Prefered Battle Mechanic

[Drayton]

Thru out, Gen 6 and forward there are least 4 battle mechanics that are introduced on following generation such as using z-moves unleashing big damage on pokemon holding a z-crystal and mega evolution changes the pokemon looks also it's typing and abilities.

Which of these are your favorite battle mechanics

 

[Sweet Serenity]

The Dynamax mechanic was my favorite one, mainly because it improved Pokémon that otherwise wouldn't have been given the time of day without it. For example, Seismitoad is a Pokémon that wasn't considered good, but with Dynamax combined with its Swift Swim ability, along with its great defensive typing and several coverage moves, Seismitoad dominated ranked Singles during generation 8 after Dynamaxing and setting its own rain with Max Geyser. Sure, Dynamax was probably kind of broken and could definitely turn the tide of a battle, but it was arguably the most strategic of the rest. It could have done with a slight nerf.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

I always loved mega evolution in terms of idea. Being able to give abit of a buff to lesser pokemon is cool too. Special points to terastaling, as being able to trip up opponents by switching your type is pretty cool too

 

[Corveone]

Terastal is available to every Pokémon, and doesn't require holding an item. Adds unpredictability as you can Terastallize a different Pokémon each battle, makes you strategize and adapt to the situation since you don't need to stick to one specific Pokémon as your Terastal choice.

Doesn't mess with the Pokémon's original moves and the way they work. You might gain an extra STAB or STAB boost but moves still retain all their original effects. You can also not necessarily Terastallize for the power boost, but sometimes to gain a resistance/immunity to an upcoming attack. It's also a mechanic with potential to allow Pokémon with awful typings a better chance.

Adds more thought on what, when, and IF you should Terastallize, because sometimes Terastallizing can backfire since changing a Pokémon to its Tera type can potentially become a disadvantage against what comes next.

Mega Evolution was a great idea that had the potential to give weaker final stages (that would usually get boxed halfway through) a chance to stand out, and continue being helpful through the entire game. But ruined by favoritism and most megas being wasted on fan-service Pokémon that didn't need it, because they were already viable as they were.

Only available to arbitrarily selected Pokémon, and also predictable since most of the time you already know what your opponent's Mega is going to be. In the end, seemed to do more harm than good. Although for the in-game it could work well if balanced and paced out reasonably.

Dynamax was somewhat ok. I like that any Pokémon can Dynamax, and there's no need to hold an item for that. Favoritism still present, with certain Pokémon getting Gigantamax forms and exclusive Max moves, but not as bad as megas in that regard.

Seemed poorly balanced for single battles (looks like it was designed for doubles). I also didn't like how Dynamax affected all moves' damage and effects, and all status moves became Max Guard. I don't like these mechanics changing moves that much.

And Z-Moves was basically giving one of your Pokémon a nuke so it can perform a devastating attack once per battle. Not too intrusive, but not quite interesting either.

So Terastal is my favorite.

 

[Devalue]

From a strategy standpoint: Terastallizing (so far). Likes the choice between defensive Terastallizing and offensive Terastallizing. Boosts Pokemon with really poor typings. Interacts interestingly with a few Pokemon (Iono's Mismagius, as a good example).

Feels less positively towards it in a playthrough. Bordered on detrimental in the AI's hands. Became a disadvantageous type in several situations. Lost some useful secondary typings for coverage or a damage boost. Opens them up to easier one-shots.

From a playthrough standpoint: Dynamax. Created more of a problem than the other mechanics did. Weathers Z-moves with a good type matchup or Protect. Encountered relatively few Megas. Talked about Terastallizing above.

 

[Corveone]

Feels less positively towards it in a playthrough. Bordered on detrimental in the AI's hands. Became a disadvantageous type in several situations. Lost some useful secondary typings for coverage or a damage boost. Opens them up to easier one-shots.

Yeah, I eye-rolled when the third Elite Four terastallized his Flamigo into pure Flying type... in front of my Lycanroc. Sadly they didn't code enough brain into the AI to handle that kind of situations, it would have been better if their terastallizing wasn't scripted.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Mega Evolution – A game mechanic that perhaps sounded good on paper, but ultimately resulted a couple of issues, such as several Pokémon getting preferential treatment, several weak and barely used Pokémon getting Mega Evolutions such as Beedrill, Pidegot, and Medicham when several others were more deserving, some Mega Evolutions even making some Pokémon worse such as Mega Garchomp, and wasted item slots. Some Pokémon even became too broken as a result, such as Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. The best part of Mega Evolution was the in-game animations, the lore behind it, and the fact that some beloved favorites got their opportunity to shine and stand out, such as Lucario and Gardevoir. Its fatal flaw was actually more of a development issue, where too many useless Pokémon got the chance to do it rather than several Pokémon that deserved it. This resulted in many weak Pokémon such as Beedrill getting it despite still seeing no real use, and major legendaries like the Weather Trio getting it and unsurprisingly completely dominating the competitive scene in the most broken possible way.

