Okay, time to make a long, rambling rant post again. It's been a while since the last time.
I just realized how massively Gen IX was hit with "legendary Pokémon inflation". Or, well, "legendary" might not be the right term, as there are some specific definitions afoot there. "Special Pokémon" inflation, perhaps?
Anyway, "special Pokémon" are a bit like swear words: tricky to define, but easy to recognize. It's an umbrella term that encompasses legendary Pokémon, mythical Pokémon, and a few more. With few exceptions, they are strong, usually one-off Pokémon that don't evolve, don't breed, and they tend to be treated with some special reverence in the in-game lore that separates them from regular Pokémon you may find randomly in the wild. Back the Gen I days, all such Pokémon were considered "legendary" and things were easy. You knew what you had, with Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mewtwo. Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Lugia, and Ho-Oh all followed the same patterns as well. But later on, we've got Ultra Beasts and Paradox Pokémon and such that muddled the definitions a bit. And then in Gen VII, some legendaries (and Ultra Beasts) began to incorporate evolution, and ... yeah, it's a mess. But generally, you still recognize a "special Pokémon" when you see it. Legendary stats, no evolutions, no Eggs, hard to find and capture and typically stated in the lore to be too obscure for all but the toughest and bravest Trainers to even *encounter*, let alone catch.
These Pokémon were a small and exclusive bunch in the first few generations of Pokémon: We had five of them in Gen I, and six more in Gen II. Seven if you count Unown, which could fit by some definitions (sidenote annoyance: Unown is considered a completely alien and unique Pokémon species in every part of the franchise except the games, where it's a plain and boring Pokémon with zero use on any sanely constructed team). They were Pokémon you had to go out of your way to find, but they were strong and useful. This handful of Pokémon really stood out among the rest of the Pokémon in the game and deserved the "legendary" moniker.
Then from Gen III onwards, legendary inflation picked up a bit. We had the trio of box legendaries, the Regi trio, the Lati duo, and two mythical Pokémon, for a total of ten. 13 if you count the various forms of Deoxys, but let's not go there, and instead stick to distinct Pokédex numbers (I consider instead the Deoxys formes to be essentially inseparable features of Deoxys the Pokémon). Gen IV followed suit with 14 (15 if you count Rotom, which I think is fair). I remember we used to think this was rather too much at the time. Cover legends trio, Lake trio, Heatran, Regigigas, Cresselia, and *five* mythicals, in addition to that electric ghost thing? Yeah, the book of Pokémon legends was beginning to become quite lengthy.
But of course, Gen V said "hold my Casteliacone!", and gave us two legendary trios in addition to the cover legendaries, and three myhticals. 12 more legendary Pokémon in all, plus a rather disconcerting number of alternate formes. I recall discussions about how it really was too much now. So it was dialled back in Gen VI. Trio of cover legendaries, three mythicals, that's it. 6 in total. Everyone was happy with this respite of modesty...
...except the designers at Game Freak, evidently, who decided to introduce Ultra Beasts to Gen VII, legendaries in all but name and the reason why we had to adopt a new umbrella term from here on. So the generation gave us: a legendary quartet, two cover legendaries with two pre-evolutions, Necrozma (with three alternate formes), three classic Myhticals ... and 11 Ultra Beasts. Plus the edge cases of Meltan, Melmetal, Type:Null, and Silvally. 23 special Pokémon all in all.
Gen VIII was relatively modest again: The usual legendary trio, a mythical with two branching evolutions, a "classic" mythical in Zarude, two new Regis for some reason, the Crown Tundra trio, and Enamorus from PLA. That's 13.
And now, Gen IX. It's a generation I generally have a lot of positive things to say about, but holy moly does it go overboard with its special Pokémon: the four Treasures of Ruin. Two cover legendaries. The Loyal Three and their master Pecharunt. The DLC cover legends, Ogerpon and Terapagos. And ... twenty Paradox Pokémon. That's 32 Pokémon that mechanically behave akin to the original four Legendaries: they're found and caught at a high level, don't evolve, can't breed, have high stats, usually wide movepools, and powerful Abilities. As Gen IX introduced 120 Pokémon overall (so far - Legends Z-A is considered a Gen IX game), this is more than a quarter of the regional Pokédex.
