UK bands are quite prominent in rock and metal’s history (The Beatles, The Who, Iron Maiden just to name some of the more standout examples). Rillaboom is a general homage to the whole Brit Rock Star trope; it absolutely has a mane that wouldn’t be out of place in a Brit rock band.
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Unpopular opinions
- Thread starter antemortem
- Start date
You know… the more I think about the “style over substance” regarding the Gen 8 starters, the more it reminds me of a similar problem with how Mega Evolution is executed, both in official games and fandom. I will say DMax and GMax are ten times worse about it but that’s not the subject I wanna focus on.
On one hand, Mega Evolution is a super form that can bypass what a natural evolution can do in term of power level, but limited to one per team, is a really nice concept that can shake up a Pokémon‘s role or improve upon it. While the designs are a mixed bag, they do put emphasis on enhancing or intensifying a Pokémon’s important trait, making it more distinct than a natural evolution.
But there is a reason not everyone love Mega Evolution; some even goes as far as hating them as a whole. So where did GF go wrong with Mega Evolution?
Too many to count, and since they were discontinued from mainline games, their flaws become more and more apparant. I will point out some obvious ones:
Not sticking to three-staged Pokémon. Mega Evolution pretty much single-handedly killed what rest of hope regarding traditional cross-gen evolutions, especially since you can still use one Mega Evolution at a time. Gen 4 overdid the cross-evos, but several Pokémon still benefitted it even today, while Mega Evolution implies that cross-gen evos shouldn’t even be a thing anymore as second-stage Pokémon and even single-stage Pokémon receive one regardless of BST.
While it’s obvious that a Pokémon getting both a Mega and a regular evo in the same generation would be ridiculous, it does mean that getting a Mega Evolution have left the low BST two-stage and single-stage Pokémon poorly futureproofed. If Mega Evolution were exclusive to three-stage Pokémon and those two-stage or one-stage with pretty high BST (~490 BST is a reasonable threshold), then Mega Evolution will be more consistent regarding which Pokémon could reasonably receive one without going into a complete gamble.
Treated as a “fix-all” even if it really isn’t. Not all cross-generational evolutions and regional forms improves upon the original. While Mega Evolution was intended to give a boost of popularity to Pokémon thay receive one, only very few managed to stay strong popularity-wise, as there are not a lot of fans who like the Mega Evolution and also liked the original. Execution matters more than you think, so this means that while losing an unappealing Mega Evolutuon is a blessing in disguise compared to being stuck with an unappealing cross-gen or regional form, it is also a complete waste of Mega Stone. Speaking of which..
Mega Stones and the “Item Bloat”. Item bloat is quite inevitable, especially today due to “filler evolution items”, but the Mega Stone also run similar issue since they have to be held by the Pokémon just to make them work. At least Z-Crystals are compatible to any Pokémon thay have a compatible move of matching type (exclusives are mixed bags), while Mega Stones have only one purpose which, while there are good reasons, also means you’ll end up having to collect 20, or even 40 of those stones, even the Mega Evolutions that you hate if you are a completionist. Doesn’t help that most of them are “find them in a shop / hidden in the ground”.
The only way I can think of a “fix” to combat further Item bloat is a G-Max Factor inspiration that make it so Pokémon with “Mega DNA” from their ancestors can Mega Evolve with a Key Stone; not all Pokémon have this potential. The Mega DNA can be removed or given through a Mega Stone, which is now “unspecific”. I won’t tell more to avoid wishlisting.
I don’t really hate the concept of Mega Evolution, in fact I do like it. I just wish that GF try to fixes their issues before they could decide to give Megas another chance, as even putting aside balance issues, there’s these small but important details they need to reconsider. Especially now that cross-gen evos as a concept is back in form, even if limited in case of Hisui’s Ursaluna, Kleavor and Wyrdeer.
On one hand, Mega Evolution is a super form that can bypass what a natural evolution can do in term of power level, but limited to one per team, is a really nice concept that can shake up a Pokémon‘s role or improve upon it. While the designs are a mixed bag, they do put emphasis on enhancing or intensifying a Pokémon’s important trait, making it more distinct than a natural evolution.
But there is a reason not everyone love Mega Evolution; some even goes as far as hating them as a whole. So where did GF go wrong with Mega Evolution?
