Game Freak hit with another hack, info leaking

[R_N]

Didn't the leaker also say that there was like no gen 7 stuff, before turning out there was a bunch of gen 7 stuff.
I can believe the guy didn't actually know what he was talking about, assuming he was even the leaker.


Anyway there's 2 more years of VGC but we can already assume that one of those years the big change will be "two restricted Pokemon" and I'm guessing they don't actually care about adding more stuff to the change. They can just have one year use none (like Regulation H played with), or the final year use Mythics, or let's really break the bank three restricteds or whatever.

 

[Faux Focalors Furina]

I wonder, did we find any official beta mega flygon designs before it was scrapped or the leakers we're never able to find it like how we found the mega jynx design?

EDIT: Grammar errors

 

[Worldie]

Yes the last thing VGC needs is adding another 70€ paywall by allowing transfers from ZA.

Look, capitalism and everything, after how much complaint they got from the fact this gen's VGC requires you to own SwSh + the DLC (ideally twice) + LA + SV + their DLC (also, ideally twice), I would be definitely amazed if they were dumb enough to force shitshow to an already unstable scene.

 

[MC Squared]

Yes the last thing VGC needs is adding another 70€ paywall by allowing transfers from ZA.

Look, capitalism and everything, after how much complaint they got from the fact this gen's VGC requires you to own SwSh + the DLC (ideally twice) + LA + SV + their DLC (also, ideally twice), I would be definitely amazed if they were dumb enough to force shitshow to an already unstable scene.

That's why people gen because legitimately you only get one Urshifu and Calyrex

 

[Worldie]

That's why people gen because legitimately you only get one Urshifu and Calyrex

Yesn't, you get a 2nd urshifu from SV itself.

Any serious competitive player already owns every Pokemon game regardless, and with portability of old gen mons since gen 8 now you don't even need to re-train pokemon in the following gens.
People mainly gen out of conveniency, even if it takes 5 minutes to catch a Pokemon and EV train it, it's still a massive tedium, expecially if you're trying to tailor the EVs of a unique mon to hit specific breakpoints.

The real reason people were madge at the paywall isn't cause it encourages genning, it's cause it's a massive barrier for new players.
(Not helped when several of the best competitive Pokemon for this gen are literally impossible to obtain in SV and require you to own SwSh and LA respectively)

 

[Esserise]

I wonder, did we find any official beta mega flygon designs before it was scrapped or the leakers we're never able to find it like how we found the mega jynx design?

EDIT: Grammar errors

No. Mega Jynx actually got really far along in the design process, to the point where they even had a 3D model and a cry for it. Whereas from what Sugimori said about Mega Flygon, it sounds to me like they couldn’t even settle on an initial design.

 

[R_N]

I'm going to say sight unseen that the number of people mad are probably not vocal or visible enough to get GameFreak to not do another paywall because they probably either do not care or do not see it as a pay wall to begin with.

I think the reason would be Gen 10's already in the bank and likely don't see the merit in opening up SV again just to add a bunch of likely irrelevant Pokemon, Xerneas, Zygarde 200%, & probably Legends A-C and then skip over all the megas because lord knows you're not going to add an entire new system to the thing.

 

[Bakugames]

im more curious on how z-a megas will affect gen 10. are they going to reuse the ginmick fully, or do we get an alola situation where gen 10 has its own gimmick but also megas?

also what if they dont bring back old megas. i dont think theyd do that considering how popular they are but it WOULD be funny

 

[Yung Dramps]

im more curious on how z-a megas will affect gen 10. are they going to reuse the ginmick fully, or do we get an alola situation where gen 10 has its own gimmick but also megas?

also what if they dont bring back old megas. i dont think theyd do that considering how popular they are but it WOULD be funny

Hopium route is that much like how Legends Arceus "re-launched" cross-gen evos, Z-A will mark an enduring return for Mega Evolution to the main series. That game will have its own big batch and then from Gen 10 onward they'll routinely add 3-5 new ones each game until they run out of ideas again, at which point they just keep supporting the oldies like they always should've done

 

[R_N]

im more curious on how z-a megas will affect gen 10. are they going to reuse the ginmick fully, or do we get an alola situation where gen 10 has its own gimmick but also megas?

also what if they dont bring back old megas. i dont think theyd do that considering how popular they are but it WOULD be funny

I think "not having them at all" isn't fully off the table, but since it's the game meant to align with the anniversary it would probably be fine to bring back the "biggest" of the super mechanics for one more proper ride before putting them into the spinoff bin again.

