Devolution

[Lycanthropy]

The Pokémon Trading Card Game has this item called 'Devolution Spray'. It does literally what you expect it would do, it devolves a Pokémon. Now consider this item to be available in the main series games, what impact would you think it would have? Do you think it's useful?

 

[JesteR]

I think that it would be an item used in very specific cases, such as learning moves that are specific to a pre-evolution, such as Pichu's Nasty Plot. It also might be used as a gimmick-type item, such as the DNA Splicers in BW.

 

[Frozen Lotus]

I think it'd be a really cool idea to have one in the main games. There's not a ton of situations where it'd get used, but there are times when it's definitely desirable.

Fun fact: In the card game Golurk can hit a Pokemon so hard it actually devolves. That's... messed up. lol "I'm CHARIZARD, bitch!" ~Punch~ "You WERE Charizard!"

 

[Sun]

I believe this concept is realized in Gates to Infinity! ^_^

I'm not against it, as there are things that some Pokémon can do while their evolution can't.
- Item Benefits: Lucky Punch, Light Ball and Eviolite are only beneficial for the non-evolved Pokémon
- Stat difference: If you look at the Trapinch line and Scyther line then you'll this.
- Learnable Moves: Some Pokémon can only have access to certain moves while their evolution forms don't, Gallade can only access Hypnosis through Kirlia, Slaking can only learn Play Rough through Slakoth, finally both Vileplume and Bellosom can learn Moon Blast though Oddish.

It would be great if the core games introduce this feature in the future. :)

 

[Hikamaru]

As Unapologetic said above, there are some benefits to holding back evolution such as getting certain moves that only the NFE Pokemon can learn or to take advantage of certain items, such as the Eviolite.

 

[Sopheria]

Ah, I remember that card! Iirc there's also a Mew card with a move called Devolution Beam which does the same, but it's been a while so I don't remember the details.

Anyways, like most have already said, it'd be useful when there's moves that a Pokemon can only learn in a pre-evolved form. In addition, I've always thought that it would be really cool if there were a Pokemon that you can only get by devolution. Like, a Pokemon who can't breed and its pre-evolved form can't be caught in the wild :)

 

[Somewhere_]

It would be pretty cool if it would also reset EV's if you messed up training the pokemon, or would rather just start from the beginning if you catch an evolved pokemon late in the game. Its not exactly game breaking.

 

[Nolafus]

My only qualm would be for competitive play. You could fully evolve a really defensive pokemon like Ferrothorn, so it would have the full stats, and then devolve it to slap an eviolite on it. I mean, that would be just insane to have that much defensive power on a pokemon. A lot of walls would become way too strong and stall might be the premiere battle strategy, and I don't think anyone wants that, haha.

 

[Hiatus]

I personally would not mind seeing such a thing come to fruition. I've wanted to devolve some of my Pokémon before for a variety of reasons, and do feel being able to do that, finally, would be super nifty.

My only concern is, however, when we devolve something that is level 100--which is the maximum level we could reach--how would we go about evolving it back?

 

[Sun]

My only concern is, however, when we devolve something that is level 100--which is the maximum level we could reach--how would we go about evolving it back?

I don't see that concern, they could simply prevent the players from accessing this mechanic if their Pokémon has reached Level 100.

Additionally, they can create an item that has the opposite effect of Rare Candy. It can be handy for those who wants to devolve their Pokémon!

 

[Spinosaurus]

The way Digimon does it is that there's a big benefit in devolving your Digimon, as it raises your stats and level cap (the series has a level cap yes lol). You get weaker initially (and your level goes down) but once you evolve again you're much stronger this time. It's pretty fun.

But of course Digimon and Pokemon are drastically different designs. There's little benefit to this for the most part, and I'd rather they just not make level up moves so convoluted to begin with that you need to look them up.

 

[Hiatus]

I don't see that concern, they could simply prevent the players from accessing this mechanic if their Pokémon has reached Level 100.

Oh, that could work, haha. This gives me another idea--if they do wish to allow all Pokémon to be devolved, perhaps they would be able to make it so that they go down by a level or two alongside. This way, if we use the item on a level 100 Pokémon, we'd have chance to get it back to the way it once was after a bit of training.

 

[Return]

This will be great, as devolving Evolved Pokemon after teaching them those moves which they can only at that stage and after that reverting them back to their simple ones.As Achromatic Stated, it will be also an option that we can devolve Evolved to their Basic Form.

 

[Pendraflare]

If this was a thing, I think there would be times i'd want to make use of it, most notably when I would want to learn certain moves earlier with pre-evolutions but want to keep them as full evolutions for most of the way. This item would surely see good use if it was a thing, i'd imagine.

 

[Poké Bean]

While having it's uses I can't say I'm keen on this idea. Apart from seeming wrong for a Pokemon to devolve, you should have to live with the decisions you make, such as what stage you let your Pokemon evolve. It would also make completing the Dex easier by eliminating the need to breed, which I think would be a negative as having to breed with certain hold items etc is an interesting element to the game.

 

[Retro Bug]

I don't know if I like this idea, I feel as it can get a little too complicated. What if the Pokemon knows moves it wouldn't/can't know in its previous devolved state? I'm guessing you would have to delete those moves beforehand. Dunno, I don't really see myself making use of this but I guess for weird circumstances people would want this.