Too many to count, and since they were discontinued from mainline games, their flaws become more and more apparant. I will point out some obvious ones:
- Given to Pokémon that are already powerful. It were fine if it is done in a way to give them a different role while being somewhat more powerful, as is the case with Mega Gyarados and Mega Garchomp, but then we have Mega Metagross and Mega Salamence who were immense upgrades to the point of unfairness. It even undermine the goal of helping lesser used Pokémon that received Mega Evolution.
- Given to popular Pokémon. No big deal if given to a few if it means for marketing, but they overdid it (less so in ORAS) and it resulted Mega Evolution coming off as more of a marketing stunt than something that can help expend the Pokémon world more than once. Mewtwo and especially Charizard getting two instead of just one were especially blatant example of marketing stunts.
- Undermined back in XY. There’s really no excuse of not allowing the player to collect more than 4 kind of Mega Stone throughout the main game journey, and feels even more shoehorned than it were the case in Hoenn as a result; at least Hoenn and even the anime and mangs did the part to expand on the Mega Evolution part.
Not sticking to three-staged Pokémon. Mega Evolution pretty much single-handedly killed what rest of hope regarding traditional cross-gen evolutions, especially since you can still use one Mega Evolution at a time. Gen 4 overdid the cross-evos, but several Pokémon still benefitted it even today, while Mega Evolution implies that cross-gen evos shouldn’t even be a thing anymore as second-stage Pokémon and even single-stage Pokémon receive one regardless of BST.
While it’s obvious that a Pokémon getting both a Mega and a regular evo in the same generation would be ridiculous, it does mean that getting a Mega Evolution have left the low BST two-stage and single-stage Pokémon poorly futureproofed. If Mega Evolution were exclusive to three-stage Pokémon and those two-stage or one-stage with pretty high BST (~490 BST is a reasonable threshold), then Mega Evolution will be more consistent regarding which Pokémon could reasonably receive one without going into a complete gamble.
Treated as a “fix-all” even if it really isn’t. Not all cross-generational evolutions and regional forms improves upon the original. While Mega Evolution was intended to give a boost of popularity to Pokémon thay receive one, only very few managed to stay strong popularity-wise, as there are not a lot of fans who like the Mega Evolution and also liked the original. Execution matters more than you think, so this means that while losing an unappealing Mega Evolutuon is a blessing in disguise compared to being stuck with an unappealing cross-gen or regional form, it is also a complete waste of Mega Stone. Speaking of which..
Mega Stones and the “Item Bloat”. Item bloat is quite inevitable, especially today due to “filler evolution items”, but the Mega Stone also run similar issue since they have to be held by the Pokémon just to make them work. At least Z-Crystals are compatible to any Pokémon thay have a compatible move of matching type (exclusives are mixed bags), while Mega Stones have only one purpose which, while there are good reasons, also means you’ll end up having to collect 20, or even 40 of those stones, even the Mega Evolutions that you hate if you are a completionist. Doesn’t help that most of them are “find them in a shop / hidden in the ground”.
The only way I can think of a “fix” to combat further Item bloat is a G-Max Factor inspiration that make it so Pokémon with “Mega DNA” from their ancestors can Mega Evolve with a Key Stone; not all Pokémon have this potential. The Mega DNA can be removed or given through a Mega Stone, which is now “unspecific”. I won’t tell more to avoid wishlisting.
I don’t really hate the concept of Mega Evolution, in fact I do like it. I just wish that GF try to fixes their issues before they could decide to give Megas another chance, as even putting aside balance issues, there’s these small but important details they need to reconsider. Especially now that cross-gen evos as a concept is back in form, even if limited in case of Hisui’s Ursaluna, Kleavor and Wyrdeer.
I don't think Megas inherently had those issues by nature so much as active choice. Whereas the future super mechanics are inherently such by nature and tend to skew towards a "rich-get-richer" problem by inherent design, Megas are fine overall, and I don't even dislike them in terms of execution because they did a good job at buffing many Pokemon overall. Even several popular ones who got them still needed them because power creep was getting to them by that point (*ahem* Charizard). I didn't mind Salamence and Metagross getting Megas because the latter was rapidly losing viability starting in Gen 5 and nowadays has fallen off dramatically in competitive anyway, and pseudos getting Megas isn't inherently a bad thing because competitive proves stats aren't everything as not all of them are actually prominent in competitive or remain as such, seeing as how Tyranitar and now Garchomp have started falling off, while the only ones who are doing well at present are Baxcalibur, Dragapult, and Dragonite.
