#pokemon sword leaks

[adobe-outdesign]

So apparently a ton of Gen 9/BDSP style menu sprites were leaked and whilst it's most likely just future-proofing, I find it interesting that the sprites contained the Mega Evolutions but NOT the Gigantamaxs. It's not like they never had unique menu sprites either, they did back in Gen 8.

The data for Mega evos still existed in SWSH as far as I know despite not being used in any way. G-maxes probably weren't included because they only last three turns, and thus you're less likely to see them in menus where sprites would be used.

[hailstormchase]

These look really cool! I'll have to look further into it all later

this is the biggest pokemon leak weve ever seen. holy fuck.

ive been here for multiple beta leaks since the spaceworld gold demo in 2018 and the diamond and pearl beta leak somewhere after that. this is by far the most intensive leak of beta pokemon stuff ive seen.

source code and beta builds for gens 3, 4, 5, and later 6 and 7. it is MASSIVE.

there is so fucking much and you can see coverage here

this document from junichi masuda made in 2005 is the highlight for me, the symbol used in the hgss arceus event. it seems the legendaries are like a greek pantheon of deities

but we got more

internal development and discussion. universe creation lore, character profiles (e.g. skyla is a sexy latina pilot inspired by jennifer lopez and isabella fontana), never before seen designs, seen-before designs (latiken had a fucking sprite!), concept art, gen 3 had some darker looking discarded dev art. WHAT IS THIS IT RULES

here are compiled beta sprites from gens 3, 4, 5

[csolarstorm]

The Circle of Arceus Doesn't Need Modern Legendaries

(Source: Centro Leaks)

That's right, it's time for me to post a theory about this.

A lot of people are pointing out that this diagram is obsolete simply because there's been five more regions of legendaries since it was made and it's been...almost 20 years. I think that's only partly true. It actually holds up surprisingly well in modern Pokemon.

GameFreak definitely tried to get away from the whole "legendaries are gods" thing after Gen IV, mostly because where do you go after Arceus? So you don't get a lot of newer legendaries involved in the creation of the Pokemon world.

Plus, GameFreak used to have these random moments where they worried about continuity. Why do we need incense to evolve the Baby Pokemon from Sinnoh? You think players are going to complain that Munchlax should've hatched in Johto? Well, you might be right...but still.

That might be why a lot of newer legendaries have an alibi that explains why they weren't in the Pokemon World when it was created. Many of them were either in Space, or "Ultra" Space:

The Orignal Dragon of Unova

The Cosmog Line

Necrozma

Eternatus

By the way, some professor really should look into the reason so many incredibly dangerous space dragons are just dropping into the Pokemon world.

Then there's legendaries that are strong in the context of their story, and some are even worshiped, but they're more like regional gods and myths.

The Swords of Justice

The Tapus

The Legendary Heroes

Kubfu Line

Calyrex and His Steeds

The Paradox Duo

The Treasures of Ruin

Ogerpon

Most modern mythicals unfortunately fall hard into this category, to the point that some are literally just a monkey, Zarude. Actually, there's no need to list the others. You get the idea.

But who does fit the circle?

That leaves the Aura Trio, the Forces of Nature, and...Terapagos. In my opinion, these legendaries would be right at home in the circle. The Aura Trio deals in life and death, which is pretty major.

That Yggdrasil inspiration would make the Aura Trio right at home on the tree of life from the beta origin story. You know, that "giant tree of life" that Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre broke apart, that turned into the sky, earth, and ocean?

The three gathered in a circle and prayed, and the seed sprouted. The sprout quickly grew, and became the giant tree of life. However, the tree continued to grow, soon filling the entire world, and no one was able to move.

(...) RAYQUAZA wrapped its body around the tree of life. GROUDON and KYOGRE slammed their bodies into the tree of life. Eventually, the tree fell and broke into three pieces.

REI, AI, and HAI prayed, saddened that the tree would rot away like this. Then, the pieces of the broken tree would transform into the sky, earth, and ocean. RAYQUAZA became the pillar that holds the sky.

(Source: Centro Leaks)

Yeah, now I'm thinking the Aura Trio are more of a second try at this whole tree of life thing at GameFreak. Because the whole "Rayquaza wrapped its body around the tree" gives me major Yggdrasil vibes. Surprise Pokemon theorists, Nidhogg isn't Zygarde...it's Rayquaza!

Rayquaza did Ragnarok!

But some people think the Aura Trio are aliens who came to earth on the meteor that the Anistar City Moondial was made from, so that would explain why the Aura Trio aren't in the circle. After all, the Unovan Original Dragon came from a meteor just one generation earlier.

