Erhm.....well, I've been anticipating this so-called "scoop of the century" for a while now... Kudos to the Pokemon.com for reliably updating ~concurrently with
Coro-coro magazine releases.
The first time I began reading about the new "
Super Modes for Pokemon!" mechanic "Mega Evolutions"; I was like "....the heck is this stuff?" essentially. :P I thought they would be the dreadfully-feared (at least, IMO, because I think Pokemon evolution families are just fine as they are with no more than 3 stages) "4th evolutionary stage"....which they kind of are. Arguably, they could be considered a "FORME CHANGE, EXCEPT FOR
EVERY MANY POKEYMANZ!", coming off the heels of 2 generations that were seemingly infested with Forme changes and similar alterations... Oy.
Mega Evolution responses:
Names:
First off, the name... It's kind of OK, but adding "Mega-" seems really...basic, for lack of a better word. I would have thought something like "(Pokemon) EX" would work better than "Mega (Pokemon)"...especially since the TCG has the similar-in-concept
Pokemon-ex Pokemon, and the games sometimes derive elements recursively from the TCG... The prefix "Mega-" also seems to be horribly overused like "Super-" these days... In any case, "EX mode/moves" from
Street Fighter and
Final Fantasy were what immediately came to mind when I learned about Mega Evolutions, which seem to equate to "temporary boosted super-form during battle".
Concept:
Ah, I love how the
Digimon franchise gets to rear its head a little, not to mention the
Dragon Ball franchise with its Super Saiyan stages and stuff... Paildramon (who actually Mega-Digivolves) and Goku say hi!
The concept of Mega Evolutions seems very interesting in theory with much potential for 'shaking up' the competitive meta-game, but I would've probably preferred a pulsating aura or something around the Pokemon rather than a whole new form for each Pokemon that attains a Mega Evolution... The re-typings and ability changes are going to take a little adjusting to; I can already tell that these things, if permissible in Kalos's Battle Tower or similar facility, are going to be a
pain in the butt to face. Everything might be going well on my side and then the computer player goes "LOLZ; MEGAAAA-EVOLVE!" I'm fine with the ever-growing list of Pokemon (with 1-3 abilities each), which is enough to memorize IMO, but these mid-battle flip-flopping types and even MORE moves/abilities are going to complicate things, I suppose... Ugh.
The feature *seems* optional for the player to use, but there's a good chance that in-game Trainers and multiplayer Trainers will take full advantage of the feature, to the point where I might have to use the feature myself just to stand a chance, especially with "Mega Mewtwo" and "Mega Blaziken" existing...
Pokemon:
Okay, first off, WTF??? Whose idea was it to give Mewtwo and Blaziken even
more power? They're arguably broken/tough to beat as it is, and this is only going to make them more overpowered, wreaking more havoc in the process.
Mewtwo: I'm a bit annoyed about how its "Awakened Forme" turned out to be "Mega Mewtwo"; I just abhor the concept of legendaries evolving (save for Phione, as it would've been unique to Phione & Manaphy, and they don't seem too overpowered to begin with), and I would've like Generation 1 Mewtwo's legacy for having the highest Special Attack to remain intact, although I'm guessing Mewtwo's new form will probably surpass it in that regard. I'm probably going to refer to it either as "Awakened Forme" Mewtwo or "Mewtwo EX"... At least "Mewthree" essentially exists now! :D I hope this thing was utterly unstoppable in the
ExtremeSpeed Genesect movie, because
normal Mewtwo was nigh unbeatable in the
Mewtwo Strikes Back movie. I kind of don't want Mew to receive a "Mega Evolution", but as Mewtwo has gotten a new "Forme" and a new signature move (Psycho Break should've been introduced in Generation 6 rather than Generation 5, because it sprang up so oddly in BW), it almost seems like Mew is falling behind, even with its notoriety for learning all existing TMs and HMs! The design for Awakened Forme is quite nice, though. Most likely the main Mega Evolution that I'll be using. And clever how it's "awakened" and happens to possess the Ability Insomnia!! :)
Blaziken: Well, someone just had to tinker with Blaziken's perfect design, eh? Admittedly, I like Mega Blaziken's black flames and "X-shaped 'hair' thing... But the original design was perfect; it didn't need to be modified! (this brings '
Latiken' to mind) Also, I hope this means that the other starters (the Hoenn starters, at the very
least) receive Mega Evolutions as well; it would be unfair if only 1 starter Pokemon gets it.
Blaziken is awesome and cool and all, but it isn't that special (and this is coming from a passionate Hoenn-lover, who mainly started with the
Pokemon games in Hoenn, and who chose Torchic as my first ever starter Pokemon, let alone Pokemon species, ever. ;-; Heck, Blaziken is practically one of my favorite Pokemon ever). Mega Blaziken is going to be outright
scary competitively...I mean, the consensus seems to be that Speed Boost Blaziken is
already relegated to Ubers (at least, for those who follow Smogon's tiers)!