In that sense I would disagree that Megas inherently were style-over-substance, because they have more depth to them and actually put effort into improving the Pokemon who got them individually, even if some could be argued as not necessarily needing them per se.
A real example of style-over-substance in terms of super mechanics is signature Z-Moves and Gigantamax forms, which inherently compete with a more generic version of the mechanic and are in 99% of cases entirely flavor driven with no substance to differentiate them from the generic version of it battle wise: G-Max Forms are entirely differentiated by a different G-Max Move that is literally "same as the generic Max Move but we swapped out the original base effect for a new side effect". Signature Z-Moves were in most cases entirely flavor as well with a few exceptions, those being Kommo-o's Z-Move (omniboost effect that ultimately translated to a new generic signature move for Kommo-o in later games), Mew (can summon Psychic Terrain so that's something of value), and Eevee (stat omniboost even if it doesn't help much).
With that said I do have a few things to address regarding your other points
I think this really depends on your personal preference and perception, but I genuinely doubt Game Freak actually cares about the fact that Megas would hypothetically kill the idea of the mons who received them getting a traditional evolution, because I think they probably wouldn't give those Pokemon traditional evolutions anyway, as much as some fans may not like the idea. Game Freak likes to incorporate personality and their own creative visions into changing Pokemon they've created beforehand, and for every Pokemon that did get a Mega, they felt that a Mega was the ideal step forward to furthering their design in those cases, and that was that.
I don't think it's a matter of "cross-gen evos shouldn't be a thing anymore" considering they went back to them several generations later as we now have things like Annihilape and Kingambit, and the latter incidentally would fall into the category of "didn't really need an evolution per se, but Game Freak had a cool idea of how to further Bisharp's evolutionary line and felt that an evolution in Kingambit was the way to do so creatively speaking", which proves Game Freak
Mega Evolution was simply the approach they wanted to do back when they started doing it, and a "super-transformation that is lore-wise a temporary evolution" that they assigned the mons that did was in their eyes the way they wanted to add onto the lines they did give it to.
Two-stage and single stage Pokemon getting them may seem like a loss to us fans, but to Game Freak that mattered little to them because they felt that a super form was the ideal way to add to them instead of a traditional evolution for their own creative and personal reasons most likely. Sableye and Mawile will probably never get traditional evolutions yes, but I don't think Game Freak would have any intention of giving them one anyway: to them the two likely felt complete as is and a super form was the ideal "upgrade" for them combat wise.
I think while Game Freak does sort of try to keep a sense of competitive balance (mind you, they care about VGC more), they also like the sense of not every Pokémon being created equal. While Megas are absent from the games, I've said it before but I also sorta consider it an extension of Dexit which we all know at this point is clearly a final decision for the games.
We're a battle oriented forum with people who play Pokemon mainly for the battling aspect so obviously opinions on different battle mechanics will differ because to us, a Pokemon's battling capability in competitive is what we care about most, but Game Freak generally likes the concept of flavor. They like worldbuilding in terms of creating Pokemon, and Pokemon is still fundamentally at its core an RPG, with an RPG design in terms of its monsters and the world they live in.
"We always have this base criteria at Game Freak of being able to explain why a certain Pokemon is in the world or why it exists in that world, trying to make it feel believable within the fantasy." - Junichi Masuda
And in general, not everybody is necessarily into Pokemon for competitive/hardcore battling, so while a vocal minority has varying opinions on super mechanics, ultimately lore and what Game Freak feels is most appropriate for a Pokemon's in-universe lore and flavor is what matters to them most when they do things like regional forms, new evolutions, or Megas.
Which is to say, Pokemon who got Megas would never have gotten a traditional evolution to begin with, because Game Freak likely never felt a traditional evolution was the logical way to add something to those Pokemon from a worldbuilding point of view.
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Pokemon is a *big* franchise with a big fanbase, so naturally there are so many different opinions on things. I've said it before in another thread but whenever you add to something that already exists, not everyone who liked the original is going to like the new addition. It's not exclusive to Megas itself. It's happened with traditional new evolutions and regional forms alike.
Item bloat is probably something that's a pain in terms of coding as time goes on but it's most certainly not an issue in individual games especially since most mainline games from Gen 4 onwards offer unlimited bag space. Game Freak generally likes flavor and specific items to them gives a nice sense of worldbuilding.
