Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
Red could have done better than Pikachu as his signature mon. Perhaps Mewtwo instead, which he canonically caught. Had they scaled his levels down by 10 and swapped out something for Mewtwo it would have been a terrific fight.
What's funny is that even if they scaled his levels down by 10 he still would have been the highest levelled trainer in HGSS, rematches included. That's how absurd his levels are.
It wasn't for no reason, it was (probably) to beat Barry's team in Platinum, which sniped Red's GSC team to be the highest-levelled team in the series.
In a previous file, I had tossed a Wishing Piece in one of the Crown Tundra's dens. Jobbing to Peony and going there early was super worth it, I had gotten a Dreepy.
Fast-forward to a while later, finally did beat SwSh's story. Pulled up as the reigning undefeated Champion of Galar to that same den in hopes of getting a Dragapult.
Depending on what you consider canon he obviously did in Origins. He helped Blaine capture it in Adventures. My point is it's not a huge stretch to imagine him possessing Mewtwo. The fandom will probably never be fully decided on what is considered official canon.
Delibird is there mostly for the rewards, notably, a low percent Dream Ball chance. Audino, Chansey, and Blissey Raids are similar in that they give out way more Exp candies than other raids.
Depending on what you consider canon he obviously did in Origins. He helped Blaine capture it in Adventures. My point is it's not a huge stretch to imagine him possessing Mewtwo. The fandom will probably never be fully decided on what is considered official canon.
Different versions of the same character, i.e. not canon in the games. I take your point that Red could plausibly have used Mewtwo in the games, but the only characters who have used Mewtwo in any of the games thus far are Giovanni and Silver.
Not to harp on about this too much but if the fandom decides on something... that's fanon, not canon. Canon is what's in an official work so, for instance, it's canon that Koga uses a Forretress in GSC or that Professor Elm has a son or that Kanto is east of Johto. Some things are different between canons - Sabrina is a member of Team Rocket in the manga, but not in the games - but we don't know if Red did catch Mewtwo, since it's never clarified either way in GSC and Mewtwo is still in the same place in HGSS. So it is demonstrably not canon and assuming he did is therefore fanon.
Unless there's canonically more than one Mewtwo in the main series games, the one chilling in Cerulean Cave in HG/SS is proof that no, he did not canonically catch it.
Pikachu is pretty underwhelming as an ace, even with the Light Ball, but they wanted his team to be based on Yellow so it's whatever.
This is ofc speculation, but I'm fairly confident that GF designs new starters for specific genders. Pre Gen 6 starters are fairly gender neutral, but Gen 6+ starters are more anthropomorphic - most of whom have a stereotypically gendered slant. Primarina, for example, is very clearly a Mermaid/Siren, which are stereotypically female. Delphox also falls into this category, as kitsune and witchcraft are often stereotyped as feminine. Moreover, the people who have these Pokemon in the anime are female as well (Serena and Lana). Not sure about Gen 8 - it's a lot less clear, so they may have dropped this convention. Or are at least being less obvious about it.
... And then Gen VIII broke that pattern as none of the Pokemon looked feminine. If we're to force it Rillaboom would be Strong which leaves Cool & Feminine between Cinderace and Intelleon. Both are "Cool" conceptually in their own way, but none aren't that feminine. Of course, there's another "Starter Design Theory" that each Starter Trio starting with V had its own theme:
I think the Galar starters are simply meant to appeal to kids in general. As you both said there's no clear theme of a tough looking starter, an edgy cool starter, and a more effeminate starter like Unova (arguably), Kalos, and Alola's trios. While those groups have distinct audiences that could comprise of one or more gender dominantly, the Galar starters strike me as universally designed to appeal to a kid.
It's very apparent in how "mascot" like their final forms are, not to mention their schticks with Rillaboom being a drummer, Cinderace being a soccer (or as the rest of the world calls it, football) player, and Inteleon being a spy, combined with being a gorilla, a bunny, and a lizard yet at the same time looking very distinctly humanoid in appearance. I am not sure how well the intention comes across to the kids of today who got into Pokemon with Gen 8, but the intention is likely to make them lovable by a kid. They see this animal-like humanoid thing that also pulls off some stunts and has a very distinct personality and a kid will very likely develop a clear emotional bond with such a "mascot" as if said mascot were their personal friend. So when a kid sees Rillaboom, Cinderace, or Inteleon they see this thing with a distinct character to it and love it based on that personality and that is reinforced by it being their first Pokemon on their adventure in Galar.
