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Why have there been always three event legendaries per generation lately?
- Thread starter Orithan
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It's just part of the formula and tradition I think. Pokemon has been kinda formulaic over the years and so details like that keep getting repeated.
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It's more about coverage for every generation of Pokemon. Every generation has a life cycle of about 2-3 years and in order to make sure that people keep playing the games until the next generation comes out, there has to be enough unused content that can be distributed over the years of the respective life cycle. Another part, which basically comes in tandem with that is promotion.
If a life cycle goes on about three years and you have three unreleased legendaries and three movies that yet have to be aired, then it would be a waste to just make them public and be done with it. Instead they keep those Pokemon a secret and whenever a new move is anounced (well, to be exact, it doesn't neccessarily need to be a movie, it can also be some other random event), they can just go like "hey, there's this cool new Pokemon you never knew about. When watching the movie, you also get the chance to get it into your game".
After those three years passed, all Pokemon became official and the new generation is already on the horizon featuring new unreleased event Pokemon.
If a life cycle goes on about three years and you have three unreleased legendaries and three movies that yet have to be aired, then it would be a waste to just make them public and be done with it. Instead they keep those Pokemon a secret and whenever a new move is anounced (well, to be exact, it doesn't neccessarily need to be a movie, it can also be some other random event), they can just go like "hey, there's this cool new Pokemon you never knew about. When watching the movie, you also get the chance to get it into your game".
After those three years passed, all Pokemon became official and the new generation is already on the horizon featuring new unreleased event Pokemon.
Pinkie-Dawn
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The three event legendaries per generation is there as a time limit on how many years until the next generation is coming. It also brings more material for the Pokémon movies.
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As people have mentioned, they might be wanting to follow a schedule that will make sure they're getting good use out of the years they have for each new one. But some generations have had more than others, whether most of them are Japanese-exclusives or not.
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I'm not sure about others, but I don't believe it's very wise for them to do this.
Legendaries are meant to be low in numbers and hard to find, the method of theirs kind of negates that (although legendaries always at a low percentage of population as more regular Pokémon are continuously being released, if that makes sense).
Not only this, but on top of all that, I feel it also reduces value of legendary Pokémon as a whole in eyes of fans, including myself. Personally, I like to think it'd generally be better for them if they were to reuse all legends that they have already published instead of introducing newer ones in each new title release (well, almost each).
Legendaries are meant to be low in numbers and hard to find, the method of theirs kind of negates that (although legendaries always at a low percentage of population as more regular Pokémon are continuously being released, if that makes sense).
Not only this, but on top of all that, I feel it also reduces value of legendary Pokémon as a whole in eyes of fans, including myself. Personally, I like to think it'd generally be better for them if they were to reuse all legends that they have already published instead of introducing newer ones in each new title release (well, almost each).