QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Back when Diamond and Pearl had just been released, I remember talk turning to the inevitable third game - and what the mascot would be. Surprising as it might be now with hindsight, the fandom was not convinced that the third game mascot would be Giratina. Some people thought it would be Cresselia; others thought it would be Darkrai. Some suggested Heatran or Regigigas; and there were even some who were convinced it would be Mesprit (no, seriously).
I can kind of see why people might have had different ideas about this. Sinnoh has a large amount of legendaries, most with fairly interesting lore. While most get decent fleshing out via in-game text and gameplay, that's actually a rarity in the series - a lot of legendary Pokemon don't get the screentime or attention they deserve. Anyone who's been reading the Gen 7 leaks thread will have seen how Magearna, Marshadow, and Zeraora are labelled internally as "mythical 2016", "mythical 2017", and "mythical 2018" respectively, which seems to confirm a lot of fans' feelings that these Pokemon were created to sell movie tickets first and be interesting mythical Pokemon second. But there are a lot of legendary Pokemon which could do with some more time in the spotlight - do you think any of them were interesting enough to headline a game?
The obvious candidate, of course, is Zygarde. We were all expecting it to get its own game - whether two alternate forms ala Kyurem and Necrozma or a single upgraded form for a solitary third version. Much has been written about how Zygarde missed out on being a game mascot. But I'd nominate Latias and Latios as Pokemon worthy of headlining their own pair of games. The original Hoenn titles spectacularly undersell them as legendaries - even ORAS doesn't really elaborate on why exactly they're so special beyond "they're rare psychic dragons, get with it". It's only the movies that really go into why these Pokemon are considered legendary at all, and I feel like there's a lot more to know about them. I have a few other candidates, but I'll hold back and see if anyone else mentions them first.
This isn't just limited to legendary Pokemon: I remember seeing the advert for Ruby and Sapphire back in the day and wondering whether Groudon and Kyogre were legendaries or the final forms of the starters (and hoping they weren't because I wasn't crazy about either design). If there are non-legendary Pokemon interesting enough to headline a game(s), make your case for them below. Finally, are there any Pokemon you think *shouldn't* have headlined a game?
I can kind of see why people might have had different ideas about this. Sinnoh has a large amount of legendaries, most with fairly interesting lore. While most get decent fleshing out via in-game text and gameplay, that's actually a rarity in the series - a lot of legendary Pokemon don't get the screentime or attention they deserve. Anyone who's been reading the Gen 7 leaks thread will have seen how Magearna, Marshadow, and Zeraora are labelled internally as "mythical 2016", "mythical 2017", and "mythical 2018" respectively, which seems to confirm a lot of fans' feelings that these Pokemon were created to sell movie tickets first and be interesting mythical Pokemon second. But there are a lot of legendary Pokemon which could do with some more time in the spotlight - do you think any of them were interesting enough to headline a game?
The obvious candidate, of course, is Zygarde. We were all expecting it to get its own game - whether two alternate forms ala Kyurem and Necrozma or a single upgraded form for a solitary third version. Much has been written about how Zygarde missed out on being a game mascot. But I'd nominate Latias and Latios as Pokemon worthy of headlining their own pair of games. The original Hoenn titles spectacularly undersell them as legendaries - even ORAS doesn't really elaborate on why exactly they're so special beyond "they're rare psychic dragons, get with it". It's only the movies that really go into why these Pokemon are considered legendary at all, and I feel like there's a lot more to know about them. I have a few other candidates, but I'll hold back and see if anyone else mentions them first.
This isn't just limited to legendary Pokemon: I remember seeing the advert for Ruby and Sapphire back in the day and wondering whether Groudon and Kyogre were legendaries or the final forms of the starters (and hoping they weren't because I wasn't crazy about either design). If there are non-legendary Pokemon interesting enough to headline a game(s), make your case for them below. Finally, are there any Pokemon you think *shouldn't* have headlined a game?
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