Unpopular opinions

Samtendo09

Ability: Light Power
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Not every Pokémon needs to be a dual-type.
I rather have 80% of new Pokémon being dual typed than a repeat of Gen 8 where there were too many single-type despite the ~80 Pokémon. It’s already bad as is to see so little unused, rare or Form-exclusive (including the discarded Megas) type combinations due to numerous single-typed Pokémon; it’s another thing when there’s too many mono-Fighting in a single generation despite the uniqueness between in terms of body structure.
 

Coronis

Impressively round
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Not that much.


252+ Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 228-270 (54.5 - 64.5%) -- approx. 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tapu Fini: 129-153 (37.5 - 44.4%) -- approx. 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Yeah, there's only Tapu Fini (and eventually Toxapex) that could afford against a CB Tough Claws Weavile (because yeah, SD set is even more menacing)

Also:


No matter its popularity amongst the community, if a Pokemon is efficient, it'll be used. Remind what happened when Pelipper and Torkoal got their new abilities.
This is what I come to OI for.
 

Ransei

Garde Mystik
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Hey, where did you find this quote? Is it official?

As for Gimmicks, it's funny how contentious they are in the video games, but in the TCG, no-one seem to have issues with format-specific special Pokémon like Pokémon-EX. At worst, they would say Crystal Pokémon from Aquapolia and Skyridge are competitively unviable, and even then, there are fans of the concept, also they fetch for decent prices online.

And speaking of cards, Pokémon-GX are overall my favorite special Pokémon card group, they are both strong and interesting, I loved how the Z-Move mechanic was adapted to this different medium. I don't like when special Pokémon cards are just "stronger than usual, if it faints your opponent draw two prize cards".
I made up the quote.
 
This is however where market comes into play.

Gimmicks are necessary.

When it comes to extremely long running series, eventually you need to add something to keep the game interesting. Just adding "more pokemon" would eventually just cause the game to become stale because it'd be just always the same with different faces.

This isn't strictly limited to Pokemon, in fact it's not limited to that kind of games either.

Card games, like for example YuGiOh, have had to keep adding new summoning mechanics and progressively more complicated archetypes to keep the game interesting.
While I don't inherently disagree with your base argument, I think Yu-gi-oh is a perfect example of how fast this approach can go wrong due to bloat or haphazard marketing/design choices.

Original YGO was, to put it lightly, an entirely different game. People make jokes about old players seeing the game now and losing before they literally get to make a play, which isn't the most inaccurate depiction of the gap as the game kind of went from slow back-and-forth as you'd see in the Anime to encouraging very big combos and explosive plays, and a large toolbox of combos/back-ups or disruptions to stop said combos even with those back-ups.

A big part of this change was the addition of easier and easier to access summon mechanics, each of which was sort of the gimmick for a given series of YGO (sort of comparable to Pokemon Gens in that respect).

