What if Pokemon games had "real bosses?"

[Soopa Derp Cat]

Yeah, another "what if" thread that I thought would make for an interesting discussion.


One thing that I've always found kinda dull is that, in Pokémon games, all you battle is Pokémon. Yeah, I know, that's kinda the point of Pokémon games, but hear me out here. What I'm really trying to say is, even in instances that might be considered "boss battles", such as fighting villain team leaders, you're still just fighting...you know...Pokémon. The same Pokémon you find in the wild, the same ones you encounter during competitive play, usually with absolutely nothing special, not even a hidden move or ability that said Pokémon can't normally have.

When I'm fighting the leader of an organization that managed to repair an ancient laser cannon and hook it up to a supercomputer, I expect a bit more than a normal fight but with a Mega Gyarados. When I fight him for the last time, I certainly expect more than just the same thing but with a cool sun background. A sun background which, while cool looking, comes out of absolutely nowhere and makes no sense contextually.

There are really quite a few ways in which bosses could be worked in, so here's a few examples:

Giant Robots - Remember how in the anime Team Rocket would always have like...a robot thing...and then Ash and his Pokémon would blow it up? Yeah, that'd work in the games. Just make them huge, unique, uncatchable Steel-types and give them special animations for appearing and being defeated. Give them 1,000 HP or something and a bunch of moves that Pokémon can't learn. Bam. Boss battle.

Giga Evolution - Basically the next step in Mega evolution, the villain team finds a way to lock a Pokémon into its mega form and then evolve it further into a super-powerful but highly unstable Giga Form. This would make them only able to carry one Pokémon in their party because reasons. The player couldn't do this because:


- Untethical


- Too expensive


- Too sciencey


Unique Pokémon - Taking another leaf from the anime and manga, just make Pokémon that...aren't normal Pokémon. Just have the player being walking around a quiet beach town when suddenly BOOM ENORMOUS GODZILLACROOL STARTS DESTROYING STUFF OH NO.

 

[OuterTsuchinoko]

I think all those ideas would be great for the series as boss battles. I remember before B2/W2 came out I saw a screenshot of that robot pokemon movie side thing you can do. I didn't know that it was for that at the time of seeing it and I was so excited because I thought it meant we were getting a boss battle against an actual robot like what you mentioned.

 

[Fannie]

I was unsure about this idea until I got to your giant Tentacruel example. I can't deny that would be fun!

 

[Ky0greK1ng]

Your giga evolution idea actually sounds pretty cool! It sounds like something that could actually be in the games, and I really like your reasons for the player to be unable to obtain giga Pokemon.

That said, I wouldn't want to fight robots or Team Rocket inventions... The whole point of Pokemon is to fight - well - Pokemon! {XD}

Also, am I the only one who considers legendary Pokemon boss fights? Trying to catch Deoxys in Alpha Sapphire was intense...

 

[Blayze]

I like your ideas. It certainly would give the boss battles a more unique flavor, and seem more "boss-like".

Even if they took a sort of easy way out, so to speak, and had the Boss have Dark Pokemon. The Pokemon would have a different than usual move set for its species, and perhaps be wreathed in a dark aura. (Kinda like in Pokemon: XD Gale of Darkness)

 

[Mab]

Unlike you, I do not make Pokémon my friends or partners. I make their power my own.

This is one of my favorite quotes from any of the games, but it means essentially nothing. Cyrus was battled a few minutes later and turned out... to be exactly like any other trainer.

When I first played DPPt, I expected him to either have some super-powerful mutated Pokémon, like the Giga Evolution you mentioned, or to have mutated himself in some way that allows him to use Pokémon moves (which seems like what the quote implies).

Still, we can always hope for more "bosslike" bosses in Sun and Moon :)

 

[SilverLugia456]

It would shake up the boss battles a lot if they were able to add something like that to them. It does get kinda repetitive when you fight the same Pokemon over again with just maybe a level increase or one or two new Pokemon added to the team.

A few of your suggestions would be interesting to see implemented into the games in the future.

This is one of my favorite quotes from any of the games, but it means essentially nothing. Cyrus was battled a few minutes later and turned out... to be exactly like any other trainer.

I also agree with what Rainbow mentioned in their post. When certain bosses hint that they have something unique about them, it would make sense that their party and Pokemon reflect that uniqueness. Whether its their appearance, some ability or the strategies that are used in the battle. Maybe in the future we may see something like that in the games. It would probably make it more challenging as well.

 

[Hiatus]

If this were to be implemented into the games, I feel that it'd be a lot of fun; anything that steers us away from their usual formula of fighting of villainous teams, in any form, would be a nice change of pace, in my opinion.