Beginning of game starters are shinylocked, so are legendaries (what a surprise!).
Don't worry, there's always Struggle! :PThe lack of Hidden Power means Unown is history.
So many legends and mythicals are returning (most likely per event) ... and I was happy to have a meta without them.
Indeed, yeah. I mean, tbf., much worse mons could've made their return (looking at you, Lando!), so I'll wait and seeThey seem to have been quite careful to remove all of the really obnoxious ones not named Jirachi. No Tapus, no Zygarde, no Victini, no Manaphy. Celebi, Kyurem and Zeraora aren't gonna break the meta, the Musketeers are in a good spot balance-wise, and there's a decent chance Kyurem-B will go to ubers this gen.
What special attacker in Gen 8 could even break a Toxapex/Ferrothorn core now that Hidden Power Fire is gone?
Hydreigon can blow Ferrothorn to bits with Fire Blast, and with Dynamax it can easily muscle through Toxapex with Max Darkness, which reduces its Special Defence on hit. Taunt variants also shut down both of them, if Ferrothorn runs Power Whip instead of Gyro Ball. It may even get Nasty Plot this gen.
Rotom-H has the STABs to hit both of them super effectively, though it has to run max SpA and an Expert Belt to be able to 2HKO Specially Defensive Toxapex without hazards.
Nasty Plot Togekiss can OHKO Ferrothorn with a +2 Fire Blast outside Rain and flinch Toxapex to death with Air Slash.
Taunt + Will-O-Wisp Gengar can smash Ferrothorn with Focus Blast and cripple Toxapex, while 3HKOing it with Scald.
Polteageist can wreck Toxapex with Stored Power after Shell Smash, and a Dynamax Shadow Ball hits Ferrothorn very hard too.
Not saying that stuff's going to be great (or even viable) but the FerroPex core isn't nearly as foolproof as people seem to be thinking.
...huh. Wonder what that means for Sinnoh. Probably nothing, since they can just put it back when they do the remakes. Still, moves can be added or removed from game to game now...interesting...The lack of Hidden Power means Unown is history.
They seem to have been quite careful to remove all of the really obnoxious ones not named Jirachi. No Tapus, no Zygarde, no Victini, no Manaphy. Celebi, Kyurem and Zeraora aren't gonna break the meta, the Musketeers are in a good spot balance-wise, and there's a decent chance Kyurem-B will go to ubers this gen.
This number doesn't correspond to the currently known 435, but hey mistakes were made clearly.
The lack of Hidden Power means Unown is history.
They cut Sky Drop?!?! But that was Vikavolt's only way of carrying me around!I would argue that aside Hidden Power, none of those moves were ever used for coverage... or used at all.
Pursuit Return and SkyDrop are the only moves that saw real competitive usage outside of fringe cases or meme sets.
And the removal of Hidden Power, on top of further breaking the need to softreset/breed, removes a very very obscure and unintuitive mechanic from the game, plus allows to actually expand special movepools in the future without having to think of the "omnipresent" 60 BP attack.
And we still have at least one new Swift Swim user this gen c:Alolan Raichu looks hype. Max Lightning means it can set its own E-Terrain (who needs Koko anyway?), It can set rain Max Downpour to power up Surf and give Thunder perfect accuracy, Pursuit is gone, and its movepool might get even better with the addition of new TMs and TRs. I'm probably going to use it when SWSH come out.
Heliolisk looks fire too for all the reasons mentioned above (minus Pursuit since it's not Dark weak), plus with Dry Skin it can heal itself in the rain, but I'd rather use Raichu since it's faster and has Nasty Plot. There's also Lanturn and Rotom-W, plus every Water-type that gets Thunder... damn, even with the lack of Swift Swim users, rain is looking pretty nice this gen.
Alolan Raichu looks hype. Max Lightning means it can set its own E-Terrain (who needs Koko anyway?), It can set rain Max Downpour to power up Surf and give Thunder perfect accuracy, Pursuit is gone, and its movepool might get even better with the addition of new TMs and TRs. I'm probably going to use it when SWSH come out.
Heliolisk looks fire too for all the reasons mentioned above (minus Pursuit since it's not Dark weak), plus with Dry Skin it can heal itself in the rain, but I'd rather use Raichu since it's faster and has Nasty Plot. There's also Lanturn and Rotom-W, plus every Water-type that gets Thunder... damn, even with the lack of Swift Swim users, rain is looking pretty nice this gen.
Seeing Return and Frustration are gone, are we sure that happiness as a mechanic is returning?
I would disagree.I would hold off on making up theoretical sets for Alolan mons yet. They don't have updated mini sprites in the image, which is a bit interesting. The Galarian Pokemon all have updated Minisprites. This could just be a case of them grabbing the "Raichu" container and dropping everything in, even if it might not actually make it into the game. The "old" minisprites is giving me vibes.
To be fair, they have retconned evolution methods in the past. Milotic had to have its evolution method changed when Contests were scrapped, for instance. That said, I doubt happiness as a mechanic is going anywhereA bunch of returning pokemon evolve through happiness, so
This could just be a case of them grabbing the "Raichu" container and dropping everything in, even if it might not actually make it into the game. The "old" minisprites is giving me vibes.
In my inexperienced, unprofessional opinion, they're going to bring in Event Pokémon that are not obtainable, but they will be downloaded as additional packages. They already have it planned, so they included the sprites anyway.
Would make sense, honestly.In my inexperienced, unprofessional opinion, they're going to bring in Event Pokémon that are not obtainable, but they will be downloaded as additional packages. They already have it planned, so they included the sprites anyway.
To be fair, they have retconned evolution methods in the past. Milotic had to have its evolution method changed when Contests were scrapped, for instance. That said, I doubt happiness as a mechanic is going anywhere