  • OG: Ruleset's still being worked out, Special Summon methods including Fusion (use a Fusion Card + 2 Materials to summon from the Extra Deck off to the side) and Ritual (use specific Spell and have the Ritual, then more generic tribute cost to summon it) were slow and tricky to access, probably to tie into their anime usage as surprise/comeback Boss Monsters for particularly big duels.
  • GX: Fusion was elevated a bit more here to serving as the primary mechanic of a lot of characters, whether in its classic form or with variants like "Contact Fusion" on later seasons (which in turn could be viewed as the pre-cursor to several later summon mechanics). While the majority of Fusion archetypes featured in the show still weren't that spectacular, the mechanic was approached somewhat reasonably, with different archetypes getting cards particular to them to facilitate Fusion and allow them to try and circumvent the usual shortcomings of Fusion (again to mixed results, but the idea was sort of there)
  • 5D's: Here's where we get into Synchro Summons. Synchro monsters became much easier to access than previous Extra Monsters as they shifted from needing specific Fusion Spells and materials to usually just needing a category or two of monsters (EX: "Spellcaster" instead of specifically "Dark Magician") and one of the new Tuners, as long as their levels (the Stars on the monster) add up to match the monster being summoned. No need to hold onto unplayable/bricky Spells while assembling the materials, plus you had much easier access due to the less specific Materials asked for. As a result, while dedicated Synchro archetypes existed, older archetypes with Swarm potential could get into Synchro Spam if they found ways to work the Tuners into their build. TL;DR there being the mechanic was a bit more accessible to previous playstyles due to the laxer usage requirement
  • Zexal: XYZ summons are where I think some of the problems really can start to pop-up. The gimmick of XYZ is that you overlay multiple monsters of the same "Level" in order to summon an XYZ Monster that uses them as Material/Ammo for triggering most of its strong effects. The trade-off here vs Synchro Summoning now appears to be not needing a Tuner monster, in exchange for more specific levels in the summoning. Where this could become tricky is that some XYZ monsters were extremely powerful relative to how easily they could be brought out, if not simply being busted in and of themselves, because it was common for a lot of archetypes to have their low level monsters serve as swarm material to get to their boss monsters. If those Swarmers were of similar levels (whether by coincidence, other design reasons, or simply lack of future-proofing), this could result in them being able to bring out XYZ monsters with significant ease and suddenly becoming a lot more powerful: One example, brought up a lot in my definitely limited exposure, being Level 4 WATER/Aqua heavy decks bringing out a monster called "Bahamut Shark", which in turn gave them easy access to a monster called "Toadally Awesome" with an, if not oppressive, very annoying degree of negates and reusability. TL;DR Here we see an even laxer restriction on the new mechanic giving it even more access, and more potential for old sets to start making big gains or exploitable use of the mechanic.
  • ARC-V: I don't know much about Pendulum cards myself here, so limited input beyond trying to work out the mechanic rundown. Best I can glean is that they could be activated as Spells instead of monsters (with different effects depending on how), could be placed in the Extra Deck when they would usually go to the GY (Discard Pile), and had a mechanic where if you had two Pendulums with specific values in your Pendulum Zones, you could summon a bunch of monsters from your hand or Pendulums that went to the Extra Deck that fell in between those values (so if you had a 1 and a 6, you could summon things Level 2-5). This seems like another potential mechanic for absurd swarming, though it appears the mechanic got a lot of balance nerfs in subsequent Rulesets so I guess they at least saw this one got a bit over the top.
  • VRAINS: Link Monsters are where I think a lot of the issues I described above came back with a vengeance. Link Monsters are summoned by simply sending a number of monsters equal to their "Link Rating" from the Field to the Discard Pile (Link Monsters can be used for another Link, counting as 1 or their own Link-Rating for their contribution). Bar more powerful or archetypal Monsters, the mechanic now simply comes down to the raw quantity. The Master Rule coinciding with this also introduced the Extra Summon Zone, where monsters summoned from the Extra Deck (Synchros, XYZ, Pendulums under certain conditions, and Links) had to either be placed in this Zone, or a Zone pointed to by a Link Monster's arrows. This was probably meant to push Link monsters and simultaneously Stymie Extra Deck Spam by limiting how easily they could be placed, but a lot of decks ended up turning into Link vomit since Links could be made with a lot of their would-be Synchro/XYZ materials. Additionally, the Link era happened to introduce some infamous Combo makers, such as "Crystron Halqifibrax" (Needlefiber) intended to assist Synchros but just turning into easy Link Vomit and Field presence (to the point of having an unpopular effect on Tuner monster bans/balance) from a combination of the card lacking restrictions on how easily it generated or allowed use of resources and several old cards it interacted with not being future-proofed for then-non-existent mechanics.

Bit of a long ramble, but the Hidden text plays a part in my point about these gimmicks: Slapping them onto the game without accounting for what the previous game mechanics and pieces might do is liable to blow up in the face of efforts toward a fun competitive scene (not even a balanced one, just enjoyable to play). I imagine that bloat is one reason Pokemon keeps tossing the gimmicks away after their Gen passes, and the dex paring does in theory make it easier to account for the new additions, but even within the confines of one Generation, this doesn't seem to go far enough for making the Meta of that one Gen play out gracefully, given Mega centralization in VGC (albeit this could just be the same as an OP normal-Pokemon) or the mess that Dynamax is in the game both Casual and Competitive.

They need to get smarter about this because at some point (if it hasn't already), this will also lose its oomph when the playerbase grows numb to the concept of Generational Gimmicks, in the same way they are probably worried about any specific or individual mechanic growing stale to prompt such quick turnover to begin with.
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
I rather have 80% of new Pokémon being dual typed than a repeat of Gen 8 where there were too many single-type despite the ~80 Pokémon. It’s already bad as is to see so little unused, rare or Form-exclusive (including the discarded Megas) type combinations due to numerous single-typed Pokémon; it’s another thing when there’s too many mono-Fighting in a single generation despite the uniqueness between in terms of body structure.


Also, given that there are still a lot of unique dual-types, I don't mind seeing repeats of those for variety. IIRC there's only one instance, or at least one evolutionary line, of all the following type combinations:

Electric/Psychic
Rock/Poison
Fire/Steel
Dragon/Fighting
Poison/Flying
Normal/Water
Fighting/Ghost
Fire/Water

Probably others too, but those sprang to mind. It's all about how unique they feel from each other. Alolan Raichu, for instance, is quick and offensively-orientated, so if we got another Electric/Psychic-type that was bulky and slow, it'd feel fresh. There's still a few combinations restricted to legendaries like Fighting/Ghost and Fire/Water that should filter down to regular Pokemon.
 
