Botched predictions for Pokemon games

[Pikachu315111]

Regarding Gen 4, I once made a prediction/wishlist of which typings the Gyms in D/P would have. It was the following:

1-Ice
2-Bug
3-Steel
4-Electric
5-Ground
6-Psychic
7-Poison
8-Dark

Not a single one of them was correct. D/P did have Ice, Steel and Electric-type Gyms, but the order I placed them in was incorrect.

Why Ice as the first Gym? Nothing wrong with it, Ice has plenty of weaknesses so oddly makes for an alright starting Gym, but with how past gens have treated it feels like curveball.

Before Platinum was announced, there were also a lot of speculation regarding what the Mascot legend would be. Apart from Giratina, some other legendary Sinnoh Pokémon were considered, the two most common being Cresselia and Mesprit. I kind of thought it could be either of them, some people had very compelling arguments for them. But in retrospect, it was quite naive to think the mascot would be anything else than Giratina. I also remember that I believed that in Platinum, Regigigas would get a new form that would actually make it useful, thanks Pikachu315111 for reminding me!

Not naive as Platinum was the game that cemented the tradition of the 3rd member of the group that mascot trio was a part of would be the third version's mascot. Also remember it's not until the 3rd version do they officially relate the mascot to the initial versions mascots. Yellow made Pikachu a Starter, Crystal revealed Suicune was Ho-Oh's favorite, Emerald had Rayquaza calm Groudon's & Kyogre's battle, Platinum told you Giratina was Arceus's third child & had it interrupt Dialga & Palkia warping spacetime, BW2 had Kyurem fuse with Zekrom & Reshiram and explained it was what's left of the original dragon, USUM had Necrozma fuse with Solgaleo & Lunala and explained it feeds off the light they create. Otherwise they were just random Pokemon like the other Legendaries. While they probably wouldn't have done Mesprit as that would be sort of a copy of Suicune (which was only done because Lugai & Ho-Oh didn't have a third member and there was really no other Legendary they could have used), they could have decided to throw a left ball and done Cresselia and maybe did something with the concept for dreams.

If I remember things correctly, during the promotion of the Shaymin movie it was revealed one of the Legendaries was getting a "Sky Forme". It was either Shaymin or Regigigas as they were the two featured Legendaries so fans were split which one was getting the form. Some assumed Regigigas, others Shaymin. I think better translations later revealed it was Shaymin which then led to this:

Yeah, some of you remember this. Before the official Shaymin Sky Forme was revealed this little fakemon was making the rounds. It was created by PurpleKecleon and treated as the real thing until the actual one was revealed.

For Gen 5, I never predicted anything for B/W since I was burnt out on Pokémon at that time, but I made some predictions about a possible third version for B/W. Some of them became very wrong, I have listed all of those below:

- B/W will get a third version named either Gray or Grey
- In this third version, they would expand on the story and Kyurem will replace Reshiram/Zekrom (again, partly correct for what happened in B2/W2)
- The "God Stone" (an unobtainable item that is coded into B/W), will be used in the third version, and it will have something to do with Kyurem

I did make some more predictions for OR/AS though. First of all, for Hoenn remakes, I thought that they would never happen because of how hated R/S/E had been in the past. I also came up with some names for possible Hoenn remakes even though I thought they wouldn't happen, those were "Crimson Ruby & Cobalt Sapphire" as well as "Scarlet Ruby & Indigo Sapphire". One other thing I thought about for OR/AS was that the Delta Episode was event-only or that an event was required to catch Deoxys since they revealed that Deoxys could be caught in it, but Deoxys had always been an event-only Pokémon prior to that.

Also, for Gen 6. Thinking that Pokémon "Z" or at least some form of follow-up game to X/Y would happen.

- Many were guessing Gray/Grey for the same reason many assumed Gen VI's third version would have been Z. We see a pattern and assumed it'll stay consistent until it doesn't. Which I'm not complaining, I like how GF can keep us guessing and on our feet. Reminds me how before ORAS many were trying to predict the name of the Gen III remakes. I think the obvious one was MagmaRuby & AquaSapphire and, well, obviously that was wrong. Makes me curious what they'd do for Diamond & Pearl, doubt would be TimeDiamond and SpacePearl. :P
- Don't know how they would do BW with Kyurem replacing Reshiram/Zekrom. I don't exactly remember how I thought they would do the story for Gray, I think I thought they would have it so N got both Reshiram and Zekrom while the player would then team-up with Kyurem (probably needs to get the God Stone) to stop them and be whole again.