Mega Stones have always been part of Mega Evolution's flavor and they probably wouldn't change that. The G-Max Factor parallel idea is also not exactly great especially since Dynamax was specific to Galar and we now know that having G-Max Factor on an individual specimen creates transfer lockout in HOME because those individuals cannot leave SwSh without having it removed (which you need the DLC to do so, another mess). Tera Types were easier to deal with on the other hand, which may create implications for Terastal in the future (namely being just as generic).
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I rambled quite a lot but had a handful to say. Ultimately I think it's also important to remember that while this is Smogon and thus our opinions are leaned into competitive battle performance, Mega Evolution was in many ways a mix of flavor and substance that worked.
They simply didn't bother to do it afterwards because they had other ideas they wanted to try in later generations, and like with cross-gen evolutions, which stopped for a long time after Gen 4 before being done again with PLA and SV, they can always return to them if they feel they have new ideas for it from a worldbuilding standpoint (which mind you, is one of the more important priorities to them). Megas are something with their own individual traits that incorporate worldbuilding and gameplay.
We're seeing Game Freak's constant shift in creative philosophy even right now: Regional forms were common in Alola, Galar, and Hisui, but SV has dialed back on them a lot, giving them to only two Pokemon, while they tried out convergent species (unrelated new Pokemon who are incredibly similar to their derivative counterparts) and the Paradox Pokemon, which probably aren't going to be expanded on past Gen 9.
In that sense I would disagree that Megas inherently were style-over-substance, because they have more depth to them and actually put effort into improving the Pokemon who got them individually, even if some could be argued as not necessarily needing them per se.
A real example of style-over-substance in terms of super mechanics is signature Z-Moves and Gigantamax forms, which inherently compete with a more generic version of the mechanic and are in 99% of cases entirely flavor driven with no substance to differentiate them from the generic version of it battle wise: G-Max Forms are entirely differentiated by a different G-Max Move that is literally "same as the generic Max Move but we swapped out the original base effect for a new side effect". Signature Z-Moves were in most cases entirely flavor as well with a few exceptions, those being Kommo-o's Z-Move (omniboost effect that ultimately translated to a new generic signature move for Kommo-o in later games), Mew (can summon Psychic Terrain so that's something of value), and Eevee (stat omniboost even if it doesn't help much).
With that said I do have a few things to address regarding your other points
I think this really depends on your personal preference and perception, but I genuinely doubt Game Freak actually cares about the fact that Megas would hypothetically kill the idea of the mons who received them getting a traditional evolution, because I think they probably wouldn't give those Pokemon traditional evolutions anyway, as much as some fans may not like the idea. Game Freak likes to incorporate personality and their own creative visions into changing Pokemon they've created beforehand, and for every Pokemon that did get a Mega, they felt that a Mega was the ideal step forward to furthering their design in those cases, and that was that.
I don't think it's a matter of "cross-gen evos shouldn't be a thing anymore" considering they went back to them several generations later as we now have things like Annihilape and Kingambit, and the latter incidentally would fall into the category of "didn't really need an evolution per se, but Game Freak had a cool idea of how to further Bisharp's evolutionary line and felt that an evolution in Kingambit was the way to do so creatively speaking", which proves Game Freak
Mega Evolution was simply the approach they wanted to do back when they started doing it, and a "super-transformation that is lore-wise a temporary evolution" that they assigned the mons that did was in their eyes the way they wanted to add onto the lines they did give it to.
Two-stage and single stage Pokemon getting them may seem like a loss to us fans, but to Game Freak that mattered little to them because they felt that a super form was the ideal way to add to them instead of a traditional evolution for their own creative and personal reasons most likely. Sableye and Mawile will probably never get traditional evolutions yes, but I don't think Game Freak would have any intention of giving them one anyway: to them the two likely felt complete as is and a super form was the ideal "upgrade" for them combat wise.
I think while Game Freak does sort of try to keep a sense of competitive balance (mind you, they care about VGC more), they also like the sense of not every Pokémon being created equal. While Megas are absent from the games, I've said it before but I also sorta consider it an extension of Dexit which we all know at this point is clearly a final decision for the games.
We're a battle oriented forum with people who play Pokemon mainly for the battling aspect so obviously opinions on different battle mechanics will differ because to us, a Pokemon's battling capability in competitive is what we care about most, but Game Freak generally likes the concept of flavor. They like worldbuilding in terms of creating Pokemon, and Pokemon is still fundamentally at its core an RPG, with an RPG design in terms of its monsters and the world they live in.
