Mega-Evolution without Mega Stones!!

[TheLegendaryGuy]

Alain(the guy with the mega charizard X, if you saw it in the anime) said that Greninja Mega Evolved without a Mega Stone due to the bond being so deep between Ash & Greninja.
I don't know about the anime, but could such a thing take place in SM? Pokemons mega evolving without their respective mega stones, and for ever, the only think required-an extremely high friendship level..sounds a bit awkward. Dosen't it?

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Probably won't happen, but the friendship thing sounds like it'll be better than simply using Mega stones. They should've made Mega require friendship and the stone in Gen VI seeing that's how it was promoted as involving a strong bond.

 

[Hikamaru]

We had a Mega so far that doesn't utilize a Mega Stone, but like ORandAS said, high friendship really should have been a factor in using Mega Evolution given how it was mentioned the trainer needed a strong bond with their Pokemon.

 

[destinedjagold]

What if the mega stones are needed to 'temporarily' achieve Mega Evolution while the trainer and pkmn are still working on solidifying their friendship? This would explain why we could mega-evolve newly-received 'mons from NPCs and from online/local trade.

 

[Hikamaru]

What if the mega stones are needed to 'temporarily' achieve Mega Evolution while the trainer and pkmn are still working on solidifying their friendship? This would explain why we could mega-evolve newly-received 'mons from NPCs and from online/local trade.

I could see this as being the case, especially with the fact we were forced to be able to Mega Evolve a newly-received Lucario during the story in X/Y.

 

[illumine]

They're unlikely to want to introduce new form of evolution, and then leave that restricted to the anime. Especially when it is brought into relation to Mega-Evolution, which is of course promoted within the games. Nonetheless, if that were played off as just a normal Mega-Evolution with different criteria, that might be disappointing, as it was generally introduced as somehow leading to a new form as well. In addition, there might have been some potential in adding occasional traits to the trainers which could then be used to modify Pokémon in specific scenarios, and so on.

 

[Ho-Oh]

Depends whether the high friendship level is limited to current megas or all Pokémon. Having a mega for every single Pokémon (as high friendship is currently achievable) is incredibly insane. However if it only applied to all current megas there would still be a few issues. Being able to hold items would be really bad - which is why mega evolution should always be enabled by items. Most mega evolutions are too powerful, they don't need to be able to use any items. So... I don't think they'll be heading that route in these games.

 

[Hikamaru]

As Forever said, there's a reason why Megas are restricted to holding Mega Stones. As we know, held items are vital from a competitive aspect, and we have one Mega (Rayquaza) who can Mega Evolve without a Mega Stone, allowing it to have other held items.

When you also consider its crazy stat boosts, and not being restricted to a Mega Stone, Mega Rayquaza was so overpowered it got banned. Not banned to Ubers, but it had to literally get its own tier above Ubers because it was too strong even for Ubers.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I'm thinking they'll nerf Rayquaza by needing it to hold the Jade orb in SM.

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm thinking they'll nerf Rayquaza by needing it to hold the Jade orb in SM.

I wouldn't mind seeing that happen, since the Jade Orb was used to summon Rayquaza in the original Hoenn games and that would help compromise it so that it doesn't have to be in its own competitive tier.

I feel we could be seeing some Mega nerfs this gen if a lot of competitive tournaments like VGC influenced stuff like weather and powder moves getting nerfed.

 

[Xertified]

TBH, that would be OP. Mega Evolution would be really overused because of that. I kinda agree with OR&AS' friendship thingy.

 

[Rivvon]

I honestly feel as though the whole "strong bonds" thing they pushed in the narrative in X & Y was just that: a plot point. They wanted to make Mega Evolution have this air of mystique while also pushing the theme of "bonds" (bonds with your friends, bonds with your Pokémon, bonds with them to achieve Mega Evolution; even the ending theme is titled "Kizuna," Japanese for "bonds"). Ultimately, though, they kept this exclusively as a plot point. Whether they did that for allowing easier access to Mega Evolution in competitive play or if they had another reason altogether, I don't know. But I think the system we have now is fine. If they're gonna incorporate "friendship" (do you mean the friendship value, affection value? Or some new kind of mechanic?) in the mix, it should be in addition to holding a Mega Stone. Holding the stone is meant to act as a balancing tool. You sacrifice the freedom to hold an Item, one that could be amazing on the Pokémon, for the ability to achieve Mega Evolution instead. For example, if you want Swampert to Mega Evolve, you remove from it the opportunity to be a special attacker because it can no longer hold the Expert Belt. Just imagine how broken Mega Kangaskhan would be if she could hold Life Orb? Imagine how broken Mega Rayquaza would be if it could hold Lif---oh wait.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I wouldn't mind seeing that happen, since the Jade Orb was used to summon Rayquaza in the original Hoenn games and that would help compromise it so that it doesn't have to be in its own competitive tier.

I feel we could be seeing some Mega nerfs this gen if a lot of competitive tournaments like VGC influenced stuff like weather and powder moves getting nerfed.