Z-Moves – A game mechanic that was perhaps my second least favorite after Mega Evolution arguably because you basically waste a held-item slot for your Pokémon only to perform a single powerful move once per battle. In addition, some Pokémon received preferential treatment because of their status with signature Z-Moves. However, Z-Moves felt useful at times because they could turn the tide in battle. For example, if you needed to knock out a strong Pokémon with Focus Blast because you needed to hit a, for example, crucial Steel-type staller with a special attack but couldn't risk the low accuracy, you could use your Fighting-type Z-Crystal to turn your Focus Blast into the 100% accurate and stronger All-Out Pummeling for that one instance. Sometimes you might have also needed use your Z-Crystal to make a certain status move perform better, such as Z-Celebrate to boost all your stats before Baton Passing, for example. Its fatal flaw was a waste of an item slot just to use a strong move once.

Dynamax – A game mechanic that I know I mentioned before, but the main aspect that I didn't elaborate on was how strategic is it. Times exist when you must Dynamax to sponge attacks thanks to the doubling of your HP, or risk being knocked out by a strong attack. Times also exist where you must Dynamax and protect your Pokémon with a Max Guard at a crucial time if your Pokémon doesn't know a protection move, such as to stall Trick Room, or stall when your opponent would be knocked out by residual damage from Toxic. Times also exist where you need to Dynamax and easily set up an aspect of weather or terrain to make your Pokémon stronger and/or benefit the team as a whole, or even boost your stats and/or team's stats with certain moves such as Max Airstream, Max Ooze, and Max Knuckle. Dynamax allowed you to do so much in a battle that it was insane. However, its fatal flaw was, despite all the strategy it allowed, deep down, it was broken and needed a nerf. It allowed scrubs and noobs to autowin games, especially in 3v3 Singles and 4v4 Doubles strictly because of how strong it was, but the outcomes could potentially be vastly different if you battled the same person and disallowed Dynamaxing. Still, it was my favorite gimmick because when done right, you could make some awesome plays to decide the game.

Teralization – Another game mechanic that also sounded good on paper, but out of all the other battle mechanic gimmicks, it feels the most "optional" for lack of a better word. It's like, when battling with the other mechanics, instances existed where I felt that I needed to Dynamax, Mega Evolve, or use a Z-Move to win the game or knockout a problematic Pokémon that could destroy much of my team. However, with Teralization, I have won several battles without even having to touch the Teralization option. Don't get me wrong, Teralization definitely comes in handy when it does and is very useful in such instances, but many instances exist where your Pokémon can get the job done regardless without having to change their type. This especially holds true even beyond a competitive standpoint in a regular playthrough, where I noticed that I barely even used the feature at all. I had no trouble handling the NPCs when they all Teralized their Pokémon and the game created no situation where I ever felt that I needed to use this feature. Because of this, it kind of makes searching for 50 Tera Shards of each type to change your Pokémon's Tera Type feel like a useless grind in my opinion, and in a way, kind of makes those ridiculously difficult high-level Tera Raids feel a little pointless as well. Its fatal flaw is, at least what seems to be at the moment, a lack of necessity and seems more situational rather than staple.

To be honest, even though these game mechanics add some cool moments to the games, especially regarding animations and lore, I wouldn't be unhappy if future installations just gave us old fashioned Pokémon without the battle mechanic gimmicks.

 

[Sheep]

Going to be very hard to top Megas for me. They gave some weak/underused Pokémon the ability to be better and more usable overall. Plus we got some great designs, like Ampharos, Altaria, Audino, Metagross, Absol, and lots more. Tera is growing on me as well, but still nowhere near as much as megas. I miss them. ;_;

 

[Poke fan number 489]

Dynamax is the best. I like it when the best mon blow up.

Mega Evolution – A game mechanic that perhaps sounded good on paper, but ultimately resulted a couple of issues, such as several Pokémon getting preferential treatment, several weak and barely used Pokémon getting Mega Evolutions such as Beedrill, Pidegot, and Medicham when several others were more deserving, some Mega Evolutions even making some Pokémon worse such as Mega Garchomp, and wasted item slots. Some Pokémon even became too broken as a result, such as Mega Rayquaza and Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre. The best part of Mega Evolution was the in-game animations, the lore behind it, and the fact that some beloved favorites got their opportunity to shine and stand out, such as Lucario and Gardevoir. Its fatal flaw was actually more of a development issue, where too many useless Pokémon got the chance to do it rather than several Pokémon that deserved it. This resulted in many weak Pokémon such as Beedrill getting it despite still seeing no real use, and major legendaries like the Weather Trio getting it and unsurprisingly completely dominating the competitive scene in the most broken possible way.