"We always have this base criteria at Game Freak of being able to explain why a certain Pokemon is in the world or why it exists in that world, trying to make it feel believable within the fantasy." - Junichi Masuda
And in general, not everybody is necessarily into Pokemon for competitive/hardcore battling, so while a vocal minority has varying opinions on super mechanics, ultimately lore and what Game Freak feels is most appropriate for a Pokemon's in-universe lore and flavor is what matters to them most when they do things like regional forms, new evolutions, or Megas.
Which is to say, Pokemon who got Megas would never have gotten a traditional evolution to begin with, because Game Freak likely never felt a traditional evolution was the logical way to add something to those Pokemon from a worldbuilding point of view.
---
Pokemon is a *big* franchise with a big fanbase, so naturally there are so many different opinions on things. I've said it before in another thread but whenever you add to something that already exists, not everyone who liked the original is going to like the new addition. It's not exclusive to Megas itself. It's happened with traditional new evolutions and regional forms alike.
Item bloat is probably something that's a pain in terms of coding as time goes on but it's most certainly not an issue in individual games especially since most mainline games from Gen 4 onwards offer unlimited bag space. Game Freak generally likes flavor and specific items to them gives a nice sense of worldbuilding.
Mega Stones have always been part of Mega Evolution's flavor and they probably wouldn't change that. The G-Max Factor parallel idea is also not exactly great especially since Dynamax was specific to Galar and we now know that having G-Max Factor on an individual specimen creates transfer lockout in HOME because those individuals cannot leave SwSh without having it removed (which you need the DLC to do so, another mess). Tera Types were easier to deal with on the other hand, which may create implications for Terastal in the future (namely being just as generic).
---
I rambled quite a lot but had a handful to say. Ultimately I think it's also important to remember that while this is Smogon and thus our opinions are leaned into competitive battle performance, Mega Evolution was in many ways a mix of flavor and substance that worked.
They simply didn't bother to do it afterwards because they had other ideas they wanted to try in later generations, and like with cross-gen evolutions, which stopped for a long time after Gen 4 before being done again with PLA and SV, they can always return to them if they feel they have new ideas for it from a worldbuilding standpoint (which mind you, is one of the more important priorities to them). Megas are something with their own individual traits that incorporate worldbuilding and gameplay.
We're seeing Game Freak's constant shift in creative philosophy even right now: Regional forms were common in Alola, Galar, and Hisui, but SV has dialed back on them a lot, giving them to only two Pokemon, while they tried out convergent species (unrelated new Pokemon who are incredibly similar to their derivative counterparts) and the Paradox Pokemon, which probably aren't going to be expanded on past Gen 9.
I also think that Megas don't necessarily lock off an extra evolution stage of a regional form (like several Galarian and Hisuian forms have). Said evolution doesn't need to resemble the mega either if the concepts are already divergent (example: if sableye-# no longer consumes gemstones, Sableye-#2 has no reason to have a giant reflective shield).
I think existance of megas preventing existance of a potential evolved form is just fan theory anyway.
People thought the same about regional forms, but Slowbro did get one.
Plus even were there to be "problematic" cases, since Dexit is a thing, they can just... exclude them.
See Shedinja likely purposedly being excluded from SV due to its potentially gamebreaking interaction with Terastal.
We even have a "precedent" for a situation where a Pokemon gets a supermechanic but its evolution doesn't!
In gen 8, if Pikachu has Gigantamax Factor, it cannot evolve until the Gigantamax factor is removed. Same applies iirc to Eevee.
Thus if some day they wanted to, say, give Mawile a evolution, it doesn't really interfer with Mawile's potential to mega evolve. Mawile2 will simply not be able to mega evolve.
People thought the same about regional forms, but Slowbro did get one.
Plus even were there to be "problematic" cases, since Dexit is a thing, they can just... exclude them.
See Shedinja likely purposedly being excluded from SV due to its potentially gamebreaking interaction with Terastal.
We even have a "precedent" for a situation where a Pokemon gets a supermechanic but its evolution doesn't!
In gen 8, if Pikachu has Gigantamax Factor, it cannot evolve until the Gigantamax factor is removed. Same applies iirc to Eevee.
Thus if some day they wanted to, say, give Mawile a evolution, it doesn't really interfer with Mawile's potential to mega evolve. Mawile2 will simply not be able to mega evolve.
It’s also the case for Meowth regarding G-Max Factor.
Yeah, Slowbro managing to get a Galarian counterpart despite being able to Mega Evolve is a precedence not easy to notice at first.