There's also the alleged "original story" rumor for XY that claimed that XY was originally about aliens. The Teraleak probably has something to say about that. So the jury's out about the Aura Trio - they could belong in the circle, but they might be aliens.

(Wait, the rumor was that the alien plot was cut for time? As in, it would have been included (and maybe made less "weird") if they didn't rush? So is THAT was what in Southern Kalos...)

Or maybe my theory is wrong. Deoxys is on the outer layer of the circle after all. Maybe Arceus doesn't discriminate against aliens, they just have to stay on the outer layer. It's not that much of a difference either way - there's plenty of room on the outer layer with the other mythicals. I'm talking about the head honchos really.

The Forces of Nature probably belong on the circle, if we're being honest. They kind of clash with the Legendary Birds' role in the mythos as "weather" gods, but they should be on there.

Lastly...Terapagos is an enigma when it comes to this whole post. It might be more powerful than Eternatus, since "tera" is more power than "giga", right? It's so much power it can literally warp a Pokemon's type. Like Arceus, or genetic engineering.

And Terapagos isn't an alien like Eternatus, at least there's no evidence of it. It's been stuck underground, but it used to live on land. I would say it's just a really, really powerful Pokemon that isn't technically godly, but it's literally based on the World Turtle, another creation myth.

It's in the same boat as the Aura Trio, only it's not an alien. Except, it is responsible for the "Stellar" type, as in stars. And there is this Pokedex entry:

An old expedition journal describes the sight of this Pokémon buried in the depths of the earth as resembling a planet floating in space.

Who says that planet is Earth? What if that's its homeworld?

Terapagos doesn't just borrow inspiration from the world, but the idea of worlds itself, or the philosophical idea of "turtles all the way down". Not only does it depict a world, but a world on a world. A world on a world on a -

I don't know how to end this. Are all my Teraleak theories going to be this long? I hope not. Happy Teraleak! Enjoy the leak!

---

Edit: Changed the name of the title. It used to be called "Newer Legendaries Just Aren't in Arceus' Personal Circle".

All pics other than the Arceus circle are from Bulbapedia. It's easier that way.

[cattiittii]

INTRO——-

While everyone is speculating on what the starters will be in legends ZA I am speculating that we will get a third charcadet evolution. As crazy as it sounds, please hear me out.

Also! This is speculation. This isn’t a leak or anything, this is just a fan separating on a PKMN i really like. If I get this wrong don’t come after me please.

THEME———

Koraidon is red and represents the past, Miraidon is purple and represents the future. Cyclizar is green and represents the present.

Armarouge has red and represents the future, Ceruledge has purple and represents the past. Where’s the green knight that represents the present? It might be in Kalos.

The focus of Legends ZA is Zygarde, who just so happens to be green.

ZA might have some themes about the past and future, and since the knights represent the opposite theme of their games, a knight that represents the present in a game about the past and future, just makes sense to me.

France, the country Kalos is based on, had numerous famous knights in its history. It wouldn’t be far-fetched for another Charcadet evolution to appear in the region. Kalos and Paldea are also connected, meaning that it’s also not unlikely for Charcadet to be found there.

In X and Y the Royal Family has a castle we can go in, there’s a lot of knight-like PKMN statues around the castle that being Pawniards and bisharps. (but not gallade because gamefreak regretted making gallade)

In castle, we see these two paintings. Tying us back to the past and future as well as the knight thing going on. Both Armarouge and Ceruledge represent the past and future as well as being very “knight-like” PKMN. I feel like it’s a possibility they could be in the game, as well tying us back to legends ZA possibly taking back in the past and further.

COMBAT STYLE———

Somebody on twitter pointed this out

The third missing combat arm is cavalry, which is riding on horseback.

French knights were known for their horse riding; many writings, paintings, and statues portrayed French knights on a horse or with a horse. French knights were called chevaliers, which translates into “horseman”.

Jousting, a competitive sport practiced by knights on horseback, originated in France. Each knight attempts to knock their opponent off their horse with a long lance.

This third evolution might be based on jousting, which is still played to this day despite its medieval origins. A lance would be a perfect mix of it being far away from the opponent but close enough to the opposite. A middle ground from Armarouge’s far distance attacks and Ceruledge’s close combat. 

This also could tie us back to the third evo representing the present because jousting is still played to this day.

While jousting doesn’t require a horse to be played, the armor on the third evo might have some horse elements to it to emphasize the cavalry, and since mega evolution is coming back what’s not to say they’ll make its mega evolution a centaur for this third evo. *shivers*

SHAPE LANGUAGE——————-

Armarouge and ceruledge are both perfect examples of shape language in character design. 

Armaoruge is rounder in appearance due to its Pauldrons, it also has rounder eyes, hands, and a brighter color palette. Its armor is smooth and overall has a nicer, friendlier appearance. A Pokemon who would probably hug you..