Lucario: OK, this one really didn't need a Mega Evolution either. Mega Lucario is practically the visual epitome of the
"They Changed It, Now It Sucks" trope. The Mega Evolution design is also worse than normal Lucario (which has one of
the best Pokemon designs ever, IMO), especially with the newfound red 'skin' clashing with the blue 'skin'. And now its 'hair' looks weird. At least Mega Lucario receives the Adaptability Ability, so that's nice.
Absol: I don't know why fans were clamoring for an Absol evolution; I thought it was fine the way it was...all it really needed was some Base Stat adjustments and an enhanced movepool. I don't like Mega Absol's head design alteration, but the rest of the body alterations are OK, I guess...they fare
much better than Mega Lucario's alterations, that's for sure. At least it's temporary.
Ampharos: The Dragon-type addition for Mega Ampharos is nice. The design is a bit fluffy and elegant, but it's decent (and quite amusing). XD PLEASE let this be the generation where it finally learns Tail Glow!
Mawile: Another Pokemon whose 'evolution' was desired by a lot of fans...I don't know why.. Mawile's regular design was fine; it just needed Base Stat and movepool adjustments, IMO. I'm still a bit iffy on Mega Mawile's design; it looks like the designer was trying too hard to alter it.. The Fairy-retyping bugs me a bit; we don't have that many pure Steel-type Pokemon, and this retyping means there'll be one less now. :(
Kangaskhan: Probably the only Mega Evolution that I outright
love at the moment. I've always wanted Kangaskhan's 'baby' to be active during battle, yet I didn't want an outright evolution or pre-evolution for Kangaskhan. "Mega Kangaskhan" solves this problem excellently, although it's temporary XD! "Parental Bond" sounds like it'll be a lovely Ability, although Kangaskhan can already be a pain to deal with if you lack Fighting-type moves on hand. XD
A bit surprised that the "Mega Stone" was introduced; given the "genetics/DNA" theme that has been thrown around, B2W2's Gene Wedge would've been perfect for the Mega Evolution concept, although I guess that Game Freak wants Gene Wedge's effect(s) to be exclusive to Kyurem. But 'Mega Stone' sounds so plain (and it's basically a 'fancy' way for just saying "big stone")! T_T I hate how the names of Mega Stones like 'Lucarionite' and 'Blazikenite' are formed... I would've like a Plate corresponding to each Pokemon's Species name instead (like "Blaze Plate" for Blaziken, who is classified as the 'Blaze Pokemon')...with Pokemon with identical Species names sharing the same plate (like Charizard and Flareon both sharing the 'Flame Plate' as Flame Pokemon)...oh well. "Tower of Mastery" sounds OK, although I kind of wish 'Mastery' was a different word because this only complicates the meaning of the term "Pokemon Master"...
I hope Charizard and Gyarados receive Mega Evolutions that re-type them as Fire/Dragon and Water/Dragon, respectively; I've been constantly seeing those among the top wished-for retypes... I would prefer some Pokemon to receive permanent re-types rather than 'fixing' the typing via Mega Evolution (i.e., IMO, how Blastoise needs to be Water/Steel, Samurott needs to be Water/Fighting, and Serperior needs to be Grass/Dragon, etc.), but I'll take what I can get. I hope that Mewtwo is the only Pokemon that receives a "Mega Evolution"; legendaries are powerful enough as it is, and their shortcomings, if any, can be rectified with Forme changes (which hardly any of them need at the moment, IMO). And legendaries 'evolving', even if it isn't 'actual' evolution, just seems weird (save for Phione-->Manaphy).
I'm glad that Mega Evolutions are temporary+optional, and that (apparently) only one Pokemon on any given team/party can attain Mega Evolution during a battle. Time will tell as to how many Pokemon receive Mega Evolutions....hmm, no wonder the game is so big; we'll need Shiny Mega Evolution sprites/models as well as new artwork for each Mega Evolution..... I'm guessing it'll mostly be restricted to non-evolving/fully-evolved Pokemon (because 649+*2=1298 3D models would be a bit much.... I just hope that Game Freak doesn't go overboard with this feature... In any case, it seems
promising, so I'll reserve additional judgment until I actually try the feature out (although these initial Mega-Evos designs have me worried for upcoming ones :( ). And hopefully, only Pokemon who NEED "Mega-Evolutions" get one from now on, not some already-absurdly-powerful Pokemon like Kyogre.
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Shifting gears, my opinion on some of the new Pokemon:
Skiddo is adorable and a suitable pre-evolution for Gogoat...I had a feeling Gogoat would possibly receive one.
Dedenne is cute as a button and
uber-adorable; I love its little "plug-tail" and its whiskers. Somewhat surprised that they kept the Japanese name, although they seem to be retaining the Japanese names of all the Pikachu-clones. The only thing I dislike about its design is that its coloration resembles Raichu way too much! It's like Pikachu's red cheeks combined with Raichu's orange skin/fur color! @_@ They're running out of main skin/fur colors to make the Pikachu-clones more distinct/distinguishable from one another...