As long as the evolution do not refer to the Mega Evolution but rather be able to stand on it’s own, by taking to a different niche, and go for more natural progression for worldbuilding, rather than completely replacing it. It’s seems that it’s not something GF is willing to do unless they see an exceptional opportunity for worldbuilding though.
This is from the XY website, and is parroted in various ways here and there. it definitely seems by design that Megas are meant to be something you only get as an end cap.
And it was a thing they stuck to through Gen 6; in contrast GMaxes were never stated to be like this to begin with and that's reflected from GMax Pikachu, Eevee & Meowth being there from the jump.
Contrast with all the little fan theories people had about regional variants. They never said anything like that, it just happened to line up for a small time based on our small sample size.
Now of course, this is all the way back in gen 6. That's 10 years ago! Even within that generation they retconned stuff about megas(definitely did not originate or exclusive to Kalos!), so if they every just really really really wanted to do a Mawile evolution (not even a regional one, just a normal one) they probably could do it just fine and not even acknowledge it. Or have a character go "wow! pokemon are so mysterious!" and be done with it.
But it's not necessarily a thing to lay at the "dumb fan theory" altar is what i mean.
I can see where are you coming from, but a recton (or something close to one) already happened within Gen 6, where it were supposed to happen only in Kalos, but then Hoenn become one home for Mega Evolution too. No changes mechanic-wise, obviously, but it does have clashing lores going on, such as XY claiming that Lucario is the first, only for Rayquaza being the absolute first in ORAS. Granted, it can be dismissed as “cultural / belief differences”.
But if Mega Evolution is suppsoed to be an almighty cap, nothing about that stopped Dynamax from being way more powerful even for three turns and available for LC and NFE Pokémon, and note that in the anime, the Dynamax / Gigantamax Pokémon still have the upper hand against a Mega Evolved Pokémon during the World Tournament. It can be argued as writing faults, but nonetheless it’s something important to point out. At least the following super mechanic in the form of Terastalization isn’t stupidly powerful, just a bit too much of a “surprise” factor.
At the end of the day, that’s up to GF to stick to an unwritten rules or go for the usual “Pokémon are still full of wonders!” route.
I mean....yeah. I acknowledged that at the end of the post. They've retconned before, they can retcon again if it suits their fancy. It's their "rules", they can break them at their leisure.
It was mostly just me wanting to say that it wasnt really a "fan theory" in the same way other "rules" are/were
Incidentally I did think it was nice that despite BDSP being so...."faithful" to a fault, they actually did tweak Rowan's dialog about evolution and legends a little. No one but pedantic nerds would really notice or care.It's ok sir just have to wait another two generations until the gen 6 remakes and then we know what they do with it
Branching off this, I think it important to remember they always come up with increasingly specific ways to explain Pokemon getting Cross-Gen Evolutions that try to avoid contradicting their previous appearances (to varying degrees of effectiveness but the concept is there). Most common is a Pokemon evolving by knowing a move they gave it in the Generation with the Evo, Baby Pokemon requiring a new Incense to be bred, or more elaborate things like Icy/Mossy Rocks not existing until Gen 4 for Glaceon/Leafeon.
The series has such a history with retcons and handwaves to introduce new mechanics and creature designs that even official postings are best taken as "true until GF decides nah." The most infamous there is "we found 100 new species of Pokemon: Some of them live here and some of them live 200 KM to the left in that neighboring region that was definitely always there" for Gen 2, which is even more of a stretch because the regions intermingle a LOT for not having even a mention just 3 years ago.
The "limit on how many times each Pokemon could evolve" statement is pretty bizarre because Mega Evolution doesn't really change that: if it's not a completely separate super mechanic, it still has a limit, that limit is just "however many evolution stages + 1."
My main gripes with mega-evolutions are: 1) many of them look more like alternate forms than proper evolutions because they don't change very much (e.g. mega-venusaur, mega-gardevoir, mega-gallade); 2) others are ugly (e.g. mega-glalie, mega-manectric); 3) and a bunch are both (e.g. mega-tyranitar, mega-latis, mega-garchomp, mega-aerodactyl). Unfortunately mega-mawile and mega-beedrill are exceptions.
The fact that mega-evolution is a gimmick that can't be given to every pokémon family is something that bothers me too. Universal gimmicks are better because every pokémon is someone favorite. Dynamax is bad but one of the few pros it has is that it's accessible to all at the same time some pokémon have unique forms as they can Gigantamax. Z-moves did it too which is a better design idea than make a generational mechanic that is exclusive to some mons.