Ceruledge on the other hand is a menace to society. Its armor and body is full of pointed edges, from its chest, its chin, helmet, ears, eyes, boots and obviously its swords. It has a darker color palette which gives it a menacing appearance. If you were to see this Pokemon in the wild you are probably going to die. Definitely not as huggable as Armarouge.

Armarouge used a lot of circles and rounder shapes for its design, making it seem friendlier and approachable, while Ceruledge uses a lot of edges for it’s design to seem more intimidating. This third charcadet evolution would use squares for its design making it seem strong and reliable.

In character design there are usually 3 shapes you should use when designing a character. Circles, squares and triangles. It’s interesting you see Armarouge uses circles and ceruledge uses triangles. but not having the third one that uses squares.

In character design squares are seen as bold, sturdy and strong. In jousting you sorta have to be sturdy when riding on your horse.

TYPING—————

What could this third knight typing be?

Armarouge and Ceruledge’s typings seem to relate if they are in the past or future.

For example Armarouge is a psychic type based on the future. Psychic types pkmn are known for looking into the future, for example gardevoir, delphox and Xatu. What's not to say Armarouge could do the same thing.

Armarouge’s armor also reflects that being more “technologically advanced” and having less armor, which throughout the years armor has been used less and less since guns were invented.

Ceruledge is based on the past and it's typing reflects that as well. Being a ghost type, ghosts are known for being stuck in the past and being vengeful, spiteful of what happened. It also uses more traditional weapons and has more armor, like on its helmet, boots and arms. 

My idea for what this third knight typing might be is either steel or flying type. (Fighting type could work because of typing stuff with psychic and ghost.)

Steel could represent the present because we are in the Iron Age. Steel is strong and sturdy, tying back into the square shape language and the sturdiness required for jousting. Green is also not an outlandish color for a steel type, as we have seen a few examples already. Celesteela, the Brozor line, and Copperajah are all examples. Green calls to mind tarnished metal, which could play into the “old but still standing” theme of jousting. 

For flying type air and wind associated with speed and the color green. (The reason why wind is associated with green is because of grass and trees being blown by them) Horses in media are usually portray with their mains flowing in the wind and are also really fast. If this third evo is going to be more “horse like” *shivers* as well as it being more speed based I think flying type could work. It also work to represent the present because flying is usually portrayed as “being in the moment” like skydiving or a character in media trying/learning to fly.

ISN’T IT TOO SOON FOR A THIRD EVOLUTION?

While I would agree with you, I would like Armarouge and ceruledge to have a bit more time in the spotlight. It seems that Gamefreak has been making new evolutions since gen 8 with their newer Pokemon, for example Applin, Duraludon and Blood Moon Ursaluna. 

Blood moon Ursaluna literally having another form RIGHT AFTER legends arceus.

The idea of a third charcadet evo being “too soon” is out of the question. Gamefreak also seems to make new forms for PKMN that need it or PKMN that was *extremely* like zorua, sneasel etc. The charcadet line is a very popular PKMN, I mean there’s a reason why both Armarouge and ceruledge were the first paldean to be revealed. *ceruledge even had a Pokemon day to itself*

Conclusion

While this is just pure speculation and I could be totally wrong and we never ever get a third evo, I just think we going back to Kalos and the whole green thing and the possibility of the game being based on the past and future just seems like a perfect time to make a third evo that could represent the present. Not doing so just seems like a missed opportunity, at least to me. With Paldea and Kalos being so close to eachother I feel like it’s a possibility. 

TOO LONG DIDN’T READ YAAAWWN

We might get a third charcadet evo in legends ZA, the reason why I think this is because of the box legendaries in scarlet and violet as well as cyclizar each represent the past, future and present. I think this third knight will represent the present as well being green much like cyclizar. It will also be green because of legends ZA being green. Since we are going in Kalos again I think making a evo based on a French knight or a French sport just makes sense to me and would be a missed opportunity if they didn’t do that. 

[dayfaresthenight]

Alex's Bio

Name: Alex Davis Alt Names: "Trollmaster". (LEL Get pwned xDDD)

Special Titles: Puppet, Old Friend. (for being a puppet he is pretty off-handed honestly, kinda weird but I don't mind haha)

Username: Trollmasterlol351

Nicknames: Troll, Alexy.

Chronological Age: 17

Age: 17 (juuust one more year!)

Pronouns: He/him

Sexuality: Bisexual

Gender: Cis Male

Species: Human, "Vessel" (i don't know what a vessel is LOL)

Disorders: Conduct Disorder, Chronic Nightmares. (what??? nightmares? i don't get nightmares!!! xD)

Physical Disabilities: Weakness in Left leg (Recovering!!!)