Now granted, I can see why their designs can be a bit off-putting to some people, but I think in this particular case they're meant to be universally kid friendly. I think the kids of today would probably have a very strong attachment to Rillaboom, Cinderace, and Inteleon or at least one of the three based on the starter they picked and when we see more of them in an online space they'll probably overall have a higher opinion of them overall because of how attached they were to them during their formative years, and them having that "mascot" vibe to them definitely would reinforce how appealing they would be to a kid. But yeah, in the case of Galar's trio I don't think there's any specific audience each one is supposed to appeal to: it's literally just kids in general for all three of them.
unlike in his gym battle, where he had a concrete weather in sand, his team in what is effectively the final E4 is what somebody i dont remember liked to describe as “a tug-of-war” super weather team, which is a pretty hefty downgrade.
and i dont like that, so i decided to get myself a good old team redesign!!!
Basically I decided to fit him out entirely with a sun based team, since his lead is a Torkoal, and then a Fire type in Turtonator. I decided to keep Flygon since Raihan is commonly seen with it, though we would replace sandstorm with a fire move i suppose. Now a replacement I did decide to make was the choice of Heliolisk. It’s a beneficiary of the sun through it’s ability Solar Power, it’s reptilian, a common feat in dragon types, and it happens to learn dragon attacks as well, most notably Dragon Pulse. You could likely go with a set of Thunderbolt, Hyper Voice, Dragon Pulse, and maybe Grass Knot I suppose. And lastly the mandatory signature Gigantamax Duraludon, with Max Rockfall being replaced by some other type of move that doesn’t remove sun, maybe Solar Beam, because fun fact, it gets that for some reason????? anyways thats my fixes, i believe raihan’s concept as a dragon and weather specialist is strongest with a singular weather.
I'm STILL mad that Raichu can't use Light ball. I don't care how broken that'd be, give the poor overshadowed evo some love that isn't just a fat surfer!
Yeah, Raihan in general is just a pile of gimmicks. Dragon-type trainer with a Dragon/Steel ace? That would be a perfectly serviceable 8th gym. Doubles battle? Again, perfectly fine for an 8th gym. Actually uses weather? Great, that's the sort of thing that the games /should/ be doing to increase difficulty. All 3 at once? WHY. And then his E4 battle is an actual mess. Pick a weather and stick to it*. Or pick a completely separate gimmick like Trick Room.
Also, his battle where he uses 3 different weathers STILL doesn't use Castform, and Castform deserves the love.
*I assume they didn't want him to use Sand again for whatever reason, and Rain is covered by Nessa. Sun would be a bad thing for him to use heading into Leon, which doesn't leave many options.
I'm STILL mad that Raichu can't use Light ball. I don't care how broken that'd be, give the poor overshadowed evo some love that isn't just a fat surfer!
I'd rather see what would happen with Light Ball Pichu in LC. Pichu is literally the most physically frail mon in the game (besides shedinja), and isn't even that fast. But light ball makes it extremely dangerous without needing to set up. Light Ball Pichu would hit harder physically than life orb cranidos.
But Pichu doesn't get ESpeed, and without a sash it would die really easily. Since its so vulnerable to mach punch, and slower than drilbur, diglett etc.
I'd rather see what would happen with Light Ball Pichu in LC. Taking literally the most physically frail mon in the game, and isn't even that fast. But making it extremely dangerous without needing to set up. Light Ball Pichu would hit harder physically than life orb cranidos.
But Pichu doesn't get ESpeed, and without a sash it would die really easily. Since its so vulnerable to mach punch, and slower than drilbur, diglett etc.
Hell, let all the Pikaclones get the boost from Light Ball, and if you want some sort of justification say that it has to do with their electric cheek pouches or w/e.
Hell, let all the Pikaclones get the boost from Light Ball, and if you want some sort of justification say that it has to do with their electric cheek pouches or w/e.
unlike in his gym battle, where he had a concrete weather in sand, his team in what is effectively the final E4 is what somebody i dont remember liked to describe as “a tug-of-war” super weather team, which is a pretty hefty downgrade.
and i dont like that, so i decided to get myself a good old team redesign!!!
Basically I decided to fit him out entirely with a sun based team, since his lead is a Torkoal, and then a Fire type in Turtonator. I decided to keep Flygon since Raihan is commonly seen with it, though we would replace sandstorm with a fire move i suppose. Now a replacement I did decide to make was the choice of Heliolisk. It’s a beneficiary of the sun through it’s ability Solar Power, it’s reptilian, a common feat in dragon types, and it happens to learn dragon attacks as well, most notably Dragon Pulse. You could likely go with a set of Thunderbolt, Hyper Voice, Dragon Pulse, and maybe Grass Knot I suppose. And lastly the mandatory signature Gigantamax Duraludon, with Max Rockfall being replaced by some other type of move that doesn’t remove sun, maybe Solar Beam, because fun fact, it gets that for some reason????? anyways thats my fixes, i believe raihan’s concept as a dragon and weather specialist is strongest with a singular weather.