The fact that mega-evolution is a gimmick that can't be given to every pokémon family is something that bothers me too. Universal gimmicks are better because every pokémon is someone favorite. Dynamax is bad but one of the few pros it has is that it's accessible to all at the same time some pokémon have unique forms as they can Gigantamax. Z-moves did it too which is a better design idea than make a generational mechanic that is exclusive to some mons.
From singleplayer standpoint, designwise, "global" supermechanics are indeed better due to the fact that as you said, everyone has a favourite and every pokemon can use it if you wish so.
Sadly, the problem is that when it comes to competitive environment (which, whenever we want it or not, Pokemon is embracing nowadays), global mechanics just become a "rich gets richer" scenario, where all they really do is make already strong pokemon stronger.
Ultimately, what is the point of using, say, Hisuian Avalugg that becomes a insane wall once it changes it type... instead of just using a regular viable wall and then give your Terastal to an actually good mon? (Same can be applied to both Dmax and Zmoves, and any pokemon really)
You are correct and this why generational supermechanics are a mistake and should be abandoned, the pokémon and the region are enough to distinguish a generation from another, but it's clear this will not happen so the lesser "evil" is better.
I would argue that happened to mega evolutions too, only the better ones were used, very rarely someone would use Mega-Audino in OU. Some pokémon were not competivive and got usable for the first time due to megas but it wasn't just uncompetitive mons that received megas, mega-rayquaza was one of the best. This is speculation but GF gave megas based on popularity and if they had a good design for little known mons, that a previously uncompetitive mon got good was more of a happy accident.
(Responding to this just because it’s a point I see against Mega Evos a lot, not directed at you in particular)
I disagree with this line of reasoning just because it takes away from the uniqueness of each ‘mon to begin with. Pokémon have never been built equally, from types to move access to BST - why should gimmicks be the same? There’s also nothing inherently preventing gimmicks from being expanded upon in future installments, or even within generations (such as ORAS megas or SWSH’s DLC Gigantamaxes) to be spread out to more ‘mons later - not having the gimmick isn’t inherently a death sentence.
Just from an aesthetic standpoint, I also find that gimmicks don’t tend to be as awe-inspiring when they’re universal. Just compare the unique animation of Incineroar’s unique Z-Move, Malicious Moonsault vs the janky animation of the Flying Z-Move, for example. What’s the point of visual spectacle if it’s washed out and bland in service of applying to every single Pokémon?
Because gimmicks are more a mechanic of a entire generation than a quality of a single pokémon which to be fair to mega-evolution it wasn't supposed to be that, it became that only in gen 8. There is a balancing act between generalness and uniqueness. Z-moves and Dynamax did it right, everyone can do it but some pokémon have a special version.
In gen 6 without counting alternate forms, there were 384 fully evolved pokémon which only 46 could mega evolve so about 12%, that is too low for the new shiny distinguishing feature of a generation. Again, this wasn't how mega-evolution was presented at the time but this is how GF are handling generational super-mechanics now so it catches flack from that. Maybe this is just me but the more the better. Paradox pokémon is a good concept, it would be better if every pokémon had one.
it's absolutely not worth literally doubling the number of pokemon (500+ of which would presumably be called "iron noun") just for some idea of fairness/catering to everyone's favourite.
(similarly, as cool as megas are, it's for the best that not every pokemon got one. inevitably they would've run out of ways to distinguish them from each other, and also, like. that's a lot of fuckin megas.)
Here's the other thing about the Paradox one: Unlike Megas or Dynamax, the Paradoxes are distinct entities in gameplay. They take a lot more work to make unique since they're not even consistently "better" versions of their base (see Iron Treads or the complete stat redo of Walking Wake) in terms of design concept, and where some people will want to use the cool alt, others might say "why would I use Robot Hydreigon instead of Hydreigon?" and ignore the paradox. Not to mention the issue of "why doesn't Sandy Shocks evolve into Sandy Sirens?" if you give a Magnezone Paradox when a Magneton one exists.
The reason Z-Moves and Dynamax can be generic for everyone is because they're bland and low effort in terms of design and assets (hell a lot of the "unique" variants are cookie cutter, just for a different cookie). Paradox Pokemon and Megas take too much work to be given out that widely that quickly to everyone. Especially when they're based on the Physiology of the subject rather than just injecting a bunch of energy, they'd break my immersion personally if every single Pokemon had a Super Saiyan form or a Dinosaur/Robot counterpart.
