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Pokémon Devolution/Degeneration

Gary the Magic Fairy

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    So, this topic isn't talked about much, but do think that devolution/degeneration, basically the reverse of evolution, will become possible in main Pokemon universe eventually? And would you be in favor of or against this?

    It has already existed in the TCG canon for years, with the "Devolution Spray" item, and Mew's "Devolution Beam" attack.

    I think it could be an interesting addition. You evolve your Poliwhirl into a Poliwrath, but later decide you wanted a Politoed. You could devolve your Poliwrath, then evolve it again into the pokemon you want. I have a few pokemon I would like to devolve. Of course, it shouldn't be a simple thing you can just do whenever. In the games, maybe something like what they did with Heart Scales? It could provide a few interesting stories in the anime, and allow Pikachu to finally evolve with no lasting consequences. And it could be a Pichu for a little while too :D

    Thoughts?

    btw, if any of you whine about Digimon being a ripoff of Pokemon, or vice-versa, I will slap you in the face. Over the internet.
     
    I remember it, like you said being in the TCG, even early on in one of the four first series.

    Because Pokemon evolve in the pokeverse, to what seems to be the result of training, that it makes me wonder what would happen if such training were to end. However, it seems as though the older the trainer, the older the Pokemon, so they don't devolve as a result.

    Devolving in a way though, could be unfair to a pokemon. Recall the episode where Ash's Turtwig evolves, and has trouble walking on its new legs, I doubt it wants to devolve after it just got used to the new form.

    There's also the issue where Ash doesn't really want his Pokemon to evolve.

    All in all though, I don't think Pokemon could devolve, or for that matter should. I suppose however they could introduce a sort of devolution spray in the anime.

    I find that the reason why they had it like that in the TCG, was merely a game mechanic.
     
    I don't really see the point of Pokémon Devolution/Degeneration because both Pokemon and Trainer train together to ensure that they both grow stronger not just physically but mentally aswell. And when a Pokemon evolves that is from the accomplishment of raising it to meet a certain criteria and by devolution it really takes away the point of evolution... I mean you raise your Pokemon to a certain standard only to somewhat relize you rather have a Politoed than a Poliwrath. I mean you could always raise another Politoad... but devolution really has no point... I just see it if where talking about the Pokemon World the trainer gets bored of his/her Poliwrath and wanting a Politoad instead comes down to pure greediness . And if youre going to say "well maybe the Pokemon didn't get a say in the decision" Look at Ash's Pikachu it decided not to evolve.

    Anyways thats what I think...
     
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    I think that the problem with this is that it removes the "evolution dilemmas". For example, if you evolve poliwhirl into Poliwrath, then it can learn dynamic punch at level 43. However, if you DON'T let it evolve, then it learns hydro pump and mud bomb at levels 48 and 53 respectively. The point of this is so that you have to either let Poliwrath get a good fighting type move and lose out on good water/ground type attacks or vice-versa. If you're allowed to "devolve" pokemon, then this idea completely disappears.
     
    If this works, can I devolve into a fish? ^.^
    Aha, anyways, I don't think it would obey the laws of physics, but Pokemon ruining Space and Time disobeys it to, so I am all for it! d:
     
    Spicy said:
    That would make no sense. Also, if you devolve a level 100, there's no way to get it to evolve again. Unless they made an item that literally made the level go down..
    Click to expand...
    Well I was thinking that a Pokémon would devolve, like in the Digimon games, and restart to level 1, and would therefore receive higher stats (because it devolved at level 100).

    I don't really support degenerating because it would make certain Pokémon less rare and the game would be unfair.
     
    If that were possible, that would probably ruin all of the current battle strategies. That would probably make the game really cheesy with the challenge of completeing the Pokedex. You get 1 eevee evolve it into one of the eons and then reverse and continue evolving it.
     
    Screw the rules said:
    I think that the problem with this is that it removes the "evolution dilemmas". For example, if you evolve poliwhirl into Poliwrath, then it can learn dynamic punch at level 43. However, if you DON'T let it evolve, then it learns hydro pump and mud bomb at levels 48 and 53 respectively. The point of this is so that you have to either let Poliwrath get a good fighting type move and lose out on good water/ground type attacks or vice-versa. If you're allowed to "devolve" pokemon, then this idea completely disappears.
    Click to expand...

    This.

    It just wouldn't seem right. You choose to evolve it or not. If you made the wrong choice that's your bad.
     
    Vesper said:
    Well I was thinking that a Pokémon would devolve, like in the Digimon games, and restart to level 1, and would therefore receive higher stats (because it devolved at level 100).
    Click to expand...

    Virtual pet concepts kind of don't work in RPGs.
     
    I don't like the idea of devolution. ): It seems unnatural. (Plus, the Pokedex would be easier to complete, as already stated~) When someone or something ages, there's not really a way to turn back time- so I'd much rather just stick with the Poliwrath I had rather than confuse the poor thing by turning it into a Politoed. It would be an interesting option, though. -w-;
     
    I would hate it but sometimes I wish you could go back levels, and that could include degeneration.
     
    The TCG is not Pokémon Canon, though. And considering de-evolution doesn't exist in mammals/avians/et cetera, Pokémon shouldn't be able to de-evolve.

    However, as to whether or not I'd like for a Pokémon to be able to de-evolve, I have to say that it's a rather silly concept. If you want a different Pokémon evolution than the one you have, tough. You're stuck with that crappy Pokémon because you didn't do your research first.​
     
    Screw the rules said:
    I think that the problem with this is that it removes the "evolution dilemmas". For example, if you evolve poliwhirl into Poliwrath, then it can learn dynamic punch at level 43. However, if you DON'T let it evolve, then it learns hydro pump and mud bomb at levels 48 and 53 respectively. The point of this is so that you have to either let Poliwrath get a good fighting type move and lose out on good water/ground type attacks or vice-versa. If you're allowed to "devolve" pokemon, then this idea completely disappears.
    Click to expand...
    True, but isn't this already possible through breeding? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you have two Poli___ that know Hydro Pump and Mud Bomb, won't the Poliwag know them and then be able to go on to learn DynamicPunch once it's a Poliwrath? And if you get two Poliwrath with all 3 moves and breed them, wouldn't those be able to do the same thing with Politoed's moves? Sure, it's not the same Pokemon, and more time-consuming, but it's the same idea. I haven't bred anything since R/S/E, so sorry if I'm totally mixed up about the mechanics of it. XD;

    ShinjisLover said:
    The TCG is not Pokémon Canon, though.​
    Click to expand...
    Uh.. no one said it was. In fact, I specifically stated that I was talking about the TCG canon, and not the main Pokemon universe. :\
     
    Devloving:Pointless
    if you did not want a pokemon to evlove then why did you do it in the first place
     
    Nah, I don't think it'd be a very good idea. I mean it's a cool idea, but kinda unfair and non-sence-making.
    The everstone is good enough, which they don't have in the card game because evolution is not forced, it's completely up to you.

    The card games just different becuase you have to evolve your pokemon every battle, but you don't in the pokemon world.

    The reason to devolve in the cards it for a strategic advantage, but that would be useless in real life.
     
    Well it dosent make sense really in the normal universe. Animals dont de-evolve, they adapt and evolve to better suit their needs, and thats kinda how pokemon works, with them evolving into bigger better things to do better at what they are. Plus as stated above, there would be a lot of flaws in de-evolution and would remove the whole point of NFE pokemon learning the move faster vs the fully evolved pokemon being more powerful
     
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