Religion: None. (I consider myself open-minded, though!) Grade: 12th

Lives in: [REDACTED] (I don't give out my location to strangers on the net xD), Also Daisys House! Languages: English, LEET SPEAK, Various Ciphers. (Marble Hornets taught me well!!!)

Height: 5'12 (I AM 6'0 I AM 6'0) Race: Paleish in Vessel, Cacussian in Real form (NOOO STOP LEAKING MY PERSONAL INFO WHOEVER YOU ARE DX) Ethnicity: English-American Accent: Rather Light and Chipper, although deepens when angry.

Powers: Exceptionally Emotionally Resilient, Respawning (In-Vessel Form, or When in Daisy's house in general), Memory Connections (Considering I'm always with the guy in armor when in here, I can see basically whatever he sees!) Weaknesses: Short Temper when Provoked, His Guilt, Killing his Puppeter. (...haha these people really are weird LOL)

Weapons: The nearest chair he can huck at someone, Linked Swords. (1v1 me on Sword fights on the heights i'd win 100% xD)

Alignment: Chaotic Good (I... Really do try my best, despite everything.)

Text Color: This!!!

Main Hobbies: Gaming, Collecting (pokemon cards!!!)

Favorite Food: PIZZA!!!!!! Favorite Flower: Daisys xD (daisys are pretty cool but in all seriousness I like sunflowers a lot too!!!)

Scent: Blueberry Bodyspray. (Gotta dress to impress!!!)

Handedness: Right-handed

Blood Color: Red

Awareness: VERY Aware [Effect: Positive] (...)

Birthday: January 23rd (THE BIG 18 IS COMING UP!!!!)

Theme:

Playlist:

Fun Facts: I am totally an elite haxer who was taught by 1x1x1x1x1x1x1x11 himself!!!!! Used an exploiting script once and thinks hes a hacker now. Actually pretty good at games, even if he overestimates himself 99% of the time.

Special Interests: Pokemon, Mario, Retro Games, Retro Internet. (RETRO IS THE BEST)

Stims: Fast Talking, Jumping Around.

Stimboard: WIP Moodboard: WIP Fashion Board: WIP Comfort Objects: His Old Gameboy Advance.

Family: Claire Davis (Mom!) Gregory Davis (Dad!)

Friends: DAISY! (Best friend), Courtney, (Close Friend), Jose (Friend), Everyone else in the Friend group (Friends!), Lancia (Friend)

Romance: N/A!!

Enemies: Zandeeee (Maybe? Idk, she doesn't seem to really like me), The NPCs (Most of them are just not really nice to her...), The Cultivator (That mushroom can rot in hell for what he did to my friend.)

Patrons: Ozymandias (He is the one who brought me here. I don't think he has good intentions, but I'm still grateful to him and stuff!)

Pets: Claire (my cat!!! I named it after my mom because she is cool xD)

Brief Personality: Alex is on the surface a very kind person. Energetic, and always pulling various pranks in an attempt to entertain and cheer up his friends. Whenever there's a chance to pull someone's leg, he'll be the first one doing it. Despite that though, Alex never tends to take his pranks too far- and is extremely supportive of his friends when they need it. He struggles a lot with his own emotions, and in general, isn't really good at conveying how he feels.

Alex is fiercely protective of those he cares about, and he will immediately throw himself into the line of fire just to protect them. He is very rebellious, and this often leads him into situations that are severely out of his weight class.

Brief Backstory: Alex is a relatively regular person, at least compared to most in this place. He was born in 1999 to his parents and grew up in a relatively middle-class lifestyle. Although his family had some hard times, he generally grew up well taken care of.

He discovered the internet and Roblox at a young age and immediately fell in love with it. He finally had a group of like-minded people who could tolerate his shenanigans, which made him quite happy. He never really had many friends growing up, so he deeply cherished this friend group.

One person, though, he latched onto more than the others, and that was Daisy. Daisy was always there to come on and play with him and was one of the few people Alex would settle down with and talk about stuff with. Someone, he didn't feel the need to impress or entertain.

Despite that though, he was rather oblivious to Daisy's own troubles, something that eats him up to this day. Maybe if he had just noticed sooner, maybe if he had just told his mom he was worried about her, maybe...

...But the past is the past. Everyone's gone their own ways, and Alex is starting to feel that loneliness that he thought he had escaped start to creep back in. The memories are coming back, and it's starting to haunt him.

Why can't he just forget? Why can't-

Knock knock.

...He opened up the front door...

"Would you like me to bring you to your friend?"

...

Maybe it's never too late to make amends, to... make things right.

