Bank, but doing so forced it to take the hidden ability Steadfast, rather than No Guard. It's widely believe that this possibility was the main factor driving the universal decision to give all VC transfers their HA if it existed at the time.
- The Ability Capsule which existed in Sun and Moon could not change that, only changing between the two non-hidden abilities and only for Pokemon that have two two distinct option for those (so Machamp with Guts or No Guard could swap back and forth between the two, but Steadfast was stuck disjoint from them).
- Once Home came around, Sword and Shield allowed Pokemon to keep their old movesets from Bank (unless you wanted to use them in ranked battles, which forced them to go through a sanitization process that replaced their old moves with level-up moves). At least the ranked ladders would get to stay clean from old-gen exclusive moves, while (unlike in the 3DS era) still allowing Pokemon from older games to have some pathway to participate in ranked, perhaps in search of the new Master Rank Ribbon that was added here.
- Sw/Sh DLC later added the Ability Patch, which at the time could only change a Pokemon to its HA, rather than from it, so your Machamp would still be stuck with Steadfast. But hey, at least least your other Machamp could get Steadfast too, not that they'd want it. (Also Grassy Surge Rillaboom and Libero Cinderace, yada yada yada, unimportant stuff like that.)
- BDSP and PLA later started the precedent that Home would track separate movesets for each game, and for all games except SwSh, entering a new game for the first time forcefully sanitized a Pokemon's moveset in that game, even if you didn't plan on playing ranked battles, ensuring that if your Machamp could ever get its ability changed, the collateral damage of its old moveset would be limited to Sw/Sh, not anywhere else.
- Scarlet and Violet changed the Ability Patch to be reversible. Machamp is not compatible with these games at all, even after DLC, but the precedent was set so that now it was simply waiting for the next time it got to appear in a game with reversible Ability Patches, and then it could change to No Guard and go back to Sw/Sh to at least make use of its moveset in those games.
- Finally, this announcement ensures that the next time Machamp does appear in a game, it will be after the generational boundary, and incapable of returning to Sw/Sh after all! Take THAT! Signed, Nishino.
Ultimately, though, Machamp is likely not the primary culprit behind the decision to institute a one-way gate. Rather, that seems to stem from the decision to add SP-LA as a language option, in addition to the old SP-EU (value 7). Whatever value the new language option will have, if Pokemon caught with it could transfer back to earlier games, those games would see the new value as corrupt data and not know how to handle it. Similarly, gen 7 games supported Chinese as a language option while gen 6 didn't, and all Pokemon (not just the Chinese ones) were barred from going backwards to avoid introducing compatibility errors.
Guess what mate; it is not a single player game if it has PvP.
Good News: Raichu is getting love. Also, it's easy to remember which one is Mega X because it's posed like an X in the official render.
Bad News: Even when Raichu is getting love, it's still about Pikachu. The descriptions point out they look like Pikachu.
I was already thinking I probably don't want to buy this game because I'm really annoyed at Nintendo charging $10 more for the physical carterage version of Mario Kart World and the Switch 2 version of games costing more than the Switch 1 versions, but announcing DLC before the game comes out and locking Mega Evolutions behind Ranked Mode, which is practically DLC because of needing to pay for Nintendo Online... No. Just no. Way too much is coming off as Nintendo being shamelessly greedy. Looks like Scarlet was my last main official Pokemon game.
Bad News: Even when Raichu is getting love, it's still about Pikachu. The descriptions point out they look like Pikachu.
I was already thinking I probably don't want to buy this game because I'm really annoyed at Nintendo charging $10 more for the physical carterage version of Mario Kart World and the Switch 2 version of games costing more than the Switch 1 versions, but announcing DLC before the game comes out and locking Mega Evolutions behind Ranked Mode, which is practically DLC because of needing to pay for Nintendo Online... No. Just no. Way too much is coming off as Nintendo being shamelessly greedy. Looks like Scarlet was my last main official Pokemon game.
Huh. I wouldn't have thought about that, but it's a perfectly understandable reason. Is sucks that being inclusive lead to problems, but it's worth it for the long run. I'm sure Game Freak saw No Guard Fissure being a casualty as a nice bonus though... RIP our 100% Accurate RIPs. At least it will make the no backwards compatibility whit Let's Go stand out less. Being able to move Pokemon between literally every other game made not being able to transfer back to Let's Go just feels bad.