They need to get smarter about this because at some point (if it hasn't already), this will also lose its oomph when the playerbase grows numb to the concept of Generational Gimmicks, in the same way they are probably worried about any specific or individual mechanic growing stale to prompt such quick turnover to begin with.
To be fair... Pokemons gen 8 approach is actually somewhat better than what some of the others did, since if you keep introducing new mechanics *without carrying over the old ones*, well then the bloat issue doesn't happen I guess.
 
To be fair... Pokemons gen 8 approach is actually somewhat better than what some of the others did, since if you keep introducing new mechanics *without carrying over the old ones*, well then the bloat issue doesn't happen I guess.
The quote you included to respond to in particular from my previous post I don't feel is addressed by dropping the old gimmicks in and of itself, when the issue is the constant introduction of new ones to the point there isn't "new toy" syndrome or novelty when they actually add them now. A very common sentiment I heard towards Dynamax, even among people who didn't like Megas and preferred their exclusion, was that Dynamax just looked like Megas but more boring (citing things like the unchanged designs outside Gigantamax and more generic Max Moves as power ups).

While I ranted a bit about mechanical bloat in the YGO comparison, the other point I brought in at the end is that eventually the addition of a new generational gimmick is going to lose oomph as a practice even on the marketing side. Revisiting the YGO case, besides the complication I also tend to see jokes about certain mechanics individually turning the game into Solitaire, or joking about other ridiculous summoning methods they could add, like fusing Spell Cards or Combining them by Attribute ala Alchemy, as satirical jabs at "okay what new Totally-Awesome summon gimmick will they try to sell this installment"? I think Pokemon is going to risk heading in this direction since the stale concerns are not about keeping the mechanics around, but simply making new ones repeatedly.
 
A lot of mons should be nerfed.

Slaking and Regigigas wouldn't even be busted if they had some mid ability by this point. The power creep has been insane.
I kinda agree. Regigigas has a pretty poor movepool, so I don't think it would be as strong as people would think. Slaking on the other hand, would still be insanely powerful as it learns excellent moves to back up its bonkers stats.

Just so this isn't a reply, I think that Conquest is the most overrated pokemon game. It's by no means bad, but I hear almost nothing but positive reviews when people talk about the game. Because this game is so highly praised, I was let down as I felt that it was an incredibly average tactics game with pokemon. The story is as by the books as you can get for one of these games and the campaign is equally as generic. I also dislike how the other character's side quest campaigns are mandatory to play through once you beat the main game. I wanted to continue with my character's story, and having to play through side quests first stopped me from finishing the post game. People sing the praises of many of the main series games as well, but I feel that there are a decent amount of people who have criticisms of the games As a result, I feel that the two sides counterbalance each other out.. With conquest, a much smaller amount of people have played the game and most seem to love it, which is why I find it to be the most overrated game in the franchise.
 
I think gamefreak could experiment with leaving the in-game pokemon the same, but on ranked battles, apply nerfs and buffs, and then applying them for real on the pokemon in the next generations. leaves the main gameplay untouched, but lets ranked battles have balance patches.
 
Regigigas actually is not that bad nowadays from the Competitive standpoint. It at last has Rest, so it can live all kind of hits (look at those defensive Stats, when invested only Fight and very boosted moves do relevant damage) and just use Restalk + Body Slam + Knock Off. This cripples opposing team and if Regigigas survives 5 turns on the field, it can actually do big damage.

Main problem aren,t even Fight Mons or Steel + Body Press Mons. Main problem are Tapu Fini and Tapu Koko, who don,t allow Regigigas to sleep with their terrains. Remove those 2 from the equation and with the right team Regigigas can shine.

I don,t think Regigigas needs another ability for this reason, it just needs a meta without terrains and the right team support. Regarding Slaking, I don,t think he needs to change ability either, but I would change the way Truant Works: Instead of not letting move each 2 turns, I would make Truant prevent using offensive moves each 2 turns. This way Choice Band Slaking would still not demolish the meta, but LO + Slack Off + 3 Attacks or Bulk Up + Slack Off + 2 Attacks would be usable.
 
Main problem aren,t even Fight Mons or Steel + Body Press Mons. Main problem are Tapu Fini and Tapu Koko, who don,t allow Regigigas to sleep with their terrains. Remove those 2 from the equation and with the right team Regigigas can shine.
Let's be honest that's still not the case.

There's no realistic scenario where Regigigas gets to live 5 turns without either getting horribly crippled, or giving 5 turns of free setup. The presence of the Tapus or terrain in general doesn't matter much (if anything, Tapu Fini and Bulu/Rillaboomer *help* him by making him immune to status and granting extra passive recovery)

The only thing Gigas obtained with finally learning Protect is... getting banned from ZU lol.