 

[Bakugames]

Hopium route is that much like how Legends Arceus "re-launched" cross-gen evos, Z-A will mark an enduring return for Mega Evolution to the main series. That game will have its own big batch and then from Gen 10 onward they'll routinely add 3-5 new ones each game until they run out of ideas again, at which point they just keep supporting the oldies like they always should've done

there has to be a line where things arent hopium and just delusional

 

[Lontra Assassina]

Hopium route is that much like how Legends Arceus "re-launched" cross-gen evos, Z-A will mark an enduring return for Mega Evolution to the main series. That game will have its own big batch and then from Gen 10 onward they'll routinely add 3-5 new ones each game until they run out of ideas again, at which point they just keep supporting the oldies like they always should've done

I guess it depends on how Z-A expands on the Mega Evolution lore. If they want to keep making them in the future, they'll probably write a plot point about Mega Stones being discovered on other regions or something like that.

That being said, Z-A is absolutely introducing new Megas and they'll want people to use the new ones in at least one competitive game (similar to how they handled the Hisuian forms) so they'll stick around for Gen 10 at least

 

[R_N]

I guess it depends on how Z-A expands on the Mega Evolution lore. If they want to keep making them in the future, they'll probably write a plot point about Mega Stones being discovered on other regions or something like that.

That being said, Z-A is absolutely introducing new Megas and they'll want people to use the new ones in at least one competitive game (similar to how they handled the Hisuian forms) so they'll stick around for Gen 10 at least

I mean there's no need to bother rewriting the lore. Even if we ignore Let's Go as an AU, ORAS had them out & about even before the Primal situation (not to mention it already kind of retconned it anyway...) and Alola just kept them in the tree shop (we can have this in-universe as ~imports~).

 

[Worldie]

there has to be a line where things arent hopium and just delusional

I think the only part where it's not just hopium overdose is expecting whatever is in ZA to be relevant *in gen 10*.
It's very likely that at least part of whatever new comes with it will be available in gen 10, most likely after a bit once Home compatibility happens.

What.... eh, rough question.
New pokemon / forms?
Sure, almost guaranteed. Some may have slight stat changes, but very likely to happen.
New moves?
Maybe. Some of the LA moves made it to the main games, albeith many got reworked to match the mainline combat system
Mechanics?
Eeeeh. #doubt. Legends games are at core pure single player experiences and many mechanics get altered for the purpose of those games and only limited to those games. I've said many times for people to not expect Frostbite to make it to main series and people drowned in copium about it for half a year.
Supermechanics?
Hard no. This is where the line draws into copium. Styles were the "supermechanic" of LA, and it was clearly designed as a strict single player game mechanic due to the nature of the combat system.
People think that Megas will reappear, and I think that's likely, but I am quite confident that similarly to Let's Go they will stay there, even if we were to get new megas. Main reason is that it'd overlap with whatever a gen 10 supermechanic is.
We already seen in gen 7 how confusing having multiple supermechanics can be, and I am quite sure National Dex here on smogon is another clear indication of how throwing toghether multiple supermechanics is an absolute shitshow of balance since you have to account for several oneshot-buttons (don't forget, VGC doesn't do bans).

The only scenario in which I would see ZA introduce new Megas **AND** them reappearing in gen 10 games is if the Mega evolutions are the gen 10 supermechanic.
Which bear in mind, I don't consider impossible, I honestly am not sure what else they can come up with after we had, in sequence
- Form changing transformation
- Actual oneshot button
- I become godzilla (also oneshot button)
- Wanna see a magic trick? I'll make the type chart disappear
Them moving to re-use older games supermechanics can be a thing (expecially for something like Megas that feed into nostalgia). But I wouldn't exactly bet on it and I think it dangerously dangles on the "lethal dose of copium" line.

 

[R_N]

New moves?
Maybe. Some of the LA moves made it to the main games, albeith many got reworked to match the mainline combat system

Just, for reference, there was exactly one move that didn't properly make the leap to SV and that was Power Shift. Which technically still works, supposedly, if you hack it it just never got distributed to anything.


I'd also say that "confusing" is not the term I'd use for having Z-Moves and Megas in Gen 7.

 

[Hugin]

Looking forward to the planned updates and patches for SV next year because the leaker didn't want to reveal anything regarding SV because he said that there's some future patch data that if he showed them it would cause huge issues for Game Freak naturally. What do you guys think these updates/patches will be?

