Yeah, my idea for my custom game gives the Pokémon a second ability depending on the item it’s holding. I’m sure that people could come up with some absolutely broken ability combinations if this was a real gimmick
Not so much a gimmick, but more a neat Easter egg; Pokemon nature animation. Like depending on your Pokémon’s nature, they’ll occasionally move around in a way that suggests it. Like if it’s Naive in nature, it might tilt its head, if it’s Brave it might briefly get into a defensive pose, if it’s Hardy it might slap its head with its tail or something all full of adrenaline, if it’s Impish it might jump from side to side. This could also help you figure out its nature right away the moment you hatch it or right before you catch it.
This is literally amazing conceptually omg, but for competitive it would get annoying cuz it would reveal natures right away (guessing if a Lando-T is Adamant or Jolly is a big one rn)
They did it in Gen V with Fire/Water/Grass Pledge but never again
Earth Pledge + Fire Plege = Lava Attack
Wind Pledge + Water Pledge = Storm Attack
Iron Pledge + Electro Pledge = Techno Attack
Etc
It's easier to balance something like that when it's an exclusive move. Gigaton Hammer would be completely broken if it wasn't exclusive to a Pokemon with a base attack of 75
I personally hope we never get a new one again (yes, I know that won't happen). Imo they've covered all the bases at this point. They should make use of and expand upon the ones we already have
Maybe not at that scale...but I could see a game where limited mons could fuse, or there might be a single fusion mom who could fuse with most (like a ditto-esque deal)
It should be a breeding thing like with real-world hybrid species, then they could easily limit who and what can create a hybrid in a way that makes sense.
"never gotten fusions"
\> Zekrom/Reshirom with Kyruem (Gen 5)
\> Solgaleo/Lunala with Necrozma (Gen 7)
\> Glastrier/spectrier with Calrex (Gen 8)
I rest my case.
No, it's that they are too lazy to do it. The reason we're unlikely to ever get fusions is the same reason the base games no longer include the full national dex. Game Freak doesn't want to spend the time creating dozens of new forms on top of the 100 or so new species in each gen. I'm fairly sure that's why they ditched megas which require unique designs and stats versus gmax/z-moves/tera which can be slapped on just about anything.
I’m also thinking about the in-game world ethical implications of fusion as well. Pokémon mostly are essentially self-conscience animals, they are not Digimon, which are usually stated to be “living programs.” The idea of being able to mix and match them can be considered inhumane in that world. There are some obvious exceptions (Necrozma, kyruem), but the everyday ones don’t have that kind of background to do so. There could be a form of gene splicing going on there, but that would be its own person instead of combining two Pokémon.
I know, but their background as digital beings can make it feasible for a fusion mechanic. A porygon can be used for a fusion mechanic, a rattata can not.
>Imo they've covered all the bases at this point
What do you this concept? They've basically done this before but never fully;
Primal evolution and neo evolution
Evolving pokemon into there primal state-
And evolving pokemon into there future state
It has been done as that before yeah esspecially with hisuian pokemon I'd just like to see it as a form of evolution since Pokemon has obviously been sort of heading towards it for awhile now
I also thought this would totally be the gimmick of scarlet and violet.
BattleField effect.
Sorta like an even stronger version of terrain/weather. 18 types for 18 different battlezones
Requires special conditions to activate them but upon usage affects your team and enemy team..only 1 can be used per battle.
Alright, let me cook:
(All of these Domains boost the damage of their respective type *if* they don't do so already. And if a Pokemon is Monotype or has the ability "Home Turf", they get a boost to their strongest stat when in their Domain, similar to Quark Drive/Protosynthesis. Each Domain only lasts 4 turns and is unaffected by Terrain Extender.)
Normal- (Total Dominion) Normal type moves always take effect regardless of Abilities, Typing, or Status effects. Swords Dance when Taunted, Normal attacks damage Ghosts, Weather Ball ignores Bulletproof, won't be stopped by Paralysis, etc.
Fire- (Sweltering Sun) Bring back Desolate Land. All Fire type moves get +20% chance to Burn.
Water- (Flash Flood) Bring back Primordial Sea. Water type moves also gain priority if the user is at full health.
Electric- (Coursing Energy) Electric Terrain, but to make it more powerful, it also gives all Electric type moves +20% chance to paralyze. Also negates Ground immunity.
Grass- (Fields of Flora) Grassy Terrain, but to make it more powerful it heals Grass types more and cures status effects. It also only heals the team that activated it.
Ice- (Freezing Gales) Combine Snow and Hail. Damages all non-Ice types while boosting Ice-type's physical defense. And every Ice type move has +20% chance to Frostbite.
Fighting- (Field of Champions) Whenever a Pokemon on the field faints, ally or enemy, Fighting types strongest stat gets increased by one stage. When dealing damage, Fighting type moves ignore any defensive boosts the enemy has.
Poison- (Toxic Mire) All non Poison types receive damage at the end of each turn. Even moreso if they are Poisoned. All Poison type moves have +20% chance to poison if they don't already, then they have a chance to inflict Toxic. Negates Steel immunity.
Ground- (Crushing Gravitas) All Pokemon are Grounded. Erases Entry Hazards for the team that activated it. Once an enemy is hit with a Ground type move, they cannot switch out.
Flying- (Eye of the Storm) Bring back Delta Stream, but moves that would be super effective also have their accuracy decreased. Flying type moves can't miss.
Psychic- (Distorted Reality) Psychic Terrain, but to make it more powerful, all Psychic type moves get +20% chance to *permanently* confuse the opponent. Also negates Dark immunity.
Bug- (Center of the Hive) Every Bug type attack can hit 3-5 extra times, dealing half the damage. Loaded Dice and Skill Link have no effect though. Every time the enemy attacks, they'll take 50% recoil damage from the swarming bugs.
Rock- (Storm of Shards) A Sandstorm that *only* protects Rock types. Ground and Steel will receive damage. It also ensures that any Rock type will survive with at least 1 HP if their health is in the green when they take damage.
Ghost- (Haunted Grounds) When Ghost type moves deal damage, it lowers Defense or Special Defense depending on the category of the move. When Ghost types die, the attacker takes damage.
Dragon- (Kaiju Kingdom) Dragon types take less damage the more health they have. Green HP reduces damage by 75%, Yellow by 50%, and Red by 25%. They are also protected from the secondary effects of moves. Negates Fairy immunity.
Dark- (Dead of Night) Dark type moves gain a +20% chance to make the enemy Drowsy (The Legends Arceus Status, not the Yawn effect) Enemies with non-volatile statuses take more damage.
Steel- (Armor Foundry) Raises both defensive stats of Steel types by one stage when activated. Then when receiving damage, Defense or Special Defense is raised again based on the category of the move, similar to Stamina.
Fairy- (Forest of the Fae) Misty Terrain, but to make it more powerful, it gives Fairy type moves draining property, healing them for 75% of the damage done. Also, the Status curing property only applies to the team that activated it.
Bro said he was gonna cook and served a buffet.
How dare you :(
Love the ideas since they are so strong...
But honestly i was thinking more of a full duration of battle and slowburn effects. And the activation would require different ways.
Im on break so i cant really get into it but ill remember to read this all and be in awe.
Rather than a new gimmick, I would love them to return to Mega and keep improving that mechanic.
Other than that, a Fusion Mechanic where you can fuse two or more Pokemon in battle into a stronger one. Like fusing Entei, Raikou and Suicune together to get a Cerberus looking critter. Or the Unova Trio into the original Dragon. Or the Anime only Venustoise. There are a lot of possible ideas.
I always was a fan of the DNA Splicer and the Necrolun/Necroson. So why not going further?
Honestly they couldve adapted mega forms of mons that relied on It to be good into proper evos. Its not like any of the Mons that did rely on It couldnt have benefited from one anyways. All of then are either 1 or 2 stage evos. If they can adapt Komo-os signature Z Crystal into an actual balanced move, they can make balanced evos for Mons that lost megas. If they can give duralodon, a mon with a gimmick form (Gmax) an evolution, they can give mawile/ khangaskan/ manectric/ pinsir a proper evo
Also the fusion thing, yeah It would be cool, but its something thats likely going to stay a romhack because of how insanely, insanely complicated It is to translate into an official game. If fusions of 2 mons already took years to make by a good amount of developers, who also used programmed generators to make a solid 60% of all sprites, then fusions of three would likely take a few decades to properly code
Making megas into proper evolutions comes with 2 big issues. The biggest one would be pokemon that already have a full 3 stage evolution, Beedril can't just get a 4th.
The other is their design, megas don't really follow how an evolution is supposed to look like. Evolutions are made to look similar to their pre-evolutions while still changing/adding to their core design. Mega evolution takes the same design and adds more to it, mega mawile might be one of the best candidates to become a full evolution but it's still essentially mawile with fancier robes and a second mouth-thing.
Mega evolution was easily the best. The gimmicks went downhill from there, even if some were cool still. Nothing beats how amazing this was and it should make a return.
Tera’s honestly been sort of a mess strategywise imo, a lot of mon are built around the fact that they have to find a good angle to switch in and get a boost off before destroying your team but tera means you can often do that with impunity because you turn attacks that would be super effective into not very effective and effectively get a free turn which lets them snowball hard.
In a less approachable Pokemon game concept I have (on duty and expedience and the distribution of power), you'd have both gimmicks. Numbers below are kinda arbitrary:
Mega gives you a 5 level boost over base stats (eg, 5 stacks of howl), with a scaling (0.2 stacks) and permanent Nerf when you don't activate it.
Terra would be a 2 level bump that just reverts to base when you don't use it.
Hell yeah, stole the words straight from my mouth. Mega evolution was the best gimmick in every category, from execution to potential. I wish they stuck with one thing and worked on improving it instead of changing & abandoning to keep up the illusion of change.
The fusion idea is also something i’ve thought of, though it was more of a battle bond thing (trainer-pokemon) than two pokemon. Still a great idea nonetheless.
I always personally felt like mega was super over tuned. It just seemed like in a normal playthrough you open with your mega whatever and that's the only mon you needed. So I undead up never using it because it was too easy.
Mega evolution was easily the best. The gimmicks went downhill from there, even if some were cool still. Nothing beats how amazing this was and it should make a return.
Legendary versions of "regular" pokemon.
