4th Gen Too Many Legendaries?

A total of fourteen legendary/mythical Pokemon were introduced in Gen IV, substantially more than any generation before, or since. Given that many of them had no role to speak of in the game's plot - and the majority of the mythical Pokemon were unavailable - a common complaint is that they were unnecessary, and that regardless fourteen legendary/mythical Pokemon for a single generation is excessive.

What was your reaction to the number of legendaries in Gen IV at the time? Did you feel this was "too much" and that Pokemon that had no role in the game's plot like Cresselia should have been excluded, or were you happy with them? How do you feel about these Pokemon in general - do their designs/background/stats/whatever else really qualify them as Legendary/Mythical Pokemon in your eyes?

I think mostly in 4th Gen the legendaries defined the Sinnoh region, which was why there was many of them. Each of them did have a purpose in their own regard, which was okay by me too!

See, I've always been unsure about the complaint that the legendaries were deemed 'unncessary', because they're still a core part of Pokemon - sure, you can argue that legendary pokemon might lose meaning because there are more of them to capture, but they still hold more value than trying to catch ordinary everyday Pokemon.

I think there were too many of them, but their presence was not really unnoticed or felt forced due to all the connections in the background story between the legendaries and the history and foundations of Sinnoh. However, if it were up to me, I'd decrease the amount of legendaries or make them more involved with the main plot somehow.

I'd have liked Darkrai or Shaymin to be available in the game but other than that the number seems a bit much. The only time it gets to me is when they also put Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres in Platinum because two roaming legendaries were already hard enough to track without also having to deal with them messing up the pokétch app. Especially as they were then available in HeartGold / SoulSilver anyway so unlike adding Latias / Latios in them titles for availability purposes it seems just a little unnecessary.

I didn't really care about the amount of legendaries And i ever got the feeling that it was too much Since i never really paid much attention to it I just caught my Giratina and Palkia and was satisfied with only those two.

I loved the purpose and roles of each legendary Pokemon and thought that there was a good amount of them. The problem for me was their availability, to this day I've never had a Cresselia or a Darkrai and if I didn't cheat, I wouldn't have a Shaymin either (discounting the 20th anniversary giveaway of course) which annoys me cause I feel like a lot of these really cool legendary Pokemon were wasted for a lot of people.

My only problem with legendaries ever is how some of them were, for the most part, distribution-locked or something similar.

I kinda liked how many there were, because I think that all of them were very well designed and their background was well enough thought out. As Luna said before, my problem was their availability. But I suppose that adds to their rarity and status as a legendary/mythical. But seriously, of the 14 (I think it was 14) legendaries introduced, I think 6 of them were event only?

Five were event-only: Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, and Arceus. I suppose you could count the opposing mascot Legendary as a sixth, though...and even Regigigas as a seventh if you don't have any way to acquire the Regis.

Event-only Pokemon in general annoy me - mostly because those events are timed, and they really shouldn't be; it completely defies the "catch em all" idea the franchise has been built up around - but I absolutely adore Sinnoh's Legendaries. For me, Pokemon has always been about the world, and such a huge variety of Legendary Pokemon with various lore surrounding them make Sinnoh my favourite region, because it just feels so complete. You have creation myths in Arceus/Creation Trio, local myths with things like Shaymin, and forces of nature with things like Heatran. With the plot in Pokemon so minimalistic, it gives the Legendary Pokemon real character to have origins outside of that; to not be a major part of the plot.

I also love the designs of most of them...Shaymin's Sky Forme is a huge step down, and Heatran doesn't look particularly legendary, but Dialga/Palkia/Giratina remain my favourite Legendary trio, and I even think the Lake Guardians are pretty cool...even if they're not dual-Fairy type yet like they should be.

Meyneth said:

Event-only Pokemon in general annoy me - mostly because those events are timed, and they really shouldn't be; it completely defies the "catch em all" idea the franchise has been built up around - but I absolutely adore Sinnoh's Legendaries. For me, Pokemon has always been about the world, and such a huge variety of Legendary Pokemon with various lore surrounding them make Sinnoh my favourite region, because it just feels so complete. You have creation myths in Arceus/Creation Trio, local myths with things like Shaymin, and forces of nature with things like Heatran. With the plot in Pokemon so minimalistic, it gives the Legendary Pokemon real character to have origins outside of that; to not be a major part of the plot.

Click to expand...

I always felt like Heatran was the one that felt least-connected to the region. Which is appropriate I suppose considering that island is based on Sakhalin Oblast. But yeah events are annoying as hell. At least Manaphy wasn't timed, you just had to buy a Pokémon Ranger game (and the original was quite diverting, even if it lacks replay value compared to main series) and then you could get one. Although the fact that I then had to get the eggs cloned so I now have a finite supply of Manaphy (I assume that would be the plural) is kinda frustrating.

I think the number could've possibly been too much if they didn't play such a large part in the formation of the world/region.

Amore said:

I always felt like Heatran was the one that felt least-connected to the region. Which is appropriate I suppose considering that island is based on Sakhalin Oblast. But yeah events are annoying as hell. At least Manaphy wasn't timed, you just had to buy a Pokémon Ranger game (and the original was quite diverting, even if it lacks replay value compared to main series) and then you could get one. Although the fact that I then had to get the eggs cloned so I now have a finite supply of Manaphy (I assume that would be the plural) is kinda frustrating.

Click to expand...

Platinum kinda fixed that with the postgame, although yeah, I think Heatran was still pretty disconnected from the rest of the region even so...it would have made more sense for Charon to go after something else, maybe Regigigas since it was sitting right in Snowpoint Temple ready for the picking...Arceus was probably a bit beyond him, haha.

I never had Ranger back then, so I had to cheat for my Manaphy...I wasn't too pleased about it. Events back then were held in stores and not over Wi-fi too, so I missed out on a lot that way...I got Shaymin and Darkrai, but I missed Regigigas and Arceus didn't come near me until the HG/SS event one several years later. It was extremely bothersome at the time.

colours said:

I forgot Phione existed oops.

Click to expand...

If it makes you feel any better I checked the Legendary page on Serebii to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything...and I was