Mega Kangaskhan does have the drawback of Power-Up Punch no longer existing.
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Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced
- Thread starter DHR-107
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listen man after the big 6 theyre never gonna make mega kanga competitively viable ever again. and while i think speculation is fun i will have to agree w the fact its hard to speculate anything without knowing the other megas at least. that and some megas were so context dependent too so like who fucking knows. maybe they did finally give mega beedrill mega horn guys
I would say speculating on Megas not to change significantly beyond known changes like Gen 8-9 non-transfer movesets on their base forms is pretty reasonable at the moment (Salamence kept Hyper Voice by TM, and Scale Shot for Chomp basically fixes Mega's main issue which was speed tiers), since that is all stuff we can know rather than have to make an assumption for being added or interacting with something. Ability or Stat buffs have precedent but they're also so uncommon that not receiving one is probably a reasonable base to begin from.
We do have precedent that a single Pokemon cannot use more than one mechanic atm with Mega Rayquaza and Z-moves (and if spin-offs mean anything somehow, Pokemon Go has both Megas and Dynamax which a single Pokemon can use but not simultaneously), so it's a fair assumption that Megas are mutually exclusive from Tera and the like if they even show up in the same formats. Legends also tends to be sparse on new Mons, so it's not outlandish to look at "current VGC but these Megas are playable on the existing mons in the format/dex," which is at least a sizable format to theorymon with.
Funnily enough, the Pokémon Day extended look video for Legends Z-A shows Kangaskhan, specifically the player's Mega defeating some Trubbish and a Garbodor, with Power-Up Punch in its moveset. Of course, this move was still around in Gen 8 and it could just be a symptom of the branched development of Scarlet/Violet and Legends Z-A, where the team developing the latter didn't know what moves the team developing the former were going to cut before release (including Power-Up Punch). A similar thing occurred with Sword/Shield and Legends Arceus, two games with significant development overlap where the latter ended up including certain moves that had ultimately been cut from the former, including Bubble, Silver Wind, and Mud Bomb.
The fact that a Kangaskhan from Legends Z-A or one transferred from Bank will be able to know Power-Up Punch in HOME is definitely interesting as a question of legal movesets when it comes to Champions. Since it would be the "cleanest" option they can go with, I'm going to guess that Pokémon in HOME will not retain any of their movesets when they are used in Champions. Instead, they will be forced to select four moves that are possible for the Pokémon to have if they had been recruited in Champions. This would eliminate the potential advantage that HOME would give players were it possible to bring in things like Power-Up Punch Kangaskhan, Ice Beam Gardevoir, Dual Wingbeat Dragonite, Tail Glow Xurkitree, and scariest of all... Contrary Spinda with Superpower.
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power up punch is an insanely fun synergetic move for mega kanga and i wouldnt be surprised if they brought it back for a game with no pvp just because... its fun to use innit. like incredible game design if it wasnt the most broken shit out there. though w power creep maybe it wouldnt be as bad.
i do wonder if mray is returning though. it feels weird to have it without the primals but not impossible for it to happen
i do wonder if mray is returning though. it feels weird to have it without the primals but not impossible for it to happen
If you didn't notice from the trailer, Champions has their own "ingame pkhex" as the leaks said.
The pokemon inside the game are "blank slates", you can pick whatever setup for them you want on the fly before using them.
Thsi is my personal speculation, but I believe the intent is that you don't actually "transfer" the pokemon to the game. Simply if you have it on a Home account connected to Champions, it'll be available for use, and if you don't, you can "buy" it in game with the point system you get for playing.
For people who don't care about mobile slop the latest present was a waste of time I feel.
The only mega revealed also happened to be ANOTHER Dragon Type mega. I am really tired of Game Freak pushing Megas for dragons. Like besides 1 Pokemon, all hoenn Dragon Types have a mega. Gen 1 has only 1 Dragon Type line and it got a mega.
I associate Dragon as a rare type so it just feels ackward that so many get this power up. Moreso considering they don't really need it.
Hoping that Charizard (which is my favorite Pokemon) doesn't get a 3rd Mega with Fire/Fighting typing or something.
The only mega revealed also happened to be ANOTHER Dragon Type mega. I am really tired of Game Freak pushing Megas for dragons. Like besides 1 Pokemon, all hoenn Dragon Types have a mega. Gen 1 has only 1 Dragon Type line and it got a mega.
I associate Dragon as a rare type so it just feels ackward that so many get this power up. Moreso considering they don't really need it.
