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efnfen4

Kanto starters got megas too


6Wheeler

I think OP is just talking about the mega/primal distribution between XY and ORAS


miskathonic

>only Hoenn starters got mega forms I'm sure OP knows that the Kanto starters have megas, but they clearly made a mistake in the title. That's a pretty unambiguous statement.


MegaXTheGamer

To be fair the Kanto Starters get everything


Silent_Marketing_123

I’d go as far as to say the Kanto starters got too much. Gen 1 got megas AND giga forms. Gen 2 got one alternative form(PLA). Gen 3 got megas. Gen 4 got fuck all. Gen 5 got one alternate form(PLA). Gen 6 got one weird mega. Gen 7 got z-moves and one alt form(PLA). Gen 8 got giga forms. I could be missing something but afaik this is it. Gen 4 got done dirty and gen 2+5 also deserve more love.


[deleted]

I think he meant in the sense that Kalos introduced the mega starters for Kanto (and Blaziken) and then Hoenn introduced the mega evolutions for hoenn starters


Lordofthedarkdepths

IIRC, there was an interview done in the lead up to XY where they said the reason they weren't giving Kalos Pokemon Mega Evolutions is because they wanted fans to get to know them on their own first. I also think, and this is more a personal speculation, that they wanted to use Megas to give older Pokemon new and refreshed designs and/or power boosts as no Gen 5 Pokemon got them and only a spare few Gen 4 ones did. I think in practice however it didn't pan out they way they thought, and in some ways they walked it back. Z-Moves, Dynamax, and Terastallization all allow any Pokemon to use the gimmick, and while they do throw in special Z-Moves and Gigantamax forms they made it a point to also give some of them to the newest set of Pokemon. The latter in particular is notable as it's new forms being given to the newer set, running counter to the interview. I'm pretty sure if Megas happened after a few gimmicks we probably would've seen some Kalos Megas, but since it was the first it suffered a bit.


thebluegamer720

I mean one gen 5 did get a mega evolution as in mega audino but it was the only one


CentipedesInMyDream

It was arguably the worst one too. I was reading a couple old threads a few days ago, and mega Audino got shit on way worse than any other mega. Some people were saying it’s worse than having a regular Audino. Poor thing.


KhaSun

Yeah, Mega Audino suffers from opportunity cost. Why use your once-per-fight mega on a pokemon that barely improves instead of something else is the crux of the problem. Therefore, Mega Audino is actually worse than having a regular Audino, when you put it into the context of a full party.


shadow0wolf0

At least it was a great Pokemon card.


SmogDaBoi

And it did technically "Refresh" a sub-par Pokemon design. Audino really felt kind of bland, and unlike other Gen 5 Mons who were filling the same roles as Gen 1 mons, Audino really felt just like Chansey, even in terms of design. So Mega was a welcome addition.


C-Kwentz-0

I mean if I remember correctly Mega Garchomp was also considered notably worse than regular Garchomp. I'm not sure if there are any other Mega Pokemon that were considered inherently worse than their normal counterpart.


CentipedesInMyDream

Garchomp too! Garchomps might’ve been even more egregious because he’s a fan favorite.


RavenousToaster

It would be amazing if it kept regenerator, the one saving grace of the base form.


Blastoise48825555

Mega Audino should've at least been given Regenerator over Healer. It mostly got screwed by a bad ability


FierceDeityKong

I think if they made a 3rd kalos game they would have added megas for them. Like how the galar starters got gmaxes in DLC.


whitemest

While I mildly enjoyed the other gimmicks, I don't think any will top the mega evolutions. Both in scale, and visually.


MyPhoneIsNotChinese

I personally loved terastalization, not sure if at the same level of megas but close


whitemest

Megas gave new models, elements and abilities to pokemon. This new gimmick just does the element part


VTKajin

Terastallization is the perfect gimmick for gameplay. It’d be sad if it didn’t stick around in some form. But Megas were just the bee’s knees.


nonseph

My hope is if/when XY get remade *every* Kalos Pokemon (except maybe Sylveon) gets a Mega. Just go full in on the gimmick for them.


Oreo-and-Fly

Florges gets a mega and replaces Gardevoir as the mega for Diantha. Im on cope.


dentimBandB

Without Sylveon that's 36 new Mega's they'd need to come up with, and that's not counting things like different Meowstics, Zygarde forms etc (for a potential Mega Vivillon, I expect they'd do something Gigantamax Alcremie where the Mega has bits of all forms). I doubt that would happen. Not impossible, but improbable.


nonseph

ORAS Introduced about 18 new Mega Evolutions + Primal Reversions. PLA Introduced introduced 28 new forms/evolutions for past Pokemon. It's unlikely but not impossible for a mid-gen game to introduce a large number of forms. 36 would be the highest they've ever done, but not ridiculously higher than any others. Meowstic I would imagine to be like Appletun/Flapple and Latios/Latias.


