Does LEGENDARY still mean something?

[Superfox]

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 ;)

These are exactly my thoughts as well. If there's one thing that degraded as the generations have gone on, its been the name "Legendary." There are, what, 48 legendaries as of Gen V? And now its been brought up to 50 with Xerneas and Yveltal. Sure, out of about 600 Pokémon total, that isn't a lot, but the point of the legendaries is that there needs to be so few of them that they really feel arcane and unattainable.

Back in Gen 1 and Gen 2, they had it under control. Gen 1 introduced 5 legendaries (Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Mew, and Mewtwo) and Gen 2 introduced 6 (Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh, and Celebi). They should have just continued with that pattern: the game mascots + a trio or one other Pokémon. But then Gen 3 came along and ruined it all. Introducing the 10 they did in Gen 3 opened the door up to introducing 14 in Gen 4 and 13 in Gen 5. And you know what's the most frustrating of it all? A good majority of them have no bearing on the story. I mean, really, tell me how Manaphy or Regigas or Heatran or Meloetta are so crucial to the story line of their respective games.

If it were up to me, I would have limited it to the following:

Gen 3: The Weather Trio (Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza) and the Legendary Golems (Regirock, Registeel, and Regice)

Gen 4: The Creation Trio (Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina) and the Lunar Duo (Cresselia and Darkrai)

Gen 5: The Tao Trio (Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem)

If they had done it my way, we'd now have 29 Legendary Pokémon instead of 50.

I'm really hoping Gen 6 keeps the Legendaries to a minimum. I would actually be happy with just 3: Xerneas, Yveltal, and whatever Z's legendary is gonna be.

Now, to answer the question as to whether I believe Legendary should be a type, as in a separate unique thing along with Fire, Water, Steel, etc., the answer would be: no. Different legendary creatures possess different attributes. Therefore, they need different types. It would be a limiting factor to introduce a Legendary type that would need to be stuck on every Legendary Pokémon.

 

[Negix]

It's true that the name "Legendary" has lost its value over the course of many years. But to me, it really depends on how hard it is for you to get one. Back then in Gen I, there were few Legendaries, which gave them a majestic feeling when you actually encountered one. Not to mention, they were a bit hard to get. Then came Gen II and a few more were added, but this time, they actually had roles in the game itself, all tho everyone besides Lugia wasn't that challenging to get. The title of Legendary, in my opinion, means to be one of a kind and hidden. Making you search the deepest parts of the region to encounter such a magnificent beast. To be honest, I don't think Gen III ruined it. I'm not saying this because I'm favoring it over the others, but it still had that touch. If you look at it from a different point of view, Gen III was just as good as other ones.

Back then in RS, you could only get 6 Legendaries overall (without counting the event ones and the different version legendaries). Also, getting the Regi Trio was pretty hard. Not everyone knew about the secret area, and that you had to have a Wailord and Relicanth in your party, plus use dig in front of the carving in the back. And even after figuring that out, you'd STILL have to figure out the riddle to open their respective doors. Therefore, in my eyes, I feel that majestic feeling from them, then any other Legendary. When I was a kid I didn't even know this! It wasn't till a few years later that I started doing research to learn what it was about.

My point is, the more challenging it is to get the legendary, the more memorable it will be. And even if some aren't hard to get, you can have good memories from them. Just look at Arceus, its just an event, but climbing those stairs and facing him at level 80, wasn't that heart stopping?

 

[Fading Tree]

Legendary Pokemon has no meaning to me any more. I have a new classification of Rare, and Legendary.
Up Until 4th Gen Legendaries were all special to me. But from seeing Legendaries with genders in game and babies in the anime the only real legendary pokemon are pokemon that exist 1 of it self. I stil question if Rayquza is Legendary or not.

#I'm mad that Mewtwo has a shiny form, because there is only 1 Mewtwo.
I was happy with the Gen II Formula
The Trio (which should be able to breed in some way (opinion))
The Duo
The Mew

I was even happy with gen III
The Trio
The Eon Duo (lost legendary status with Tobias)
The Mascot Trio
The Mew
X random pokemon. (Deoxys)

Did nintendo plan on ending pokemon with gen IV? It feels like they went all out with DP Pt? It feels like that with them having
5 Mews
Lake Trio
Shaymin (before sky form)
Manaphy (Phione isn't legendary)

Mascot trio (good trio)
Dream Duo (Good)
Arceus - That X pokemon that could be anything

Regigas, Heatran, Manaphy, and Phione maybe not be considered legendaries to bring the number back to 10.