Hoping that Charizard (which is my favorite Pokemon) doesn't get a 3rd Mega with Fire/Fighting typing or something.
I just realized this game releases on October 16. That's two and a half months from now. We're a full month plus change ahead of the release schedule for SV, which released on November 18. So there really isn't much more time to reveal pre-release information. Or not much more pre-release information to be revealed, if you take a slightly different view.
With Champions, I see 2 relevant things:
They will want to be able to distribute Event mons with special moves that players have to do something to get.
Ban Fissure Machamp. It's been very clear that they WILL NOT allow Fissure+No Guard to exist, and whatever rules are in place will be sure to prevent that.
The thing is, I don't know for sure how they accomplish both. If they want to allow event moves in Champions that the player can't get just by turning the game on, they kind of have to allow special moves from other sources and past gens. If they don't, the verification gets confusing for the avg player. Somehow, GF has to square that circle and I don't see it happening easily.
I am going to assume that there will be a moveset wipe will just make you play with the modern moveset.
I am also going to assume that if they ever get to a point of Fissure Machamp they just....make it so No Guard doesnt work with the user's OHKO moves....? Which is something they should have done to begin with.
I am also going to assume that if they ever get to a point of Fissure Machamp they just....make it so No Guard doesnt work with the user's OHKO moves....? Which is something they should have done to begin with.
I'm not so sure that the Pokémon you can recruit in Champions are blank slates because the official site mentions that you can't train anything you have while it's on a trial recruitment. This implies that it will already have its Nature, Ability, Moves, and Stat Points all set up as a "recommendation" for how to effectively use the Pokémon, and only after permanently recruiting can you change the parameters from the default that they might have.
I do agree with your other point, however, about Champions probably simply reading from HOME instead of having to move any Pokémon into Champions. The only potential issue I can see with this method is that a significant amount of fully EV'd Pokémon in HOME will translate to 65/66 Stat Points in Champions, so the question remains on whether they'll allow you to train Pokémon "copied" from HOME within Champions so that final Stat Point can be allocated.
Pokémon with special moves as rewards within Champions is actually a neat idea and would actually not present an issue since we already know that Pokémon recruited in Champions cannot be moved into HOME. If movesets from HOME are ignored in Champions as I suspect they will be, then the reward Pokémon with special moves will only be obtainable within Champions and thus would be available to everyone. This also solves Fissure+No Guard Machamp.
The more I think about it the more likely a moveset wipe for Champions sounds. I even wonder if legal movesets and the power/accuracy of moves will be updated accordingly in Champions every time a new generation releases since Pokémon tend to gain or lose access to certain moves. It's definitely a lot of questions we won't see the answer for until way after release, but it's still interesting to think about.
As far as Fissure+No Guard Machamp goes, it will eventually be legal, but only for Sword/Shield. All it takes is for Machamp to appear in a new game where the Ability Patch exists, and you'll be able to send a Fissure+Steadfast Machamp to that game (note: it will not know Fissure in that new game), use an Ability Patch and then an Ability Capsule, and finally send it back to Sword/Shield where it will still have Fissure and now, No Guard as well. Since there are no more Ranked Battles in the Galar games, it will not really be useful besides Casual Battles and Max Raids, where Fissure will always break 2 bars of shield without having to Dynamax/Gigantimax. I'm sure that Fissure+No Guard Machamp will then be a point of discussion for all Gen 8 formats, however.
i think gen 8 already soft banned tradebacks? it was a pr post a while ago and the answer was just to ignore it was possible to do that
Well what I meant is, say you have "Gardevoir" in Home.
Gardevoir will show up in Champions with the stats it has, but after that you'll be free to customize it with whatever. Notably, held items, something you can't otherwise have in Home.
This customization however "stays" in Champions, the one in Home won't be affected by it.
Honestly I doubt they remotely care that you can get it since even if you can transfer one to Sword and Shield... who cares? It's a old game and they havent exactly shown any interest in doing anything for those after they go in maintenance mode. It's a miracle if their online even still works...
Champions is very likely to use the "most updated moveset" for Pokemon, and Machamp is not able to learn Fissure in current generation.