I think mega has the opposite problem. Pokémon like Beedrill should have gotten Megas. Giving Lucario and Gardevoir Megas doesn't make sense, because they're already good.

 

[Rock_Salazar]

I prefer megas and I am absolutely biased because I like the designs, stat buffs, and new abilities.

On a side note, Scizor, Ampharos, Manectric, Aggron, Metagross, Charizard X & Y, Absol, Pinsir, Blaziken, Heracross, Sceptile, Mawile, and Kangaskhan were my favorites.

I really wanted to see megas of Luxray, Nidoking & Nidoqueen, Electivire, Jynx, Magmortar, Dunsparce, Lapras, Ambipom, Mismagius, Torkoal, Honchcrow, Shuckle, and Togekiss. A mega for base Eevee would have been interesting for a normal-type eeveelution.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

I'm not really super fond of Dynamaxing, but I'll happily admit it was the most universally fair & useful of the lot.
(no favoritism of Mega Evolution, no one time use + no held item super move, I don't really 'get' tera pokemon so I can't really say on that one)

My favorite of these however is Mega Evolution, not for fairness or anything like that, I just think it's the most interesting one for me.

 

[Palamon]

I honestly hated megas with a burning passion, like what is this stupid Digimon bullshit? I refused to use it for any game that had it, and I stand by my decision on this. I'm so glad they got rid of it in generation 8. I have no interest in ever using it if it comes back, either, and will never favor it.

I am one of the only people who actually enjoyed Z moves. They were fun to use, even though they were once per battle. I found the animations pretty cool and the fact any Pokemon could use them as opposed to the annoying ass limitations of Mega Evolutions. I definitely used a z crystal on every single one of Pokemon in gen 7.

I thought Dynamax was good, but it only lasting three turns means you need to strategize well around it. I liked how some Pokemon had Gigantamax forms, but the fact all Pokemon can Dynamax made it better. I used Dynamax and Gigantamax a lot throughout my SW/SH playthrough. But, I understand why it isn't in future games as it's tied to Galar lore.

Terastalizing is pretty good, and I do like how any Pokemon can be any Tera type if you actually find one that has a different Tera type, but I struggle to know when's a good time to Terastalize and have barely made use of the mechanic...I hear it powers up the moves of your Pokemon if the Tera type is the same as its primary type already? But. I suppose I just have to learn more about how it works. I'm already almost finished with all three paths in Violet, though...

 

[Devalue]

Terastalizing is pretty good, and I do like how any Pokemon can be any Tera type if you actually find one that has a different Tera type, but I struggle to know when's a good time to Terastalize and have barely made use of the mechanic...I hear it powers up the moves of your Pokemon if the Tera type is the same as its primary type already? But. I suppose I just have to learn more about how it works. I'm already almost finished with all three paths in Violet, though...

Essentially gives you an additional typing OR a power boost to an existing one. For example:

Arcanine (Fire) with Tera: Fire.
- Not Terastallized: x1.5 same-type attack bonus for Fire moves
- While Terastallized: x2 same-type attack bonus for Fire moves. Acts as a pure Fire type for the purpose of receiving damage.

Arcanine (Fire) with Tera: Dark
- Not Terastallized: x1.5 same-type attack bonus for Fire moves
- While Terastallized: x1.5 same-type attack bonus for Fire AND Dark moves. Acts as a pure Dark type for the purpose of receiving damage. (Nullifies Psychic. Takes extra damage from Fighting. So on and so forth.)

Also has an effect against the shield in Tera Raids. Against the shield:
- 20% of normal damage while not Terastallized
- 35% of normal damage while Terastallized, but not using a move of that Tera type
- 75% of normal damage while Terastallized AND using a move of that Tera type.

 

[virtualpet]

I didn't like it as a gimmick at first, but mega evolution grew on me especially because I used to do gen 6/7 competitively on Pokemon Showdown. I think some of the designs were creative and they were a neat way to give a boost to Pokemon that would never be useful competitively or even late game otherwise (the biggest example is Beedrill). I wish that they stuck with it because the downside to megas is there's such a small pool of them to choose from. There also was a lot of balance issues with Mega Rayquaza but that could have been fixed.

For Z-moves they were fine but just kind of felt cheap during a playthrough and playing competitively they were a little boring except for things like Z-Tail Glow which could be fun for a stat boost. Similarly Gigantamax was kind of boring to me as a gimmick both from a design and a concept.

