The Ash-Greninja Elephant In The Room

[Altairis]

I think you guys are reading too much into this :( I don't think The Pokemon Company has any intention of reliably explaining how Greninja ended up here and I don't think they care either. They just want to give players the chance to use it in battle, meaning that I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter that you're not Ash or not...

Also I'm pretty sure it's called Ash because that's how it was introduced in the anime? Not sure why people expected a different name, but okay.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

With the exclusions of Mega Evolutions in favor of Z-moves in the upcoming VGC rules and if the Greninja line is included in the Aloladex... Greninja is shaping up to be the only mega-ish evolution to be allowed in the tournament(This is assuming that he still gets 100+ base stats) and the addition of better double support moves and abilities... I would think that building a Bond-Greninja team would be viable.

*Cough* Z-move Evee baton pass to Greninja *Cough*

Except the rules of the SM VGC mentioned that Ash-Greninja is banned alongside Megas, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Magearna.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

I don't really get it since it seems like Greninja would need to be in close proximity to Ash in order to even achieve that form.

That said I don't really care enough to get mad about it. I guess cross promotional offers don't need to make sense.

 

[Palamon]

I'mma just call it Mega Greninja and pretend it's a mega evolution.

Let's just...pretend it's not called Ash-Greninja. Yeah.

(I'm assuming there's a REASON it's gonna be called that ingame. We'll see!)

 

[Azelf Ibrahim]

There is an episode in the anime when Ash visits a ninja village that has a shrine dedicated to the 'hero Greninja' which bears a resemblance to Ash-Greninja.

Ash wasn't the first trainer who pushed Greninja pasts its limits and caused it to change form. They just happened to name the form 'Ash-Greninja' since it resembles him somewhat I guess.

I like the implementation of Ash-Greninja in game, it could use a different name though, I mean that name was given to him by Eureka/Bonnie, which wasn't too creative...

 

[Mikewind]

They really should've just made when it transformed it be whatever the trainers name is instead of ash.

 

[CidHazard]

Except the rules of the SM VGC mentioned that Ash-Greninja is banned alongside Megas, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Magearna.

well those goes the dream XD

Just have to use him in rated battle spot then... where he's going to be murdered by mega kangaskan XD.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

well those goes the dream XD

Just have to use him in rated battle spot then... where he's going to be murdered by mega kangaskan XD.

Or worse, Mega Charizard X.

 

[Mister Coffee]

I agree with @CidHazard, in that I would be a lot more okay with "Ash-Greninja" if it was called "Bond-Greninja" instead. I can even ignore the visual appearance of the changed Greninja, since I don't care about the anime or Ash, so due to lack of caring about Ash, it's near impossible for me to see the similarities between the Greninja and Ash himself. It just looks like a slightly more detailed Greninja to me.

I would also prefer what @Ninjorf originally mentioned, which is, I would feel like this changed Greninja would all balance out if other pokemon had access to changing form based on their bond with their trainers. It would be a great addition for most of the starters, but then at this point I would have to ask what's the difference between a "Bonded Pokemon" and a "Mega Evolved Pokemon", because it seems through all intents and purposes, they're more or less the exact same thing with only slightly different mechanics upon activation of the form change.

Edit: Another thing that I just realized... Isn't this new Greninja strictly worse than the original Greninja? They have shown that this special form changing Greninja changes form based on its soul bonding ability... which means this Greninja couldn't possibly have the famous ability that makes original Greninja so incredibly powerful, the ability "Protean". Ignoring Greninja's "Protean" ability, it's easily outclassed by many other water pokemon in both stats and move pool. I think that the original Greninja is still going to end up being the more popular Greninja simply due to having Protean, over this wonky form changing ability. ... Then again... who knows, maybe this form change will be on par with a Mega evolution and will allow the form changing Greninja to have insane stats upon changing that will outclass the original "Protean" Greninja.

 

[dudealmighty]

I like it, sorry.

I think people just don't like Ash and like to pretend the anime is less canon than the games lol
This is fine. Y'all chill out.

 

[Ky0greK1ng]

Before I start rambling on, I'd like to clear a few things up:

I LOVE the Pokemon Anime--especially the older episodes! I'm kind of iffy on the most recent season, but I still enjoy it enough to watch it. Ash is a great character!

I, also, love the Pokemon games! I think I enjoy the games even more than the show, and that's saying something.

Anyways... Time to get started!

I liked it when the game inspired the show. I've played through all the games, and seeing it come to life in a cartoon was brilliant! I don't know why, but the anime influencing the game kind of bugs me... Unless GameFreak gave that idea to the makers of the anime, then I'm not happy.

Greninja is one of the few XY Pokemon that I like... However, I don't think it deserves all the attention its getting. Sure, it has a neat design; sure, its in-game moveset is incredible, but it seems like people have forgotten about all of the older and (this is arguable) better Pokemon.

Speaking of Greninja's incredible moveset, why is it getting an upgraded form? It's already very, very strong... Does it really need to get stronger?

The last thing I'd like to say is I'm kind of hoping it's considered a mega evolution (and I strongly dislike mega evolutions as they are), rather than an 'Ash' or 'bond' evolution. That doesn't make too much sense to me - especially 'Ash' evolution.

It felt good to get that out of my system. {XD}

TL/DR: I disagree with GameFreak's choice of adding Ash-Greninja to Pokemon Sun and Moon.

 

[CidHazard]

I'mma just call it Mega Greninja and pretend it's a mega evolution.

Let's just...pretend it's not called Ash-Greninja. Yeah.

(I'm assuming there's a REASON it's gonna be called that ingame. We'll see!)

Hahaha, I'd rather call it Rainbow Greninja (like the rumors) or Bond Greninja... Non-anime watchers are calling the form Ash's Greninja in Youtube which makes me cringe so hard :D

They really should've just made when it transformed it be whatever the trainers name is instead of ash.

Or that (Trainers Name) - Greninja... I dig it XD

 

[Pepperton]

yo who actually cares like it's a game they're trying to spice it up, i commend game freak for that. taking risks is hard to do when you have an established product and they've taken several with sm. this is simply another and i think it's fun and matches up with the modern world's expectation for new versions of video games.

 

[TrendyHipsta]

The fact that Ash name is mix with a pokemon utterly disgust me. Ugh... like, did you see that hyphen in the middle itself?! Gross. Flay it alive please! : L


I don't dislike Ash, but I can't like him either. Ash purpose in the anime is suppose to make you feel like you're winning with your pokemon with love and determination. He does a good job captivating the younger audience with that, but the older audience can't accept it because <_<; we all know Ash no progression with him or his Pokemon even when he trains and do his best he'll never be a true Pokemon Master.

This is excellent on Game Freak part though. Using those two are really stirring up juicy love/hate emotions from all ages around the world.

 

[Frozocrone]

How is it going to be implemented into the games? You mean when I'm trying to train my Greninja and level up against wild pokemon, the moment it knocks it out it's going to go full out and become Ash-Greninja?

That would get incredibly annoying and I sincerely hope that's not the case. At least with Megas you can choose to go through the cut scene.

 

[clbgolden]

How is it going to be implemented into the games? You mean when I'm trying to train my Greninja and level up against wild pokemon, the moment it knocks it out it's going to go full out and become Ash-Greninja?

That would get incredibly annoying and I sincerely hope that's not the case. At least with Megas you can choose to go through the cut scene.

Unless it's a horde battle, I'm pretty sure Ash-Greninja won't revert during wild encounters.