Transfering a mon between most switch games causes their moves to be reset, I don't see why Champions would be much different. I'd assume connecting to HOME would add the mons to your permanent recruits and try to match their HOME state as much as possible
I also don't really see any particular reason why they would want to accomodate for event moves or to make events where Pokémon get moves they usually couldn't learn when Champions so far looks to be a way to make competitive Pokémon easier to get into for more people. Feels contradictory to make a game where training your Pokémon is a lot easier to access but at the same time have relevant competitive moves that are only available as special rewards
I also don't really see any particular reason why they would want to accomodate for event moves or to make events where Pokémon get moves they usually couldn't learn when Champions so far looks to be a way to make competitive Pokémon easier to get into for more people. Feels contradictory to make a game where training your Pokémon is a lot easier to access but at the same time have relevant competitive moves that are only available as special rewards
Darn, got busy and couldn't really do my deep dive into the Presents, at least not the major Pokemon Z-A stuff. I'll be also busy tomorrow but I'll at least have more time than today, so here's my thoughts on at least the first half of the Presents:
English:Japanese:
For whatever reason, Pokemon Company decided to have an hour long pre-show where Pikachu DJs played club remixes of Gen I music. It was just for fun, a bit of entertainment for those who arrive early. I wouldn't be against having another one, though quite a bit of effort went into this so I wouldn't be surprised if it was a one-off or will happen every once in a blue moon.
I appreciate that it wasn't just "hype" music remixes but they did put on a show. Throughout the performance visual they had several visual things going on:
1. At certain points another DJ Pikachu with different neon glasses took over hosting. First starts with one in green Grass-type glasses, then red Fire-type, blue Water-type, orange Electric-type, and finally one with glasses that color-shifted and the frames were Pikachu-shaped. They also had their transition between them unique (usually going along with the current stage effect) and at the tail end we had all 5 together. If I were the Pokemon Company I'd at least put up a set of the glasses on sale, with or without a Pikachu plush.
2. The Pikachu crowd had some neat things going on with it. Obviously throughout it got bigger, but early on a Pikachu off to the right curls up and falls asleep (not waking till the near end). Oddly there was a part with Jigglypuff's song and the PokeFlute theme though that didn't have anything to do with the sleeping Pikachu, bit of a missed opportunity there. Though the one thing everyone likely noticed was during the blackout & Lavender Town theme a Mimikyu sneaks in (vanishing halfway though the Lavender Town section). You know, Pikachu is fine and all, but I wouldn't mind if maybe they at least have more of the Pikaclones join in on these things (or at least Pichu and Raichu).
3. Finally, at least for the English performance, there were the stage effects. Throughout the spotlights & stage lights moved and changed colors to match the music. On eitherside of DJ Pikachu were tower speakers that would get struck with electricity and steadily fill up with light. About halfway the performance a blackout occured and shifted the performance to a dark room only lit by the display screen, DJ set, spotlights, & stage lights. Finally near the end the speakers stayed lit and changed colors along with the final DJ Pikachu's glasses (and the sound bars on the DJ set).
4. But as hinted at, the English viewers got a simplified version of the visuals. The Japanese version had some additional stuff.
* First they had a screen overlay like it was a livestream: "LIVE" was displayed on the top left corner, there was a "viewer count" that steadily went up, and on the right side there was a list of "viewers"... all whom were Pikachu (though most were written in Japanese katakana, though occasionally there was ones written in English, Chinese, & Korean; some other "names" showed up in katakana (like at 30:05 & 35:50) but I have no clue what they were).
* Second, while the livestream overlay was mostly aesthetic, it did have one interactive effect on the performance. Next to the "viewer count" was a lightning bolt which filled up as more "viewers" joined, and when it got filled that's what caused the electricity to fill the stage speakers. The first & third time the speakers filled up the "Evolution" song played and a little guessing game (I think?) popped up asking what song was coming up next. The second time the speakers fill up is when the blackout happened. The fourth was the final time and they stayed lit (though the "viewer counter" lightning bolt kept filling to continue striking the speakers with electricity).
While I can understand wanting to remove the list of names as that would have been tedious to redo in English, I don't get why they removed everything else. "LIVE" was writtne in English and the "viewer count" was just a number and has the interactive effect we still saw in the English performance. And I don't think the guessing game part would have taken much effort to translate as the part written in katakana was static. Oh well, I provided a link to the Japanese one incase you're curious.
1:03: Why just Psyduck? Psyduck is barely in the artwork. Is this Masuda's doing? EDIT: Apparently this has been a thing since 2023... Okay, I can get them not wanting people to actually play these cards, but could they have a more interesting (yet useless) effect? Or maybe this was meant to be a snide toward Masuda. "Hey Masuda, we don't want this card to have any play value, so we're going to use your favorite Pokemon to do so".