[diamondwerewolf]

What Pokemon do you think Brassius would be? Smeargle is kind of obvious but maybe something that presents more like goth/edgy, to fit how he looks. A funny brambleghast maybe.. but that might be hard to incorporate into an anthro design. (Not asking you to draw this btw I just need ideas LOL)

I've actually been thinking about him quite a bit. I'd probably make him a chivalrous gardener, like a farfetch'd. I think Brassius has some traditional, or valiant tendencies. If he didn't have a heavy wire on his hip, I think he'd have a fencing sword instead. Farfetch'd are known to be elusive gardeners, too. I also feel like this pokemon has the right kinda dramatic for brassius :]]

He's a rough idea, sorta subject to change. Another idea is the leak acting as an unusual paint brush.

[floaromaxtowns]

Fandom hot take: Pokemon did NOT die after the 3DS era, it died when it switched to the Switch (no pun intended)

Fandom takes less gooo [Accepting]

Strongly agree | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Strongly disagree

Can confirm, this year I replayed my Omega Ruby and the game shows that it still had quite a lot of care put into it. Even if I find it to be way too easy to my liking, I genuinely enjoyed my time with it.

They doubled the price of the games, and now they release unfinished products ever so shamelessly. Because they /know/ the community will just eat it up, whatever they throw at them. Sword/Shield and Violet/Scarlet released in the same Beta bug glitch state, and people defended it to the very END. (even though IMO if you ask me: SV were a big improvement on SwSh, I really can't say anything good about gen 8).

We could excuse the limitations and some glaring issues of the games, when they were being released for portable devices since y'know, they weren't meant to be Nintendo's powerhouses.

But now that all Pokemon games are being released on the same console, as the other massive games? Then I hate to say it: You can't really defend their slop, lack of care and whatnot. Reminder that GF purposely keeps its Dev teams SMALL, meanwhile they want to release new generations & mainline games at a much faster pace. So, the products got so much worse, meanwhile they maximize profits. I guess that's the price you get for being the largest franchise in the world.

Can you tell just how overall disappointed I've been with the franchise's direction? c': I've been way more interested in keeping up with leaks and fan projects tbh.

On a brighter note: there's a Brazilian VG studio currently working on a Pokemon inspired game, but it's focused in our foklore/pop culture and whatnot! I've seen some arts of it, and it looks very promising

The game is currently being crowdfunded it's called "Saci hunters" Link to their IG page!

[joekabox]

I have absolutely been saying this for years now. I want to stop hearing that "Game Freak are lazy" argument so bad. Clearly they put a lot of work into the past few generations. We knew this as far back as the leak involving Sword and Shield's cut content having more pokemon and more dynamic models. It's sad that, as is the case with basically every game studio at this point, someone at the top has felt the need to stifle this creativity for one reason or another.

God I hope Game Freak are able to relax and get the time and money needed to make the games they want, and not be forced to rush game after game out the door.

[kooldewd123]

one of the smaller leaked details from the teraleak about plza got me thinking about what i'd like to see in terms of shiny hunting mechanics, and i ended up going down a rabbit hole and ranking the games by how much i enjoy shiny hunting in them (roughly ordered within tiers):

reasonings beneath the break, i've got a LOT of thoughts to infodump:

SM/USUM: sos chaining is my absolute favorite shiny hunting method. there's a really fun element of preparation to it that i think most other methods lack - researching your target pokemon, looking for any recoil or status move that may be an issue, figuring out how to plan around it, etc. it's a fun planning game that can easily make individual hunts much more memorable than simply “wow this one was so quick/long” when you see your plans come to fruition. usum improved it even further with some small mechanical tweaks, plus an expanded dex to hunt through. also in usum is the ultra warp ride. the wormhole shinies are honestly so easy that their allure wears off super quick, but the actual minigame attached to them is pretty fun. that said, the real star of the uwr are the legendaries and ultra beasts, all available through soft resetting. i love soft resetting for mostly the same reasons as sos chaining: you've got one chance to catch this legendary, so you better go in with a solid game plan and make it count once you finally see those sparkles. or if you want a different sort of challenge, you can always go for one of the gift pokemon instead: poipole, type:null, and ash cap pikachu. no battle required, but no shiny charm, either, with the added clout value that their shinies haven’t been available since. alola was my gateway to shiny hunting, but even trying to account for nostalgia, i still think it has some of the most engaging hunts to this day.