I generally must say ... I don't care much for that type of Pokémon. They are, in a way, bypassing too many core aspects of the games to excite me. The essence of the series is that you catch Pokémon throughout your adventure, befriend them, train them to become stronger, and eventually you are rewarded with your Pokémon becoming more powerful through evolution and/or learning great new moves. Special Pokémon just give you an ultra-powerful Pokémon set and ready in a bundle, often with better stats than anything you can find and train through the "conventional" method. As soon as they are allowed in a battle format, they tend to absolutely dominate it, overshadowing and displacing most of the Pokémon you evolve and train and care. Granted, they are meant to be powerful and rare and such, but when there are so many of them, the upper echelons of Pokémon tend to be filled with them, only leaving room for "regular" Pokémon if they can pull off one specific gimmick better than others.
Besides, special Pokémon are meant to be, well, special, but they generally tend not to stay that way for long. In the game of their introduction, they may be the focus of a story quest and receive unique catch locations and possibly even cutscenes. But in later games, they tend to be relegated to a great, homogeneous pool of "legacy legendaries" locked behind a side quest or mechanic without fanfare. "You played the minigame and now you meet a Zekrom!" What a way to treat the revered embodiment of ideals, living deity of the Unova region. Doubly so when your playing of the minigame has net you three Zekrom already. Do it once more and catch the living embodiment of Time, or the revered being of Life, or a Sword of Justice, or what have you. Forget anything that moves in the region's grasslands or lakes or caves; to really play competitive you have to have to delve into this pantheon of gods as an entry level requirement. If you don't have a Zacian, you will be whooped by eight other trainers who all have one.
In short, legendaries and special Pokémon were once intended to be this little exclusive group of rare and powerful Pokémon, but over time their numbers have grown to the point of taking over a substantial portion of the Pokédex. This dilutes their uniqueness and pushes regular Pokémon towards irrelevance in many aspects. Yet they integrate poorly with the gameplay and aren't very engaging to use. They may be big and flashy and cool to use for promotional purposes, but I really think the number of special Pokémon has grown to become a couple order of magnitudes bigger than the games can make properly good use of.
I just realized how massively Gen IX was hit with "legendary Pokémon inflation". Or, well, "legendary" might not be the right term, as there are some specific definitions afoot there. "Special Pokémon" inflation, perhaps?
Anyway, "special Pokémon" are a bit like swear words: tricky to define, but easy to recognize. It's an umbrella term that encompasses legendary Pokémon, mythical Pokémon, and a few more. With few exceptions, they are strong, usually one-off Pokémon that don't evolve, don't breed, and they tend to be treated with some special reverence in the in-game lore that separates them from regular Pokémon you may find randomly in the wild. Back the Gen I days, all such Pokémon were considered "legendary" and things were easy. You knew what you had, with Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mewtwo. Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Lugia, and Ho-Oh all followed the same patterns as well. But later on, we've got Ultra Beasts and Paradox Pokémon and such that muddled the definitions a bit. And then in Gen VII, some legendaries (and Ultra Beasts) began to incorporate evolution, and ... yeah, it's a mess. But generally, you still recognize a "special Pokémon" when you see it. Legendary stats, no evolutions, no Eggs, hard to find and capture and typically stated in the lore to be too obscure for all but the toughest and bravest Trainers to even *encounter*, let alone catch.
These Pokémon were a small and exclusive bunch in the first few generations of Pokémon: We had five of them in Gen I, and six more in Gen II. Seven if you count Unown, which could fit by some definitions (sidenote annoyance: Unown is considered a completely alien and unique Pokémon species in every part of the franchise except the games, where it's a plain and boring Pokémon with zero use on any sanely constructed team). They were Pokémon you had to go out of your way to find, but they were strong and useful. This handful of Pokémon really stood out among the rest of the Pokémon in the game and deserved the "legendary" moniker.
