Does LEGENDARY still mean something?

Remember the old days of Pokemon when catching a Legendary was the coolest thing ever. Now and Days catching a legendary really isnt that cool anymore. so Does the word Legendary even mean something?

yes
lol
it does mean alot

Most of the new legendary pokemon have lost their credibility as Legends to be honest, yes we have legendary trio's but to be honest I find them to not even be legendary, Gen 3's Trio are Golems, which by any reasoning are not legendary seeing as there is another pokemon created in the same way and that being Claydol, as for others like Jirachi, Shaymin and Celebi I would call them more gimmick legends than anything and as for the legends pokemon which appear on the cases of the games, I would say they are the true legends which obvious exceptions like, Arceus, Mew, Mewtwo, Deoxys ect.


Can we not consider Rotom to be a legend seeing as it appears so little in the games, (Granted it was a gen 4 addition) you can only ever obtain one of them from ingame and although it can be bred does that mean it shouldn't be a legendary symbol? After all Manaphy can be bred?

Another pokemon which gets tossed around as to whether or not it's a legendary is Unkwown, It has many Forms but cannot be bred because it has no egg group at all, or would you say it's another gimmick pokemon? who knows, it's never really played an important role anywhere other than being captured to fill your pokedex.

MrBananaMan212 said:

yes
lol
it does mean alot

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That's... very insightful. Care to explain why?

Anyway, I don't think the aura of legendary Pokemon is quite as great with such a large selection of them now, but I don't think that makes them any less legendary. When you think about it, there's still only one of each in a game, and there are still very few of each as far as the anime's concerned (and sometimes, still only 1 each). Plus, the name legendary is more referring to the fact that the tales of many of these Pokemon have been passed down through generations as mythical Pokemon that are rarely seen- making them legendary. They might seem a little more special though if we weren't up to nearly 50 individual legendaries at this point, though.

Brendino said:

That's... very insightful. Care to explain why?

Anyway, I don't think the aura of legendary Pokemon is quite as great with such a large selection of them now, but I don't think that makes them any less legendary. When you think about it, there's still only one of each in a game, and there are still very few of each as far as the anime's concerned (and sometimes, still only 1 each). Plus, the name legendary is more referring to the fact that the tales of many of these Pokemon have been passed down through generations as mythical Pokemon that are rarely seen- making them legendary. They might seem a little more special though if we weren't up to nearly 50 individual legendaries at this point, though.

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Tales of many of the pokemon? If you saw the movie with Arceus (I think it's that movie) where you see the large battle between two sides of pokemon, surely every pokemon in that battle can be considered legendary because there is a tale involving them? I know alot of them are very common but by that logic pokemon which are not legendary that are rarely seen and have a few stories about could be considered legendary? Such as Rotom and Unkown.

Dark Leader Adam said:

Tales of many of the pokemon? If you saw the movie with Arceus (I think it's that movie) where you see the large battle between two sides of pokemon, surely every pokemon in that battle can be considered legendary because there is a tale involving them? I know alot of them are very common but by that logic pokemon which are not legendary that are rarely seen and have a few stories about could be considered legendary? Such as Rotom and Unkown.

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I can't say as I have seen that movie, but I'd say that comparing common Pokemon in those tales with legendary Pokemon themselves would be like comparing unicorns and horses in real world stories- one's a mythical creature, but the other's still a regular animal.

That is a good point about Rotom and Unown, though. I know that Rotom was even considered a legendary by some at one point because of its rarity and having legendary battle music when encountered, so it does have a bit of a legendary feel. As for Unown, I think it's more that its an ancient Pokemon that's rarely seen, but because there's an abundance of them when found, they aren't quite as special as singular legendaries, and don't quite fall under the same category.

Sorry for my other post. I think that legendary still does mean something because when a pokemon is legendary one of the things means that it can not breed. that means that legendaries are a lot rarer than other pokemon. Also, most legendaries have high base totals, meaning they are powerful. You can only catch one of a legendary per game, and if you mess up a lot of the times you can't try again. Some legendaries are even vesrion exclusive, meaning they are even HARDER to get. Some legendaries are event only, meaning you have to go to a specific location to get them (but not recently, considering Wifi connection). That is why I think that the term legendary still has some meaning.

Today's legendaries are only worth mentioning during the story, BW1/2 are great examples of this, where legendaries pop out of nowhere. I hope XY doesn't throw a Mewtwo in your face with a giant board on his forehead with "CAPTURE ME BRO!!!"

Legendary has lots it's meaning after the challenge of seeking them out and capturing them has been nullified, today it's just a walk at the beach with a My-waifu pillow with a pretty sunset.