XY: i feel like kalos is really overlooked nowadays when it comes to shiny hunting, but it’s one of my absolute favorites. friend safari is always one of the first things that comes to mind whenever i think about shiny hunting. it’s a really cool community-driven shiny hunting experience. i spent so much time just exchanging friend codes to find the shines i needed, and i was always able to find a thriving friend safari community all the way up through swsh’s lifespan until i finally caught every possible shiny i could from it (i wonder how they’re doing now that the 3ds servers are shut down?). this is also the best region for fossil resets - most of the fossil are readily available in large quantities, so you can stock up as much as you'd like and revive them all at once to see if any surprises pop out at you. between friend safari, fossil resets, and horde hunting, xy has a lot of good mindless shiny hunts. a lot of the time, shiny hunting is just something for me to do with my hands while i’m bored, and xy excels at that. oh yeah, there’s also pokeradar in this one, too. i could never quite figure out how to work it.

SWSH: swsh gets massive bonus points for being the only game where masuda hunting is actually fun tbh. the fact that zl can be used as a replacement for the a button means that you can just gather up eggs one-handed at the route 5 nursery, then you can use the 3d camera in the wild area to easily spin in circles to hatch them without even needing to return to a pc box every five minutes like before. as for the rest of the shiny stuff in this game… the intended shiny hunting method is laughably pointless and dynamax adventures, while a neat concept, are only fun if you actually have friends to play it with. otherwise, you’re stuck dealing with either braindead npcs or even more braindead randoms. like i said before, i love planning out big hunts, but in dynamax adventures, so much of it is out of your control that it’s just completely unfun to me (at least we got the regis and swords of justice huntable through run aways. those are some really fun hunts as a consolation prize). honestly, i’m definitely placing these games several spots higher than they probably should be, but sword is possibly my most played game ever due to the sheer amount of masuda breeding i’ve done in it, so that has to count for something.

GSC: okay i know these are a curveball compared to everything else on the list. when these games came to the 3ds virtual console, i did some rby glitching to get a shiny ditto into them and honestly? probably my second favorite game in terms of breeding after swsh. because shininess is determined by ivs in these games, a shiny ditto parent gives every child a flat 1/64 shiny rate, balanced by the fact that the oval charm and flame body don’t exist yet. what you end up with is a situation where you get eggs much more slowly, but with hunt times still comparable to modern-day masuda hunting, and i personally found something about this arrangement really satisfying. every egg has so much more build-up to it, and so despite the slower pace, it somehow still felt more consistently exciting than perhaps any other shiny hunting method. crystal has some additional shiny fun with the odd egg if you feel like doing a bit of save manipulation with it (plus obligatory shiny celebi comment).

PLA: i know this is a very niche and odd opinion to have, but pla handles loading pokemon into the overworld better than any other game with overworld pokemon. the format of having distinct separate regions that you can load and unload at will, with pokemon (even those not yet spawned) being preset at the moment of loading and persisting until being forcibly unloaded, is something that i truly hope carries forward into future entries. it creates a world that feels much more natural, and yet is also highly exploitable on a gameplay level. resetting the regions until you find an outbreak, and then traveling to that outbreak to search for shinies, is a compelling gameplay loop that implements very video game-y elements in a way that i particularly enjoy. the differentiation between mass outbreaks and massive mass outbreaks also adds a fun trade-off into the mix: do you target a specific pokemon at lower odds or do you go for a grab bag of random pokemon at higher odds? i do have one big complaint, however, and it’s gonna sound kinda insane. it is nearly impossible to actually fail a shiny in this game. they persist through saves, they don’t respawn when you run, they even give off a distinct jingle when they’re in your vicinity. if there is a shiny near you, you are gonna find it, and you are probably gonna catch it. and personally… i don’t really care for this arrangement. the risk of failure is an integral part of shiny hunting. making it too safe makes the accomplishment feel a bit more hollow to me. i wish there was a way to disable the shiny sound. i feel like if they weren’t so blatantly telegraphed and were still a bit harder to find in the first place, it would balance out the safety nets the game gives you somewhat.

LGPE: i feel like i’ve come to appreciate lgpe a lot more as time has gone on. the catch combo system is a nice simple numbers game - just keep catching the same pokemon and shiny odds go up. simple, elegant, satisfying. the big drawback is the fact that the motion controls are uuuhh. less than ideal. but it’s easy enough to build a combo back up that it doesn’t usually feel like too big of a setback if something goes wrong. also the fact that you can use the in-game trading mechanics to hunt the alola variants is pretty nifty! i should get back in and try one of those hunts sometime.

BDSP: after not being able to get into pokeradar hunting in xy or the original dp, i was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable i found it in bdsp. it has a really good sense of risk and reward as you try to map out the safest path you can, which makes it super gratifying when your skills and luck are good enough to bring your chain all the way up to 40. honestly, the fact that the shiny charm doesn’t work in this game is a complete nonissue for me, because the pokeradar doesn’t even need it. of course, this game also has the added fun of not shiny locking anything except some tie-in bonuses. you can shiny hunt any legendary from the first four generations, and you can even go for the sinnoh mythicals as well (the event to get their items is over now, but i believe it’s still possible to glitch your way to them anyway).