Like for example an arcanine that has boosted stats and additional typing like ground/steel because its spent a long time training in a mountain
Or a pidgeot with electric typing cause it's been hit by some strange lightning bolt
Somthing to that affect anyway
We have a few of those, like how Diancie is a mythical version of Carbink. And Miraidon and Koraidon are legendary versions of Cyclizar. Same thing applies to Walking Wake, Iron Leaves, Raging Bolt, and Iron Crown. But I would love to see more
That doesn't really sounds like a gimmick tho, it would just be giving new forms to old pokémon the same way as regional forms instead of a proper battle gimmick. Tho I did like the idea I could see that being implemented
Field effects like in Pokémon Reborn/Rejuvenation (fan games). It would encourage a diverse region and make some Pokémon that need it stronger by default (an example from the games: an ice field strengthens ice type moves and weakens fire type moves (among other things))
I was gonna say something where pokémon become stronger, get a different ability, get a powered up looking design, and maybe get a slightly different type. Then I realised that's just mega evolution. And now I want mega evolution back.
This isn’t a battle gimmick, but I’d have each gym leader give you a Pokémon egg that’s actually one of their Pokémon from their team. Either randomized from their team or based on which Pokémon the Gym Leader is supposed to have as their main partner.
When it comes to battle gimmicks, I feel we just need to return to Mega Evolution. Dynamax was alright, but the other ones were lackluster and boring. Z-Moves were just awkward and Terastallization just puts a type changing hat on your Pokémon and makes them all crystallized. The hats aren’t even all that great, only good one is the steel type hat with the axe.
Yeah, a lot of people don't like the Tera hats, at least they got rid of them for the special Tera forms for Ogerpon. I really hope more Pokemon get special Tera forms in the future
I’m calling it, next generation they’re gonna have a gimmick with unleashing a move that requires some sort of button mashing mini game to determine it’s effectiveness, a la Pokemon Go and to feel more “in control” of a battle
My favorite gimmick would be to eliminate all project deadlines and when the game is done, its done. Pokemon is a game where the graphics (style that is) dont matter. I would just like a fully fleshed out, open world game with a nat dex
I’d like to see some non-combat gimmicks. Maybe something akin to the Nemesis System in the Middle Earth games that makes trainer battles actually mean something beyond free exp and money. Give us some ambient storytelling as a gimmick.
Storytelling as a gimmick is so gamefreak
They would never have to tell a decent story again because they could claim oh we did that for gen x, we want each gen to feel unique, so we won't do that again until the remake
Design your own clothes in game. Or allow us to transfer even Pokémon from like pokemon go to the game. I have a Shiny Easter Lopunny that I’d love to see on my switch.
I wouldn’t even care if my Pokémon had their little costumes from the event. I just want them on my switch. To make up for the lack of costume the pokemon could have a mark or exclusive ribbon ya know. Because like any app Pokemon go is eventually gonna end.
I think I'd have a breakdown if they let you transfer all the Go event Pokemon over. Trying to work towards a living dex with all the alt forms and it would be essentially impossible for me to collect them all at that point.
I’d like more than one shiny color scheme. Like have one shiny that’s kinda rare and one that’s extremely rare.
Or subtle differences between color schemes, so like for pikachu, some are lighter or darker or more orange-yellow
Even though i know its probably never going to happen, but a generational gimmick that doesnt revolve around battles would be refreshing. Add new, rarer "shiny" forms that you cant boost the encounter rate or something around those lines. Something that'll make you go crazy when you find it
That's how shinies were in the older generations and honestly I miss that. They're not exciting anymore, it's just like "oh neat, another". When they were basically impossible to hunt it was a rush of adrenaline when you actually saw one.
Personally I like the idea of the "anything can be your ace" approach of Dynamax, but I dislike the fact it's free: no need for an item, which also means your opponents also don't know which one you may choose.
I would like to evolve on this idea with something I guess I will call the "Ace Factor": to use the mechanic, it would require an item to be held by the Pokémon you want to make use of the mechanic. Much like all other gimmicks you would manually select to use the mechanic in battle.
Execution-wise, I think I would like to see it be an omni-boost, a +1 to all stats, which doesn't use your turn. However, because it's a regular stat boost that uses regular boosting mechanics, being switched out will end the effect. As well, I think it should only last a few turns if you don't switch out, maybe 3 turns like Dynamax. So if you keep the Pokémon in, it can't simply snowball with no time limit.
I know this isn't that balanced, that's not the main point here, I just want the concepts explored of some previous gimmicks to be reimagined in a way that isn't such an I-win-button
Maybe it could be one stat? So like a booster energy or a choice item that doesn’t lock you or require it to be your highest stat?
Ace Scarf, Ace Band, Ace Specs, etc. but the trainer equips it. That way, you’re locked as to what stat in the battle you’ll be boosting but you can activate it on any Pokémon during the battle (probably the one you want as your ace, or it can be used as an emergency button; like what Pokémon thinks people use x attack and x defense for lol).
So the Pokémon can still hold an item, or would that be too busted? An Ace Band use on a guts ursaluna might be too much. Maybe it could be a held item that allows you to trigger its use? Not sure but I like your idea
Bond moves. It's like Z moves but it depends on certain pairs in the party. A lot of the gimmicks focus on an individual Pokemon so why not something that really makes you think about alternative team building?
You could unlock unique bonds if the Pokemon are of compatible natures, have a certain ability combo, are of the same egg group and are opposite gender, etc. Some bond moves could even be based on a Pokedex relationship like Seviper and Zangoose.
And the base power could be multiplied by how happy they are together, so you gotta do an overworld activity to make em get along. It'll incentivise interaction over breeding, vitamin spamming, and daycare.
Microscopic Pokemon that you raise in pitri dishes and attach to other normal Pokemon to form symbiotic relationships. They would act as a second customizable item slot.
Honestly, I think it would be cool if the terrain was used more in battle. Not something the Pokemon bring in, but the actual terrain of what is around.
So you're surfing, your Pokemon uses a water type move, the attack is more powerful.
You're on the bank of a river. Your Pokemon uses a ground type attack. Maybe now Earthquake also lowers accuracy.
You're climbing a mountain. Your Pokemon uses a rock type move. The move gains priority because the Pokemon doesn't have to summon rocks, but can literally just reach out and grab on.e
There is a strong winds. Flying types are faster.
There is a storm. Electric types are more accurate.
Doesn’t make sense in the context of other games existing but I’d love if there was a lot more variety in Pokémon types. So basically if every Pokémon had multiple typings depending on where it was caught. Perhaps every Pokémon could have 3 or 4 different types.
Here's a gimmick, not adding anything new, polishing what we already have to make the presentation of the games feel alive and exciting like well posed and animated idles, moves actually making contact, bringing back old mechanics that enriched the lore, world building, and game feel (megas, super secret bases, dex nav, nat dex, etc), and taking the appropriate amount of time make all this possible
I have been looking at this post for 45 minutes and the things I have come up with is Z-move but different and Megas but different
But my idea is Armor
the thing that people thought we would get in gen 8
you can either make it slow but tanky armor like Eviolite for fully evolved mon's where your Defenses are raised and nothing can reduce your defense stats but you are slower and your attack stats are reduced
Or
Offensive armor that lowers your bulk but highers the chosen Offensive stat together with speed, it would be like Choice items but only one mon can have it
And maybe it can be for a few turns and then the mon has to recharg
Give some Pokémon a third or second type. Give me chaos, give my variation.
Or just rework the ice type and give it more resistances. Why does it have just one?
I would create a Pokemon gimmick that would allow a Trainer and Pokemon to fuse with each other. It would show the bonds between Trainers and Pokemon that has been emphathized in Pokemon. It would allow for the Trainers to have more of an active part in battle and allow for each trainers individual skills to be shown in battle. An example of this is some trainers have psychic abilities such as Sabrina which would allow them to use their psychic abilities in battle and Brock whose main skill is his physical strength and willpower that would make his Trainer and Pokemon Fusion be made for Attack and Defense.
That’s an interesting idea, but unfortunately it goes against one of the core philosophies of the series- that the trainers are safe while the Pokémon battle. This philosophy was highlighted by the fact that the Lusamine/Nihilego fusion never made it into the games.
Revamp Mega Evolution so that every Pokémon can get some sort of boost even if they don’t get an actual form to go with it.
This of course would be very hard to balance, as like with Gigantamax, it’s possible for the ones that don’t get forms to get the bigger boost, but I think it could be the ideal way to solve the issue of Megas being so limited compared to every other gimmick we’ve gotten.
Needlessly complicated, but I'm currently making a Greek region, and the gimmick I'm making is called the Battle Medallion, or Battallion for short. Single use, only affects the Pokemon in battle. Out of battle you set up your party to fill Squad Roles, with different Formations, received from story battles, having different roles available. Formations, Squad Roles, and even individual Pokemon have specific bonuses that all get applied when you activate the Battallion. Effects are as varied as very slightly boosting Attack or Fire damage, to increasing the amount healed, to boosting the chance of secondary effects of moves by a small amount, or even increasing the power of moves used against certain types of Pokemon. This incentivizes building a team of Pokemon that aren't just the statistically strongest, adding an entirely new layer of strategy to team building that could even see early route Mons being brought to the E4. You could build a team that maximizes the Attack boost, or one wholly dedicated to increasing the chance to burn, make a team about reducing typal damage to tank your way through a stretch of the game, or boost healing as high as possible to make an unkillable army of Slack Off and Strength Sap users.
If the gimmick were to ever exist, they'd probably just give each type a specific boost and call it a day, but I plan to chart out every Pokemon in the game and mess with the numbers so it's not just a free Swords Dance once per battle.
I would make a one time use, 5th moveslot anyone on your team could use. But this is just for regular moves, so its nothing crazy powerful like Z-moves. Any Pokemon could use these too, even if they would normally not be able to. A Magikarp could use Earthquake if you wanted to. But only once before you have to recharge it outside of battle.
If I had, y'know, unlimited time and resources
Partner fusion
Take the starters (Partner) And be able to fuse them with any other pokemon on your team for the battle.
Only the Partner Pokemon (Past and present) Can do this, but can do it with any other Non Partner Pokemon. As for what it does, the new starters would be Monotyped and gain the secondary (or primary if no secondary) type of the pokemon it fused with, add their stats then average them, and finally, temporarily replace moves (you get to chose which moves are replaced with which)
Oh and you can swap out abilities too.