Influx of legendary Pokemon and introduction of WiFi has diminished the importance of legendaries.

Well, I feel that we may be using the words "legendary" and "rare" as synonyms. The mere fact of being legendary does not mean that you are 1 in a billion(Though that seems to be the case with all legendaries in Pokemon). There can be as many legendary people/things/animals as people deem fit.

In the Pokemon games the legendary Pokemon have done something important or awe-striking, from creating earth and sea to gathering random trainers up to release their Pokemon and being a scientific success(Mewtwo).

For me personally, I just catch them to add them to my Pokedex. I don't like using them in battles, I think that every legendary Pokemon is still "Legendary."

I remember playing FireRed and finally getting into the cave where you find Mewtwo, things like that is something game freak should bring back, I loved the addition of roaming legendary pokemon as I thought it mean't players had to go and actually hunt down the pokemon rather than just saving near the legendary then restarting if you fail to capture it.

Having Legendary pokemon hidden away for the players to find is a lot more exciting then just saying "Here is a master ball" here is a fight you cannot decline from like in Black and White and then just catch it.

I think maybe when they were making 4-5 legends a region it was fine but now a days they make so many. Let's look at Gen 5. 13! And Gen 4? 15! Gen 3? 10. Now 10 I think should be the limit. It's just the right amount. But 15? Really Nintendo? Either way I think Legendary has lost it's purpose now a days.

I would say the importance of Legendaries has diminished quite a bit.. my reasons being are that they are now in circulation more with trading due to online wifi trading and the GTS, and that there are just more and more of them as Pokémon moves along, and the fact that there are games that allow for chances to catch more than just the version-exclusive legendaries (such as being able to catch Groudon/Kyogre/Rayquaza in HGSS).

With the advent of the action replay and Pokecheck, the GTS, and simply the fact that they do literally 10-12 legends per game, it's hard to say that legendary Pokemon still have the mystique they did before the rise of wi-fi trading. You can find hundreds upon hundreds of copies of just about every legendary Pokemon on the GTS or via Pokecheck. The point of being a legendary Pokemon, was that it was rare, something to be treasured. That rare mystique is gone now I think.

I used to freak out if I ran into a legendary Pokemon while playing. Ran into Raikou in Gold once, just by happenstance, and totally ran around like a psycho everywhere when I caught it. Fast forward ten years to Heartgold, and caught it again, and was like, "Oh cool, Raikou. Let's go deposit it".

:/

We have online trading which gives us quick access to almost any Pokemon, including legends. Plus Pokemon's going into the sixth generation meaning the total amount of legendaries is going to go up by quite a lot. So sadly, no.. they're not quite that elusive anymore. They're simply much too easy to get. :(

I really think Legendary should be a typing now due to there being like 60 legendary pokemon.

I tell ya hwat, Pokemon just ain't what it used to be anymore. These durn whippersnappers an' their fancy wifi trading an' cheating. They ruinin' Pokemon. Back in the day, I tell ya hwat, catchin' a Legendary MEANT somethin'. I used ta spend all day throwin' ma durn Ultra Balls at that there Mewtwo an' if I caught it I'd be all skippin' home like I won a gawsh-durn contest.

But for real, Legendaries are still Legendary. Who cares how many there are? Legendaries have always had three aspects to them:
>They're hard to catch.
>There's only one of each in the entire game.
>You're guaranteed a battle against most of them (roamers not withstanding).

That being said, wifi trading and cheating have indeed opened the doors to being able to obtain everything under the sun and ruining the novelty of it all. HOWEVER, those things only ruin the novelty if you let them. You can choose to not cheat or trade. You can choose to play your games and obtain your Legendaries on your own. Catch them in your own games, trade them between your own games, obtain event Pokemon on your own, do everything on your own in order to preserve the novelty of it all. Just don't act like your world is ruined because other people are doing things you don't like.

Tbh, I think gen IV ruined it a bit. There were too many legendaries there (or almost-legendary, the lines have really gotten blurred, haven't they?) so they felt more like "slightly more powerful and rare" pokémon than actual legendary incredible beings.

Back in gen I and II, there were only a few and in gen I, I hardly think legendary was a thing? Gen II introduced huge, cool pokémon with roles in the story, like the two bird thingies and the beast trio. That's the pattern the games have been following since. A trio and game mascots with key roles for the plot. They were still pretty amazing in gen III with the weather trio, and the Regi trio didn't disturb too much from what I recall. I didn't even meet them in the games.

But after that, it spiraled away. Maybe it was a result of increasingly accessible online battling and need for strong pokémon. Sure, legendary is still legendary, but it's not quite as unique and special as it used to be. In my old and bitter mind ;)