- Adjusting moves or abilities?
- Adding new TMs? (229 is a weird number to end it on)
- Adding more old Pokémon through HOME?

"Drop a new mythical and it's related move" seems like the most likely option. I don't know what the movie situation is(I do not follow that), but releasing mythics to go along with the movie is old hat for them at this point, and patches for the game mean they can avoid dataminer-related leaks.

 

[R_N]

"Drop a new mythical and it's related move" seems like the most likely option. I don't know what the movie situation is(I do not follow that), but releasing mythics to go along with the movie is old hat for them at this point, and patches for the game mean they can avoid dataminer-related leaks.

Oh did the leak have references to a new movie?
Honestly just assumed we'd be going another year without one, but I suppose they could announce it early in 2025 for the usual summer time slot they liked.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I think the only part where it's not just hopium overdose is expecting whatever is in ZA to be relevant *in gen 10*.
It's very likely that at least part of whatever new comes with it will be available in gen 10, most likely after a bit once Home compatibility happens.

What.... eh, rough question.
New pokemon / forms?
Sure, almost guaranteed. Some may have slight stat changes, but very likely to happen.
New moves?
Maybe. Some of the LA moves made it to the main games, albeith many got reworked to match the mainline combat system
Mechanics?
Eeeeh. #doubt. Legends games are at core pure single player experiences and many mechanics get altered for the purpose of those games and only limited to those games. I've said many times for people to not expect Frostbite to make it to main series and people drowned in copium about it for half a year.
Supermechanics?
Hard no. This is where the line draws into copium. Styles were the "supermechanic" of LA, and it was clearly designed as a strict single player game mechanic due to the nature of the combat system.
People think that Megas will reappear, and I think that's likely, but I am quite confident that similarly to Let's Go they will stay there, even if we were to get new megas. Main reason is that it'd overlap with whatever a gen 10 supermechanic is.
We already seen in gen 7 how confusing having multiple supermechanics can be, and I am quite sure National Dex here on smogon is another clear indication of how throwing toghether multiple supermechanics is an absolute shitshow of balance since you have to account for several oneshot-buttons (don't forget, VGC doesn't do bans).

The only scenario in which I would see ZA introduce new Megas **AND** them reappearing in gen 10 games is if the Mega evolutions are the gen 10 supermechanic.
Which bear in mind, I don't consider impossible, I honestly am not sure what else they can come up with after we had, in sequence
- Form changing transformation
- Actual oneshot button
- I become godzilla (also oneshot button)
- Wanna see a magic trick? I'll make the type chart disappear
Them moving to re-use older games supermechanics can be a thing (expecially for something like Megas that feed into nostalgia). But I wouldn't exactly bet on it and I think it dangerously dangles on the "lethal dose of copium" line.

I mean Z-Moves got along just fine. You can design new mechanics that don't entirely supplant old ones or require their elimination! This is a thing you can do as a game designer! Frankly I'm not even convinced that Dynamax or Tera Megas would've been all that crazy: The number of the existing 48 that would be sillier than SWSH Hawlucha or Kingambit is probably considerably smaller than you'd think.

I really don't get why anyone would consider "keep the highly popular set of super form designs around" this comically absurd, unrealistic expectation. Regular drops of new Megas would be nice, but if their well of ideas once again runs dry after Legends Z-A then fine, same thing happened with cross-gen evos after Sinnoh and while I'm happy they eventually started those up again at least Magmortar, Probopass, Gallade etc. weren't just arbitrarily dropped for over half a decade.

What crosses the line for me on this issue is the fact that unlike with Z-Moves and Terastal* there's actual Pokemon designs implicated here, ones tied to pre-existing families no less. Mega Charizard X was the badass fan favorite Dragon Charizard shilled for an entire generation and yet right now we genuinely have to wonder whether we will ever see it in the main series again after Gen 10. Mawile and Lopunny got amazing buffs and then went right back to sucking. This is stupid and not a concern for any regular Pokemon, evolution or regional form! It's also why I think GMax forms were a mistake and why I'm glad they never did Tera forms.

*Necrozma and presumably Terapagos being implemented in half-complete forms indefinitely is not acceptable either. Again, imagine if Origin Form Giratina just up and vanished until 2021

 

[R_N]

I mean Z-Moves got along just fine. You can design new mechanics that don't entirely supplant old ones or require their elimination! This is a thing you can do as a game designer! Frankly I'm not even convinced that Dynamax or Tera Megas would've been all that crazy: The number of the existing 48 that would be sillier than SWSH Hawlucha or Kingambit is probably considerably smaller than you'd think.