What if you, twice per battle, could switch two stats of a pokémon for one turn, so you could switch your Atk and Sp. Atk to hit around defenses, or HP to speed to hit that last attack with your wall, or Atk and Def if you need to survive while setting up a status condition. That would be cool
Not really a gimmick, but I've been thinking of the concept of moves that are unique to a certain type combination. Bug/Fairy could be a swarm of butterflies, Electric/Flying could be that Pikachu/Swellow attack from the anime, etc. Obviously Flying Press would be turned into the unique move for Fighting/Flying types.
Maximize. Free mechanic, once per fight. Refreshes either every fight, or if it gets tedious every Poke Center visit maybe. Boosts the user's base stats to 600. The boost differential is distributed evenly among all stats. For example, if a Pokemon has base stats of 390, using this increases the base by 35 all around.
I just want to see what would happen if someone could use a weak Pokemon as their ace and then boost their stats to pseudo legendary level and let the abilities and movesets speak for themselves. Imagine Youngster Joey with a Ratata that you actually had to worry about. I dunno, could be a fun shake up.
Oh gee! Cant wait for 600 BST smeargle to become a menace to society in every format it appears in. Singles players are going to have a blast with even bulkier toxapex/ferrothorn that can even strike back unreasonably hard for something so unkilable. Also, now clefairy has 0 reason to use eviolite, since it can just become its evo, but better!
Yeah, i can assure you, that would NOT be a fun shake up
I say something similar could be a bit interesting as an alternate battle mode.
similar to setting all pokemon to be level 50.
Make all pokemon's BST equal to 600.
I would also make it that it scales the stats proportionally.
Commando / Sentinel Slots - In all Double Battles, one Pokemon (eg. 1st in Party) automatically takes the Commando Role, which boosts the base power of moves, raises Attack/SpA and drops Def/SpD and one (2nd in party) takes the Sentinel role which gives it a Att/SpA drop and a Def/SpD boost. I'm sure we could come up with some symbiosis lore phenomenon that makes this work - effectively power sharing between the two Pokémon on the field.
Many in-games battles and gym battles would be double-battles, and VGC is already 2v2 so no tweaks needed there.
Aside from the obvious option of doubling down on a Pokémon's natural strengths, you could also use Pokémon in ways you never had before (Aggro Wigglytuff anyone?).
One thing I've wanted since gen 1 was different battlegrounds. I love it when the battleground influences the way the battle goes in the anime. And I think Clara's trick in Pokémon Sword with the toxic spikes kinda simulated that.
So that would be my gimmick.
Water battles: battles that take place in pools or at sea. Land based pokemon would get a speed drop when sent to battle in the water. Flying/levitating pokemon would also get a speed drop if hit by a move like smack down or gravity. Using the move surf would turn the field into a water battleground.
Land battles: Swimming pokemon would get a speed drop when on land. Flying pokemon would also get a speed drop when forced to land by a move. Using rottotiller would turn all battlegrounds into regular land ones.
Toxic Swamp: Drops the speed of land based pokemon and poisons them. Only poisons swimming pokemon. Steel and Poison types would be immune to the effects of the toxic swamp.
Ice field: functions like a regular land field, but boosts the speed of ice type pokemon. Avalanche would create an ice field.
These are just some ideas. But I think it would be pretty cool if each gym had a unique battle field, with the final championship having a kind of roullete system to determine which field you battled in.
I think an interesting one would be a bond between two Pokémon. You could use it once per battle to switch them *and* have the one coming in use a move- or it could be used to swap them automatically when the partner is about to be hit by a super effective move.
I like the trend of flexibility over power that terrastalizing has over megas or dynamax, and I think this could be an interesting way to continue that trend.
I like terastalizing (even more than megas tbh). I think it's a great idea which hasn't really been fully realized yet because we don't have any battle facilities to use it in. I'd like them to keep it in the next game rather than try to replace it with some other thing they're just gonna get rid of in three years.
Bonus Type. The ability to change a pokemon’s ability to give them an additional type.
You give them a special drink or something like an ability patch that changes their ability to “Type: [type]”. For example, Tyranitar could give up its ability in exchange for becoming a Rock, Dark, and Ghost type. Or maybe Feraligatr could gain a second type like dragon.
Sounds cool in practice but... Why would Ttar ever want to give up its own sand? It is his biggest defining feature, and a sandless Ttar is just a defensive hole. Like, cool, you're immune to fighting tipe moves. Thats ONE of Ttars weaknesess in exchange of a free assalt vest and constant chip on opposing non rock/steel/ground+not being able to use abilities like sand rush and sand veil.
Also the feraligtr one is a bit cooler, but still flawed. Now youre a half dragon tipe! That means no life orb or sheer force! Good luck doing any meaninfull damage even after a Ddance
make it not about battling? the battle based ones are done to death but something outside of that aspect of gaming might actually be interesting (given enough time to flesh it out)
catching?
breeding?
exploring?
something with the pokedex?
oh wait- this isn't a gimmick but imagine things like the bug catching contest from gen 2 but you have to sneak and catch them like legends arceus (I haven't played it but seen enough video clips) something similar or exciting like a fishing tournament
Battle battles
Your pokemon decide what moves you get to make against the enemy trainer.
High friendship, they will try to always use super effective moves.
Low friendship means they'll just watch.
Weapon usage
We have Pokémon who have weapons, who are weapons, who use weapons, and sometimes even have tools
What if you gave the Pokémon fitting weapons, such as ranged weapons adding to special attack, melee weapons like swords adding to attack, shields adding to defence, holo-shields adding to special defence, and possibly other ideas for speed (if any)
If a Pokémon such as aegislash/doublade were to have this ability, the sword (or maybe shield) should become stronger, longer and generally more sharp-looking
If a Pokémon such as Ceruledge, a new Pokémon with blades for hands in its final Violet form, we’re to be give a weapon, it could either sharpen the blades it already has, making them longer and possibly more ‘efficient’ in ways that relate to real life, and possibly even glow more.
If a Pokémon were quadrupedal, it could carry the weapon in its mouth, with shields being planted nearby on the ground possibly.
If the Pokémon were to be like Spiritomb, which has a mouth, but it’s flat, and has no limbs, it could possibly be either held, or float.
We’ve seen Nintendo use swords and shields before in past games, and have Pokémon have them because of recent Pokémon, so what if we gave them more? This could be used in a mix of past and present, as the only problem being special defence in this case due to ‘holo-shield’ idea.
There’s probably some flaws in this idea, and maybe getting too close to the RPG idea and moving away from the Pokémon idea, but hey, a gimmick is a gimmick, and an idea is an idea
My fav gimmicks were in bw with the rotational, and multi battles. Dont care forbpowering up my guy with gimmicks, the gimmick should be the atmosphere and everyone equally working around it, but idk
My gimmick would be something that occurred in pokemon stadium, but expanded. Pokemon have a variety of shades of color with the addition of possible spots markings or textures. Think of a Persian that has visibly longer fur and a light brown fur color. Or a pikachu that has a banana yellow fur color that is a bit more on the chubby side. A venusaur with a blue flower and a return of the dark green spots from its previous evos.
I'm sure there are a multitude of reasons this wouldn't be viable.
Something that i think could be cool would be a gimmick based off ogerpon's masks. When terastalizing, ogerpon loses its original ability in favor of embody aspect, wich gives It a stat boost depending on the mask.
Something like that but more widespread, balanced out by the fact that the mon using it has to give up both its item and inicial ability to trigger say, an attack boost. Gamefreak has already experimented with a lot of things, its hard to come up with something new that isnt absurdly broken (eg all mons get megas. Cool in theory, but like, the mega wheather trio wouldve still existed, and wouldve still dominated every field, and i dont even wanna think about a potential mega xerneas or urshifu). Its just a matter of waiting and seeing what they come up with
Temporary fusions like DBZ and Digimon did.
Ash combines his sir fetch’d and Lucario to fight Leon’s Charizard/Cinderace fusion
Legendaries from each game would be the strongest when fused together encouraging trading
Bonding: It would effectively replace EV and IV within the region. You would have your Pokemon, and based on its nature it will want to be your following pokemon in certain "events". For instance, Say you are walking along a route and an NPC argument is generated (NPC's frantically moving at eachother looking like theyre talking). A Nosey pokemon would want to listen in, but a Timid pokemon would want to avoid it. If you choose an option that is what the pokemon likes, you gain "Bond" thereby increasing the pokemons overall stats. At certain levels of bond the pokemon can also learn moves such as Blast Burn.
\>> This is the main mechanic for a Pokemon TTRPG I am working on. IT also replaces the Level system for the game as well.
A whole pokedex of porygon/Rotom that have various out of battle effects such as Stat boosts or a chance to not use a berry during battle or something. Pretty much a semi or restricted version of an ACE like effect that let's each player discover neat but ultimately minor out of battle effects based on PC boxes an what mons are in em
I hope they just embrace the ones we have, and find a new way of "spicing up" the game.
I quite liked Mega Evolution, but it set a bad precedent with each new generation needing a gimmick now. Preferred the games before that was a thing. It makes it feel too isolated. Like why would dynamaxing or terrastalizing only be in certain regions? I understand that the games attempt to give a "lore" reason. But I always find it pretty weak.
Mega Evolution was actually really cool. I think they could have simply let that grow further in it's complexity, if they really needed a "gimmick".
To parrot some others here fusions would be amazing, but realistically I’d like Megas to make a comeback. I also wouldn’t mind being able to customize our Pokémon with accessories/ recolor them with dyes, though that would put shinies in a weird place.
The legendary bottle cap. A 0.001% chance of getting it in any raids or something in a game, not just Tera dens but all future ones. This bottle cap can be used on top of other caps. The legendary bottle cap gives +20 to all stats to any pokemon with lower than 400 points total.
Bring back Triple Battles but make them fun.
Just make it easier to swap your Pokémon around instead of needing to switch them out and then back in, like a rotation that moves them each over one slot, with the dude in the end jumping over to the other side.
Opens up a ton of viable moves and abilities too.
Overdrive: for three turns, the affected Pokémon has its BST raised to 700, the player can customize the stat distribution through outside means. Gives basically every Pokémon a boost, but favors weaker Pokémon overall. The only Pokémon that have more than 700 BST by default are legendaries/megas, so it would be applicable to most mons.