The reason Z-Moves and Dynamax can be generic for everyone is because they're bland and low effort in terms of design and assets (hell a lot of the "unique" variants are cookie cutter, just for a different cookie). Paradox Pokemon and Megas take too much work to be given out that widely that quickly to everyone. Especially when they're based on the Physiology of the subject rather than just injecting a bunch of energy, they'd break my immersion personally if every single Pokemon had a Super Saiyan form or a Dinosaur/Robot counterpart.
Apparently there’s been more discussion about generational gimmicks as of late. My opinions on these haven’t really changed- I still dislike most of them, and find Mega Evolutions mishandled from start to finish, at least for the purpose of multiplayer. They all have their place in single player, I’ll admit, but none of the main four have done anything to help one of Pokémon’s biggest issues, that being the fact these games are just too easy for their audience these days.
That being said, I do have one extra critique for these mechanics, but it’s probably not what you’re expecting. Can we even call these “generational” anymore? I’d go as far as to say ever since Sword & Shield, not even the game developers can properly define what a “generation of Pokémon” is. Gimmicks, these still remain either way, but a little consistency would be nice.
That being said, I do have one extra critique for these mechanics, but it’s probably not what you’re expecting. Can we even call these “generational” anymore? I’d go as far as to say ever since Sword & Shield, not even the game developers can properly define what a “generation of Pokémon” is. Gimmicks, these still remain either way, but a little consistency would be nice.
If I'm gonna be frank: Pokemon games were never truly difficult. I have two points to raise here, and I think one of them is surprising but SV's Raids have made very apparent for the past half year or so.
First is that Pokemon games aren't and never were hard, and even the older games were pretty darn easy. Once you have a full grasp on the depth of knowledge of Pokemon's battle system, the game isn't truly difficult unless you make it so yourself. Older games just had an artificial sense of difficulty because of bad game design, aka jank level curves and limited pool of good options for the player. Tedium and demanding long term old school grinding does not equate to genuine difficulty.
The other is that the target audience of the franchise is young kids who are in elementary school. And believe it or not, you may not realize it as a Smogon player with knowledge of Pokemon's battle system and its nuances, but the average elementary school kid actually substantially lacks knowledge on Pokemon's more nuanced aspects, and as such Pokemon would actually feel difficult to them because of it. You'll hear many stories across the internet about SV's Tera Raids nowadays, but boy you'll be surprised at how truly incompetent the average player who is actually part of Pokemon's target audience is: they have little knowledge of type matchups, and Terastal itself is actually too complicated a mechanic for the average kid to understand, because you have many cases of players either choosing their Raid fighter based on the original type of the Raid Boss, or choosing based on the Tera Type without accounting for the original type, or worse, simply choosing a powerful boxart legendary because they think it's godly and invincible.
There are many stories about it, but if you think the actual target audience of the Pokemon games finds the games easy...boy do I have some news for you. The Tera Raids in Scarlet and Violet and the countless stories people have with them have been incredibly revelatory in terms of how genuinely incompetent the average Pokemon player actually is: most of them actually wouldn't find these games as easy as we hardcore competitive players do, and in fact their playstyle lends to a much harder experience.
The game developers have started to diversify from the standard RGB formula in terms of mainline games, that said a generation can still be defined by a new region, with a new set of starters and a new roster of Pokemon in a base paired release games. Sword and Shield is by all hallmarks its own generation with Legends: Arceus being a mid-generation game within it, the generation lasted three years, the anime had its own season lasting its duration.
Scarlet and Violet also marks the beginning of a new generation, a new anime series started in it, it stars a new region in Paldea, with new starters and whatnot. And a new manga series focusing on it is starting soon as well.
How they're making the games is changing, but generations are still clear to define based on the factors of new starters, new regions, new anime series, new manga, the Trading Card Game, and so on.
To be fair, he doesn't have to go far for "stories about SV raids".
Me and some others routinely refer the absolute disaster that is attempting to do raids online in its dedicated section, and how it's really more productive to just solo them even if it takes absolutely ridicolous and boring setups.
Me and some others routinely refer the absolute disaster that is attempting to do raids online in its dedicated section, and how it's really more productive to just solo them even if it takes absolutely ridicolous and boring setups.
axew should be renamed hatchetling