Lastly, there's S/S and Gen 8. What did I get wrong here? First of all, the game names. Some I thought of were "Spirit & Code" as well as "Vanilla & Chocolate", but both were wrong.

I actually saw someone else suggest Sword & Shield before the names were released and thought it was a good pairing for a game name, and lo and behold...

Here's a kind of old one that drove me insane back in the day: The Striaton Trio were not at the final battle in BW1 not because they were further away and Bianca was still getting to them, but because actually they were the shadow triad!

Needless to say i was popping bottles when BW2 went "no, that's stupid" like 3 different ways.

Funny thing is I also think the Pokemon Special manga thought the Striaton Trio were going to be revealed to be the Shadow Triad as the Shadow Triad's masks in the manga were in the same shapes as the Elemental Monkeys. So either the manga also botched that prediction or they were told this was the initial plan but GF changed their mind.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I remember when Leon was first revealed and people were thinking they were pulling some kind of bait-and-switch with his Charizard or that it was a placeholder. Even at the time these theories were circulating all I could think was "Why the fuck would they make a fully-rendered 3D cutscene and specifically point out the Pokemon choice of the (highly likely) final boss if it was temporarily taking the place of something else?", and the deliberate deception theories were even more stupid with the only possible thing I could think of being an as-of-that-point unrevealed Galarian Zoroark, but that would still require legit having Charizard in the party to work with Illusion so yeah I dunno what those were about aside from straight-up denial.

 

[HottieLamatie]

Prediction, not hope? Hmmm............I thought that contests would continue in one form or another (with all the regular moves having a contest side to them) going in to Gen V. I was wrong. :(

Related in a minor way: I played Emerald for the first time last year. I thought that the contest halls were going to be set up the same way as in Ruby & Sapphire. Nope...all Contests are held in Lilycove City, definitely at least half-way into the game. As someone who LOOOVES the Gen III Pokémon Contests, this was crushing. This was something of a failed prediction, I suppose? :P

 

[Pikachu315111]

I remember when Leon was first revealed and people were thinking they were pulling some kind of bait-and-switch with his Charizard or that it was a placeholder.

Blame that on Gen I pandering fatigue. Also since Charizard had previously been used as a transport Pokemon many hoping that was just maybe the case, Leon may have a Charizard but uses it to fly around on. And there was of course those who thought Leon was evil probably had a Charizard as sort of a meta reference how popular Charizard is and it's just one of the ways Leon garners public support. Though later it was revealed Charizard has a new Gigantamax so that explained that.

But to be fair Leon does use a Dragapult and the Starter you didn't pick.

Prediction, not hope? Hmmm............I thought that contests would continue in one form or another (with all the regular moves having a contest side to them) going in to Gen V. I was wrong. :(

Which I do feel is a misstep because Contests was a pretty good way to expand upon the battling mechanics making it accessible but having its own set of mechanics that you need to understand to master. Musicals and PokeStar Studios were a nice side feature but they felt too simple or scripted, they lacked the depth of Contests. ORAS gave a small glimpse of what they could have done with Contests had they kept them. At least I suppose the Sinnoh Remakes would have them though I think they should be at least a feature on rotation (as in they won't be in every game but occasionally come back). Or heck add it in as DLC. Or make it into a phone app (infact they could make a lot of side features into phone apps and probably make a nice bit of cash doing so... you know, instead of having to hold our Pokemon hostage to make money).

 

[R_N]

Another gen 5 memory:
BW2 would literally freeze half of Unova.

This was based on the promotional map, indeed, freezing over large chunks of unova. Now in fairness BW2 did in fact have Plasma use Kyurem to fire freezing shots at parts of Unova, but it was still very localized, but people were absolutely expecting more than just Opelucid getting the brunt of it.

What the map was actually doing was takinga break from the usual thing they do where they just cover post-game areas in Clouds.

speaking of which

Remember how often we were convinced that there would, say, be a giant post game island because of all the huge conspicious clouds were on the Alola Map in that giant gaping sea??

ha-haaaaa definitely not me! ho ho, no....