Terastallizing is fine and I like that any Pokemon can do it without wasting an item slot, so it can be interesting to do. I've started doing Showdown again and it's really satisfying when you can predict a move and terastallize into an immunity. To me though it just isn't as exciting a mega evolution from both a design standpoint and when it comes to impact on the Pokemon themselves.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I didn't like it as a gimmick at first, but mega evolution grew on me especially because I used to do gen 6/7 competitively on Pokemon Showdown. I think some of the designs were creative and they were a neat way to give a boost to Pokemon that would never be useful competitively or even late game otherwise (the biggest example is Beedrill). I wish that they stuck with it because the downside to megas is there's such a small pool of them to choose from. There also was a lot of balance issues with Mega Rayquaza but that could have been fixed.

For Z-moves they were fine but just kind of felt cheap during a playthrough and playing competitively they were a little boring except for things like Z-Tail Glow which could be fun for a stat boost. Similarly Gigantamax was kind of boring to me as a gimmick both from a design and a concept.

Terastallizing is fine and I like that any Pokemon can do it without wasting an item slot, so it can be interesting to do. I've started doing Showdown again and it's really satisfying when you can predict a move and terastallize into an immunity. To me though it just isn't as exciting a mega evolution from both a design standpoint and when it comes to impact on the Pokemon themselves.

I am nonetheless glad to hear that you're playing Pokémon Showdown again. I hope you enjoy competitive Pokémon. 😊

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Mega Evolution will always be the best in my opinion. While the concept of the Z Moves was nice, it took way too long for the scenes to play out. And Mega Evolution was just superior at the time.

G-Max is basically Mega Evolution, but worse. If they hadn't grown to titanic sizes, it would have been fine. Especially when now we have Titan Pokemon and we already had Totem Pokemon that were larger in SM. If I ever make a Fan Faction, I am just going to throw out everything about G Max and use them as Megas.

Terastal has come close to Mega Evolution, but I hate the stupid hats. They could have made the hat smaller or gotten rid of it all together and simply changed the color of the crystals. The name is also annoying to say. They could have just called it Crystallization. And called them Crystal Pokemon.

 

[Lavender]

Favorite gimmick?

What is your favorite gimmick between the four? Please let me know!

Mine is z-power, not a lot of people probably like z-power, but sun was my first game and I have a lot of nostalgia towards it.
also I think z-power was decent in a competitive sense, It can be used to boost your stats or simply use a powerful attack.

 

[Soaring Sid]

Mega Evolution always had this cinematic but also pretty cool implications in battle (unless you're a Garchomp)

The XYZ Special with Alain and Steven felt brilliant and to a 13 year old me,"Epic" as Rayquaza, Charizard, Groudon, Metagross and Kyogre all duked it out in their special forms

And mega evolving in battle felt cool too.
I found it much more appealing than all the other gimmicks, and I hoped it'd be permanent.
I wish they bring it back though, my childhood dream of a Mega infernape remains pending!

Z-moves felt like Power Ranger stuff, wasn't into it and Gigantamax...cool but maybe I just prefer Megas.

Terastalization is again cool, to get to change your type, very nice. Except, visually, it looks stupid

Terastal has come close to Mega Evolution, but I hate the stupid hats. They could have made the hat smaller or gotten rid of it all together and simply changed the color of the crystals. The name is also annoying to say. They could have just called it Crystallization. And called them Crystal Pokemon.

Literally this sounds better

 

[ReKoil]

Megas were okay, but most of them were given to the wrong mons. Mewtwo for example did not need a Mega, let alone two of them. None of the legendary Pokemon needed one. They did give some to Pokemon that actually needed them such as Absol, Sableye or Beedrill. Megas would've been perfect to let underused mons shine, but alas only a couple got it.

Z-moves & Terasatal - I didn't even use these 95% of the time, they just feel completely unnecessary. At least with Megas and Dynamax you usually feel a need to use the same mechanic when your opponent does or is about to.

Dynamax - despite it just being a 'Honey I Blew Up the Kid Pokemon', it actually felt necessary to Dynamax when your opponent did or brought out their ace. The opponent gets higher HP and generally speaking the Max moves will do more damage than the original move they replace. Obviously you'll want to Dynamax as well. Unlike Megas,, every mon got a piece of the Dynamax action. The Gigantamax forms were mostly nice, but didn't affect the battle otherwise.

I liked Dynamax the most and then Megas. Idc about Z-moves & Terastal whatsoever.

 

[stringzzz]

I got deeper into competitive with 7th Gen using an all ghost team. Having a Z-Move for my Mimikyu often meant all the difference, like when going up against a Greninja. Aside from that, having a theme team was pretty much a disadvantage, one that the mega evolution or z-move mechanism didn't fix.

Fast forward to now with Terastal, and this makes a major difference with my team. Being able to remove the ghost-type weaknesses while maintaining their previous STAB on ANY pokemon is great. Without that, honestly... I don't think I would have been able to make it up to Master Ball rank in season 2 and now this 7th season. I will be kind of sad next Gen when they likely no longer have this mechanism, but hopefully they will have something where I can keep the theme team going.