1:40: Odd choice, but being a Gen IX Pokemon it at least makes more sense than Psyduck.
2:15: Did Luxio say something bad and thus excluded?
2:31:: "Yeah, you just planted a garden in our living room!"
2:43: Haru crossed a Legendary Pokemon or Hex Maniac, didn't she?
3:39:: "Girl, did you forget he dumped you for a Lopunny?"
4:24: Of course the Aardman series was going to be set in Galar, it's the only place in the Pokemon world that can have Britich humour.
4:49: Shaun you look a bit different.
5:23: 2027? Jeez. I'm going to guess this is a whole series than? Like more than 4 episodes like Pokemon Concierge is?
5:47: Oh shoot, a new PokePark! I thought the series ended on the Wii... OH, they mean the physical place.
6:20: Speak of Masuda and he shall appear.
7:11: Oh, Bidoof & the Drilbur family, nice to see more than Gen I Pokemon, but why is it called PokePark Kanto? *Does research* Ah, so Yomiuriland is in Inagi, Tokyo... for those who don't know, the real Kanto region is where the Tokyo prefecture is located. So if they open up PokeParks elsewhere do they have to be within the borders of the real world place a region is based on? Like PokePark Unova would have to be in New York City?
7:17: Remember when Marts were seperate from Pokemon Centers? I say this as if we haven't just finished the remakes being in regions where that was the case.
7:22: Huh, that's an odd looking Pikachu, it's orange and has a long tail...
8:15: Oh come on Pokemon GO, are you serious? To get Eternatus we need to skydive? Not all of us own parachutes, ptsh!
8:59: Wow, look at all the Masters EX Trainers in their special outfits with their Legendary Pokemon partners... oh, and here's normal Carmine and Sinischa... may have wanted to switch the order there.
9:14: Pokemon Pirates of the Caribbean!... It's Cafe Mix, now with Lapras (as an employee, not a dish, though since there's now an overabundance of them (and hurting the fish Pokemon population) I guess they would be legal to hunt again).
9:56: So we have all the Beasts, when is Ho-Oh appearing in Sleep?
10:08: Amber Canyon, don't know much about Pokemon Sleep but that sounds like a good place for some Fossil Pokemon to appear.
11:30-13:28: Pokemon Friends. Their new "Pokemon (Thing)" app. I guess Pokemon Company have seen the increasing popularity of quick daily puzzles such as Wordle and Connections and decided to throw their hat into the ring. So, what types of quick daily puzzles could Pokemon do? Maybe solving battle scenarios, like what Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness did with Battle Bingo & Battle CDs? There's a version of Pokemon Wordle that uses Gen, Types, Height & Weight, could do something similar. No, instead it's just a hodgepodge of common logic puzzles with a Pokemon skin and when you finish one you get a digital plush to decorate a room... Why? What's the point of this? And this is the best you can come up with? Say what you want about GO and Sleep, but I can see them having a greater purpose that really no other app out there is able to do because of the Pokemon branding and offers something that either offers a reward for the core series games (Pokemon caught in GO can be transferred to HOME) or adds lore/flavor to the Pokemon World (such as Sleep's Dex). But there feels like there's nothing really here; there's other places on the web you can do quick daily puzzles, and has nothing that I can see to keep even a casual Pokemon fan interested.
14:21: Funny how the colors they use for the ToR is the color of their seal which I'm pretty sure is meant to represent a Type that ToR is weak to: Wo-Chein is purple (Poison), Chien-Pao orange (Fighting), Ting-Lu green (Grass), and Chi-Yu blue (Water).
14:49: Dark-types: "Hey! Where is our Mass Outbreak? Just because the Shiny ToR are using their secondary Type as thier Tera Type doesn't mean they aren't still all Dark-types! That'd be like having Shiny Pecharunt & Loyal Three raids but shafting the Poison-Types."
14:55: Why make different track suits? And why is Scarlets blue & purple and Violet's red & orange (sure the grapes are purple, but then why aren't the oranges orange for Scarlet's)? Also I feel Scarlet players got the better deal, a pattern jacket with plain pants looks way better than the other way. Honestly I would have been fine if both the jacket and pants being plain gray, if you want to represent the academy just have a emblem patch like on Violet's jacket (or make it take up the entire front of the jacket). Had they done that I MAY have considered changing out of the BB Track Suit.