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Why Ice as the first Gym? Nothing wrong with it, Ice has plenty of weaknesses so oddly makes for an alright starting Gym, but with how past gens have treated it feels like curveball.

Good question. I wish I could remember the exact reason (the list I posted was from an old post I made on Serebiiforums in May 2006). But if I were to guess, there are two possible alternatives.

The first alternative is that I remember that I once wrote down several ideas I had for a future Pokémon game. It featured 8 Gyms as usual, I recall that I had made an Ice-type Gym which featured an ice-slide puzzle like in the Mahogany Gym in G/S/C. I think it was also the first Gym in my game. So when I made that wishlist for the D/P Gyms, I guess I just used the types for the Gyms in my own fan-created game.

The second one might have been that I wanted the Fire-starter to have the advantage against the first Gym for once. At this point in the series, the Fire-starter had usually been the one with the biggest disadvantage against the first Gym. Compare this to my list: Fire beats Ice easily, as well as Bug and Steel which I put as number 2 and 3. Meanwhile, Grass has problems against all three of these types. In the actual games at this point, Grass had been one of the better alternatives in two generations, so I guess I wanted that to change. But reality became different, and I guess Turtwig is really happy about how my wishlist for the D/P Gyms did not became true!

Not naive as Platinum was the game that cemented the tradition of the 3rd member of the group that mascot trio was a part of would be the third version's mascot. Also remember it's not until the 3rd version do they officially relate the mascot to the initial versions mascots. Yellow made Pikachu a Starter, Crystal revealed Suicune was Ho-Oh's favorite, Emerald had Rayquaza calm Groudon's & Kyogre's battle, Platinum told you Giratina was Arceus's third child & had it interrupt Dialga & Palkia warping spacetime, BW2 had Kyurem fuse with Zekrom & Reshiram and explained it was what's left of the original dragon, USUM had Necrozma fuse with Solgaleo & Lunala and explained it feeds off the light they create. Otherwise they were just random Pokemon like the other Legendaries. While they probably wouldn't have done Mesprit as that would be sort of a copy of Suicune (which was only done because Lugai & Ho-Oh didn't have a third member and there was really no other Legendary they could have used), they could have decided to throw a left ball and done Cresselia and maybe did something with the concept for dreams.

If I remember things correctly, during the promotion of the Shaymin movie it was revealed one of the Legendaries was getting a "Sky Forme". It was either Shaymin or Regigigas as they were the two featured Legendaries so fans were split which one was getting the form. Some assumed Regigigas, others Shaymin. I think better translations later revealed it was Shaymin which then led to this:

Fair enough, but if we look at how they did with Emerald (and for that matter, future generations), it should have been obvious that Giratina was going to be the mascot legend for the third version. But I guess it was hard to see it from that perspective back in the day. Mesprit having an extended role in D/P compared to the other members of the lake trio was one argument I remember that I saw, which made people believe it was going to be a "new Suicune", so to say. As for Cresselia, it got featured at the Spear Pillar stage in Brawl which might have made some people believe it would be the next mascot legend since Spear Pillar is a big location in D/P and Cresselia was featured there alongside Palkia and Dialga.

From what I remember, I believed that both Shaymin and Regigigas would get new forms after seeing some news about that (as well as a fake leak which had an image of Regigigas' new form). A little disappointing afterwards when only Shaymin got one but I don't mind since I love Shaymin. Regigigas really deserved a buff though, and I think it still does. Perhaps it will get one in the future, in the D/P remakes or maybe even in the S/S DLC? If not, then that will become another botched prediction of mine.

- Many were guessing Gray/Grey for the same reason many assumed Gen VI's third version would have been Z. We see a pattern and assumed it'll stay consistent until it doesn't. Which I'm not complaining, I like how GF can keep us guessing and on our feet. Reminds me how before ORAS many were trying to predict the name of the Gen III remakes. I think the obvious one was MagmaRuby & AquaSapphire and, well, obviously that was wrong. Makes me curious what they'd do for Diamond & Pearl, doubt would be TimeDiamond and SpacePearl. :P
- Don't know how they would do BW with Kyurem replacing Reshiram/Zekrom. I don't exactly remember how I thought they would do the story for Gray, I think I thought they would have it so N got both Reshiram and Zekrom while the player would then team-up with Kyurem (probably needs to get the God Stone) to stop them and be whole again.