I really don't get why anyone would consider "keep the highly popular set of super form designs around" this comically absurd, unrealistic expectation. Regular drops of new Megas would be nice, but if their well of ideas once again runs dry after Legends Z-A then fine, same thing happened with cross-gen evos after Sinnoh and while I'm happy they eventually started those up again at least Magmortar, Probopass, Gallade etc. weren't just arbitrarily dropped for over half a decade.

What crosses the line for me on this issue is the fact that unlike with Z-Moves and Terastal* there's actual Pokemon designs implicated here, ones tied to pre-existing families no less. Mega Charizard X was the badass fan favorite Dragon Charizard shilled for an entire generation and yet right now we genuinely have to wonder whether we will ever see it in the main series again after Gen 10. Mawile and Lopunny got amazing buffs and then went right back to sucking. This is stupid and not a concern for any regular Pokemon, evolution or regional form! It's also why I think GMax forms were a mistake and why I'm glad they never did Tera forms.

Because those highly popular designs are tied to a super mechanic and I can absolutely see the logic of wanting to keep them separate instead of dedicating yourself to (at worst) supporting every new mechanic forever or supporting the same mechanic that's designed as a temporary boost forever
I think the actual mistake was tying these forms to a temporary once-per-battle and one-or-the-other form change that also (barring sudden retcons they've yet to cross) cuts off any future evolution (and also even in retcon world, would be notably worse than the mega...).

I can easily see why they decided to leave them behind. It just clears up space on the plate.

Besides we are now, right this second, living in the world where popular Pokemon just get passed on. They didn't even have Greninja in Gen 8! And even ignoring polls, that guy's in Smash Bros! They're even putting out games within the same generation that doesn't give access to all the forms of a given Pokemon!
And will probably continue living in that world forever. Maybe the megas carry over to Gen 10 but I doubt they keep going from there, just like how even if Gen 10 goes "all out" on having everyone is here (I doubt this happens to be clear) they will go right back to the new business as usual in the very next game (not even gen 11).


Incidentally I think that if Megas were Gen 8 or 9 it would just be like with Z-Moves. You'd get to Dynamax/Tera if you didn't hold the mega stone, but you can only Mega with it equipped.

*Necrozma and presumably Terapagos being implemented in half-complete forms indefinitely is not acceptable either. Again, imagine if Origin Form Giratina just up and vanished until 2021

Terapagos I give a pass on. Design-wise Stellar form is literally just Terastal Terapagos with playset accessories. Honestly when it comes to Ogerpon & Terapagos I feel like they had Necrozma in mind, so the "tera forms" were designed to not really affect the base design they want to market and what you'll see in future games even without "their" mechanic. It may not have the super stats & ability to go with it, but Terastal Terapagos is a perfectly lovely design and still a usable Pokemon.
Eternatus meanwhile went the whole other direction and had a design so different, ridiculous stat-wise and tied to a very bad situation that you couldn't even use it in its game. And who knows that may have contributed to why it has the highest non-Arceus, base-form BST in the series (690!)

In contrast Necrozma is meant to, by design, be the parts of a whole hanging together hinting at something greater while also being in pain that literally hungers to be whole again in a way even Kyurem doesn't. And personally it's in that awkward spot where its intermediary forms are acting as a parasite, so the vibes are kind of off even putting aside that visually they look more like Solgaleo/Lunala forms. If Necrozma were made these days I think they wouldn't go in this direction for it.
Honestly if they wanted to add a "Necrozmaite" type item for Z-A just so it can Ultra Burst on its own (even if it's just when megas are around) that'd be kinda nice.

 

[AztecCroc]

Because those highly popular designs are tied to a super mechanic and I can absolutely see the logic of wanting to keep them separate instead of dedicating yourself to (at worst) supporting every new mechanic forever or supporting the same mechanic that's designed as a temporary boost forever
I think the actual mistake was tying these forms to a temporary once-per-battle and one-or-the-other form change that also (barring sudden retcons they've yet to cross) cuts off any future evolution (and also even in retcon world, would be notably worse than the mega...).

I can easily see why they decided to leave them behind. It just clears up space on the plate.

Besides we are now, right this second, living in the world where popular Pokemon just get passed on. They didn't even have Greninja in Gen 8! And even ignoring polls, that guy's in Smash Bros! They're even putting out games within the same generation that doesn't give access to all the forms of a given Pokemon!
And will probably continue living in that world forever. Maybe the megas carry over to Gen 10 but I doubt they keep going from there, just like how even if Gen 10 goes "all out" on having everyone is here (I doubt this happens to be clear) they will go right back to the new business as usual in the very next game (not even gen 11).