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POKEMON CHAMPIONS: (Website)
15:34: I wonder if those moving animated banners mean anything or are they just made up advertisements like the ones on SV's Pokemon Center. I ask because there's one banner with wavy red arrow logos that feel like they could be a logo for a feature in Champions. I also noticed there was one featuring a cool drawing of Krookodile and another with Meditite; those are probably fake ads.
16:21: Though more importantly, Champions are giving a few battling UI QoL. Opponent's HP have percentages (would be neat if they let trainers switch their own Pokemon's HP between numbers and percentages too) and Moves that are 4x/.25x effective have their own notice when selecting a Move (and their symbols being colored in to especially note "Use This / Don't Use This"). Hopefully they also add battle logs which mention how much damage percentage a Move did.
16:45: And probably the major reveal, how stat manipulation is going to work. Instead of messing with both IVs and EVs, "Stat Points" sorta combines them together (I think?). According to a Reddit post I found, it looks like all Pokemon are treated to have 30 IVs in each stat (therefore in theory getting rid of IVs) and the Stat Points are EVs but they just show when an actual point is added to a stat. Nice and simple, this has been a change many have wanted (the idea IVs make each Pokemon "unique" is an archaic feature) and curious if Gen 10 will carry this over (which I hope they do, the big 10 would be the Gen to do something major like that; I'm sure there's other ways to make individual Pokemon unique from one another) or is this something just for Champions as it's a more competitive focused game.
Like how they have "Min" and "Max" buttons, as if saying "yeah, we know what you're going to do, but if you don't give the option to micro manage each Stat Point someone would complain".
I also like the symbols they gave to each stat. "Say what do we do for the defense stats?"; "Just put the Physical and Special symbol on shields". Speed is a combination of a "fast forward" arrow and anime speed lines.
16:52: That said, while nice they clearly explain Move's effects, would have also been nice if each Move had some flavor text.
16:57: Hardy? Docile? Bashful? Quirky? What are those? The only neutral Nature is Serious! Uggh, like with the Mints I get why there's only one, but at least in the games they don't actually change your Pokemon's Nature. But here it looks like it does? And if that's the case I'd prefer them either having all five or a single "Neutral" (or if you click on "Neutral" it then lets you select one of the five you want to avoid confusion). To be fair, I think there's also a bit of language discrepancy going on here. Like I don't feel "Serious" is quite correct for the de facto Neutral Nature, but that's just how it was translated. The Japanese word for the Nature is "Majime" and its a bit more nuanced. While one translation is "serious", it can also mean "honest", "earnest", "diligent" (all depends on the situation used in). So in that sense, in Japanese I can see why they chose "Majime", its just unfortunate it was straightforwardly translated to "Serious" (since this is the neutral Nature for Speed, I maybe would have picked "Diligent").
Looked at the website if there was anything else to comment on. One thing that caught my eye was the website goes more into detail about modes and formats that was only quickly touched upon in the trailer. And, as sadly expected, it's three modes (Ranked, Casual, & Private) and the expected basic two formats: Singles & Doubles. Though maybe this is just for when it starts, this is a big leap GF is making so they want to keep things both simple and "scope friendly" (I believe they want Champions to succeed, but incase it doesn't they at least didn't put in extra work for additional modes and formats; plus it gives them places to expand). Hopefully the success of Champions would encourage them to put in more, like the most obvious features to take from would be Battle Frontiers, Battle Revolution, and the Stadium games (could also take some things from Colosseum like Battle Bingo and Battle CDs).
Also I'm hoping they have more battlefields than the two they're showing and that the modes aren't locked to one. Like what if you want the less distracting room for Ranked/Casual or a cheering crowd for Private?
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POKEMON LEGENDS: Z-A: (Website)
17:45: Wait a second, why are the Poke Balls doing that? Or rather the modern Poke Balls. In Legends: Arceus their was an aesthetic reason the early Poke Balls did that, but modern Poke Balls don't have that reason.
17:48: Well that's a bit frightening. Alpha
: *SNIFF* "Wake up boys, meat is back on the menu".
19:27: Team MZ... I'm guessing "M" for "Mega" and "Z" for... "Hotel Z"? Like, it can't be for Zygarde. Actually, who named the team? From whay it sounds like, maybe AZ? He would certainly know about Zygarde, and there would be something about it that led to him naming his Hotel Z (and maybe the team), but I don't think he would share that information openly. So what would be the cover story. Let's see, it'd have to be a noun Z word... Zealot? Nah, sounds too fanatical. Zeitgeist? Hm, maybe, Team Mega Zeitgeist, keeping up with these changing times in Lumiose City and dealing with Rogue Mega Pokemon. EDIT: Bulbapedia suggests, going off a Korean term, that it could have to do with the members of Team MZ falling within the age range of Generation Z (that would be the mid 1990s to early 2010, so 15-30 year olds).