Yeah, I also thought they would follow the same pattern as in previous generations. And like you, I'm happy that they didn't since B2/W2 became awesome! I also like how they can be unpredictable and make us guess what's coming next. I had never expected them to do B2/W2, OR/AS, no Kalos follow-up game for X/Y, US/UM and DLC for S/S, for instance.

I'm not sure how the story would have been in Gray/Grey. From what I remember, my idea was a little different as I expected N to get Kyurem while the player got... something else? Both dragons? In the end, I guess that it is good that we got B2/W2 instead.

I actually saw someone else suggest Sword & Shield before the names were released and thought it was a good pairing for a game name, and lo and behold...

I think I saw somewhere after the reveal that there had been a leak of some form which had Sword and Shield as the game names. Don't really remember it exactly though.

Funny thing is I also think the Pokemon Special manga thought the Striaton Trio were going to be revealed to be the Shadow Triad as the Shadow Triad's masks in the manga were in the same shapes as the Elemental Monkeys. So either the manga also botched that prediction or they were told this was the initial plan but GF changed their mind.

While this was not something I ever predicted (I didn't start reading the manga until after the B/W chapter had been completed), I have read on manga threads/forums/sites that other fans believed this too. One reason being that the Pokémon the Shadow Triad use in the manga are Lilligant, Larvesta and Basculin, which are the same types as what the Striaton Gym Leaders use. Personally, I'm actually okay with the Striaton Leaders not being the Shadow Triad since I liked it better that way.

I also remembered two more things I got wrong for S/S. First of all, I did not expect them to create more regional variants after the Alolan forms. While the concept was fantastic, I felt that the execution was average at best. But I was proven wrong and I'm really happy about that since I think Galarian forms are awesome, way better than the Alolan forms. The other thing is this: when I played through Sword, I did not think that Rose would be the bad guy. Like with Aether in Gen 7, it felt too obvious. But I got that wrong as well.

 

[Pikachu315111]

The second one might have been that I wanted the Fire-starter to have the advantage against the first Gym for once. At this point in the series, the Fire-starter had usually been the one with the biggest disadvantage against the first Gym. Compare this to my list: Fire beats Ice easily, as well as Bug and Steel which I put as number 2 and 3. Meanwhile, Grass has problems against all three of these types. In the actual games at this point, Grass had been one of the better alternatives in two generations, so I guess I wanted that to change. But reality became different, and I guess Turtwig is really happy about how my wishlist for the D/P Gyms did not became true!

And Gen VIII granted your wish by having the Grass-type Gym being the first!

Regigigas really deserved a buff though, and I think it still does. Perhaps it will get one in the future, in the D/P remakes or maybe even in the S/S DLC? If not, then that will become another botched prediction of mine.

Would really like to see that, especially since interest in the Regi is back with the two news one being made for the Crown Tundra.

 

[HottieLamatie]

Which I do feel is a misstep because Contests was a pretty good way to expand upon the battling mechanics making it accessible but having its own set of mechanics that you need to understand to master. Musicals and PokeStar Studios were a nice side feature but they felt too simple or scripted, they lacked the depth of Contests. ORAS gave a small glimpse of what they could have done with Contests had they kept them. At least I suppose the Sinnoh Remakes would have them though I think they should be at least a feature on rotation (as in they won't be in every game but occasionally come back). Or heck add it in as DLC. Or make it into a phone app (infact they could make a lot of side features into phone apps and probably make a nice bit of cash doing so... you know, instead of having to hold our Pokemon hostage to make money).

Oh my god, YAAAS!!! And I know that Pokémon Mystery Dungeon has a different form of battle system (as does Pokken, of course...but I don't know if that's really a Pokémon game so much as a game filled with Pokémon?) There's so much more that could be done. One of the games from The Pokémon Company as a mobile game is the Magikarp Splash...which as I understand it is more robust than the minigame on Pokémon Stadium, but something like the contests (which you could really make a whole game out of, given that all of the regular moves were also contest moves) would make for a compelling game.