While we're talking Pikachu, I want to say that it's very annoying that the best physical Electric move in the game is locked behind being an exclusive move for the Pikachu family. Seriously, physical electric types suck, and the one move that could make them somewhat good is stuck on a terrible yellow mouse. It's not even like it'd be a weird move for other Pokemon to learn compared to other exclusive moves like "Hyperspace Fury." It's a move I could easily see an Electivire or Luxray using in a battle, so let them have it. I'm not saying it'd make them top tier threats, but it'd make them not utterly useless...or atleast more useful than Raichu. It's basically just an electric version of Flare Blitz and Brave Bird.
There are other moves that somewhat fit this example, like Dragon Ascent, but atleast there are actual good physical Flying moves like Brave Bird (Dragon Ascent Dragonite would be really funny tho)
Wild Charge isn't bad, y'all. 90 base power is solid, and the recoil is only 1/4. Many physical Electric-types have issues, but replacing Wild Charge with Volt Tackle won't fix those issues. Stop trying to turn Volt Tackle from a cool hidden move that you need to breed for into just some move that won't actually help anything.
Wild Charge isn't bad, y'all. 90 base power is solid, and the recoil is only 1/4. Many physical Electric-types have issues, but replacing Wild Charge with Volt Tackle won't fix those issues. Stop trying to turn Volt Tackle from a cool hidden move that you need to breed for into just some move that won't actually help anything.
Or... one could turn Wild Charge into Volt Tackle, and Volt Tackle into Head Smash. One becomes an actual good recoil move, and the other becomes a strong signature move.
Wild Charge isn't bad, y'all. 90 base power is solid, and the recoil is only 1/4. Many physical Electric-types have issues, but replacing Wild Charge with Volt Tackle won't fix those issues. Stop trying to turn Volt Tackle from a cool hidden move that you need to breed for into just some move that won't actually help anything.
I can even kind of get behind him training multiple Metagross I guess. I just can't rationalize him using a Metang he's just training up in a battle against villains. It's not a friendly battle, it's a battle with real stakes. It makes more sense to use your strongest Pokémon to put an end to that threat rather than play with your food by using your weaker Pokémon.
Maybe he's trying to avoid escalating the battle. If he's not worried about the equipment around him, he's surely worried about the scientists and the player. If he sends out his Metagross right away Maxie & Tabitha may feel they're finally backed into a corner they may act excessively violent. They may go "screw it" and send out all of their Pokemon to attack, they may have their Pokemon attack human targets (and/or trash the space center), and/or may have their Pokemon act extra violent which may be more than the player can handle (at least in Steven's thoughts). By using a Metang he keeps Maxie & Tabitha to sticking to this being a "normal" battling, them sending out stronger and stronger Pokemon as the battle goes on but still a normal battle nonetheless. If the player wasn't there at some point maybe he would have sent out his Metagross at a point where Maxie & Tabitha are on their last & possibly weakened Pokemon. However with the player he in-lore never has to go beyond Metang, Skarmory, and Aggron. Steven was just taking control of the situation if he wasn't already in control.
"But doesn't that downplay the player's involvement or Team Magma's threat if Steven was in control?"
If you look at it on a surface level, but consider this: Team Magma was on a downturn at this point anyway. They were losing at this point in the game and, out of desperation, attacked the Space Center in order to steal rocket fuel to throw into the volcano hoping it would cause an eruption (can't really find a definite answer, but from what I read about how volcano eruptions work it likely wouldn't, at least not with the amount the space center would have). You weren't dealing with a chessmaster who's plans were going as expected, you were dealing with people on the edge. This wasn't a matter of whether you would win or lose, Steven assured that, it was a matter of keeping Maxie & Tabitha from going completely crazy and hurting everyone around them.
Of course the biggest question is why Steven didn't arrest Maxie and the members of Team Magma with him once defeated. Sure, Maxie sounds like he realized the error of his ways after the battle, but he still committed several crimes (not to mention terrorist acts) and his mental state is questionable so he could spring back if something reinvigorates his ideals (like actually finding a way to gain control of Groudon).
Then just don't do the double battle, which was my original point. It raises more questions than answers. Sustaining lore and practical game design are not mutually exclusive.