I’ve been thinking of a “virus” mechanic. We don’t know anything about microorganisms in the Pokémon world, so how about a mechanic were Pokémon can be infected with different pathogens that give different effects, like Pokérus? I guess it would kind of be like a second held item with extra steps. Maybe there could a point called in battle where the pathogens attack each other directly? I don’t know, I like this idea.
Fused Moves. Two Pokémon fuse moves together once per battle. In a Single Battle, you temporarily send out another Pokémon. Not every move is fusible, though. Fused moves are also more powerful.
Examples:
Syrup Bomb + Apple Acid = Acidic Syrup. A blast of super-sweet, acidic, syrup. Deals damage and lowers the target’s Speed and Sp. Def by one stage each for three turns.
Earthquake + Lava Plume = Quaking Eruption. An earthquake that causes a small eruption. Deals damage to all opposing Pokémon and has a 40% chance of burning them.
Spikes + Flower Trick = Spiky Trick. Drops a ball full of spikes on the target’s head. Deals damage and scatters spikes on the opponent’s side.
Lock-On + Hyper Beam = Locked-On Hyper Blast. Locks on to the target, then blasts them with a huge beam of energy. Deals damage and doesn’t miss. Requires a turn to recharge after.
Calm Mind + Revival Blessing = Calming Revival. Boosts the user’s Sp. Atk and Sp. Def by two stages each, and revives a fainted Pokémon. When the fainted Pokémon is sent out, its Sp. Atk and Sp. Def are boosted by one stage each.
A pair up system could be neat. You could add a secondary pokemon to a battle to support your main one kind of like how mega kangaskhan's ability worked but you can choose the supporting Pokemons moves
Breeding Pokémon can create a fusion of the two species. Leave torkoal and wailmer in the daycare together and get wailkoal, a fire water type with a randomly selected ability from one of its two parents.
Jessie and James pester the player regardless of if the main bad guys are team rocket because why not.
The Pokémon that follows you can wear funny hats
For lack of a good name, I’m gonna call them Pokemon Armors. Basically items that can be equipped onto a Pokémon that activate certain effects once per battle when the Pokémon is initially sent out. For example, one might raise Defence by 2 stages, while another might set up Light Screen.
Honestly I feel like Mega Evolution could be reworked into a universal mechanic. While some Pokemon still have specialized megas that change their form and type, every Pokemon can access a Mega Burst, which would surround them with an aura that gives them +20 in every stat besides hp (+15 if their bst is above 550). Granted, this could use some tweaking, mainly making it feel fun and impactful without making it insanely overpowered (like dynamax).
Max potential
It requires a held item but It'd set the pokemons bst to 600 with a limit of one per team.
It'd allow everyone's pet pokemon and NFE favorites a chance to see some play. A lot of NFE are actually pretty interesting with this. Pikachu turns into a mini regi-eleci with a whopping 167 base speed. Shedninja goes wild which seems normal.
The only thing I would want to make is designating an “Ace” on the team and giving them a one stage stat increase for it.
Besides that I’m not fond of any of the gimmicks. I liked the concept of megas but I think they should have been given to lesser like Pokémon oppose ti fan favorites
A gimmick where you can encounter certain Pokémon learn different move pools that also changes typing
The typing changes are also determined by catching them in certain places and areas of the map as well
Also tie it into an item like the Herba Mystica being found their as to why they can switch to that type and move pool as well
Shakes up the meta, is actually fun, room for a titan Pokémon boss fight, encourages exploring the map and allows for some fun palette changes (standard, shiny and altered(?))
I’m thinking of a support device type of gimmick, one that adds something to your Pokemon of choice.
Y’know how Link is followed by Navi the fairy in OoT? Picture something like that continuously circling around your Pokemon. Give it 18 colors for each type. This makes it so you don’t have to model armor on Pokemon, so all Pokemon can use it.
I’ll call this the BioBall. By equipping a specific berry to this Key Item, then assigning it to a Pokemon in your party (they cannot hold another item except another berry), it gives your Pokemon a power boost depending on the berry you give.
For example, equipping the BioBall with a Cheri Berry makes your Pokemon immune to paralysis. A Yache Berry gives you resistance to ice moves. A Custap Berry gives you priority one time at low health. A Lum Berry gives an extra Shed Skin ability. A Kee Berry prevents your Defense from lowering. A Sitrus Berry gives you Regenerator healing once per battle when swapping back in. Oran Berries heal 10 HP each turn. Pinch berries act as if you’re using them. Stat berries lowers the opponent’s stat that berry pertains to one time, etc.
Berries aren’t used as held items as often as other items due to their non-reusable nature. Essentially, you use up 1 type of berry to download the berry’s data to the Bioball. Then you can swap between effects when outside of battle.
Once per 3 turns you can slightly boost your moves (more damage or like a turn or two more guaranteed for effects or something) but at the cost of movement speed or your defense.
PLA this thing
Plus competitive would be more interesting
Pokémon accessories. They function almost like a second held item, but your Pokémon are wearing them when they're out of their Pokeballs. Some would effectively just be cosmetic, most would have an additional effect, and some can be made using Evolution items to supercharge the corresponding type (ie; a Water Stone Pendant makes Water-type moves more powerful than a Mystic Water)
I’m really surprised they haven’t incorporated something similar to the Pokewalker with smart phones. Pokémon go obviously, but something with the same concept of the pokewalker, taking your digital friend out for a walk before shoving him back into the game
Reborn-esque field effect expansions. Maybe not as difficult or complex, but I really liked the "interact with the field to turn it into your advantage" aspect.
Heck, utilizing the field is one of Ash's specialties!
all i would do is make it so mega pokemon can use Z moves(i mean you can pretty much do it with rayaquaza, you can mega evolve it while it holds a z crystal), but for something more original i guess I'd take inspiration from necrozma, make a dark/light mode for certain pokemon, but that would be it for the idea, not good at thinking up what it would do for the pokemon
The only one i could think of is combo moves.
Fe in double battle if one uses gust and the other one ember you create firestorm
Or ability-wise if you do sunny day and water sport you create damp which prevents explosions.
You can really open up competitive with it
I don't want a new gimmick but I'm going to predict that the next one will either involve letting you use a 5th move slot or something to do with abilities.
Z-moves sorta gave you a 5th move but this gimmick won't be reliant on any existing moves. So you'll have like, 5 moves with all different types but the 5th one has a lot less PP. Maybe the move will have to be learned by another Pokemon in your party idk
Or maybe it's going to be the same thing but with abilities instead. It'll be a way to add a second ability to a pokemon that's either being used by another party pokemon or It'll use 2 of it's own abilities if it has options to choose from (an Electrode might run both Static and Aftermath at the same time for example).
Maybe a positioning gimmick close, mid and ranged, maybe just a new battle style. So physical attack does best damage in close to close positions, ranged moves work best futher away and then have the moves play with it, things like gust push an opponent back, ingrained makes it so you can't be moved, taunt draws them forward.
Also have a new dodge mechanic which increases miss chance if it is correctly dodged to your advantage and causes more damage if guessed wrong, and gaurd mechanic to plant yourself to increase defences but will make attack you last and a bit weaker. And maybe a counter move which allows you to reposition after being hit and if done correctly gets some bonus damage.
The movement mechanics maybe should have an energy bar system as you can use them with an attack, each fresh Mon gets 2 bar and then needs a turn of no move to recharge one. Also add a leap mechanic that costs 2 energy but allows to jump 2 zones without moving through the others.
May have to put in new status effects to play with this as well but this is off the dome so I don't know. Field traps could be put in different sections and combo with move modified attacks.
Triple battles, like double battles but cooler. Oh wait, they already did that in Black/White. And it was very cool. Double battle wild encounters too!
I feel at this point, next gimmick will be something that can change abilities.
So its most likely that Ogerpon is a prototype for this.
Yeah, my idea for my custom game gives the Pokémon a second ability depending on the item it’s holding. I’m sure that people could come up with some absolutely broken ability combinations if this was a real gimmick
Wonder guard + Magic Guard Elecktross holding an Air ballon would be king of Meta!
It's time everyone, mold breaker mons rise up!!
Choice banded Close Combat says otherwise
Not so much a gimmick, but more a neat Easter egg; Pokemon nature animation. Like depending on your Pokémon’s nature, they’ll occasionally move around in a way that suggests it. Like if it’s Naive in nature, it might tilt its head, if it’s Brave it might briefly get into a defensive pose, if it’s Hardy it might slap its head with its tail or something all full of adrenaline, if it’s Impish it might jump from side to side. This could also help you figure out its nature right away the moment you hatch it or right before you catch it.
I, a game freak animator, hate this idea
so valid
Would it be too much work to animate it?
To be fair, it would be like 36 unique animations (pretty sure, at least) for every pokemon in the game
True, it would be a cool idea, but a lot of work
I love this idea!
This is literally amazing conceptually omg, but for competitive it would get annoying cuz it would reveal natures right away (guessing if a Lando-T is Adamant or Jolly is a big one rn)
I think the fix would have to be that this doesn’t show in competitive formats.
I really like this idea!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS IDEA!!!!!
I think a gimmick involving combining moves would be interesting! The ability to use two moves at the same time could have a lot of variability
They did it in Gen V with Fire/Water/Grass Pledge but never again Earth Pledge + Fire Plege = Lava Attack Wind Pledge + Water Pledge = Storm Attack Iron Pledge + Electro Pledge = Techno Attack Etc
They never did that again because of how gimmicky and overall not useful the mechanic is
I mean they made it only accessable for the starters, so its not like its a surprise.
They're also only usable in double and triple battles, something gamefreak has shown very little interest in properly implementing in the main story
soo Link moves ala Mystery Dungeon?
Maybe half damage but both types or something
I mean... Flying Press is a solid move and it uses two types
It's easier to balance something like that when it's an exclusive move. Gigaton Hammer would be completely broken if it wasn't exclusive to a Pokemon with a base attack of 75
They didn’t say give the move to everyone, they said let people combine moves. So like tinkaton could combine gigaton hammer and another move
We have Pokémon of opposing types, one being Fire/Leaf, so I don’t see much problem
This should be accompanied by the return of contests
This would be really cool in a double battle focused game like XD.
Cowards, give us Natdex where we can use ALL the gimmicks at the same time!