Would also REALLY like to go to the Orange Islands, including doing the Gym challenges which were really unconventional. That could totally be made into a small game. Perhaps it could be more focussed on exploration, or something? And you should be able to collect berries from the Pinkin Islands if you make it there, which make a Pokémon pink for 24 hours! GIVE ME PINK POKÉMON (THAT AREN'T NORMALLY PINK)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Yung Dramps]

Another thing I just remembered from around the time SWSH was being leaked: Y'all remember the reactions and speculation when the regional Pokedex was leaked and the Type:Null family was the only old legendary line in there? Coupled with us knowing at this point from a few sources that there was some kind of postgame story without knowing the specifics and people's imaginations ran wild, myself included. I was fully expecting some kind of brief side story or at the very least a traditional legendary encounter in some secluded, rotting lab location, which either way would finally tell us what happened to the 3rd Type:Null model that was said to exist in Sun and Moon but whose whereabouts were unknown. Don't forget all the theories about the Aether Foundation possibly returning with a branch in Galar! Sadly this is one of those cases where the final result was way, way more underwhelming than we anticipated, but it's still a fun little thing to look back on.

 

[R_N]

Another thing I just remembered from around the time SWSH was being leaked: Y'all remember the reactions and speculation when the regional Pokedex was leaked and the Type:Null family was the only old legendary line in there? Coupled with us knowing at this point from a few sources that there was some kind of postgame story without knowing the specifics and people's imaginations ran wild, myself included. I was fully expecting some kind of brief side story or at the very least a traditional legendary encounter in some secluded, rotting lab location, which either way would finally tell us what happened to the 3rd Type:Null model that was said to exist in Sun and Moon but whose whereabouts were unknown. Don't forget all the theories about the Aether Foundation possibly returning with a branch in Galar! Sadly this is one of those cases where the final result was way, way more underwhelming than we anticipated, but it's still a fun little thing to look back on.

It's a shame there's not a bit, you know...more to the event because I really love the idea of the Type Null research getting into the hands ofRose, idiot billionaire, and then commissioned one

Though my botched prediction was I knew Type Null/Silvally was in the game, but not that it was in the pokedex, so I assumed it was part of the unlisted Pokemon like Mew.

 

[Count Bleck]

Here's a fun one for those who are old enough to rrmember shoddy battle: Whimsicott would get Spore and terrorize the metagame. Some people were even calling for a ban even before the games released! Fortunately for everyone, it only got Cotton Spore and Stun Spore.

I also remember that people predicted that we'd get to see the Original Dragon of unova that would fuse kyurem, reshiram, and Zekrom together....well at least they were kiiiiinda right on that front.

 

[Random Passerby]

Remember back when people theorised that Wild Area would be fun to explore and had lots of secrets in the postgame? Definitely not me, why do you ask?

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Has anyone mentioned the old classic where people thought that the third game to go with Diamond and Pearl would be called Opal?

Here's a fun one for those who are old enough to rrmember shoddy battle: Whimsicott would get Spore and terrorize the metagame. Some people were even calling for a ban even before the games released! Fortunately for everyone, it only got Cotton Spore and Stun Spore.

Must be the same people who found out about the 10% Sandstorm SpD boost at the start of DP, and wanted Tyranitar banned immediately.

 

[dodiabla]

Some predictions from SwSh:

-ARMORED POKEMON (some of us were really convinced that this was the gen gimmick this time around. Wonder if it would also have ended up broken and banned)
-Kalos being to the south of Galar and being involved in some way in the post-game.
-New Galar forms including: Lapras, Nidolines, Milotic, Arcanine, etc.
-Voice Acting (an early prediction)

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Armour Evolution was one of those fake leaks that made the rounds for a long while. Another of my favourites was that the Champion Cup would be rigged, and Rose's villain plot would largely be about that.

 

[Count Bleck]

Armour Evolution was one of those fake leaks that made the rounds for a long while. Another of my favourites was that the Champion Cup would be rigged, and Rose's villain plot would largely be about that.

You know what, I totally forgot that. I was so damn sure from day 1 that Rose made a puppet champion that pulled things from the shadows to keep him the reigning champion, but that seems something more akin to Ace Attorney than Pokemon in hindsight. I think a fake leak had something to do with it, something about Leon capturing the legendary?