Alternatively they could have just not have had him use a member of the Beldum family, just use Skarmory, Claydol, Aggron, Cradily, and Armaldo. If they need an excuse Steven could just say he battled through the grunts with Metagross and it's now tired out or have him having gotten to Maxie & Tabitha before you and in text he's recalling Metagross giving the idea he was battling with them already and they just knocked out his Metagross (and realizing he was outnumbers, asked for the player's help).
You know, if Steven had still been the champion, it could have been kind of cool if he rolled up to the double battle with a level 58 Metagross. It would have ruined the surprise of having to stare down this alien-looking spider thing in the final battle, and it would have significantly lessened the challenge of the double battle, but seeing Steven whip out a beast 20 levels higher than your own Pokemon and wipe the floor with Maxie and Tabitha despite being at a type disadvantage, it would have given the player a sense of "oh fuck, this dude is WAY out of my league" and then when he turns his Metagross against you in the champion battle, you're potentially even more terrified than if you were just seeing it for the first time, because you're VERY aware of what this monster is capable of.
I wonder if this idea was maybe planned with Leon in SwSh. We all remember the "rampaging Dynamax Pokemon (revealed to be a Purrserker)" after getting the 7th Badge... only for Leon to tell us to head to the 8th Gym as he handled the situation all on his own. AND from beta leaks we know they did have at least have a placeholder location and model for this. Maybe at that point you were originally going to have a Max Raid Battle along with Leon, Hop and maybe either Piers or Marnie. Leon is made the leader, Gigantamaxes Charizard first round, and essentially sweeps the Dynamax Purrserker with everyone else doing little to help. Basically give the player a bit of that feeling before facing Leon, that THIS is why he's the unbeatable Champion (and just ignore he has Type advantage, Level advantage, Charizard is a special attacker, and Perrserker's Special Defense is low (and HP is on meh side)).
Basic Idea for all teams: Send out the first weather maker that would make the weather condition Starter will have disadvantage in. His first three Pokemon will be able to take advantage of that weather. However, as soon as those three Pokemon are down, sends out Gigalith to summon a Sandstorm (and just for fun, give it Explosion which it uses first move if possible; the goal here is to have Sandstorm out for Duraludon).
I'm STILL mad that Raichu can't use Light ball. I don't care how broken that'd be, give the poor overshadowed evo some love that isn't just a fat surfer!
Doesn't even need to double its Atk & SpA. Could just increase it by 50%. Or only have it apply to Electric-type moves. Or increase its Speed stat instead. Same for Pichu.
Hell, let all the Pikaclones get the boost from Light Ball, and if you want some sort of justification say that it has to do with their electric cheek pouches or w/e.
Huh, never thought of having it apply to them as well. Maybe it should have different effects for every one which best suit their purpose:
Pichu: Double Speed. Pikachu: Doubles Atk & SpA. N-Raichu: Doubles/50% increase to Electric-type Moves. A-Raichu: If Electric Terrain is setup it lasts indefinitely and cannot be changed/gotten rid of. Plusle & Minun: Increases SpA & SpD by 50%. Pachirisu: Increases Def & SpD by 50%. Emolga: Acts like the Lightning Rod Ability but increases Speed instead of Special Attack. Dedenne: Acts exactly like the Lightning Rod Ability. Togedemaru: Acts like the Lightning Rod Ability but increases Attack instead of Special Attack. Mimikyu: STAB to Electric-type moves. Morpeko: Has it so Aura Wheel either do Electric-type or Dark-type damage depending on what would be most Super Effective (or less resisted/immune).
Eh, I was thinking that too but we're not wishlisting exactly, just saying "this could be better" which fits the threads. Yes, it can get out of hand, but as long as we don't spend like 2 or 3 pages on just one subject I think it's alright. Just get your idea out there, maybe you'll get a comment or Like, see some other ideas, and move on. No fuss-no muss.
Wild Charge isn't bad, y'all. 90 base power is solid, and the recoil is only 1/4. Many physical Electric-types have issues, but replacing Wild Charge with Volt Tackle won't fix those issues.
Yeah, how instead of focusing on two Physical Electric-type moves which cause recoil we instead agree they should just make a better generic Physical Electric-type move. My suggestion: Circuit Break (my original thought is that its an Iron Head copy, though could also be a Liquidation copy; either works).
Yeah, how instead of focusing on two Physical Electric-type moves which cause recoil we instead agree they should just make a better generic Physical Electric-type move. My suggestion: Circuit Break (my original thought is that its an Iron Head copy, though could also be a Liquidation copy; either works).
I mean, I agree in that the physical Electric-types that are bad right now would remain bad even with a better move, but at least it would remove one issue, the "my best physical STAB has 90 BP while other types have widely-distributed physical moves with the same or even more BP that do not have negative side-effects".