SV: sparkling sandwiches are probably the shiny hunting mechanic i’m most split on. once again, there’s a really good strategic element to it that i enjoy: trying to figure out where on the map you can locate your target pokemon with as little type overlap in the surrounding area as possible, and then once you’ve begun your hunt, finding the best path to spawn them in as quickly as possible. on the other hand, however, probably my biggest hot take of sv is that the sandwiches bump the shiny rate up way too high. in my first shiny hunting excursion of the game, i found five shinies in the span of two sandwiches, and as a whole, that’s been more the norm than an exception. most shiny hunts in this game are over so quickly that i don’t feel all that rewarded for accomplishing them. the process of acquiring herba mystica is a good bottleneck keeping it from spiraling entirely out of control, but it feels so distinct from the actual shiny hunting process that it doesn’t help alleviate those feelings for me.

ORAS: i don’t hate shiny hunting in oras or anything, but i don’t think it does anything exceptionally well, either. horde hunting is just as fun as it is in xy, although it’s fairly easy to exhaust the catalogue of huntable pokemon in both games. soft resetting legendaries is here, although for some of them, they require lengthy trips to the encounter point each time and you’re better off sticking with usum or even bdsp instead if you wanna hunt them. the standout is dexnav - frankly, i’ve warmed up to it a lot over the years, but i think it’s still the roughest chaining mechanic. the search function is simple to understand, and the mirage spots and hidden pokemon inject a bunch of new encounters to hunt for. that said, i think the sneaking aspect of it never feels quite right with a 3ds circle pad, and having to constantly swap between battles and sneaking means that it’s hard to stay in a groove. i don’t mind dexnav, but it’s rarely my first choice.

[adobe-outdesign]

Have you reviewed the Farfetch'd line?

Back in the early days of Pokemon, it was more common to see Pokemon based on specific Japanese references that English audiences wouldn't necessarily understand (not that this doesn't still happen, but they seem to acknowledge they're an international brand more these days).

In Farfetch'd's (that name looks so wrong as a possessive) case, it's based on the Japanese proverb "a duck comes bearing spring onions". Ducks are often cooked with onions, so the saying is referring to something that's an unlikely opportunity (the closest English version would probably be a "sitting duck").

The concept is fun, but being a Gen 1 design, it's also maybe a bit too straightforward—it's a duck with a leek, nothing less and nothing more. I do like the expression with those big ol' brows, and it's perfectly fine-looking, but it feels like it could've been pushed more. (I'm kind of surprised it didn't have leek elements built into it and be part grass-type, given that it already has the leak shape built into its head feathers.) It always seemed like the perfect kind of Pokemon to evolve, and apparently GameFreak agreed... kind of.

My major beef with Galarian Farfetch'd is that it exists in the first place. That sounds harsh, but what I mean is that regional-only evolutions are fine when they only make sense coming off a regional with a different concept. For example, Cursola wouldn't make sense when evolving from regular Corsola because the bleached coral theme would come out of nowhere; Obstagoon wouldn't make sense evolving from regular Linoone because it has no reason to turn into Gene Simmons out of nowhere, etc etc.

But with G. Farfetch'd? It's not really all that different from regular Farfetch'd at all, and I definitely don't think Sirfetch'd needed to evolve from a regional; it would've made just as much sense evolving from Kantonian Farfetch'd. So all G. Farfetch'd does is make regular Farfetch'd feel even more obsolete than it already did.

Now, I will say that visually, I do prefer G. Farfetch'd's design. The stupidly huge leek is super fun and brings a lot more to the table conceptually when combined with its extra serious expression and increased strength (especially because it's apparently based on how leeks are bigger in England than Japan). The darker colors are also nice, and it's a nice little touch that the head feathers switch orientation. It's a good improvement over the original, just once again frustrating from a practicality standpoint.

I should also mention really quick that originally, Farfetch'd had this scrapped evo called Madame. I'm... not a big fan, to be honest. I don't know if it's meant to have an SM thing going on with it or if it's just meant to be masquerade-themed, but either way that element comes out of nowhere and the main focus of Farfetch'd, the leek, is too de-emphasized. The feather detailing also feels like too much.

Pre-evo beefs aside, I do really like Sirfetch'd as a design. The concept of just taking the leek and making it into a sword and shield is extremely fun and straightforward, and I like the little details like the sheer length of the sword, the handle being the unpeeled base, and the leaves being the shield. The white body works well with the white parts of the plant and gives it a "white knight" kind of vibe, which is really emphasized by its super stocky body. Conceptually it makes logical sense as an evo; visually, it's fun and easy to understand. No complaints here.