Incidentally I think that if Megas were Gen 8 or 9 it would just be like with Z-Moves. You'd get to Dynamax/Tera if you didn't hold the mega stone, but you can only Mega with it equipped.



Terapagos I give a pass on. Design-wise Stellar form is literally just Terastal Terapagos with playset accessories. Honestly when it comes to Ogerpon & Terapagos I feel like they had Necrozma in mind, so the "tera forms" were designed to not really affect the base design they want to market and what you'll see in future games even without "their" mechanic. It may not have the super stats & ability to go with it, but Terastal Terapagos is a perfectly lovely design and still a usable Pokemon.
Eternatus meanwhile went the whole other direction and had a design so different, ridiculous stat-wise and tied to a very bad situation that you couldn't even use it in its game. And who knows that may have contributed to why it has the highest non-Arceus, base-form BST in the series (690!)

In contrast Necrozma is meant to, by design, be the parts of a whole hanging together hinting at something greater while also being in pain that literally hungers to be whole again in a way even Kyurem doesn't. And personally it's in that awkward spot where its intermediary forms are acting as a parasite, so the vibes are kind of off even putting aside that visually they look more like Solgaleo/Lunala forms. If Necrozma were made these days I think they wouldn't go in this direction for it.
Honestly if they wanted to add a "Necrozmaite" type item for Z-A just so it can Ultra Burst on its own (even if it's just when megas are around) that'd be kinda nice.

Or just have the Necrozmium Z without the ability to use the Z-move after.

 

[reaverz]

Besides we are now, right this second, living in the world where popular Pokemon just get passed on. They didn't even have Greninja in Gen 8! And even ignoring polls, that guy's in Smash Bros!

To be fair, Greninja's case was almost certainly left out due to Ash-Greninja. We know from datamined leaks that Greninja was one of only 20 or so Pokémon programmed into an early beta of SS, and even appeared in the title screen of that beta (along with Mega Rayquaza). Its appearance in both cases strongly implies that GameFreak originally intended for it to appear in Gen 8. When the decision to scrap Megas was made, Ash-Greninja was probably also included among them due to being a similar transformation. Rather than including Greninja with a complicated transfer compatibility where Battle Bond ones couldn't move into SS, they probably decided that Greninja (along with Chesnaught and Delphox) would be left out until they had time to think about how to rework Battle Bond. To me at least, the Gen 6 starters being in the base game for SV reflected GameFreak's strong desire to bring Greninja back ASAP.

Regardless, your point stands that many popular Pokémon will undoubtedly be passed on in games moving forward. When it comes to Megas however, like others I am of the opinion that Gen 10 has a good chance of including them since SV included all Hisuian forms and Pokémon introduced in LA. I believe GameFreak intends for any new Pokémon and forms to have a shot at featuring in VGC, and thus would dislike the idea of the new Megas potentially never being eligible for VGC due to Mega Evolution now only appearing in non-traditional mainline titles. I also think it helps that the interal data of even unused Pokémon in LA and SV includes the stats and abilities of all Megas, even if they don't include a model for any of them.

 

[Kin+ak (✧∇✧)]

That's why people gen because legitimately you only get one Urshifu and Calyrex

Nuh uh. You create another user on the switch and get the once-by-game Pokes, Transfer it by HOME to your main, Delete old User, Repeat. What the hell are people on? "Oh no I gotta delete my save" tf no you have to take 6h off your time to get a new Calyrex, 40 minutes for a new Kubfu. Cmon. You can literally get infinite Legal Legendaries but nah let's gen. In 3DS Era, fair. in Switch era? Gen? are you really not looking for a solution or sth. So yea ig if you have a full-time job and insist on having 8h of sleep each night and have no holidays or are extremely busy you could complain, but atp you're probably not aiming for the top ranks in competitive, and can feasibly reach good ranks without the ever-top tiers.

 

[Samtendo09]

I think the actual mistake was tying these forms to a temporary once-per-battle and one-or-the-other form change that also (barring sudden retcons they've yet to cross) cuts off any future evolution (and also even in retcon world, would be notably worse than the mega...).

I can easily see why they decided to leave them behind. It just clears up space on the plate.