Regigigas was actually viable in gen 8 competitively, but it had nothing to do with receiving extra moves, it was actually just the fact that Weezing and Galar Weezing existed and made for a cheesy but effective strategy which could actually 4-0 certain compositions if unprepared.
 
Slow Start is never going to work because Singles are too Switch-Heavy for Regigigas to ever make progress, while Doubles without Weezing Cheese are too aggressive to hit 5 turns even with defensive tools gained.

Honestly I'm not even sure I'd call Regigigas particularly good if you took away Slow Start entirely. With Return gone, his main STAB is the much weaker Body Slam, and while his Bulk is good, his speed's just okay for trying to sweep with. Rest is his only solution to status, and he has to rely on his Coverage for Normal Resists. It's not really anything I feel OU isn't already dealing with if he gets that high up (I see him being like A- for something like SwSh if assigning a rank) after this hypothetical change, compared to Slaking who has some mixed potential, much higher Physical bulk, and things like Reliable Recovery or Encore for set-up exploitation if it lost Truant.

I just don't get why they felt the need to kneecap Regigigas so hard. Slaking it has a flavor/depiction for its theme, but aside from being woken up from a Statue like all the Golems (if not several Legendaries in general), nothing about Regigigas really suggests it being a slow starter. Manga and Anime depictions it at most takes a blow or two coming out, and then turns into a beatdown machine before the fight is under way much. At this point I'd want something like Intimidate or Stamina that better depicts its massive power or size imposing on the enemy. Why is it okay for every other Trio master to be designed to be potential Uber level, but Regigigas has to be weakened for a concept that literally never gets referenced for it outside said ability existing?
 
An ever simpler fix that would help imo: why not make slow start affect speed only? 100 speed isn't amazing, and I hardly believe anyone is investing in a speedy regigigas Plus, it fits a bit more with the theme: it's a giant being that takes a while to build up speed and react to a battle, even if its attacks are powerful, but once it does, its devastating.
 
You guys feel Gen 3 had a lot of weak duo/single staged mons to prevent powercreep? Something like Absol being physically oriented despite it being a special type seems way too much of a handicap. Same with Slaking and Tropius having handicaps (either ability or stats), and gimmick mons being fairly weak

Or maybe it's just taking Gen 2 influences incorrectly, I dunno. Stuff got rocked by Gen 4 either way
 
Not that much.


252+ Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Buzzwole: 228-270 (54.5 - 64.5%) -- approx. 2HKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Tough Claws Weavile Triple Axel (40 BP) (3 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tapu Fini: 129-153 (37.5 - 44.4%) -- approx. 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Yeah, there's only Tapu Fini (and eventually Toxapex) that could afford against a CB Tough Claws Weavile (because yeah, SD set is even more menacing)

Also:


No matter its popularity amongst the community, if a Pokemon is efficient, it'll be used. Remind what happened when Pelipper and Torkoal got their new abilities.
Why would anyone run a adamant banded weavile?

As for it a cool mon i said it from a marketing perspective not from competitive perspective.

Yes you were. You said that Tough Claws Weavile would be a good thing for the metagame because it would make Lando worse.
And that was in response to someone saying that tough claws weavile would be bad for competitive.

But that’s not the point of buffs. Buffs are for making bad mons decent, not decent mons better.
Yeah GF gacve megas to Metagross, Salamence, Rayquaza was because they were bad mons
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
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You guys feel Gen 3 had a lot of weak duo/single staged mons to prevent powercreep? Something like Absol being physically oriented despite it being a special type seems way too much of a handicap. Same with Slaking and Tropius having handicaps (either ability or stats), and gimmick mons being fairly weak

Or maybe it's just taking Gen 2 influences incorrectly, I dunno. Stuff got rocked by Gen 4 either way
Gen 3 is...pretty weird, but I don't think it's really a "power creep" issue. Back then competitive Pokemon wasn't really much of a thing nor was it a primary concern to begin with so I don't think "power creep" was the issue.

I think a lot of mons there are gimmicky because Gen 3 really was the beginning of them trying to do more with Pokemon than the basic formula that Gen 1+2 had established, and Gen 3 introduced quite a handful of new "features" that I think the new mons were explicitly designed to promote or market.

Chief among them is Double Battles. The Pikaclones, Plusle and Minun, for instance, were explicitly designed to promote Double Battles, as they had the abilities Plus and Minus to boost each others' Special Attack in a 2v2 with both of them on the field, both of them learn Helping Hand to boost power further, and as a whole they are basically meant to be a pair used alongside each other in such a format. You have a bunch of other "pairs" who seem designed with this in mind, such as Volbeat and Illumise, Lunatone and Solrock (hence why Tate and Liza use them as their "ace duo" as the Gym Leaders who promote Double Battles), etc.

