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Is mega evolution is a rip off from Digimon?

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I heard it when mega evolution were introduced?
Because digimon has an evolutionary stage
Called mega level digimons?
 
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According to Masuda, no.
[url=https://kotaku.com/naw-digimon-had-nothing-to-do-with-pokemons-mega-evol-1347292978]"Kotaku Article[/url] said:
Game Freak really believed that the evolution, the concept of evolution, is one of the defining characteristics of the Pokemon games—it always has been, since the beginning. With Pokemon X & Y we had three main themes, one was beauty, one was bonds, like the bonds between people and Pokemon, and the third was evolution.

And so on the concept of evolution, we really wanted to take that defining characteristic with the series, and see if we could do something new with it, take it to the next level. But we knew that we had to keep the balance of the battles…after discussing with the team how we could do this, keep the battle balanced and introduce a new stage of evolution, we came up with the idea to require a held item—a mega stone—be held by the Pokemon, and also have mega evolutions be something that only happens during battles.

So what this does, it adds a bit more depth to the battles, because you have to hold this Mega stone in order to Mega evolve…that means you can't hold another item that may be quite useful…so this kind of creates battles with even more depth.

Would not be surprised by some subconscious influence, though.
 

pkmin3033

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Calling Game Freak out for calling their gimmick "Mega Evolution" when Digimon has Mega as the penultimate stage in Digivolution is like calling out RPGs for calling their magic "MP" or "Mana", their healing items "Potion", or their currency "Gold" or some variant. It's all the same kind of system, so why bother making a fancy name for it when it'll only confuse/frustrate/irritate people. Far easier and simpler to just use the more common name for it so that people immediately recognise it and are more immersed in the game and its mechanics that much sooner, making it more accessible - accessibility being a very core component of Pokemon game design philosophy. For all their many, numerous, aggravating flaws, Pokemon games have always been accessible at least.

Besides...what else would you call it, if not Mega Evolution? Is there a better name for it that would make more sense? The word "Mega" is just a descriptor, it's not a term coined specifically by the Digimon franchise to denote something stronger and better. I'm pretty sure the word was around long before either franchise was conceived and being used in exactly the same manner as it is applied here.

I realise not many games have this kind of temporary evolution, and the fact that Digivolution is always temporary beyond the Rookie level (with the exception of Gatomon, at least) in the Digimon anime (i.e. the part of it that people are most familiar with) is one of the things that has always set Digimon apart from Pokemon, but...well, the two are NOT directly comparable, regardless of what people say or think. Digimon was NOT created as a rival to Pokemon. Calling it a rip-off seems a bit excessive to my mind, despite the thematic similarities between the two systems. Utilising an idea that was previously utilised in another franchise is not ripping it off.

...but Masuda is a liar, so if he says it wasn't, then it almost certainly was, haha.
 
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An evolution method surpassing the final evolution is the kind of thing I don't think is a complex idea to come up with for a monster collecting game - so I'd say no for similar reasons to Dawn. Not that I've played much Digimon to say for sure, I just don't think this idea is too complex/specific to come up with haha.
 

Palamon

Silence is Purple
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Not really? So many games have big transformations, so it's not really "ripping off Digimon". Digimon just happens to have a final form called Mega, and nothing more. But, I can't say anything because I was an anime only for Digimon, so.
 
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There was no surprise that eventually the same verbiage would be used to describe high level Pokémon and Digimon respectively. Now, if suddenly, all Pokémon protagonists find elemental crests or armor eggs that influence evolutions.. yeah, that'd be sketchy. But as it stands I really don't think the shared use of "Mega" constitutes a rip-off accusation.

Also lukewarm take here but soooo many Digimon are just animals with an ass load of guns infused into them that later evolve into actual into Gundams. Looking at you Royal Knights & X-Antibodies.
 

Palamon

Silence is Purple
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Is Digimon itself a ripoff of Pokémon?


Not really? They're completely different, aside from the aspect of them being monsters. Digimon (the anime) anyway is about kids who get sent to the digital world and have one singular Digimon partner. It's not about catching them all.

So, I don't think it is.
 

Duck

🦆 quack quack
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Is Digimon itself a ripoff of Pokémon?

Unlikely? Like, while Digimon is technically younger than Pokémon by like a year, Digimon began as a "Tamagotchi for boys" whereas Pokémon was always about collecting monsters, and that heritage shows in the animes.

If anything, I'd say that Pokémon defined the monster collecting genre (to the point that nowadays they're more often than not just Pokémon clones), and a bunch of Digimon games are monster collecters.
 
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