The Jade orb was introduced in the Johto remakes actually, not RS or even E. Still, it had the same function as the Red and Blue orbs had in HgSs.

 

[Hikamaru]

The Jade orb was introduced in the Johto remakes actually, not RS or even E. Still, it had the same function as the Red and Blue orbs had in HgSs.

I hadn't played HG/SS in a while, so it was easily forgettable to me. If they made the Red and Blue Orb able to give Groudon and Kyogre their Primal Reversion powers in OR/AS, and with Mega Rayquaza being very overpowered I could see it being forced to hold the Jade Orb as an item if it wants to Mega Evolve, since making it a Mega that doesn't need a Mega Stone made it too good from a competitive aspect.

 

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

It'd be better if they just get rid of megas.

Or at least keep the ones we have, ADD NO MORE, and for the love of Beerus or Thor, please don't remove the need of having a mega stone. Mega Ray is still drinking a beer with SwagPlay Klefki and Minimize Smeargle. No but seriously, Mega Ray is stupidly overpowered, like what were they smoking when they made it?

Imagine Lum Berry DD MegaZard X. You can't paralyze it and stop it from sweeping, a solution many offensive teams use to stop it and other DD users. Basically you better pray you can set up rocks and keep them on (and by this logic we should unban Ho-oh, I guess) or have a scarfed base 100+ that hits hard enough to OHKO Zard X. Terrakion and (assuming it gets unbanned) Landorus-I are like the only one I can think of right now that are viable and can OHKO +1 Zard X without resorting to BS like using Slowbro or relying on Thunder Wave/Toxic/Flare Blitz recoil...

Or Choice Band Mega Medicham, like do I even need to tell you how retarded that would be? It'd probably be able to OHKO frickin' Hippowdon and possibly Suicune after SR damage!! We'd have to say "arigato gozaimasu" (or whatever the words are in JP) that Aegislash exists, and if it once again gets the boot, we'll basically have Mega Mawile on steroids, insta-Uber. Mega Gardevoir would be the same, although fortunately Chansey exists too.

There's also Mega Salamence in Ubers which would probably get the boot instantly with an item like Life Orb or Sky Plate. Just imagine a +1 Double-Edge with a LO boost. Not to mention how good Flying is as an offensive type, at least in Ubers where you have to rely on Aegislash or Dialga to tank such attacks (and btw Mence also gets EQ to squash them).

The good news is that I wouldn't see worse megas such as Audino or Abomasnow get the boot by just removing the mega stone. Also, I don't think Mega Diancie would be banned even if items were allowed; it still needs to use Protect, meaning it's very hard to slap Choice items on it, but crap LO M-Diancie would still hurt like hell. It'd surely be a top-tier threat if not for Aegislash/Weavile/Excadrill or something...

 

[Gigadweeb]

God, I hope not. Rayquaza is my favorite 'mon ever since I laid eyes upon it in Emerald, but good god is its Mega OP. It's more or less the Gen 1 Mewtwo of the current generation.

 

[Hikamaru]

God, I hope not. Rayquaza is my favorite 'mon ever since I laid eyes upon it in Emerald, but good god is its Mega OP. It's more or less the Gen 1 Mewtwo of the current generation.

The difference was Mewtwo was strong back then due to a lack of weaknesses and good stats for Psychic-types, but Mega Rayquaza is a different story. I could definitely see Mega Rayquaza being nerfed by having an item created that it needs to hold to use the Mega.

 

[Gigadweeb]

The difference was Mewtwo was strong back then due to a lack of weaknesses and good stats for Psychic-types, but Mega Rayquaza is a different story. I could definitely see Mega Rayquaza being nerfed by having an item created that it needs to hold to use the Mega.

That's true. However, it still amounts to essentially the same thing: a Pokémon that's too broken for its own good, and is used by anyone that wants to win easily. Someone suggested the Green Orb as a hold item for it, and I think that's a good solution. I also kind of want to see the Omega/Alpha stones be renamed the Red/Blue Orb, just for consistency's sake.

 

[Hikamaru]

That's true. However, it still amounts to essentially the same thing: a Pokémon that's too broken for its own good, and is used by anyone that wants to win easily. Someone suggested the Green Orb as a hold item for it, and I think that's a good solution. I also kind of want to see the Omega/Alpha stones be renamed the Red/Blue Orb, just for consistency's sake.

Except that the Red and Blue Orbs already exist as held items, and are used to allow Groudon and Kyogre to use their Primal Reversion. They are almost as strong as Mega Rayquaza, but Primals are different in that they aren't limited to one per team per battle.

 

[Gigadweeb]

Except that the Red and Blue Orbs already exist as held items, and are used to allow Groudon and Kyogre to use their Primal Reversion. They are almost as strong as Mega Rayquaza, but Primals are different in that they aren't limited to one per team per battle.

Wait, they aren't the Omega/Alpha stones? ...Shit, guess that's how much attention I paid to the R/S/E remakes. I wouldn't say they're almost as strong though, I'd say they're about midway, maybe 3/4s up the ladder in Ubers.