Then from Gen III onwards, legendary inflation picked up a bit. We had the trio of box legendaries, the Regi trio, the Lati duo, and two mythical Pokémon, for a total of ten. 13 if you count the various forms of Deoxys, but let's not go there, and instead stick to distinct Pokédex numbers (I consider instead the Deoxys formes to be essentially inseparable features of Deoxys the Pokémon). Gen IV followed suit with 14 (15 if you count Rotom, which I think is fair). I remember we used to think this was rather too much at the time. Cover legends trio, Lake trio, Heatran, Regigigas, Cresselia, and *five* mythicals, in addition to that electric ghost thing? Yeah, the book of Pokémon legends was beginning to become quite lengthy.
But of course, Gen V said "hold my Casteliacone!", and gave us two legendary trios in addition to the cover legendaries, and three myhticals. 12 more legendary Pokémon in all, plus a rather disconcerting number of alternate formes. I recall discussions about how it really was too much now. So it was dialled back in Gen VI. Trio of cover legendaries, three mythicals, that's it. 6 in total. Everyone was happy with this respite of modesty...
...except the designers at Game Freak, evidently, who decided to introduce Ultra Beasts to Gen VII, legendaries in all but name and the reason why we had to adopt a new umbrella term from here on. So the generation gave us: a legendary quartet, two cover legendaries with two pre-evolutions, Necrozma (with three alternate formes), three classic Myhticals ... and 11 Ultra Beasts. Plus the edge cases of Meltan, Melmetal, Type:Null, and Silvally. 23 special Pokémon all in all.
Gen VIII was relatively modest again: The usual legendary trio, a mythical with two branching evolutions, a "classic" mythical in Zarude, two new Regis for some reason, the Crown Tundra trio, and Enamorus from PLA. That's 13.
And now, Gen IX. It's a generation I generally have a lot of positive things to say about, but holy moly does it go overboard with its special Pokémon: the four Treasures of Ruin. Two cover legendaries. The Loyal Three and their master Pecharunt. The DLC cover legends, Ogerpon and Terapagos. And ... twenty Paradox Pokémon. That's 32 Pokémon that mechanically behave akin to the original four Legendaries: they're found and caught at a high level, don't evolve, can't breed, have high stats, usually wide movepools, and powerful Abilities. As Gen IX introduced 120 Pokémon overall (so far - Legends Z-A is considered a Gen IX game), this is more than a quarter of the regional Pokédex.
I generally must say ... I don't care much for that type of Pokémon. They are, in a way, bypassing too many core aspects of the games to excite me. The essence of the series is that you catch Pokémon throughout your adventure, befriend them, train them to become stronger, and eventually you are rewarded with your Pokémon becoming more powerful through evolution and/or learning great new moves. Special Pokémon just give you an ultra-powerful Pokémon set and ready in a bundle, often with better stats than anything you can find and train through the "conventional" method. As soon as they are allowed in a battle format, they tend to absolutely dominate it, overshadowing and displacing most of the Pokémon you evolve and train and care. Granted, they are meant to be powerful and rare and such, but when there are so many of them, the upper echelons of Pokémon tend to be filled with them, only leaving room for "regular" Pokémon if they can pull off one specific gimmick better than others.
Besides, special Pokémon are meant to be, well, special, but they generally tend not to stay that way for long. In the game of their introduction, they may be the focus of a story quest and receive unique catch locations and possibly even cutscenes. But in later games, they tend to be relegated to a great, homogeneous pool of "legacy legendaries" locked behind a side quest or mechanic without fanfare. "You played the minigame and now you meet a Zekrom!" What a way to treat the revered embodiment of ideals, living deity of the Unova region. Doubly so when your playing of the minigame has net you three Zekrom already. Do it once more and catch the living embodiment of Time, or the revered being of Life, or a Sword of Justice, or what have you. Forget anything that moves in the region's grasslands or lakes or caves; to really play competitive you have to have to delve into this pantheon of gods as an entry level requirement. If you don't have a Zacian, you will be whooped by eight other trainers who all have one.
In short, legendaries and special Pokémon were once intended to be this little exclusive group of rare and powerful Pokémon, but over time their numbers have grown to the point of taking over a substantial portion of the Pokédex. This dilutes their uniqueness and pushes regular Pokémon towards irrelevance in many aspects. Yet they integrate poorly with the gameplay and aren't very engaging to use. They may be big and flashy and cool to use for promotional purposes, but I really think the number of special Pokémon has grown to become a couple order of magnitudes bigger than the games can make properly good use of.