Don't really have much to say about Lida and Naveen. They feel like this game's version of the XY friends, which may be appropriate for Lida as she's probably related to Tierno (guessing younger sister; went into how their names sorta match here). Not so much for Naveen who is surely related to Grant (guessing younger brother. No direct name relation. Grant's Japanese is "Zakuro" which means "pomegranate" while Naveen's name is "Pur" which is French for "pure"; though there is symbolic connection that the pomegranate is considered a sacred and blessed fruit, a pure fruit if you will). They have neat designs and fun characteristics, but that's really all I'm getting from them for now.
20:31: I'm curious what exactly is the role of the Rust Syndicate. On the surface they're meant to look like this game's villain team, and they're certainly shady, seemingly to be a Yakuza-like group. There already there's certain "off" things about them. While we only got a few lines of dialouge from their leader Corbeau, I say they're pretty notable. The one shown in the Presents at 20:39 has him telling the player and Lida that he takes finacial matters seriously and had personally warned a "her" about something. On the website, likely during the same scene, he's smugly asking Team MZ to take care of some little jobs for them (which goes along with the Presents saying he has business with Team MZ). Put that altogether, and I have a part of a theory of what's at least going on with this scene.
I think the Rust Syndicate likely made huge investments into the Lumiose Reconstruction Project and were one of the groups to first notice the Alpha Pokemon causing trouble (and probably property damage). The "her" he warned was likely Jett; the Rust Syndicate has a lot of money at stake but could be Jett isn't taking the Alpha Pokemon threat seriously despite financial damages their causing. So, he's turning to Team MZ to help with the problem, dealing with the Alpha Pokemon causing the most trouble to help protect the peace (and Rust's investments...). Though, there could also be a possibility that Corbeau and the Rust Syndicate are AGAINST Jett and the reconstruction project. They already have investments all throughout Lumiose City and are concerned the reconstruction would cause issues (or we go back to them noticing the Alpha Pokemon causing trouble); eitherway Corbeau warned Jett about this which she likely shrugged off so now he has to resort to asking Team MZ to resolve problems that has started to appear due to the reconstruction/Alpha Pokemon.
Though, no matter the theory, one issue I have is it doesn't really explain who the Rust Syndicate are and why they're even called that. Like, to be as successful as they look, they must already have a tight grip on the city cause I feel you wouldn't make a deal with a group called the "Rust Syndicate" unless you absolutely had to (though I guess they could do business through shell companies; letting them keep their intimidating appearance while also still doing business).
Corbeau is an interesting character, in recent years they really like making the Poison-type trainers look "goopy". They mention he's one of the promotion matches in the Z-A Royale, though I'm guessing he'd probably be the opponent after we're at least midway through, plenty of time to have the story unfold to get to the point we would likely have crossed him at some point so his promotion match has story significance. Corbeau too bears a resemblence to existing characters, and while I couldn't put my finger on it others pointed out his eyes piercing yellow eyes have a resemblance to Carmine and Kieran (we won't get into the naming as what relates Corbeau to Carmine & Kieran would also technically make him related to Peony, Peonia & Penny). I guess him being from Kitikami would explain why his organization is Yakuza-like (wonder if his Poison preference somehow connects him to Pecharunt).
Quick mention to I'm guessing Corbeau's bodyguard, bar-like buttons on his suit, spiky sideburns, tread-like mohawk; Steel-type trainer for sure (which matches with the rust theme).
20:45: ACTUAL CUSTOMIZATION WOOT! Goodbye School Uniform! NEVER AGAIN GAMEFREAK (fine as an option, but not as the only thing)!
The website goes into more detail. First it talks about "The Z-A Rotale App" which keeps track of your Rank & Points, Prize Medals, and battle records. Why is it on the page about customization? Because it's also where you make your profile pic, which includes filters, expressions, and poses (hm, maybe as a challenge to myself I should make a new profile pic each time I rank-up).