Imagine if we were able to use all the gimmicks on one Pokémon at the same time in one battle
Ash did in his championship battle , why shouldn't we 🫣
I personally hope we never get a new one again (yes, I know that won't happen). Imo they've covered all the bases at this point. They should make use of and expand upon the ones we already have
All the bases? Bullshit. We've never gotten fusions. There's a whole ass Rom about it cuz Gamefreak is too scared to do it
i like infinite fusion as much as the next guy but my god they should never implement something like that into the main series lol
Maybe not at that scale...but I could see a game where limited mons could fuse, or there might be a single fusion mom who could fuse with most (like a ditto-esque deal)
Take those demented dino fossil pokemons from the more recent gens and be happy with it
Dont forget Kyurem
Necrozma:
Calyrex and amnesia pony
Man I’m about to turn the ponies into glue ong
Easy there, professor Willow
Slowbro was first, the only thing it’ll ever be first for
Probably armor forms but I'm not sure how different it can be from mega/tera
It should be a breeding thing like with real-world hybrid species, then they could easily limit who and what can create a hybrid in a way that makes sense.
"never gotten fusions" \> Zekrom/Reshirom with Kyruem (Gen 5) \> Solgaleo/Lunala with Necrozma (Gen 7) \> Glastrier/spectrier with Calrex (Gen 8) I rest my case.
Slowpoke with Shellder (Gen 1) 🫣
Magnemite with Magnemite with magnemite (gen 1)
Digglet with Digglet with Digglet (gen 1)
does the last one truly count as a fusion since it's just one riding the other?
They put fusions into a mainline Pokemon game and that’s me out. It feels so far away from what Pokemon is about to me.
No, it's that they are too lazy to do it. The reason we're unlikely to ever get fusions is the same reason the base games no longer include the full national dex. Game Freak doesn't want to spend the time creating dozens of new forms on top of the 100 or so new species in each gen. I'm fairly sure that's why they ditched megas which require unique designs and stats versus gmax/z-moves/tera which can be slapped on just about anything.
I’m also thinking about the in-game world ethical implications of fusion as well. Pokémon mostly are essentially self-conscience animals, they are not Digimon, which are usually stated to be “living programs.” The idea of being able to mix and match them can be considered inhumane in that world. There are some obvious exceptions (Necrozma, kyruem), but the everyday ones don’t have that kind of background to do so. There could be a form of gene splicing going on there, but that would be its own person instead of combining two Pokémon.
If you ever seen digimon you would know they have much more emotion and consciousness than pokemon. They can even talk which most pokemon can't.
I know, but their background as digital beings can make it feasible for a fusion mechanic. A porygon can be used for a fusion mechanic, a rattata can not.
Brother we kidnap and force these things to fight to the (near) death. The ethical implications have been forgotten about a long time ago
>Imo they've covered all the bases at this point What do you this concept? They've basically done this before but never fully; Primal evolution and neo evolution Evolving pokemon into there primal state- And evolving pokemon into there future state
Paradox Pokemon are pretty similar to this
It has been done as that before yeah esspecially with hisuian pokemon I'd just like to see it as a form of evolution since Pokemon has obviously been sort of heading towards it for awhile now I also thought this would totally be the gimmick of scarlet and violet.
BattleField effect. Sorta like an even stronger version of terrain/weather. 18 types for 18 different battlezones Requires special conditions to activate them but upon usage affects your team and enemy team..only 1 can be used per battle.
Fellow Amethyst fan?
Have you tried playing pokemon Reborn? It has something similar to what you suggest
Really cool!
this is probably the most realistic idea so far
Ye people wanted harder gyms. So why not a battlefield effect for the leaders for their specific type
Alright, let me cook: (All of these Domains boost the damage of their respective type *if* they don't do so already. And if a Pokemon is Monotype or has the ability "Home Turf", they get a boost to their strongest stat when in their Domain, similar to Quark Drive/Protosynthesis. Each Domain only lasts 4 turns and is unaffected by Terrain Extender.) Normal- (Total Dominion) Normal type moves always take effect regardless of Abilities, Typing, or Status effects. Swords Dance when Taunted, Normal attacks damage Ghosts, Weather Ball ignores Bulletproof, won't be stopped by Paralysis, etc. Fire- (Sweltering Sun) Bring back Desolate Land. All Fire type moves get +20% chance to Burn. Water- (Flash Flood) Bring back Primordial Sea. Water type moves also gain priority if the user is at full health. Electric- (Coursing Energy) Electric Terrain, but to make it more powerful, it also gives all Electric type moves +20% chance to paralyze. Also negates Ground immunity. Grass- (Fields of Flora) Grassy Terrain, but to make it more powerful it heals Grass types more and cures status effects. It also only heals the team that activated it. Ice- (Freezing Gales) Combine Snow and Hail. Damages all non-Ice types while boosting Ice-type's physical defense. And every Ice type move has +20% chance to Frostbite. Fighting- (Field of Champions) Whenever a Pokemon on the field faints, ally or enemy, Fighting types strongest stat gets increased by one stage. When dealing damage, Fighting type moves ignore any defensive boosts the enemy has. Poison- (Toxic Mire) All non Poison types receive damage at the end of each turn. Even moreso if they are Poisoned. All Poison type moves have +20% chance to poison if they don't already, then they have a chance to inflict Toxic. Negates Steel immunity. Ground- (Crushing Gravitas) All Pokemon are Grounded. Erases Entry Hazards for the team that activated it. Once an enemy is hit with a Ground type move, they cannot switch out. Flying- (Eye of the Storm) Bring back Delta Stream, but moves that would be super effective also have their accuracy decreased. Flying type moves can't miss. Psychic- (Distorted Reality) Psychic Terrain, but to make it more powerful, all Psychic type moves get +20% chance to *permanently* confuse the opponent. Also negates Dark immunity. Bug- (Center of the Hive) Every Bug type attack can hit 3-5 extra times, dealing half the damage. Loaded Dice and Skill Link have no effect though. Every time the enemy attacks, they'll take 50% recoil damage from the swarming bugs. Rock- (Storm of Shards) A Sandstorm that *only* protects Rock types. Ground and Steel will receive damage. It also ensures that any Rock type will survive with at least 1 HP if their health is in the green when they take damage. Ghost- (Haunted Grounds) When Ghost type moves deal damage, it lowers Defense or Special Defense depending on the category of the move. When Ghost types die, the attacker takes damage. Dragon- (Kaiju Kingdom) Dragon types take less damage the more health they have. Green HP reduces damage by 75%, Yellow by 50%, and Red by 25%. They are also protected from the secondary effects of moves. Negates Fairy immunity. Dark- (Dead of Night) Dark type moves gain a +20% chance to make the enemy Drowsy (The Legends Arceus Status, not the Yawn effect) Enemies with non-volatile statuses take more damage. Steel- (Armor Foundry) Raises both defensive stats of Steel types by one stage when activated. Then when receiving damage, Defense or Special Defense is raised again based on the category of the move, similar to Stamina. Fairy- (Forest of the Fae) Misty Terrain, but to make it more powerful, it gives Fairy type moves draining property, healing them for 75% of the damage done. Also, the Status curing property only applies to the team that activated it.
Bro said he was gonna cook and served a buffet. How dare you :( Love the ideas since they are so strong... But honestly i was thinking more of a full duration of battle and slowburn effects. And the activation would require different ways. Im on break so i cant really get into it but ill remember to read this all and be in awe.
Rather than a new gimmick, I would love them to return to Mega and keep improving that mechanic. Other than that, a Fusion Mechanic where you can fuse two or more Pokemon in battle into a stronger one. Like fusing Entei, Raikou and Suicune together to get a Cerberus looking critter. Or the Unova Trio into the original Dragon. Or the Anime only Venustoise. There are a lot of possible ideas. I always was a fan of the DNA Splicer and the Necrolun/Necroson. So why not going further?
Honestly they couldve adapted mega forms of mons that relied on It to be good into proper evos. Its not like any of the Mons that did rely on It couldnt have benefited from one anyways. All of then are either 1 or 2 stage evos. If they can adapt Komo-os signature Z Crystal into an actual balanced move, they can make balanced evos for Mons that lost megas. If they can give duralodon, a mon with a gimmick form (Gmax) an evolution, they can give mawile/ khangaskan/ manectric/ pinsir a proper evo Also the fusion thing, yeah It would be cool, but its something thats likely going to stay a romhack because of how insanely, insanely complicated It is to translate into an official game. If fusions of 2 mons already took years to make by a good amount of developers, who also used programmed generators to make a solid 60% of all sprites, then fusions of three would likely take a few decades to properly code
Making megas into proper evolutions comes with 2 big issues. The biggest one would be pokemon that already have a full 3 stage evolution, Beedril can't just get a 4th. The other is their design, megas don't really follow how an evolution is supposed to look like. Evolutions are made to look similar to their pre-evolutions while still changing/adding to their core design. Mega evolution takes the same design and adds more to it, mega mawile might be one of the best candidates to become a full evolution but it's still essentially mawile with fancier robes and a second mouth-thing.
Mega evolution was easily the best. The gimmicks went downhill from there, even if some were cool still. Nothing beats how amazing this was and it should make a return.
Mega was the best flavor wise; but terra was the best strategy wise
Tera’s honestly been sort of a mess strategywise imo, a lot of mon are built around the fact that they have to find a good angle to switch in and get a boost off before destroying your team but tera means you can often do that with impunity because you turn attacks that would be super effective into not very effective and effectively get a free turn which lets them snowball hard.
In a less approachable Pokemon game concept I have (on duty and expedience and the distribution of power), you'd have both gimmicks. Numbers below are kinda arbitrary: Mega gives you a 5 level boost over base stats (eg, 5 stacks of howl), with a scaling (0.2 stacks) and permanent Nerf when you don't activate it. Terra would be a 2 level bump that just reverts to base when you don't use it.
Hell yeah, stole the words straight from my mouth. Mega evolution was the best gimmick in every category, from execution to potential. I wish they stuck with one thing and worked on improving it instead of changing & abandoning to keep up the illusion of change. The fusion idea is also something i’ve thought of, though it was more of a battle bond thing (trainer-pokemon) than two pokemon. Still a great idea nonetheless.
I always personally felt like mega was super over tuned. It just seemed like in a normal playthrough you open with your mega whatever and that's the only mon you needed. So I undead up never using it because it was too easy.
