Pokémon Presents - Pokémon Day 2025 - Pokemon ZA Info & Pokemon Champions Announced

I'm not a huge fan of how the main arms connect to the body. I can see where they're coming from with it, it looks enough like a supervillain outfit and all, but it comes off way too much as having a defined shoulder joint. Not only is that awkward for a cephalopod, it also breaks the idea of Malamar being upside-down.
 
Assuming Mega Malamar keeps its Dark/Psychic typing, it’d be the perfect time to debut a Bug mega - if ever there were a time for a Mega Ledian, it’d be now.

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Really happy with Mega Malamar’s design! I think Dragonite is still my favorite of what we’ve seen so far, but I really like all four designs and I’m feeling super optimistic about the direction of the rest that we haven’t seen yet.
Something to note is that the gameplay video reveals the return of the drowsy status effect after MMalamar uses Hypnosis on Dragonite.

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Not a big surprise, but it is nice to have it confirmed.

Please GF I am begging on hands and knees for drowsy (and frostbite, but we haven’t seen any proof of that yet) to get into the main series after this. After two different Legends games to break in the concept, I think it’s long past time we got rid of sleep and frozen.
 
frostbite sucks and i dont want to see it in the main games. drowsy i feel mixed feelings on: sleep is broken, but drowsy feels a bit lazy since its just paralysis with a different stat cut. I think itd be more interesting if they just tweaked sleep to give a stat BUFF when its applied/heal the pokemon every turn its asleep, but i dont want to break the forum rules of no wishlisting lol
 
I hope Heracross is featured again in the next Mega reveal. After two rounds of getting picked on by these new Megas (while we don't see Heracross get inconvenienced in this trailer, Malamar forced its trainer to replace it), it's had enough, Mega Evolves into Mega Heracross...and still loses to the featured Mega.
 
I've got to wonder ... seeing as Abilities are not a thing in this game, and some Mega Evolutions absolutely rely on Abilities to escape utter mediocrity due to base stats that are lower than many regular Pokémon, if there will be some other way for Megas to distinguish themselves in battle. Mega Sableye and Mega Mawile have the same BST as such titanic Pokémon as Glalie, Whimsicott, and Slurpuff (albeit with a slightly more optimized stat distribution). Mega Medicham has lower base stats than Weavile in every stat except SpA. Somehow, I doubt they are going to perform at that level in LZA, when Mega Evolution is such a hyped mechanic.

I suspect that for in-game purposes, Megas will straight up be better than regular 'mons through some innate stat boosts or power mechanics, so that no matter what Mega you pick, it will be better than having no Megas at all. And conversely, that non-Megas have no chance against Megas in battle, practically requring players to find and use one as soon as possible.
 
I've got to wonder ... seeing as Abilities are not a thing in this game, and some Mega Evolutions absolutely rely on Abilities to escape utter mediocrity due to base stats that are lower than many regular Pokémon, if there will be some other way for Megas to distinguish themselves in battle. Mega Sableye and Mega Mawile have the same BST as such titanic Pokémon as Glalie, Whimsicott, and Slurpuff (albeit with a slightly more optimized stat distribution). Mega Medicham has lower base stats than Weavile in every stat except SpA. Somehow, I doubt they are going to perform at that level in LZA, when Mega Evolution is such a hyped mechanic.

I suspect that for in-game purposes, Megas will straight up be better than regular 'mons through some innate stat boosts or power mechanics, so that no matter what Mega you pick, it will be better than having no Megas at all. And conversely, that non-Megas have no chance against Megas in battle, practically requring players to find and use one as soon as possible.
Legends Arceus had "abilities" for certain Pokemon, like Cherrim changing forms when the sun is up, Arceus changing types when it uses Judgment, and Regigigas having Slow Start mechanics. I wonder if Megas might utilize a similar mechanic depending on the Mega.
 
Megas will straight up be better than regular 'mons through some innate stat boosts or power mechanics
there was a loading screen tooltip in the demo footage that said the following
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"Plus Moves of Mega-Evolved Pokemon"
"Mega-Evolved Pokemon use moves as Plus Moves by default -- even ones they haven't yet mastered."

we've seen the Plus icon next to moves in a lot of the trailers with no explanation for what those meant, and "Move Mastery" was a mechanic in the previous legends game, so it does seem like Megas just straight up get more powerful moves by default. I imagine they might get other buffs too like faster cooldowns or something.
 
this nintendo direct on friday is as long as the nintendo switch 2 big announcement direct in April was at 60 minutes. also the first general direct on a friday in over a decade?

also, the director of legends za quote tweeted the announcement with "I see" and a cat emoji

there's also been a rumor from some leakers that there's going to be a new pokemon spinoff title announced this week, these leakers aren't the most reliable ones around so who knows if it's true but it would be cool to get something, either a brand new spinoff or a followup title to some dead series.
 