Bunnelby is nicely designed with a good name (is this our first rabbit Pokemon? Not sure offhead); I hope it gains the Ground-type if it evolves. Having a non-Ground Pokemon species' name as the "Digging Pokemon" makes no sense.
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EV 'revelation'
I'm glad that EV training is getting more recognition (aww...I kind of liked it when it wasn't so mainstream... :P); thank God that we'll be able to see how many EVs we've accumulated, because keeping track of them rigorously with memory/pencil-and-paper was quite a pain. And EV training itself in Generation 3 is exhausting+monotonous especially without the Gen-4 EV-boosting items (those items that are similar to Macho Brace that received breeding benefits in HG/SS); maybe a mini-game will spice things up. I kind of wish this happened years ago; so many of my Pokemon were badly EV-trained in Generation 3 with random Vitamins and random manually-acquired EVs (usually whatever EVs that the Hoenn Elite 4's Pokemon give you).."trained by a dog", as Smogon nicely put it. XD The Super Training seems to be quite promising, indeed. I'm still a bit confused on which portions boost Base Stats and which portions boost gained Experience Points or EVs, so I'm gonna have to take a while to get clarified on that stuff. Now all we need is a way to alter the stats so that Pokemon with 0
Individual Values (IVs) have just as much of a fighting chance as 31 IV/flawless IV Pokemon (I originally thought that Pokemon-amie would at some point override a Pokemon's IVs and set them all at 31 IVs if you cared for your Pokemon enough...still holding out hope).
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Gym Leader Korrina
LOOOOVE her!! ♥ (For some reason, I kind of wish her name was Katrina, because we seem to be getting a lot of Cora/Korra/Quorra-named ladies these days in the media, but whatever). Her outfit has a nice concept and color scheme... Her helmet kind of reminds me of Cinccino or Pachirisu. XD She looks good in her snazzy skates, and it seems like she's really passionate about it! Do the inhabitants of the Kalos region want us to exercise more now or what...? Her gray eyes go well with her blonde hair... From the "fist" in her 'VS Sprite' animation, it seems like she might be Fighting-type (which would work well, because I'd expect roller-skating is a tough hobby, and people who skate at all seem to be adept at kicking butt XD), which is great. Last, but not least, she's quite hot, especially with DEM biker shorts...taking a cue from Marina and May, perhaps? :3
Shalour City is a nice name, and the roller-skating theme for its gym has me intrigued...I hope some skateboarders are present in some form. LOL; I was reminded of Lan from
Megaman Battle Network series with all this talk of roller-skating, because he's the only anime character I can recall who actually roller-skated to places. XD
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And 3 side-notes:
1. OK, seriously? The
promotional art for Mega Evolution awesomely depicts Mega Blaziken, and it's not even obtainable in-game? (AKA, yet another event Pokemon) Come on, Game Freak... It's been 5 freaking generations already; can we please stop it with the event Pokemon? At least make the Blazikenite be obtainable in-game with some ridiculous-yet-somewhat-reasonable requirement... I don't mind event Pokemon with unobtainable-in-game moves like Rayquaza with V-Generate (as most in-game movepools are viable), but at least make all Pokemon and their corresponding Formes/Mega Evolutions obtainable in-game. Sheesh, and Blaziken is a freaking
starter Pokemon, not to mention one of the most popular ones...next thing you know, there's going to be an event-only item that serves as the only way to get a 3rd-stage Fennekin/Froakie/Chespin. UGH!!! Honestly, I hate how
Pokemon is the only series (though there are probably others) where I can't be optimally competitive (since it can potentially lacks things that other players happen to legitimately have), as opposed to a series where everything is nicely available in-game for ALL competitors (such as
Super Smash Bros., where I don't need to "download another fighter from an online server" or some other DLC crap like that).
2. The introduction of Mega Evolution is quite timely... It happens to give more exposure to the
Digimon franchise, which is receiving its own promotion this year in preparation for the English unveiling of
Digimon Fusion/Xros Wars (which has Super Modes of its own)... And not only does Haim Saban currently own the
Digimon franchise's English rights; he's also promoting
Power Rangers (Super) Megaforce in the same year, which is quite fond of the 'mega-' prefix (and the Megaforce Rangers are getting their own unique Super Modes). Let's just hope the
Pokemon localizers don't start overusing the "Mega-" prefix in puns or stuff, or I think I'm gonna be sick with all of the "Mega-" puns this year...
3.
MEGA MEWTWO VS MEGA LUCARIO. Please tell me this gloriously-awaited confrontation will in some form happen in
Super Smash Bros. 4... If Lucario returns as a Smasher, temporarily swapping his model with Mega Lucario during his Final Smash (presumably Aura Storm) *might* be a good way to advertise the Mega Evolutions in that game. Similarly, Mewtwo could showcase Awakened Forme briefly during his Final Smash (which I presume would be Psycho Break).
PHEW; all that writing overloaded me a bit. #_#