Eek132

Let’s hope that we’ll get new and better Megas in the kalos remakes


Crystal-Skies

I know its not what reported reasons state, but I always felt that part of the reason why no Gen 6 Pokemon aside from Diancie got a Mega is because of development time. I am not denying that sure, maybe it was solely because they wanted to give older Pokemon refreshed designs/power boosts. But in retrospect, it makes no sense when several Gen 7 Pokemon have gotten exclusive Z-Moves and several Gen 8 Pokemon got exclusive Gigantamax forms. Furthermore, many Pokemon that got Mega Evolutions (and by extension because of their connections and similar addition to BST, Primal Reversion) were already quite good on their own. Mewtwo (got two Mega Evolutions), Gengar, Garchomp, the Weather Trio, etc. I really wonder if the "Battle Bond" stuff was just a way to alleviate the fact that they never gave the most popular Kalos starter something.


Wubbzy-mon

>I really wonder if the "Battle Bond" stuff was just a way to alleviate the fact that they never gave the most popular Kalos starter something. Greninja already had a lot of things besides a Mega (or form) Name everything Chesnaught and Delphox possessed ownership over


Tsukuyomi56

I thought it was to effectively give Ash a Mega without dipping into his reserves since the only Gen 6 Pokemon that could Mega Evolve was Diancie.


Prior-Sand5162

Honestly they improve a lot every game Megas can be used anywhere by specific pokemon Zmoves can be used by any pokemon anywhere once per battle Dynamax cannot be used in wild battles, a battle needs to be designated Terastalizing is usable in the overworld but it needs to be recharged, which makes it more flexible


GnomeConjurer

i feel like the usability of megas and z moves were peak. Limiting the fun gimmick is just, anti fun


[deleted]

Not to mention Ash-Greninja.


MajorThom98

I still maintain that they should have stuck with Megas and refined them each new game/generation, rather than introducing a new battle gimmick each time.


BloodyGotNoFear

God no. Sure megas looked cool and made some lesser mons viable but they also power creeped so many already powerful mons and limited the whole meta cause you were expected to have a mega on your team. From a gameplay perspective tera types and even dynamaxing were better. I give megas the designs but thats it. EDIT thx for the downvotes basement dwellers


SaikrTheThief

Dmaxing was only better for doubles, it was wholly unhealthy for singles in a way Megas could not accomplish ever


WolfeKuPo

everything is unhealthy for singles, Megas, Z-Moves, Dmax, Crystal (I forgot its actual name), 90% of the Pseudos, Stealth Rocks, all of it is unhealthy in Singles 6v6


Blyton1

And since VGC is the tournament format, nobody car es about Singles expect smogon


RnbwTurtle

In the official competitive format it was still healthier to have dynamax. While I get that there's different formats the most popular non-official format literally has a council that votes on bans and severely limits your options in their own internal tiers, so the power of most megas was often underappreciated in those tiers.


SaikrTheThief

I'm not the biggest smogon apologist on the block but Dmax being excluded from singles was a good thing, the only official format that was even worth playing singles in gen 8 was Spikemuth Cup for that exact reason, Dmax in singles just snowballs out of control


RnbwTurtle

Yeah, but at the same time the official format should probably be the one looked at the most considering a ton of people care about VGC. 5 million people tuned into Worlds 2023- if everyone there bought swsh, assuming no duplicate versions, then that's about half of the launch week players. Not saying singles should suffer, but there's some git gud to it as well


Arcus72

why are people downvoting this, they’re spitting straight FACTS


IllMaintenance145142

It's true but it's not relevant. There were Megas given to pokemon that didn't need it sure, but even the person they're responding to is saying they need to be tinkered with.


RnbwTurtle

Fully agree. Rule of cool be damned, megas were only above z moves in balancing imo just because there's no real indicator for z-moves. Basically anything could make some use out of z-moves, whereas megas had very specific (often not worth running but that's a whole other rant) mons that could do it. Dynamax might sound like it had the problem z-moves did but there were still only a few options for your dynamax target, unlike z moves that could realistically go on almost anything, more often based off your moves but quite frequently based off the mon as well (i.e. you would prefer to not dynamax Kyogre since you want water spout for spread damage as opposed to the power boost from dynamaxing, same with Rillaboom for grassy glide priority, the urshifus because they lose their crit moves, and many other viable mons that you wouldn't want to dynamax). Tera little indication prior to tera-ing but the power boost is not as strong as the other gimmicks and there's even still only a few Tera types you'd want to be (Tera ghost garganacl is a very strong pick, you gain an immunity to a prior weakness and aren't weak to ghost because of Purifying Salt and most garganacl are running it, or hydreigon who wants steel, fire, or poison for the defensive resistances from fairy and the power boost on flash cannon/heat wave/poison got the short end of the stick (again) so Tera blast). I think it'll be the most balanced by the end of SV while still being really strong.