Imagine everyone's surprise when HOP of all people snags the other legend...

 

[saltyseahag69]

Has anyone mentioned the old classic where people thought that the third game to go with Diamond and Pearl would be called Opal?

Or Pokémon Girasol, for people who were still more literal-minded.

Back when DP came out there was also a theory that the third game would feature Mesprit as the box legend, based off of allegory with Crystal. I think the idea was that it would roam throughout the storyline much like Suicune, and then give you the Red Chain for the climax so you could corral Dialga and Palkia. It was silly, of course, to imagine that Giratina would be the box legend, since it was just plopped in Turnback Cave with little explanation and very definitely had nothing to do with Dialga and Palkia. For example, it had gold ornaments, while Dialga and Palkia had silver. Totally different. (I think there were variations of this theory for basically every DP legend, since there were so many of them--definitely at least Cresselia and Heatran.)

There was also some concern that they would run out of names for the games after Diamond and Pearl, since there weren't many more precious metals. (Plus, how could they even have legendaries after Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus?? we hit the power ceiling!)

 

[Random Passerby]

There was also some concern that they would run out of names for the games after Diamond and Pearl, since there weren't many more precious metals. (Plus, how could they even have legendaries after Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus?? we hit the power ceiling!)

Actually we kinda did as the only things better than Arceus were either upgraded forms of Legendaries and Xerneas.

 

[R_N]

There was also some concern that they would run out of names for the games after Diamond and Pearl, since there weren't many more precious metals. (Plus, how could they even have legendaries after Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus?? we hit the power ceiling!)

Related to this anyone else remember the bizarrely extended period where, because of Arceus, people thought pokemon was going to end forever with no more generations (or games in general, I think) to follow. We have Poke God WHERE COULD WE POSSIBLLY GO?!

 

[Pikachu315111]

Related to this anyone else remember the bizarrely extended period where, because of Arceus, people thought pokemon was going to end forever with no more generations (or games in general, I think) to follow. We have Poke God WHERE COULD WE POSSIBLLY GO?!

Not ending but the idea of rebooting and culling I think started around then.

 

[R_N]

Not ending but the idea of rebooting and culling I think started around then.

the one I always say was this was it, the franchise was done. It was almost comical. Every couple weeks there'd be threads about it on serebii it felt like. I think It stopped at about HGSS but even then I'd see it time to time.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Yeah, I don't think the full reboot theories really got going until we found out that Black and White "only had Gen 5 Pokemon".

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

We have Poke God WHERE COULD WE POSSIBLLY GO?!

stunfisk and maractus, apparently

 

[Count Bleck]

We have Poke God WHERE COULD WE POSSIBLLY GO?!

ORAS: To answer that, we need to talk about parallel universes.

 

[DreamPrince]

Or Pokémon Girasol, for people who were still more literal-minded.

Back when DP came out there was also a theory that the third game would feature Mesprit as the box legend, based off of allegory with Crystal. I think the idea was that it would roam throughout the storyline much like Suicune, and then give you the Red Chain for the climax so you could corral Dialga and Palkia. It was silly, of course, to imagine that Giratina would be the box legend, since it was just plopped in Turnback Cave with little explanation and very definitely had nothing to do with Dialga and Palkia. For example, it had gold ornaments, while Dialga and Palkia had silver. Totally different. (I think there were variations of this theory for basically every DP legend, since there were so many of them--definitely at least Cresselia and Heatran.)

There was also some concern that they would run out of names for the games after Diamond and Pearl, since there weren't many more precious metals. (Plus, how could they even have legendaries after Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus?? we hit the power ceiling!)

Related to this anyone else remember the bizarrely extended period where, because of Arceus, people thought pokemon was going to end forever with no more generations (or games in general, I think) to follow. We have Poke God WHERE COULD WE POSSIBLLY GO?!

It’s actually funny that you mention that how non sensical it is to have Pokémon after Gen 4, because I was speaking to a friend who didn’t play SwSh cause of Dexit, and he says it doesn’t make any sense for there to be Pokémon after the Pokémon that created the universe, let alone Pokémon stronger than Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina themselves, since these Pokémon could destroy the universe at any moment they want.