Another thing is the introduction of Contests, which Hoenn really went out of its way to market as a big new feature as a way to enjoy Pokemon that doesn't involve battling. Gen 3 really tried to push the notion that battling is not the only way to be successful in the world of Pokemon and that some Pokemon who are not cut out for battling can still shine in other areas. This is very evident in how several Gen 3 Pokemon are extraordinarily weak in battle, but when you look at their movepools, they are nigh tailor-made to shine in a Contest environment. Chief among them is Delcatty, who we all know is pretty awful in combat, but it excels in Cute Contests as its movepool is made for that: Skitty is adorable which adds to the aesthetic and Delcatty certainly carries that sort of vibe as well. Other examples of Contest-oriented Pokemon in Gen 3 are arguably Mawile, Sableye, and Luvdisc as chief examples among them. Mawile and Sableye are notoriously mediocre in battle, but they have really standout designs and their movepools make them great fits for a Contest environment, particularly the Tough and Smart categories of Contests respectively.

As for stuff like Slaking, Slaking just feels like a joke design that the designers thought would be funny from a thematic standpoint, and Tropius is just one of those generic single-stage mons who is similar in function to what many weaker single-stage mons served in older games: a mid-game pre-promote option who is reasonably good for the mid game and can be a good crutch while your weaker mons are still not totally up to snuff yet, but will inevitably fall behind and will be ditched once your available options increase.

As for Dark-types like Absol...I can't say. Absol isn't even strictly *bad* even back in Gen 3 as it can use Shadow Ball as a pseudo-STAB, but it definitely feels like it was introduced a generation too early. It's a decent Pokemon in battle and is certainly not bad thanks to its wide movepool. Also 75 Special Attack wasn't necessarily a bad stat to have back in Gen 3: power creep has made that a lot weaker in newer generations since but it was an okay benchmark to have back in the Gen 3 days.

Gen 3 Pokemon design as a whole definitely feel like a product of its time, several of them were just gimmicks meant to promote certain features that originated in Ruby and Sapphire, some are just decent mons for the time period who haven't really aged well in the years since. I cannot say for certain what they were thinking with every single mon they made back then but a lot of it is just more how different Pokemon design philosophy was back in those days than it is now.
 
Absol should have been changed to dark/fairy in gen 6 plus mega absol should have been a regular evolution instead of a mega

Design wise it is one of the best mons ever

Wasn't giving Megas to already-good Pokemon one of the most frequent criticisms of how the mechanic was handled? I.E. people don't think this is how buffing Mons via Megas should have been approached?
But they were extremely popular. Most people love mega zard, mega lucario, mega salamence etc
 