Official description copy pasted from the official Pokémon website

Mega Malamar
Malamar’s brain has become enlarged as a result of Mega Evolution. Greatly enhanced psychic power overflows from its body, emitting a bright glow. This vividly colored light further amplifies the Pokémon’s hypnotic abilities, allowing it to freely overwrite the personalities or even memories of others—a terrifying power that can make someone seem like an entirely different person.

Its glowing, undulating tendrils are able to pick up on the feelings of those around it. It prefers battling with efficiency, using its powerful intellect to analyze the situation with levelheadedness as it fights. Mega Malamar views others—even Pokémon Trainers—as its pawns. If it disagrees with an order given to it by a Trainer, it will sometimes respond by hypnotizing them, making this an incredibly difficult Pokémon to interact with.

It appears that Mega Malamar has recently been spotted using its hypnotic abilities on citizens of Lumiose City, creating the boom in popularity for the Pokémon recently observed in a special videoand across the Pokémon social media channels. For a special report investigating the truth behind Mega Malamar’s recent activities in Lumiose City, please visit the official Pokémon YouTube channel.

It’s also staying Dark/Psychic and is taller than I thought at 9’6” (2.93 m) so that’s pretty freaky

This was meant to be more of a shitpost/response to the Malamar hate thread in Smogoff, but I actually had more to argue about than I expected, so I guess I'll also repost my relevant opinions on those descriptions here. Not that I really expect most people to feel as strongly about the writing style of the meme of the month and its fancy new design but I figured it's different enough of a talking point.

tl;dr: After all that buildup with the meme of making friends and all, I don't actually see what makes Mega Malamar so different from base Malamar in ability and personality. Then again I don't know if I'm taking this more or less seriously than Malamar fans that just want to be friends with Malamar.

I thought Malamar could already "take over someone's personality" when its X dex entry claims it "wields the most compelling hypnotic powers of any Pokémon", among its other dex entries. This new lore just seems like it's making base Malamar less capable rather than making Mega Malamar really sound like an upgrade if that makes sense. If anything Malamar's weak point seems to be its lack of subtlety which the mega doesn't seem to address, or rather doubled down on it considering this whole marketing campaign.

The other blurb tells us that Malamar is smart and can read minds like most other psychics I guess, and also it's a loose cannon that can turn on you.

My problem with this is that it doesn't really tell us anything about what Malamar does. We are simply told to believe that Malamar is so intelligent and can even pick up on people's feelings, but we are not shown how Malamar thinks or uses this information in its thought process to solve problems and/or manipulate people. As far as we know, Malamar's intellect and analytical skills could have nothing to do with its body happening to have hypnotic lights that it can instantly control people with. If Mega Malamar's brain was the size of a peanut with the exact same body and powers, then it would still be just as dangerous, if not more so with no sense of morality or reasoning keeping its chaos controlled.
 
I really like the design personally. I wonder if they made it look like an uterus on purpose, it would make some thematic sense but I don't think GF has the balls to do that
 
I've got to wonder ... seeing as Abilities are not a thing in this game, and some Mega Evolutions absolutely rely on Abilities to escape utter mediocrity due to base stats that are lower than many regular Pokémon, if there will be some other way for Megas to distinguish themselves in battle. Mega Sableye and Mega Mawile have the same BST as such titanic Pokémon as Glalie, Whimsicott, and Slurpuff (albeit with a slightly more optimized stat distribution). Mega Medicham has lower base stats than Weavile in every stat except SpA. Somehow, I doubt they are going to perform at that level in LZA, when Mega Evolution is such a hyped mechanic.

I suspect that for in-game purposes, Megas will straight up be better than regular 'mons through some innate stat boosts or power mechanics, so that no matter what Mega you pick, it will be better than having no Megas at all. And conversely, that non-Megas have no chance against Megas in battle, practically requring players to find and use one as soon as possible.
I also think Mega Evolutions should have some kind of advantage. Maybe it's not just a stat boost, but some new game mechanic that's only available to them.
 
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