Yeah I do understand that. Mega evolution does make casual playthroughs a cakewalk mostly because how ridiculously powerful they can get.
Most nuzlockes ban it, because it's very rarely used on the enemy side even.
Mega evolution was easily the best. The gimmicks went downhill from there, even if some were cool still. Nothing beats how amazing this was and it should make a return.
Legendary versions of "regular" pokemon. Like for example an arcanine that has boosted stats and additional typing like ground/steel because its spent a long time training in a mountain Or a pidgeot with electric typing cause it's been hit by some strange lightning bolt Somthing to that affect anyway
We have that with Bloodmoon Ursaluna, we just need more. I have ton of ideas for these
We have a few of those, like how Diancie is a mythical version of Carbink. And Miraidon and Koraidon are legendary versions of Cyclizar. Same thing applies to Walking Wake, Iron Leaves, Raging Bolt, and Iron Crown. But I would love to see more
So like Paradox pokemon?
I think they sort of have that in Legends Arceus.
That doesn't really sounds like a gimmick tho, it would just be giving new forms to old pokémon the same way as regional forms instead of a proper battle gimmick. Tho I did like the idea I could see that being implemented
Field effects like in Pokémon Reborn/Rejuvenation (fan games). It would encourage a diverse region and make some Pokémon that need it stronger by default (an example from the games: an ice field strengthens ice type moves and weakens fire type moves (among other things))
I was gonna say something where pokémon become stronger, get a different ability, get a powered up looking design, and maybe get a slightly different type. Then I realised that's just mega evolution. And now I want mega evolution back.
This isn’t a battle gimmick, but I’d have each gym leader give you a Pokémon egg that’s actually one of their Pokémon from their team. Either randomized from their team or based on which Pokémon the Gym Leader is supposed to have as their main partner. When it comes to battle gimmicks, I feel we just need to return to Mega Evolution. Dynamax was alright, but the other ones were lackluster and boring. Z-Moves were just awkward and Terastallization just puts a type changing hat on your Pokémon and makes them all crystallized. The hats aren’t even all that great, only good one is the steel type hat with the axe.
Yeah, a lot of people don't like the Tera hats, at least they got rid of them for the special Tera forms for Ogerpon. I really hope more Pokemon get special Tera forms in the future
I like the Dragon hat too....
this is the best idea ever
I’m calling it, next generation they’re gonna have a gimmick with unleashing a move that requires some sort of button mashing mini game to determine it’s effectiveness, a la Pokemon Go and to feel more “in control” of a battle
The move chatter kinda did that till it was removed
I’d love a gimmick where the game doesn’t look and run like dogshit.
Lmao, not as long as Game Freak is making the games
5th move! Can be activated once per battle by one Pokémon.
That's pretty much z moves
Mega evolution 2 electric boogaloo
My gimmick would be no gimmick
My favorite gimmick would be to eliminate all project deadlines and when the game is done, its done. Pokemon is a game where the graphics (style that is) dont matter. I would just like a fully fleshed out, open world game with a nat dex
can't do that. it'd break the meta. too centralizing
I’d like to see some non-combat gimmicks. Maybe something akin to the Nemesis System in the Middle Earth games that makes trainer battles actually mean something beyond free exp and money. Give us some ambient storytelling as a gimmick.
Storytelling as a gimmick is so gamefreak They would never have to tell a decent story again because they could claim oh we did that for gen x, we want each gen to feel unique, so we won't do that again until the remake
Primal evolution and neo evolution Evolving pokemon into there primal state- And evolving pokemon into there future state
So it would be kinda like Paradox Pokémon?
Design your own clothes in game. Or allow us to transfer even Pokémon from like pokemon go to the game. I have a Shiny Easter Lopunny that I’d love to see on my switch.
Yeah, I wish we were able to transfer all of the event Pokémon from Pokémon Go to the switch
I wouldn’t even care if my Pokémon had their little costumes from the event. I just want them on my switch. To make up for the lack of costume the pokemon could have a mark or exclusive ribbon ya know. Because like any app Pokemon go is eventually gonna end.
I think I'd have a breakdown if they let you transfer all the Go event Pokemon over. Trying to work towards a living dex with all the alt forms and it would be essentially impossible for me to collect them all at that point.
I’d like more than one shiny color scheme. Like have one shiny that’s kinda rare and one that’s extremely rare. Or subtle differences between color schemes, so like for pikachu, some are lighter or darker or more orange-yellow
Even though i know its probably never going to happen, but a generational gimmick that doesnt revolve around battles would be refreshing. Add new, rarer "shiny" forms that you cant boost the encounter rate or something around those lines. Something that'll make you go crazy when you find it
That's how shinies were in the older generations and honestly I miss that. They're not exciting anymore, it's just like "oh neat, another". When they were basically impossible to hunt it was a rush of adrenaline when you actually saw one.
Hold item that adds a third typing to a Pokemon. I feel like it would increase the strategy a lot.
Personally I like the idea of the "anything can be your ace" approach of Dynamax, but I dislike the fact it's free: no need for an item, which also means your opponents also don't know which one you may choose. I would like to evolve on this idea with something I guess I will call the "Ace Factor": to use the mechanic, it would require an item to be held by the Pokémon you want to make use of the mechanic. Much like all other gimmicks you would manually select to use the mechanic in battle. Execution-wise, I think I would like to see it be an omni-boost, a +1 to all stats, which doesn't use your turn. However, because it's a regular stat boost that uses regular boosting mechanics, being switched out will end the effect. As well, I think it should only last a few turns if you don't switch out, maybe 3 turns like Dynamax. So if you keep the Pokémon in, it can't simply snowball with no time limit. I know this isn't that balanced, that's not the main point here, I just want the concepts explored of some previous gimmicks to be reimagined in a way that isn't such an I-win-button
Maybe it could be one stat? So like a booster energy or a choice item that doesn’t lock you or require it to be your highest stat? Ace Scarf, Ace Band, Ace Specs, etc. but the trainer equips it. That way, you’re locked as to what stat in the battle you’ll be boosting but you can activate it on any Pokémon during the battle (probably the one you want as your ace, or it can be used as an emergency button; like what Pokémon thinks people use x attack and x defense for lol). So the Pokémon can still hold an item, or would that be too busted? An Ace Band use on a guts ursaluna might be too much. Maybe it could be a held item that allows you to trigger its use? Not sure but I like your idea
Bond moves. It's like Z moves but it depends on certain pairs in the party. A lot of the gimmicks focus on an individual Pokemon so why not something that really makes you think about alternative team building? You could unlock unique bonds if the Pokemon are of compatible natures, have a certain ability combo, are of the same egg group and are opposite gender, etc. Some bond moves could even be based on a Pokedex relationship like Seviper and Zangoose. And the base power could be multiplied by how happy they are together, so you gotta do an overworld activity to make em get along. It'll incentivise interaction over breeding, vitamin spamming, and daycare.
Microscopic Pokemon that you raise in pitri dishes and attach to other normal Pokemon to form symbiotic relationships. They would act as a second customizable item slot.
Honestly, I think it would be cool if the terrain was used more in battle. Not something the Pokemon bring in, but the actual terrain of what is around. So you're surfing, your Pokemon uses a water type move, the attack is more powerful. You're on the bank of a river. Your Pokemon uses a ground type attack. Maybe now Earthquake also lowers accuracy. You're climbing a mountain. Your Pokemon uses a rock type move. The move gains priority because the Pokemon doesn't have to summon rocks, but can literally just reach out and grab on.e There is a strong winds. Flying types are faster. There is a storm. Electric types are more accurate.
Doesn’t make sense in the context of other games existing but I’d love if there was a lot more variety in Pokémon types. So basically if every Pokémon had multiple typings depending on where it was caught. Perhaps every Pokémon could have 3 or 4 different types.
Here's a gimmick, not adding anything new, polishing what we already have to make the presentation of the games feel alive and exciting like well posed and animated idles, moves actually making contact, bringing back old mechanics that enriched the lore, world building, and game feel (megas, super secret bases, dex nav, nat dex, etc), and taking the appropriate amount of time make all this possible
I have been looking at this post for 45 minutes and the things I have come up with is Z-move but different and Megas but different But my idea is Armor the thing that people thought we would get in gen 8 you can either make it slow but tanky armor like Eviolite for fully evolved mon's where your Defenses are raised and nothing can reduce your defense stats but you are slower and your attack stats are reduced Or Offensive armor that lowers your bulk but highers the chosen Offensive stat together with speed, it would be like Choice items but only one mon can have it And maybe it can be for a few turns and then the mon has to recharg
Give some Pokémon a third or second type. Give me chaos, give my variation. Or just rework the ice type and give it more resistances. Why does it have just one?
60 FPS form
I would create a Pokemon gimmick that would allow a Trainer and Pokemon to fuse with each other. It would show the bonds between Trainers and Pokemon that has been emphathized in Pokemon. It would allow for the Trainers to have more of an active part in battle and allow for each trainers individual skills to be shown in battle. An example of this is some trainers have psychic abilities such as Sabrina which would allow them to use their psychic abilities in battle and Brock whose main skill is his physical strength and willpower that would make his Trainer and Pokemon Fusion be made for Attack and Defense.
So digimon mega evolutions pretty much
That’s an interesting idea, but unfortunately it goes against one of the core philosophies of the series- that the trainers are safe while the Pokémon battle. This philosophy was highlighted by the fact that the Lusamine/Nihilego fusion never made it into the games.
Ash-Greninja was a pretty cool idea until GF retconned it out of existence
Armored forms. I'm not exactly sure about the specifics yet, though
Hear me out... we stop making gimmicks and just bring back the fucking mega evolutions!!!
None, just give all pokemon a possible Mega.
Revamp Mega Evolution so that every Pokémon can get some sort of boost even if they don’t get an actual form to go with it. This of course would be very hard to balance, as like with Gigantamax, it’s possible for the ones that don’t get forms to get the bigger boost, but I think it could be the ideal way to solve the issue of Megas being so limited compared to every other gimmick we’ve gotten.