It then talks about the fashion customization and there's a few interesting things here. With clothes it looks like they've tried to smooth the experience of mixing-and-matching your outfit; there also seems to be clothing sets which include color options. Though hair (and eyebrows?) have an intersting addition: Color Blocking and Balayage! In simpler terms, coloring blocking is multi-colored hair, and balayage is a gradiant fade. Neat options to have, BUT there is a caveat: you can't have both color blocking and a balayage. Don't know why, they seem different enough, like I'd understand them not wanting to do a balayage color blocking but them as separate elements? Maybe next game.
(Right there on the bottom left)
Oh, and then there's Furfrou. You know the deal with the Trims, though this time it's done via Scyther which doesn't sound either safe or would look good. In the Presents (21:05) it shows you only have 6 options (7 if you count Natural Form) with La Reine, Kabuki, and Pharaoh Trims missing. This is actually an interesting case as in XY you start with Star, Diamond, & Heart (& return to Natural); when you gain 10 Style points you get La Reine, Kabuki, & Pharaoh; and at 50 you finally get Debutante, Matron, & Dandy. So even if this is the middle of the game, they flipped what Trims you get earlier access to. But now I wonder if maybe they're offering these Trims earlier because they have new Trims? Or, another idea, maybe you can color swap. Heart (pink), Star (cyan), Diamond (orange), Debutante (yellow), Matron (purple), and Dandy (green) give you a nice selection of colors at the start. Then La Reine (light blue), Kabuki (red), and Pharaoh (blue) offer a little more options. And if they add in new Trims that'll of course add more options (I think they could include a darker purple, darker green, & teal).
And finally you have a Rotom Phone which means you also have a camera (maybe this time we won't need a selfie stick to take selfies with our floating phone).
21:31: We got a sneak peak of her on the cover, but finally our girl Emma is confirmed! She's looking great, I like the detective coat over the new Expansion Suit (with all the tech geniuses in the Pokemon World, notably Clemont is in Lumiose City, shouldn't be much of a stretch she'd have someone to fix and modify the suit). Sweet she continued being a detective (wonder if she still goes out as Essentia?), and thus another place for us to get side missions. I'm debating whether she would be part of the Z-A Royale, like there's no reason for her not to be (and the cover implies she is), but Emma has always been a bit strange so also wouldn't surprise me if she decided not to. But if she is a promotion match I'm guessing late game, like maybe E-rank.
21:48: Though while many has been expecting Emma to be back and given a bigger role, no one called this! Mable, one of the Team Flare female scientists, is now the acting director of Pokemon Lab. Aside the obvious question where is Sycamore, another question is how are you not on the run from the law? "Please, the Pokemon world is so loose with arresting the villain team". They tried to commit GLOBAL GENOCIDE of most people and ALL Pokemon, that's not a slap on the wrist crime. I can only assume that maybe Malva's deal with Looker not only had him getting rid of any evidence of her involvement but also other higher-up members like the female scientists (though Mable sure isn't hiding her involvement by having a Team Flare branded chair)?
But why Mable? Well, while the female scientists didn't get much screentime, I think from the quotes we have I've figured it out. Of the female scientists, Mable seems to be the one whose specialty is Pokemon research. She was the one assigned to capture Pokemon with potent energy to be used to power the Ultimate Weapon (like the Abomasnow in Frost Cavern; before confronting her she gleefully explains to the grunts how powerful it is). Then, when you meet her again in Lysandre Labs, she asks whether you're by yourself. Answer "No" she says of course not as you have your Pokemon; answer "Yes" she calls you cold for not counting your Pokemon. Finally, after you battle her, she notes you AND your Pokemon aren't ordinary (she's the only female scientist to even make note of your Pokemon). As for the others, I think Aliana's expertise is in energy while both Bryony & Celesia are mathematicians/statisticians (notably in probability). So while we didn't know much about the female scientists, from what we did it does seem like Mable would be the one who would go onto being a Pokemon Professor.
Anyway, I do like her new design, though at this point I am convinced the Professors are only wearing a lab coat because its the only way they think we'll know they're a Professor. Research Levels & Tasks (now called "Requests") are back from Legends: Arceus, but this time instead of the reward being pieces of basic Dex information & higher chance of getting a Shiny, Mable will give you rewards like the Pokedex did in SV (mostly TMs, though there are other items like Exp Candy).