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Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
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Legendaries and mythicals being one-of-a-kind is a long-debated issue that no one ever agrees over
Legendary Bird: Multiple.
Mewtwo: I actually wouldn't be surprised if there was a few. Mr. Fuji couldn't create Mewtwo by himself, and in the games it seems like all the scientists lived, and this seemed like a pretty sketchy experiment which may have meant not all the scientists were just in it for the science or good of the world. All it takes is making a copy of the blueprints and selling it to the right contacts on the black market.
Mew: Multiple.
Legendary Beasts: Despite sounding like they should be one-of-a-kind, there are multiple. Seems like the Ho-Oh species came across a winning formula and seemed to have created multiple trios over time; which means for every Legendary Beast trio there's a tragedy connected to them where at least three Pokemon died.
Tower Duo: I believe there are multiple (let's put aside the anime, we're talking about the games). The ones in Johto are just the most well known as they were worshipped.
Celebi: So its either there are multiple, its the same Celebi but at different points throughout its possibly eternal life, or a combination of the two (like there's multiple timelines which at points cross with one another and each timeline has a Celebi).
Legendary Titans: Multiple.
Eon Duo: Multiple.
Weather Trio: Hard to say, like it would make sense for them to be one-of-a-kind. If there are multiple, at the very least only one group of Trio is active at a time, it's just that the ones in Hoenn are the most well known cause their territory just so happened to be a populated region.
Jirachi: I say multiple, the thing is most are asleep and are either disguised or slip into a pocket dimension until they wake up. Heck, I always question its Dex entry and came up with a theory that only ones which have granted wishes during the seven days is at its strongest need to sleep for a thousand years. All others have a normal sleep cycle but are unable to grant wishes (at least major ones, at most maybe able to manipulate luck) when it's not the seven days.
Deoxys: Multiple, but most are likely still in a dormant state.
Lake Guardians: Ugh, hard call. Like, lorewise they would be one-of-a-kind, but the in B2W2 threw us a strange curveball with the Cave of Being which is apparently connected to Sinnoh (I'm assuming not literally) and the Lake Guardians. Did Arceus place multiple Lake Guardians around the world to make spreading of emotions, knowledge, and willpower quicker? Or is the Cave a Being a place the Lake Guardians can directly teleport themselves to and there's a few places like it around the world?
Creation Trio: Well, if we go by events in the game, they all used to be one-of-a-kind but then Arceus up and goes and creates an additional one using the Mystri Stage in the Sinjoh Temple. Now, since Arceus created that additional one for the player, its questionable whether its considered "active" or, as long as its with the player, it's considered "inactive". Also what would happen to it when finally set free? I guess that's another question entirely.
Lunar Duo: Multiple.
Heatran: Multiple.
Regigigas: There does seem to be multiple.
Manaphy Family: Multiple.
Shaymin: Multiple.
Arceus: That depends what you're talking about. If you're talking about the entity, one-of-a-kind of course. If you're talking about the physical body we know as Arceus, well Legends: Arceus proved a theory I had that it's merely just an avatar created by Arceus to interact with the physical world and it can (and probably has) created multiple.
Victini: Likely multiple, though nothing really hints to it, but I don't see why there wouldn't be.
Swords of Justice: Multiple.
Forces of Nature: Probably multiple?
Tao Trio: From lore alone would be one-of-a-kind, if anything there could be multiple of the Original Dragon. Unless the splitting of one caused a ripple through reality which caused all Original Dragons to split. Problem is they don't really go into where the Original Dragon came from, it just exists in the legend and then splits to create Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem.
Meloetta: Probably multiple.
Genesect: Anime aside, the issue with Genesect isn't if there are multiple, is if multiple have been made. If there's likely more Mewtwo and we know there's more Type: Null, then I would say the chances are good that a former Plasma scientist got the blueprints onto the black market where some fossils of the ancient Genesect have also likely shown up.
Aura Trio: Seemingly one-of-a-kind? According to Dexio & Sina, the Zygarde that appears in Alola is the one from Kalos, having come to Alola because it sensed a disturbance (the Ultra Beasts). Though there could also just be that most of the time Xerneas and Yveltal are inactive. Also Zygarde likely can create new cells & cores if something happens to one of them, and if it can do that than another Zygarde doesn't seem farfetched (if I had to guess, they would share a mental link so would just be two of the same; no need to have multiple then unless it's going into a dangerous situation and leaves some Cores and Cells behind in case the worse happens).
Diancie: Multiple.
Hoopa: Probably multiple?
Volcanion: Despite seeming mechanical, it looks to be organic so see no reason they wouldn't be multiple.
Type: Null Family: Multiple, not just because Aether Foundation made three but also because it's revealed in SwSh that the blueprints are on the black market.
Guardian Deities: One-of-a-kind.
Cosmog Family: Multiple.
Necrozma: USUM certainly makes it out to be one-of-a-kind.
Magearna: While another artificial Pokemon, the Soul-Heart is a really notable part of it as that doesn't seem like something you can "just" build. If multiple do exist, its just a few, and who knows if more can be even built (its way too old for any blueprints, at least in good quality, of it to still exist; unless the Soul-Heart is that complex to build).
Marshadow: Probably multiple?
Zeraora: Probably multiple?
Meltan Family: Multiple.
Hero Duo: I'm guessing one-of-a-kind at this current moment.
Eternatus: One-of-a-kind on the Pokemon World, who knows if or how many are flying around the Pokemon universe.
Kubfu Family: Multiple.
Zarude: Multiple.
Calyrex: One-of-a-kind.
Calyrex Horses: Like, if Calyrex is one-of-a-kind, it seems like his horses are too?

... Also multiple dimensions (Hoopa's rings, Ultra Space, possibly Dynamax Dens/Lairs) means there are plenty of meta explanation why we're running into Legendaries that are one-of-a-kind or there's very few of.


I watched wolfeys video on ranking the pokemon gimmicks in a vgc context. Went about as I expected, with z moves being the worst, megas being either too much or worthless, and dynamax being overtuned but the closest one resembling balanced.
I'll admit all the competitive talk is lost on me, so not sure how much my ranking will matter. My personal ranking is more from aesthetics & how much it changes (and potential is has, at least in my eyes): Mega > Z-Moves > Dynamax.

Yeah, I know, pretty predictable. And I agree with the problems, though they're not without solutions if GF is willing to take the steps:

Mega: Two main problems: (1) Only 1 Mega per team and (2) too many popularly strong Pokemon got a Mega. The latter problem not only further accentuates the first problem, but has a connected problem (which you could consider a 3rd main problem): All Pokemon got a +100 BST increase. So, going into my suggestions:
  1. Depending on BST range a Pokemon may get a bigger increase or smaller. Like a Pokemon between 450-549 is fine with the +100, but a Pokemon with 550-599 can make do with just a +50 increase and anything above 600 is fine (or could use some stat redistribution); Meanwhile bigger increases I think would be fair for lower BSTs (+125 for 400-449, and +150 for 399 & under).