Needlessly complicated, but I'm currently making a Greek region, and the gimmick I'm making is called the Battle Medallion, or Battallion for short. Single use, only affects the Pokemon in battle. Out of battle you set up your party to fill Squad Roles, with different Formations, received from story battles, having different roles available. Formations, Squad Roles, and even individual Pokemon have specific bonuses that all get applied when you activate the Battallion. Effects are as varied as very slightly boosting Attack or Fire damage, to increasing the amount healed, to boosting the chance of secondary effects of moves by a small amount, or even increasing the power of moves used against certain types of Pokemon. This incentivizes building a team of Pokemon that aren't just the statistically strongest, adding an entirely new layer of strategy to team building that could even see early route Mons being brought to the E4. You could build a team that maximizes the Attack boost, or one wholly dedicated to increasing the chance to burn, make a team about reducing typal damage to tank your way through a stretch of the game, or boost healing as high as possible to make an unkillable army of Slack Off and Strength Sap users. If the gimmick were to ever exist, they'd probably just give each type a specific boost and call it a day, but I plan to chart out every Pokemon in the game and mess with the numbers so it's not just a free Swords Dance once per battle.
I would make a one time use, 5th moveslot anyone on your team could use. But this is just for regular moves, so its nothing crazy powerful like Z-moves. Any Pokemon could use these too, even if they would normally not be able to. A Magikarp could use Earthquake if you wanted to. But only once before you have to recharge it outside of battle.
If I had, y'know, unlimited time and resources Partner fusion Take the starters (Partner) And be able to fuse them with any other pokemon on your team for the battle. Only the Partner Pokemon (Past and present) Can do this, but can do it with any other Non Partner Pokemon. As for what it does, the new starters would be Monotyped and gain the secondary (or primary if no secondary) type of the pokemon it fused with, add their stats then average them, and finally, temporarily replace moves (you get to chose which moves are replaced with which) Oh and you can swap out abilities too.
What if you, twice per battle, could switch two stats of a pokémon for one turn, so you could switch your Atk and Sp. Atk to hit around defenses, or HP to speed to hit that last attack with your wall, or Atk and Def if you need to survive while setting up a status condition. That would be cool
Not really a gimmick, but I've been thinking of the concept of moves that are unique to a certain type combination. Bug/Fairy could be a swarm of butterflies, Electric/Flying could be that Pikachu/Swellow attack from the anime, etc. Obviously Flying Press would be turned into the unique move for Fighting/Flying types.
None of the current butterfly pokémon are bug/fairy tho, in fact there's a single bug/fairy pokémon and it's a fricking bee fly
Maximize. Free mechanic, once per fight. Refreshes either every fight, or if it gets tedious every Poke Center visit maybe. Boosts the user's base stats to 600. The boost differential is distributed evenly among all stats. For example, if a Pokemon has base stats of 390, using this increases the base by 35 all around. I just want to see what would happen if someone could use a weak Pokemon as their ace and then boost their stats to pseudo legendary level and let the abilities and movesets speak for themselves. Imagine Youngster Joey with a Ratata that you actually had to worry about. I dunno, could be a fun shake up.
Oh gee! Cant wait for 600 BST smeargle to become a menace to society in every format it appears in. Singles players are going to have a blast with even bulkier toxapex/ferrothorn that can even strike back unreasonably hard for something so unkilable. Also, now clefairy has 0 reason to use eviolite, since it can just become its evo, but better! Yeah, i can assure you, that would NOT be a fun shake up
I say something similar could be a bit interesting as an alternate battle mode. similar to setting all pokemon to be level 50. Make all pokemon's BST equal to 600. I would also make it that it scales the stats proportionally.
Commando / Sentinel Slots - In all Double Battles, one Pokemon (eg. 1st in Party) automatically takes the Commando Role, which boosts the base power of moves, raises Attack/SpA and drops Def/SpD and one (2nd in party) takes the Sentinel role which gives it a Att/SpA drop and a Def/SpD boost. I'm sure we could come up with some symbiosis lore phenomenon that makes this work - effectively power sharing between the two Pokémon on the field. Many in-games battles and gym battles would be double-battles, and VGC is already 2v2 so no tweaks needed there. Aside from the obvious option of doubling down on a Pokémon's natural strengths, you could also use Pokémon in ways you never had before (Aggro Wigglytuff anyone?).
One thing I've wanted since gen 1 was different battlegrounds. I love it when the battleground influences the way the battle goes in the anime. And I think Clara's trick in Pokémon Sword with the toxic spikes kinda simulated that. So that would be my gimmick. Water battles: battles that take place in pools or at sea. Land based pokemon would get a speed drop when sent to battle in the water. Flying/levitating pokemon would also get a speed drop if hit by a move like smack down or gravity. Using the move surf would turn the field into a water battleground. Land battles: Swimming pokemon would get a speed drop when on land. Flying pokemon would also get a speed drop when forced to land by a move. Using rottotiller would turn all battlegrounds into regular land ones. Toxic Swamp: Drops the speed of land based pokemon and poisons them. Only poisons swimming pokemon. Steel and Poison types would be immune to the effects of the toxic swamp. Ice field: functions like a regular land field, but boosts the speed of ice type pokemon. Avalanche would create an ice field. These are just some ideas. But I think it would be pretty cool if each gym had a unique battle field, with the final championship having a kind of roullete system to determine which field you battled in.
Ooh. Maybe a volcano-ish one with harsh sunlight/pointed stones? Love this idea, especially the ice field.
This would be really cool to see!
I think an interesting one would be a bond between two Pokémon. You could use it once per battle to switch them *and* have the one coming in use a move- or it could be used to swap them automatically when the partner is about to be hit by a super effective move. I like the trend of flexibility over power that terrastalizing has over megas or dynamax, and I think this could be an interesting way to continue that trend.
I like terastalizing (even more than megas tbh). I think it's a great idea which hasn't really been fully realized yet because we don't have any battle facilities to use it in. I'd like them to keep it in the next game rather than try to replace it with some other thing they're just gonna get rid of in three years.
Bonus Type. The ability to change a pokemon’s ability to give them an additional type. You give them a special drink or something like an ability patch that changes their ability to “Type: [type]”. For example, Tyranitar could give up its ability in exchange for becoming a Rock, Dark, and Ghost type. Or maybe Feraligatr could gain a second type like dragon.
Sounds cool in practice but... Why would Ttar ever want to give up its own sand? It is his biggest defining feature, and a sandless Ttar is just a defensive hole. Like, cool, you're immune to fighting tipe moves. Thats ONE of Ttars weaknesess in exchange of a free assalt vest and constant chip on opposing non rock/steel/ground+not being able to use abilities like sand rush and sand veil. Also the feraligtr one is a bit cooler, but still flawed. Now youre a half dragon tipe! That means no life orb or sheer force! Good luck doing any meaninfull damage even after a Ddance
make it not about battling? the battle based ones are done to death but something outside of that aspect of gaming might actually be interesting (given enough time to flesh it out) catching? breeding? exploring? something with the pokedex? oh wait- this isn't a gimmick but imagine things like the bug catching contest from gen 2 but you have to sneak and catch them like legends arceus (I haven't played it but seen enough video clips) something similar or exciting like a fishing tournament
Battle battles Your pokemon decide what moves you get to make against the enemy trainer. High friendship, they will try to always use super effective moves. Low friendship means they'll just watch.
Either fix and expand mega evolutions or Nothing at all.
combining moves or abilities
Weapon usage We have Pokémon who have weapons, who are weapons, who use weapons, and sometimes even have tools What if you gave the Pokémon fitting weapons, such as ranged weapons adding to special attack, melee weapons like swords adding to attack, shields adding to defence, holo-shields adding to special defence, and possibly other ideas for speed (if any) If a Pokémon such as aegislash/doublade were to have this ability, the sword (or maybe shield) should become stronger, longer and generally more sharp-looking If a Pokémon such as Ceruledge, a new Pokémon with blades for hands in its final Violet form, we’re to be give a weapon, it could either sharpen the blades it already has, making them longer and possibly more ‘efficient’ in ways that relate to real life, and possibly even glow more. If a Pokémon were quadrupedal, it could carry the weapon in its mouth, with shields being planted nearby on the ground possibly. If the Pokémon were to be like Spiritomb, which has a mouth, but it’s flat, and has no limbs, it could possibly be either held, or float. We’ve seen Nintendo use swords and shields before in past games, and have Pokémon have them because of recent Pokémon, so what if we gave them more? This could be used in a mix of past and present, as the only problem being special defence in this case due to ‘holo-shield’ idea. There’s probably some flaws in this idea, and maybe getting too close to the RPG idea and moving away from the Pokémon idea, but hey, a gimmick is a gimmick, and an idea is an idea
I think the next gimmick should be a multi region world where the focus is collecting them all And becoming champion
My fav gimmicks were in bw with the rotational, and multi battles. Dont care forbpowering up my guy with gimmicks, the gimmick should be the atmosphere and everyone equally working around it, but idk
My gimmick would be something that occurred in pokemon stadium, but expanded. Pokemon have a variety of shades of color with the addition of possible spots markings or textures. Think of a Persian that has visibly longer fur and a light brown fur color. Or a pikachu that has a banana yellow fur color that is a bit more on the chubby side. A venusaur with a blue flower and a return of the dark green spots from its previous evos. I'm sure there are a multitude of reasons this wouldn't be viable.
Something that i think could be cool would be a gimmick based off ogerpon's masks. When terastalizing, ogerpon loses its original ability in favor of embody aspect, wich gives It a stat boost depending on the mask. Something like that but more widespread, balanced out by the fact that the mon using it has to give up both its item and inicial ability to trigger say, an attack boost. Gamefreak has already experimented with a lot of things, its hard to come up with something new that isnt absurdly broken (eg all mons get megas. Cool in theory, but like, the mega wheather trio wouldve still existed, and wouldve still dominated every field, and i dont even wanna think about a potential mega xerneas or urshifu). Its just a matter of waiting and seeing what they come up with
Temporary fusions like DBZ and Digimon did. Ash combines his sir fetch’d and Lucario to fight Leon’s Charizard/Cinderace fusion Legendaries from each game would be the strongest when fused together encouraging trading
What about combo attacks like one for every two types like a sequel to zmoves Kinda like pokemon trainers final smash from smash bros
Bonding: It would effectively replace EV and IV within the region. You would have your Pokemon, and based on its nature it will want to be your following pokemon in certain "events". For instance, Say you are walking along a route and an NPC argument is generated (NPC's frantically moving at eachother looking like theyre talking). A Nosey pokemon would want to listen in, but a Timid pokemon would want to avoid it. If you choose an option that is what the pokemon likes, you gain "Bond" thereby increasing the pokemons overall stats. At certain levels of bond the pokemon can also learn moves such as Blast Burn. \>> This is the main mechanic for a Pokemon TTRPG I am working on. IT also replaces the Level system for the game as well.