22:18: So I want to address a pet peeve I've had with people about the lore behind Mega Pokemon. Ever since SM, I've seen many people saying Mega Evolution is a messed up concept because of all the messed up Dex entries mentioning how Mega Pokemon are suffering in certain ways. THIS ONLY APPLIES UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS! A Pokemon that Mega Evolves with a Trainer its in sync with for a short period of time is FINE. Mega Evolution only is bad if Trainer and Pokemon aren't in sync, the Pokemon stayed Mega Evolved for an extended period of time (longer than a Pokemon battle), or it's a Wild Pokemon. So I'm glad that GF have decided to make this even clearer by having these Rogue Mega Evolution raids. You see, WILD Mega Pokemon are suffering because they have to handle that extra energy all on their own. Meanwhile Mega Pokemon used by a Trainer are in control. Okay, done ranting.
Rogue Mega Raids should be interesting, exciting, and even intense. And I like that the other members of Team MZ are actually doing something and helping you in the battle! Why yes, I do like seeing the NPCs I'm supposed to care about participating with me in Raids instead of random NPCs who only exist to do Raids. And of course this is a way to get Mega Stones, though not the only way.
There's two other ways to get Mega Stones. One is from the good ol' Stone Emporium, back selling Mega Stones, Evo Stones, and "other related items" (wait, if there are no held items what other stones/rocks are they selling? Would Exp. Candy count? Fossils? GRITS?!). The second is Quasartico Inc. HQ, because apparently Mega Crystal clusters have started to grow around Lumiose City and by breaking them you get Mega Shards you can trade in for Mega Stones (and let's not question why these clusters started appearing and why it's only Quasartico Inc. who are interested in
(I hope these aren't actually Diancie eggs we're smashing...)
22:38: It's both exciting to finally see a new Mega Pokemon, but also sobering in a way. With seemingly no Abilities, unless the holdable Mega Stones give them an effect similar to their Ability, I'm wondering would we be getting the full effect of some of the new Megas. I'm sure in the code, or when transferred to HOME, they at the very least have a placeholder Ability. But since we'll (likely) not see this Ability in Legends: Z-A, I do wonder if that also may have affected the design, cause why include a design element referencing the Ability if it's not going to be there on its debut.
Mega Dragonite, while not a letdown, doesn't excite me either. I like the concept, and having a few days (or rather weeks) to mull over it the execution is fine; but still very plain. Though reading about it on the website really started making me think about the Ability thing. We already knew it was going to be powerful, Dragonite is already powerful. But I can see two directions Mega Dragonite can go with its Ability. First it's noted it has become faster at flying thanks to its head wings. While a Speed increasing Ability such as Speed Boost wouldn't be out there, but I could also see Gale Wings (it would tie-in with it wanting to end battles quick as an act of mercy). On the otherhand, it then mentions how kind it is and that it'll leave a battle to rush to someone's aide. Two Abilities come to mind with that: Healer and Friend Guard (here's something else to consider, since these Abilities only work in Double Battles, you wouldn't see them work in Legends: Z-A anyway; thus not changing how Mega Dragonite performed in its debut). A final possibility is Wind Rider and I could also see that, goes along with its soaring lore, increases its Attack, and gives it some valuable immunities; but if they're going to emphasize the wings I think they would go with it increasing its Speed (or giving it prioirty). Like if they wanted to give it a general power boost I'd say Adaptability (though Aerilate isn't a bad suggestion either, and Dragonite gets Extreme Speed...).
As for stats, pfft, I think the question isn't how more powerful/faster will they make it but rather how many points are they going to dump into Special Attack to keep it from being OP? I'm going to go out on a limb and say quite a few. Maybe something like 91/154/105/130/105/115//700. Actually if they want to be funny they can do 91/149/105/134/105/116//700; make its Attack reference its National Dex # and have its Special Attack be as high as its normal Attack.
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It was revealed 3 days before release: https://serebii.net/news/2022/25-January-2022.shtml
The official website also posted clearer silhouettes and the Japanese trailer had a less clickbait title: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...ial-content-only.3679044/page-68#post-9099370
I would add one detail about Mega Dragonite (and other new megas or forms or even pokemon for what matters).
It's likely that similarly to L.A., they will still have abilities in the game files, just not active.
However, i wouldn't actually consider what they get at all. As we saw in L.A., the abilities they get there are placeholders, and several did get changed when moving to the actual main series, in some cases with brand new ones like Shapness.
So even if, say, Mega Dragonite has "Multiscale", this won't mean it actually will have it if/when it becomes available in gen 10 and/or Champions
Sooner than expected. Very nice. I will be seated.
Forgot to comment on this but it would be really funny if Z-A had a rudimentary PvP mode and it actually got a spot on Worlds for a few years
Hopefully Z-A will keep the momentum going and surprise.