Tbh while I do kinda agree and still to this day think Fissure Machamp was never remotely considered as a issue (since again, it's not legal in VGC, and they never cared of online wifi balance since that didnt even have hack checks in place)...
I do wonder if the speculation that Champions/ZA actually *removing* IVs is correct.
IVs per se are pretty much a pointless mechanic, as they said in interviews the main reason they were kept hidden was cause they wanted to keep the pokemon different between each other but without giving a clear numeric indicator that turns the creatures into "just numbers" (even though in the end that's all they are).
While yes, you do lose some minor optimizations that are basically never relevant (like the 0 speed for TR* or 0 atk for foul play and confusion), I'm quite sure IVs being gone would not really be noticeable and just save the headache of bottle cap farming (plus reducing the already lacking necessity to hack mons)
* - Yes I am aware that a 0 speed will underspeed a non 0 IV, but all TR relevant mons do run 0 IVs anyway so..
Don't worry those are tecnically still possible by just using some skill swap shenenigans
.
I almost wonder if Ultra Beasts may show up, or other "space" pokemon, Deoxys, Palkia, Necrozma, so many I think of. Or they just do what they did for Hoenn remakes and that's how you get lots of legendaries outside the main plot.
I WANT TO BELIEVE
I'm so ready for Z-A dudes. And yeah like Dramps said, "Hyperspace Lumiose" is such a wild ass concept, I hope it delivers on that aspect. Still no sign of rideable mons, though they did show vines you can probably cut in a Wild Zone. Seems like the ride equivalent of this game is just HMs or the closest thing to them since gen 6.
The new spinoff really feels like some market research went into what other games Pokémon fans play (the ones that actually do play other games at least). I can definitely buy that there's a lot of overlap between lifesim players and Pokémon fans. They also just...make sense together. Only confusion for me is Koei Techmo. Don't they usually make action games?
The new spinoff really feels like some market research went into what other games Pokémon fans play (the ones that actually do play other games at least). I can definitely buy that there's a lot of overlap between lifesim players and Pokémon fans. They also just...make sense together. Only confusion for me is Koei Techmo. Don't they usually make action games?
I think "Hyperspace" is such a nonsense descriptor that whatever people are thinking it will be, it will probably be significantly more normal.
Probably just more technicolor, if the holes & ORAS battle arenas are anything to go by.
KT do have their hands in a lot of pies, but yeah they do trend towards action and RPGs these days. Maybe there'll be more of an RPG or action component than the first trailer lets on?
Man, now I'm sad that we still aren't getting a follow-up to the KT pokemon game that was in a genre I played often. Would help a lot with current Fire Emblem being hit-or-miss.
maximum transcendant hypercope: the mega kalos starters are (the equivalent of) distrib-only for now because they're gonna reveal calem & serena got trapped in hyperspace lumiose and being their aces will serve as their "proper" in-game introduction
Well, I wouldn't rule it out entirely.
As miffed as I am about it rn I do think there's still a possibility they'll be available normally somehow later on down the line.
After all, Mega Blaziken was event-only once upon a time before ORAS became a thing (and the Mega Latis were in the code of XY but not implemented). So maybe something similar will happen here, maybe with Mega Dimensions.
Nice, so many unexpected mons today. The Kalos starter megas are cool, I definitely didn't think they'd reveal those yet. Mega greninja is a definite upgrade over Ash Greninja.
The most exciting part was the mega Raichus, not because they looked particularly good, but because they weren't part of the leaked list. It means those of us who already looked at the list can go back to hoping for megas for our favorites that didn't make the initial cut :P
Of the two Raichus, I liked Y until I noticed that it had Pikachu ears behind the... other ears?? Ear hair?? I don't know what is going on there but I would have liked it better without the Pikachu ears. The rest of the resemblance to Pikachu doesn't bother me.
The most exciting part was the mega Raichus, not because they looked particularly good, but because they weren't part of the leaked list. It means those of us who already looked at the list can go back to hoping for megas for our favorites that didn't make the initial cut :P
Of the two Raichus, I liked Y until I noticed that it had Pikachu ears behind the... other ears?? Ear hair?? I don't know what is going on there but I would have liked it better without the Pikachu ears. The rest of the resemblance to Pikachu doesn't bother me.
Kind of a heart breaking reveal today. Don't care about the DLC if anything that gives hope for flygon and shit, but FOMO mega starters is wild and the transfer lock out without a gen 10 game or champions makes that a very difficult decision to move stuff up just yet.