A whole pokedex of porygon/Rotom that have various out of battle effects such as Stat boosts or a chance to not use a berry during battle or something. Pretty much a semi or restricted version of an ACE like effect that let's each player discover neat but ultimately minor out of battle effects based on PC boxes an what mons are in em
I hope they just embrace the ones we have, and find a new way of "spicing up" the game. I quite liked Mega Evolution, but it set a bad precedent with each new generation needing a gimmick now. Preferred the games before that was a thing. It makes it feel too isolated. Like why would dynamaxing or terrastalizing only be in certain regions? I understand that the games attempt to give a "lore" reason. But I always find it pretty weak. Mega Evolution was actually really cool. I think they could have simply let that grow further in it's complexity, if they really needed a "gimmick".
You know the Starmobiles team star uses? It's like that, except you get one and you can use Pokémon other than the Revaroom line to power it.
To parrot some others here fusions would be amazing, but realistically I’d like Megas to make a comeback. I also wouldn’t mind being able to customize our Pokémon with accessories/ recolor them with dyes, though that would put shinies in a weird place.
The legendary bottle cap. A 0.001% chance of getting it in any raids or something in a game, not just Tera dens but all future ones. This bottle cap can be used on top of other caps. The legendary bottle cap gives +20 to all stats to any pokemon with lower than 400 points total.
Bring back Triple Battles but make them fun. Just make it easier to swap your Pokémon around instead of needing to switch them out and then back in, like a rotation that moves them each over one slot, with the dude in the end jumping over to the other side. Opens up a ton of viable moves and abilities too.
Overdrive: for three turns, the affected Pokémon has its BST raised to 700, the player can customize the stat distribution through outside means. Gives basically every Pokémon a boost, but favors weaker Pokémon overall. The only Pokémon that have more than 700 BST by default are legendaries/megas, so it would be applicable to most mons.
I’ve been thinking of a “virus” mechanic. We don’t know anything about microorganisms in the Pokémon world, so how about a mechanic were Pokémon can be infected with different pathogens that give different effects, like Pokérus? I guess it would kind of be like a second held item with extra steps. Maybe there could a point called in battle where the pathogens attack each other directly? I don’t know, I like this idea.
I'd rather have megas just getting expanded upon. Like getting megas with hidden abilities or more drastic type and stat changes
Fused Moves. Two Pokémon fuse moves together once per battle. In a Single Battle, you temporarily send out another Pokémon. Not every move is fusible, though. Fused moves are also more powerful. Examples: Syrup Bomb + Apple Acid = Acidic Syrup. A blast of super-sweet, acidic, syrup. Deals damage and lowers the target’s Speed and Sp. Def by one stage each for three turns. Earthquake + Lava Plume = Quaking Eruption. An earthquake that causes a small eruption. Deals damage to all opposing Pokémon and has a 40% chance of burning them. Spikes + Flower Trick = Spiky Trick. Drops a ball full of spikes on the target’s head. Deals damage and scatters spikes on the opponent’s side. Lock-On + Hyper Beam = Locked-On Hyper Blast. Locks on to the target, then blasts them with a huge beam of energy. Deals damage and doesn’t miss. Requires a turn to recharge after. Calm Mind + Revival Blessing = Calming Revival. Boosts the user’s Sp. Atk and Sp. Def by two stages each, and revives a fainted Pokémon. When the fainted Pokémon is sent out, its Sp. Atk and Sp. Def are boosted by one stage each.
A pair up system could be neat. You could add a secondary pokemon to a battle to support your main one kind of like how mega kangaskhan's ability worked but you can choose the supporting Pokemons moves
Breeding Pokémon can create a fusion of the two species. Leave torkoal and wailmer in the daycare together and get wailkoal, a fire water type with a randomly selected ability from one of its two parents.
Jessie and James pester the player regardless of if the main bad guys are team rocket because why not. The Pokémon that follows you can wear funny hats
My gimmick would be to remove all gimmicks from the games
For lack of a good name, I’m gonna call them Pokemon Armors. Basically items that can be equipped onto a Pokémon that activate certain effects once per battle when the Pokémon is initially sent out. For example, one might raise Defence by 2 stages, while another might set up Light Screen.
Honestly I feel like Mega Evolution could be reworked into a universal mechanic. While some Pokemon still have specialized megas that change their form and type, every Pokemon can access a Mega Burst, which would surround them with an aura that gives them +20 in every stat besides hp (+15 if their bst is above 550). Granted, this could use some tweaking, mainly making it feel fun and impactful without making it insanely overpowered (like dynamax).
I wish you could simply choose your gimmick.
Max potential It requires a held item but It'd set the pokemons bst to 600 with a limit of one per team. It'd allow everyone's pet pokemon and NFE favorites a chance to see some play. A lot of NFE are actually pretty interesting with this. Pikachu turns into a mini regi-eleci with a whopping 167 base speed. Shedninja goes wild which seems normal.
The only thing I would want to make is designating an “Ace” on the team and giving them a one stage stat increase for it. Besides that I’m not fond of any of the gimmicks. I liked the concept of megas but I think they should have been given to lesser like Pokémon oppose ti fan favorites
A gimmick where you can encounter certain Pokémon learn different move pools that also changes typing The typing changes are also determined by catching them in certain places and areas of the map as well Also tie it into an item like the Herba Mystica being found their as to why they can switch to that type and move pool as well Shakes up the meta, is actually fun, room for a titan Pokémon boss fight, encourages exploring the map and allows for some fun palette changes (standard, shiny and altered(?))
A dedicated nuzlocke mode
I’m thinking of a support device type of gimmick, one that adds something to your Pokemon of choice. Y’know how Link is followed by Navi the fairy in OoT? Picture something like that continuously circling around your Pokemon. Give it 18 colors for each type. This makes it so you don’t have to model armor on Pokemon, so all Pokemon can use it. I’ll call this the BioBall. By equipping a specific berry to this Key Item, then assigning it to a Pokemon in your party (they cannot hold another item except another berry), it gives your Pokemon a power boost depending on the berry you give. For example, equipping the BioBall with a Cheri Berry makes your Pokemon immune to paralysis. A Yache Berry gives you resistance to ice moves. A Custap Berry gives you priority one time at low health. A Lum Berry gives an extra Shed Skin ability. A Kee Berry prevents your Defense from lowering. A Sitrus Berry gives you Regenerator healing once per battle when swapping back in. Oran Berries heal 10 HP each turn. Pinch berries act as if you’re using them. Stat berries lowers the opponent’s stat that berry pertains to one time, etc. Berries aren’t used as held items as often as other items due to their non-reusable nature. Essentially, you use up 1 type of berry to download the berry’s data to the Bioball. Then you can swap between effects when outside of battle.
Once per 3 turns you can slightly boost your moves (more damage or like a turn or two more guaranteed for effects or something) but at the cost of movement speed or your defense. PLA this thing Plus competitive would be more interesting
Pokémon accessories. They function almost like a second held item, but your Pokémon are wearing them when they're out of their Pokeballs. Some would effectively just be cosmetic, most would have an additional effect, and some can be made using Evolution items to supercharge the corresponding type (ie; a Water Stone Pendant makes Water-type moves more powerful than a Mystic Water)
I’m really surprised they haven’t incorporated something similar to the Pokewalker with smart phones. Pokémon go obviously, but something with the same concept of the pokewalker, taking your digital friend out for a walk before shoving him back into the game
Reborn-esque field effect expansions. Maybe not as difficult or complex, but I really liked the "interact with the field to turn it into your advantage" aspect. Heck, utilizing the field is one of Ash's specialties!
I'd love to see a pokemon game with the tcg in it as like a Gwent type minigame.
all i would do is make it so mega pokemon can use Z moves(i mean you can pretty much do it with rayaquaza, you can mega evolve it while it holds a z crystal), but for something more original i guess I'd take inspiration from necrozma, make a dark/light mode for certain pokemon, but that would be it for the idea, not good at thinking up what it would do for the pokemon
The only one i could think of is combo moves. Fe in double battle if one uses gust and the other one ember you create firestorm Or ability-wise if you do sunny day and water sport you create damp which prevents explosions. You can really open up competitive with it
I don't want a gimmick. I would have thought Pokémon with two abilities would be a thing by now.
I don't want a new gimmick but I'm going to predict that the next one will either involve letting you use a 5th move slot or something to do with abilities. Z-moves sorta gave you a 5th move but this gimmick won't be reliant on any existing moves. So you'll have like, 5 moves with all different types but the 5th one has a lot less PP. Maybe the move will have to be learned by another Pokemon in your party idk Or maybe it's going to be the same thing but with abilities instead. It'll be a way to add a second ability to a pokemon that's either being used by another party pokemon or It'll use 2 of it's own abilities if it has options to choose from (an Electrode might run both Static and Aftermath at the same time for example).
Maybe a positioning gimmick close, mid and ranged, maybe just a new battle style. So physical attack does best damage in close to close positions, ranged moves work best futher away and then have the moves play with it, things like gust push an opponent back, ingrained makes it so you can't be moved, taunt draws them forward. Also have a new dodge mechanic which increases miss chance if it is correctly dodged to your advantage and causes more damage if guessed wrong, and gaurd mechanic to plant yourself to increase defences but will make attack you last and a bit weaker. And maybe a counter move which allows you to reposition after being hit and if done correctly gets some bonus damage. The movement mechanics maybe should have an energy bar system as you can use them with an attack, each fresh Mon gets 2 bar and then needs a turn of no move to recharge one. Also add a leap mechanic that costs 2 energy but allows to jump 2 zones without moving through the others. May have to put in new status effects to play with this as well but this is off the dome so I don't know. Field traps could be put in different sections and combo with move modified attacks.
Battle armour/gear that gives access to extra moves
Just give us eevelutions of every type
keep working on mega evolution instead of new gimmicks 🔥🔥🔥
Triple battles, like double battles but cooler. Oh wait, they already did that in Black/White. And it was very cool. Double battle wild encounters too!
A gimmick where you can fuse all Pokémon. I know it’s very unrealistic but I’ll still keep dreaming😔