Gen V
The Mew
Musketeer trio (qaud)
Region trio
Mascot Trio

Meleotta not a legend (my eyes) Genesect is a fossil pokemon wearind steel. Metal Coat Armaldo/Kabutops trade?

Just give the option for legendaries to breed then we'll know who the true lengends are (Nidoking)

The term legendary has been saturated to nothing because of the asunance and ease of availability of lendagaries that exist.
(Yes these pokemon should easily be available but the sheer number of legendaries that exist makes the status of being a legendary pokemon mean nothing.)

 

[Black Dynamite]

well it's tough. because you have to balance giving people more new pokemon and legends(myths) every generation, it's also something that makes that generation unique. but i sometimes wonder why pokemon like shaymin and meloetta are considered legendaries and even ?

i think the perfect amount of legendaries per generation is 5. 1 major, a trio and 1 unique/loner not focused on in the story to much like darkrai. there is something like 48 legendaries spread out amongst the 5 generations thats almost 10 per gen.

Even though legendaries feel less special now then in the past (based off my opinion) i still enjoy catching legendaries post story.

 

[Shrew]

Personally, I dislike that they're releasing so many legendaries. However, legendary still has a meaning: pokemon that are hard to come across and typically having high stats. Yes, there are more of them, but they're still relatively more difficult to acquire than something you can find an infinite number of in a route.

"Back in the day", being legendary didn't mean all that much anyways. The legendary birds (60% of all legendaries back in Gen 1) had BSTs lower than Dragonite. They had no backstory at this point either (until the anime's 2nd movie and GSC gave them some.)

Legendary a type? No...

 

[Xerneas_X]

considering they are now showing Ledendary pokemon within the new cartoon series, not very secretive, hard to find, and no big deal to everyone. i would say no.

 

[Andrew Shard]

Legendary pokemon meant a lot to me back to the I, II and III series of pokemon. Palkia and Dialga just showed up from nowhere to me although I still liked them as legendary. I just think that there are TOO MANY legendary pokemon now.
The sinhon trio was a bit late due to the long story that pokemon had already. The creation of the pokemon world should've been revealed sooner. Arceus lost it's GOD thing because there were a lot of legendaries back to the other regions.

As for BW series... I don't think ANY of those pokemon should be legendary... Zekrom and Reshiram designs are horrible but kyurem still takes it. Victini?... pathetic... melloetta? the same... the three musketeers? don't understand the legendary thing... a tauros, a scither and other pokemon would've done the same... the three cloud things... not much to say...
I recognize that Unova was a good generation for kids who startet playing pokemon... but it was just pathethic in the majority of aspects... even the story didn't made sense...
However this is my opinion...

Now... I'm really pumped up for XY - Xerneas and Yvetal... those look like legendaries to me! really great designs. Hope the story doesn't let me down...

 

[Baby~Eevee]

I don't see why legendary Pokemon should be a "type." It just doesn't make any sense. What would it be weak to? Strong against? It just doesn't fit, in my eyes.

However, I do agree that there are waaaay too many legendary Pokemon so the thrill of them being "legendary" has worn off. Which is a shame because when I was younger, a legendary Pokemon was the most exciting thing in the world to face. But nowadays it's too easy to get them. either by hacking or trading online.

 

[Nolafus]

I'll go with the group and say that there are way too many legendaries.

I still think, however, it means something. There's still only one of each per game, and incredibly difficult to catch. The only thing I could see of legendary pokemon not being so legendary is if you could breed them. I don't think that's going to happen. Since I'm a competitive battler, I'll include a sentence on that. Competitively is doesn't mean a thing. There are tons of legendaries in the NU (never used) tier, and they still never see any action.

 

[CoffeeDrink]

Hm, koff~

In some cases, it still holds value. In others, not so much. There is a large amount of Mewtwos and others on the GTS, so I believe it diminishes their overall value some. However, some I think aren't even supposed to be. Arceus. I don't like the Pokemon that created all the Pokemon/universe. I think Mewtwo is still the best because he was a science project that succeeded at the highest levels, koffi~