  2. I would also go through the Mega again and maybe tone down some of them. Now that they experimented with increasing Base HP mid-battle with Zygarde and Dynamax, I think if Mega were redone a lot would receive some more in HP. I'd also say if they're going to decrease a stat for a Pokemon which gets additional points it shouldn't be more than 10 points, and that's only to throw a bone to slow Pokemon who wouldn't mind being slower; meanwhile the 600+ Pokemon can have more leeway in how they're stats are increased & lower (that's their special boon for Mega Evolving as they don't get additional points).

  3. Probably a controversial thought: REPLACE the "1 per battle rule" with a "Mega Energy Bar" you need to increase while battling and once full you can Mega Evolve. Charging it depends on how the battle goes, for example if your Pokemon is hit by a Super Effective move it increases by a lot, if hit by a resisted move increased by a little. During PvP battles the bar starts halfway and, depending on how the battle goes, you might be able to Mega Evolve at least 2 if possibly 3 Pokemon.
The idea obviously needs work, if they ever decide to do something similar, but I think it shows Mega aren't unredeemable, just GF was a bit too excited about them and needed to step back.

Z-Moves: Now the Elemental Ones I don't really have a problem with, it's more the Signature Z-Moves. They felt half-baked, like they couldn't resist giving some Pokemon special treatment. Unless they severely weaken them, I think the "1 per battle" rule is fine. As for Signature Z-Moves, honestly I'd just get rid of them needing a special Z-Crystal and just have it be a secret technique some Pokemon have if they use the right Elemental Z-Move with the right Move. That way they could probably include a lot more Signature Z-Moves as they won't have to make a related Z-Crystal. "Actually, in this certain scenario, it's better to use the normal Z-Move instead of the Signature Z-Move thus needing separate Crystals". OR, or, when you select the move that can access the Signature Z-Move, if gives you the option to either do the normal Elemental Z-Move or the Signature Z-Move; there two moves with one crystal!

Dynamax/Gigantamax: Ugh, I want to say the G-Max designs have grown on me, but when compared to the Megas, not really. Size change aside, all D-Max does is increase HP & make all Moves Z-Moves expies for 3 turns. G-Max is the same but has a Signature Move attached to it and nothing else; no stat changes, no Type changes, no Ability changes. I suppose its nice the Pokemon got to hold a normal Held Item, but I just don't like the presentation and feels like its just trying to compromise between Mega (via a super form, but without any trait changes and trying to shove in this kaiju design theme instead of just being a suped up version of that mon) and Z-Moves (via a super attack, but because it lasts 3 turns they're weaker so don't feel to have the "bite" the Z-Moves had even with the added secondary effects).

I truly believe the best solution would be something like a doubles tutorial and then it gives you something to enable double battle opponents. Main issue is you'd double (haha) the time spent creating teams which is really bad, but I know not everyone likes playing double battles all the time
I'd just make it a choice in the Options: Double Battles: On or Off. (Among some other ideas)

The 95/130/110/65/65/60 stats spread for Eeveelutions should be discarded. Also there should be more eeveelutions. One of each type.
I feel all the Eeveelutions having the same points just distributed differently is fine, it's at the very least a template of various ranges they can experiment with. At most, maybe increase the BST from 525 to 540 and turn one of the 65s to an 80.

Honestly, what some Eeveelutions need is their points re-distributed *looks at Flareon*.

As for Eeveelution for each Type, I have a feeling when it comes to adding new Eeveelutions that's considered a BIG decision cause it comes with several cons they would then have to deal with everytime they include Eevee or do something with the Eeveelutions.

Mega Sableye, Mega Mawile and some other mega's should be regular evolutions instead of meega evolution.
Talked about this is another thread, I'll repost what I said there:

If they weren't afraid to change things, maybe they could give Houndoom, Mawile, Medicham, Manectric, Banette, Absol, Sableye, Glalie, Lopunny, & Audino a new evo which resembles their Mega Evo but isn't so "fancy". Then retcon the Mega for being the new Evo, you would only need to change the names of the Mega, Stones, and also readjust the stats (heck, maybe also slightly redesign the Mega).

Then again, I guess this is what Regional Variants are for now?

but in the TCG, no-one seem to have issues with format-specific special Pokémon like Pokémon-EX. At worst, they would say Crystal Pokémon from Aquapolia and Skyridge are competitively unviable, and even then, there are fans of the concept
Probably because the TCG started doing different things WAY earlier than the games did. Like before even Gen II was a thing the TCG introduced Dark Pokemon and Gym Leader Pokemon, The main complaint about the TCG isn't with the various gimmicks but rather with the power scaling & HP amounts going up & up. Remember when Base Set Charizard was looked as being super powerful cause it had 120 HP and could do 120 damage? Nowadays those two amounts look like a joke for a fully evolved Pokemon.