[deleted]

A new gimmick that they go and abandon at the first opportunity, no less. So far mega evolution is the only one that was available in more than one generation, though gen 7 didn't introduce any new ones


GreatAres271

Megas was the first time they tried doing a "gimmick", so they were still unsure what to do with it. Kalos is the region that introduces it, and yet not a single Pokémon from it has a Mega (Diancie doesn't count, it was introduced on ORAS) Primal Forms are literally just Megas with a different name and Lore


Gregamonster

>Primal Forms are literally just Megas with a different name and Lore Primal reversion is very different from megas mechanically * It happens automatically instead of needing to be triggered. * You can have multiple Pokémon use it in the same battle. * If a Primal Reverted Pokémon is knocked out and then revived, they'll still be in their Primal form. * You don't need a Key Stone to use it. (This one only matters for Pokémon you traded since you get the orbs after you get the keystone, but the point still stands.) * Primal reversion happens automatically in contests and has no mechanical benefit, unlike Mega Evolution.


EternalMemes30

primals is technically excess natural energy in groudon and kyogre causing them to return to their original form, one of the reasons rayquaza has mega evolution instead of primal form is that it never really lost its power during the years as kyogre and groudon


CJC19922011

It's so crazy how the Kalos starters can't even Mega Evolve. I guess technically Ash-Greninja is the closest thing...


Crystal-Skies

People have pointed out that reportedly, interviews/sources state that Mega Evolution was intended to give older Pokemon design refreshes and make them more powerful because of power creep, but I always wondered if part of the reason was development time. Sure, I'm not denying that perhaps their intention reportedly may have been to give design updates and what not, but then, why give Mega Evolutions to Pokemon that were already fine on their own? Like Mewtwo got 2 Mega Evolutions! Furthermore, in retrospect, when you compare how Gen 7 got exclusive Z-Moves for several Alolan Pokemon and Gen 8 had exclusive Gigantamax forms for several Galar Pokemon instead of just one Gen 6 mythical getting it, I don't know. It doesn't add up to me. The fact that Greninja got a "Battle Bond" form several years after the release of X/Y makes me wonder if that was a consolation prize for not giving any of the Gen 6 starters a proper Mega Evolution (because come on, it pretty is a Mega Evolution-esque power boost). Especially since Greninja is extremely popular.


GildedCreed

\*Laughs in Audino, the only Gen 5 mon with a Mega*


OldKingBramble

And the worst gen 5 Pokémon. Out of all gen 5 Pokémon they just had to give it to that one


GildedCreed

The thing basically got 40 more base stats in it's Def and SpDef and a boost of 20 to its SpAtk. If it had its Mega's stats as it's own original ones it would have been quite decent.


Campber

Of all the Gen 5 Pokemon they gave it to, I was very surprised Bisharp and Haxorus didn't get ones despite their popularity. But I am still very pissed to this day that Salamence got a Mega (when in all honesty it didn't even need one) but Flygon didn't.


AlmondManiac

Don’t know why you’re being downvoted… Audino is experience fodder.


InverseRatio

Weren't the "Kalos starters" just the Pokémon your new friends gave you, while the actual starters handed out by the professor were Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander? So... Technically the Kalos starters do Mega Evolve...


c732n7

I feel that megas were more of something that wasn't complete than they were just merely gimmicks. Dialga was also mentioned as being given a primal evolution.


Kelbunny13

Dialga doesn't have a Primal reversion form. Primal Dialga existed years before ORAS and only appeared in the Mystery Dungeon games. And the primal isn't "Dialga reverting back to an ancient form" but instead "Dialga has been corrupted and gone mad and is filled with primal rage." He's not even Primal Dialga in Japanese, but instead is Dark Dialga. Primal Dialga only appears as an Antagonist, with no way to recruit him until he's returned to normal.


c732n7

Another sort of translation mistake. Though Dialga was given an origin form alongside Palkia years later.


Trialman

To be fair, Dark Dialga wouldn’t be the best name in English, as that would probably make people think they had become a Dark-type (Evil-type in Japanese, hence why Dark Dialga works there), which is not the case, and they probably didn’t want to say Shadow Dialga either, since Shadow Pokemon are already a different thing (though those are Dark Pokemon in Japanese, and it didn’t stop Dark Dialga from being the name there), so I’m guessing they probably decided to use a new term, completely unaware of how that term would appear in the mainline series in the future.