Hard locking the mega starters to ranked seasons when the battle system looks incredibly vague and tedious (imo) is really stupid, idk why they would pick the kalos starters of all options to do that with over like mega diancie or something but that really comes off as FOMO and desperation to boost early play rate. Mega Kalos starters won't be usuable in subsequent playthroughs of this kalos game... that's comical.
They've already said they will be redistributed later on, as in, never actually obtainable just likely reruns of the same events but that's not reassuring, ig they really do expect this to take off as an official gen 10 mainline rather than a spin off.
Hard locking the mega starters to ranked seasons when the battle system looks incredibly vague and tedious (imo) is really stupid, idk why they would pick the kalos starters of all options to do that with over like mega diancie or something but that really comes off as FOMO and desperation to boost early play rate. Mega Kalos starters won't be usuable in subsequent playthroughs of this kalos game... that's comical.
They've already said they will be redistributed later on, as in, never actually obtainable just likely reruns of the same events but that's not reassuring, ig they really do expect this to take off as an official gen 10 mainline rather than a spin off.
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Between the requirement of playing Ranked battles for Kalos Mega Stones and DLC, I wonder if Z-A will have its own competitive scene at Worlds? They are definitely pushing this game much more compared to PLA. Will Smogon endorse it?
Honestly I figure if it was meant to have a scene at worlds they'd probably have annoucned it alongside the PVP mode instead of saying Champions would be at worlds.
Maybe side events like Pocket
Im almost certain it was deconfirmed at Worlds, butId have to go back over it.
While i'm here tho, checked back at the DLC trailer reveal: yeah a bunch if not all of those stones are brand new.
Here are the old ones we know and love. And from the very fiest stone i couldnt find a single match. And then they showed more and more. Itll be hard to speculate on who is getting these megas, but we could be leaving gen 9 with at least 40 between zA and the DLC
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So unless I overlooked something, I think every past mega has been shown off now except (from least to most surprising):
- The Legends: Makes sense. The primals & Ray were probably never going to be here and the Lati were kinda iffy to begin with. Mewtwo I think is in but they probably don't want to show off before release. Diancie is in the same boat, though I won't rule being saved for the DLC. I could also our Hoenn folks be in the DLC too, considering Hoopa
- The Hoenn Starters: I did kind of think mega blaziken would be here, but I dunno. Could see the trio just being saved for DLC. But also, maybe ranked rewards? Guess it depends on if you can get any of them or not.
- Venusaur & Blastoise: Boy it would be real weird if these two weren't here, not even just considering Charizard but considering Lumiose is where you get the goofuses in XY to begin with. If they aren't traditionally available, probably Ranked rewards later down the line. Poor guys.
- Aerodactyl. This is THE one I most think I overlooked something, like maybe it was in a corner of a trailer or an image released or something. According to Serebii's pokemon list Aero is in the game, so I assume the mega is too. Would be a very arbitrary thing to leave out
- Glalie & Sharpedo: ???? I could have sworn I saw a Glalie or Carvanha running around but apparently not. What an oddball pairing. I have to assume these are in the base game because like really? All the other completely normal Pokemon but not these two?
I have to agree with the speculation that the introduction of a new language is the primary reason behind the one-way transfer into LZ-A. It’s the only thing that makes all the work they put into having multi-way transfers be possible between SS all the way to SV make sense. A real shame for that to be such a short-lived feature.
I suppose that this is just the start of a new set of games with multi-transfer, where the games released during Gen 10 will be able to transfer to each other and back to LZ-A, but honestly they shouldn’t bother if they’re just going to have yet another cutoff at some point.
I have to wonder if all prior game data will truly be wiped entirely, though. Right now, most prior game data is still known by HOME even if the Pokémon evolves into a species that does not exist in a prior game. Perhaps things like the Gigantamax factor and Tera type will still be stored for a Pokémon in the HOME servers even after it’s been placed in LZ-A. I guess we’ll see.
I suppose that this is just the start of a new set of games with multi-transfer, where the games released during Gen 10 will be able to transfer to each other and back to LZ-A, but honestly they shouldn’t bother if they’re just going to have yet another cutoff at some point.
I have to wonder if all prior game data will truly be wiped entirely, though. Right now, most prior game data is still known by HOME even if the Pokémon evolves into a species that does not exist in a prior game. Perhaps things like the Gigantamax factor and Tera type will still be stored for a Pokémon in the HOME servers even after it’s been placed in LZ-A. I guess we’ll see.