Thing is, there are Gigantamax forms that are based on Not Fully Evolved Pokémon in Pikachu, Eevee and Meowth(*). The fact that Dynamax as a whole feels more powerful than Mega Evolution, and the fact that the other Super Mechanics since Z-Moves can also be used by Pokémon that can still evolve make it already recton-y in a way that these super mechanics already proved just as powerful as Mega Evolution yet can be used by, say, a Rockruff without issues.

(*) Duraludon is only a retroactive example as of SV’s Indigo Disk, but is interesting to note nonetheless.

“Notably worse than a Mega” may be certainly true, but a recton world that brings future evolutions do at least allows up to six, while it’s more and more difficult to justify a new Mega Evolution over what were already top tiers like Mega Mawile, Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence, not to mention the fact that item bloat and repetitiveness of tasks can be a legitimate concern regarding the hunt for Mega Stones.

 

[R_N]

Thing is, there are Gigantamax forms that are based on Not Fully Evolved Pokémon in Pikachu, Eevee and Meowth(*). The fact that Dynamax as a whole feels more powerful than Mega Evolution, and the fact that the other Super Mechanics since Z-Moves can also be used by Pokémon that can still evolve make it already recton-y in a way that these super mechanics already proved just as powerful as Mega Evolution yet can be used by, say, a Rockruff without issues.

(*) Duraludon is only a retroactive example as of SV’s Indigo Disk, but is interesting to note nonetheless.

“Notably worse than a Mega” may be certainly true, but a recton world that brings future evolutions do at least allows up to six, while it’s more and more difficult to justify a new Mega Evolution over what were already top tiers like Mega Mawile, Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence, not to mention the fact that item bloat and repetitiveness of tasks can be a legitimate concern regarding the hunt for Mega Stones.

I don't think later, entirely unrelated, differently-designed super mechanics going into NFE pokemon (+1 retroactively NFE) really comes off as retcon-y.

Megas by design are meant to be like "pinnacle of evolution" or "step beyond evolution" and they went out of their way to say only fully evolved Pokemon get them. They really loved hammering that home. So it's a bit bigger of a retcon to bypass.

The thing actually in favor of them doing that at some point is they've already retconned Megas in their very next game by having Rayquaza be the birth of mega evolution & the southern island supposedly being linked to it too (the other mega stones and items can just be handwaved by "mega stones can show up elsewhere"/gameplay contrivance and Steven being a world traveler [Archie & Maxie too]). So if they were willing to retcon that, ideally at some point they'd be willing to go "maybe Mawile SHOULD get an evolution for real" and then just have a professor comment "Wow, just when you think you know everything there is to know!" It would be very simple!
But until that happens -and especially if Z-A doubles down on the conceit- I'll stick to thinking they're a cut-off in terms of design.



incidentally it would not surprise me to see new megas in Z-A of Pokemon that had regoinal evolutions just to rub salt in the wound. We hear you, you wish regular Farfetch'd evolved too. Well now it can MEGA evolve so you have another option for it to miss out on in future appearences. be happy.

 

[Samtendo09]

I don't think later, entirely unrelated, differently-designed super mechanics going into NFE pokemon (+1 retroactively NFE) really comes off as retcon-y.

Megas by design are meant to be like "pinnacle of evolution" or "step beyond evolution" and they went out of their way to say only fully evolved Pokemon get them. They really loved hammering that home. So it's a bit bigger of a retcon to bypass.

The thing actually in favor of them doing that at some point is they've already retconned Megas in their very next game by having Rayquaza be the birth of mega evolution & the southern island supposedly being linked to it too (the other mega stones and items can just be handwaved by "mega stones can show up elsewhere"/gameplay contrivance and Steven being a world traveler [Archie & Maxie too]). So if they were willing to retcon that, ideally at some point they'd be willing to go "maybe Mawile SHOULD get an evolution for real" and then just have a professor comment "Wow, just when you think you know everything there is to know!" It would be very simple!
But until that happens -and especially if Z-A doubles down on the conceit- I'll stick to thinking they're a cut-off in terms of design.



incidentally it would not surprise me to see new megas in Z-A of Pokemon that had regoinal evolutions just to rub salt in the wound. We hear you, you wish regular Farfetch'd evolved too. Well now it can MEGA evolve so you have another option for it to miss out on in future appearences. be happy.

That sort of recton I can get behind, especially since a recton like Rayquaza-involved case did happened so soon after XY introduced Mega Evolution.

Rubbing salt in the wound would be more like causing Mega Evolution as a concept to overstay it’s welcome if not done carefully though.