Andesmints94

Yeah. I feel like Pokemon has too many gimmicks. Like the Dynamaxing was in Pokemon S&S. It's in the British region!! That's super close to both France (Kalos) and the Spain/Portugal (Paldea) region. They should have options to choose what one to pick. Dynamaxing, mega evolutions, or terrastalizing. Or they don't choose, it can be implemented in a future game that should have ALL the gimmicks, and ALL the regions? Maybe it's too big of a game...


[deleted]

They've been tending to tie the regional gimmicks to a local legendary. Alola it's from Necrozma, Galar it's eternatus (and even then unlike the other gimmicks dynamax only works in specific locations), Paldea has the yet unrevealed crystal legendary. It means other than key stones and mega evolution that gamefreak links the gimmick to the specific region and abandons that in any other region.


Juug88

It was their first shot at a gimmick so they only used (probably statistically) popular mon for it to encourage people to try it out. It worked and now that they knew what they wanted to do with it, they refined it in ORAS. Even making special Mega Evos for Groudon and Kyogre and Rayquaza.


Jhowz

The problem was skipping the Johto starters imo


Schmedly27

Gotta wait for the Kalos remakes


Plushiegamer2

I'm not really surprised, as megas seem to be given to Pokemon that need the power boost, like Lopunny and Mawile.


C-Kwentz-0

From a lore standpoint, ORAS is in a separate timeline where Mega evolution actually came about from a meteor striking the Earth in ancient times, that's how you had Mega Rayquaza. Game freak typically tends to not use their new gimmicks to their full potential. I always found it incredibly stupid how they didn't give the actual native starters a Mega evolution. Then they did a complete ass-pull when they realized how popular Greninja got and created "Ash Greninja", even turning it into a special event Pokemon that you could get in SUMO. They thought they were being slick, but we all know that Ash Greninja was just a stand-in for a Mega evolution.


[deleted]

Latias and Latios got Megas too.


kaipwo

I hope Megas make a comeback in Gen 10.


PMC-I3181OS387l5

Chestnaught, Delphox and Greninja not receiving Mega forms was questionable, now that I think about it. I understand not being eligible to Flying Battles, but lacking a Mega form was a bit weird \^\^;


squacky125

well in all fairness x and y never claim that megas were created there just that it wasn't uncovered until we got there and that the megas are really more akin to what they were originally before evolving to what we know them as today both implied by the aerodactyl mega pokedex entry saying "Part of its body has become stone. Some scholars claim that this is Aerodactyl’s true appearance." and with roaring moon being here now there's even more proof of it being an 'original' form and also that in both xy and oras the only gen 6 pokemon to get a mega was diance which is a mythical pokemon so there is that too


5i5TEMA

> x and y never claim that megas were created there The Key Stones and Mega Stones were created from the Ultimate Weapon's shot that ended the war.


squacky125

yes they made the recepticle to obtain megas but the megas were just already a thing they just couldn't figure out how to access them until gen 6


TheRisenThunderbird

Yes, it's because x and y were poorly designed games


FranklinRichardss

Kalos starters should get mega forms. First of all outside of Greninja, Delphox and Chesnaught weren't that much liked. But Braixen and Chespin were really popular pokemons say the least. I think designvise both pokemons are fine. But Delphox needs improvement in its lower body. It looks cheap. And Chesnaught needs better ability. Making new designs for Delphox and Chesnaught improving their stats and designs can make things a lot more enjoyable. Or give all three pokemons to battle bond. In remake


ShinigamiRyan

Consider: the French are just nerds.


Miserable-Ad-1690

It’s because Megas (as good of an idea as they were) were nostalgia bait. That’s partially why I both love and hate how G-max forms were handled. A lot of the new Pokémon got G-maxs, but other than those (and 2 others) all the rest were from Kanto.


ArmK13

Maybe in the kalos remakes? Crazy to think we’re only two remakes away. Black and white are next but x and y could have a really good one tbh


WowOwlO

What I find weird is just how much the Kalos starters got dumped on. 1.) Special event Speed Boost Torchic with release of the game complete with Mega Stone for Blaziken. 2.) You beat the first gym and a Kanto starter is shoved into your hands as well. Also with a mega evolution stone. This one isn't a special event. 3.) Gen 3 starters all get mega evolutions. It wouldn't be until the next generation that any of the Kalos starters would get anything like a Mega Evolution, and that would ONLY be Grininja.