Not every Pokémon needs to be a dual-type.
As long as the standard size of each new generation remains ~80 Pokemon, I think the vast majority of them will be.
I don't know if Nitro Indigo meant it this way, but how I took their post is that if a Pokemon is designed in a certain way where it makes sense for them to just be a mono-type, that's alright. Like, for example, with the Galar Starters about everyone assumed they were going to be dual-type, only a very few thought some if not all were going to be mono-type. Lo and behold, they were all mono-type. Could GF have added bits to their design where they could then slap on a secondary Type? Sure, but doing that would feel artificial, you're purposely making a Pokemon more complicated just to add a second Type instead of the secondary Type feeling natural to the intended design.

It's alright if 80% of the Dex is Dual-type as long as it all feels natural. And if a Pokemon looks like a Mono-Type, let it be a Mono-Type.

I think Yu-gi-oh is a perfect example of how fast this approach can go wrong due to bloat or haphazard marketing/design choices.
Yeah, gotta admit kind of fell off Yu-Gi-Oh! after 5Ds, when I peaked onto it a few years later they had the Pendulum stuff which added new sections to the dueling mat and their cards had stuff on it that I couldn't figure out without having to read the rules.

Hopefully Pokemon won't turn into that, so far the Super Mechanics have been FAIRLY simple enough to understand (once we get our hands on it and dissect it) and after Gen VI they decided not to have more than one Super Mechanic per game.

Also, given that there are still a lot of unique dual-types, I don't mind seeing repeats of those for variety. IIRC there's only one instance, or at least one evolutionary line, of all the following type combinations:

Electric/Psychic
Rock/Poison
Fire/Steel
Dragon/Fighting
Poison/Flying
Normal/Water
Fighting/Ghost
Fire/Water
Here's the full list:

* means there's a Mega Evolution with that type.
* means there's a non-permanent Alternate Form with that type.
* means there's a Pre-evolution with that type.

Normal: Fighting**, Ground, Ghost, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Dragon, Fairy**
Fighting: Normal**, Flying, Rock, Ghost, Ice, Dragon
Flying: Fighting, Poison, Fairy
Poison: Flying, Rock, Ghost, Fire, Electric, Psychic, Fairy
Ground: Normal, Bug*, Fire*, Grass, Electric, Psychic, Ice, Dark
Rock: Fighting, Poison, Grass, Electric, Dragon, Dark
Bug: Ground*, Ghost, Psychic, Ice, Fairy
Ghost: Normal, Fighting, Poison, Bug, Steel, Water, Electric, Ice, Fairy
Steel: Ghost, Fire, Water, Ice, Dark
Fire: Normal, Ground*, Poison, Steel, Water, Electric
Water: Normal, Ghost, Steel, Fire, Grass
Grass: Normal, Ground, Rock, Water, Ice
Electric: Normal, Poison, Rock, Ground, Ghost, Dark, Fire, Psychic
Psychic: Poison, Bug, Ground, Electric
Ice: Fighting, Bug, Ground, Ghost, Steel, Grass, Dragon, Dark, Fairy
Dragon: Fighting, Rock, Ice
Dark: Ground, Rock, Steel, Electric, Ice, Fairy
Fairy: Normal**, Flying, Poison, Ghost, Dark, Ice, Bug, Dragon


An ever simpler fix that would help imo: why not make slow start affect speed only? 100 speed isn't amazing, and I hardly believe anyone is investing in a speedy regigigas Plus, it fits a bit more with the theme: it's a giant being that takes a while to build up speed and react to a battle, even if its attacks are powerful, but once it does, its devastating.
Still wouldn't solve a main problem: It would still have Slow Start taking up its Ability slot. This is my idea:
  • Slow Start only takes 3 turns to wear off.
  • Upon wearing off this Pokemon is cured of any status ailments and stats are reset.
  • Regigigas has different forms. Starts out as "Waking Forme" which has Slow Start, looks the same but the gems on its body are black. Once Slow Start wears off, it changes to "Awoken Forme" which has Clear Body and looks as it does normally. Once in Awoken Forme cannot change back to Waking Forme, even if switched out.
Yes, I know, Clear Body is a pretty niche Ability, but it fits with it being a Regi and at least gives is some passive effect.

Honestly, I like Slow Start, because I find the juxtaposition of "12-foot alien robot colossus thing" and "makes sculptures seemingly just for fun and has a hard time getting up in the morning" to be one of the funniest things Pokemon has ever done.
No, this is the funniest thing they ever did with Regigigas:
 
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