As a whole: Farfetch'd is fine but feels like it could've been pushed more conceptually. G. Farfetch'd has an improved concept and design, but also didn't really need to exist and robs original Farfetch'd of an evo. Regardless, the evo itself is a great design with a solid concept.

[toy-capsule]

i feel like gigantism isn't played around with enough in the pokemon world. we have instances of it in the old anime that were implemented well - that infamous dragonite clip comes to mind. which is weird when you think about the entire premise of sword and shield. theres some splash art that i think does it well, but ive never been impressed by the grandeur in the anime - not to mention how near impossible it is to really showcase it in the way swsh is made. Something about oversaturation blah blah blah. i think there is a few instances where it was really done well - legends and the avalugg, notably. that is probably the one time in recent memory i can recall having a true jaw drop moment. the fight itself could have been better implemented, but that intro shot- really showcasing the scale of that monster, it lives in my head rent free. pokemon ranger and the scale of the Sky Fortress. N's castle???Those far away shots really do the work to build that atmosphere. And there's so many good locations in the pokemon universe. Plenty of them could use their scale being acknowledged more. i wish shots like that had been done in other games too. Lusamine's fusion fight I could talk about for days. The mystery dungeon legendary fights, Dialga's in particular comes to mind. Weirdly, the only reason I dislike Skeledirge is because of this. I saw a leaked post that had the crocodile at like 14 feet tall or something crazy and I was blown away, just to see the revealed official size to be massively disappointing. Now theres a lot to say about assumed pokemon sizes and actual pokedex heights. But I feel like if a select few more pokemon were bigger than they are it could really add more memorable moments to the series. That wailord joke has been done to death, but really. Why is it bigger than god.

[sonicasura]

Since were on the course of showing OoT Ganondorf odd and cool Pokemon let's show him Sirfetch'd. A Pokemon that uses a leak as a sword and has a shield made out of a leak too do battle with and has fantastic swordplay to boot

Considering how many people beat Legend of Zelda with the most ridiculous items possible, a leak wouldn't be so far off. Plus you can't forget about the Deku Scrub race either. Ganondorf would be curious that there's another world where flora can develop weapon like properties.

[chaifootsteps]

When pokemon gen 8 was about to come out (if I remember correctly) there was a massive leak (I think someone had a copy early, I don't know how or why, and they basically tried to spoil everything). People were happy at the start but as the leaks became more and more apocalyptic of the game (to the point it wouldn't leave anything to the players anymore) they began to discourage the fanbase from searching the spoilers.

Anyway that was a bit random trivia. I wanted to say that I've been thinking of spoilers as leaks since then.

Oh yeah, I remember that. It worked on me, Sword and Shield was the first Pokemon gen I skipped and I'm glad I did.

[noveratus]

Alright, so after finishing playing through the pokemon DLC, here are my thoughts:

For the good parts: the DLC is fun to play and pleasantly challenging, which is new for a pokemon game. It feels great to just walk around catching pokemon to fill the pokedex. The characters are a mix bag with Kieran and Drayton being the highlights but still not quite meeting the greatness of Nemona and some of the Gym trainers. The other ones just disappear in the back as nothing but obstacles. I think that they lack a bit of the soul the gym trainers have even with less screen time. I also found Nemona to be a far more interesting rival than Kieran since you always get this sense she is better than you, even though you beat her. It feels like an older sibling letting their younger sib play with them and getting down on their level. Kieran is still pretty good and quite a plot twist considering the leaks and trailers. He never goes full villain, just kind of an ass out of jealousy, which I think is a pretty interesting concept. Kieran feels like what Hop should have been in Sword and Shield.

The environments are also really great and fun to explore, I love how much personality different pokemon have. I also prefer double battles over single battles as I found out. They do require more strategy.

The story also fits with the story of a DLC, that being you, the player, meet this shy kid who becomes filled with jealousy and tries to become the best by making things very unfun for everyone else only to be demonlished by the player. His desperation leads to him seeking an even more powerful pokemon that ends up being a threat and has to team up with the player to stop them (the pokemon should have been peacharunt, but alas.)

Now for the bad

While teal disk is really, really good, it also increases my disappointment when it comes to the actual main game.

Let's start with the features. Why is flying locked behind a pay wall? It doesn't even make any sense when you take into consideration the story of the game. One of the main missions is all about making the cover legendary better until it reaches its maximum power, and yet there it is, gaining another 'form.' The return of throwing balls and even BBQs are things that I think should have been in the base game. Also, couldn't they have added at least a few more clothing options to the main game?

I can understand the legendaries being behind the pay wall, that's fine. The new areas, new pokemon, all of that is alright. That is what you put in a DLC, but a whole mechanical gimmick in the form of the stellar type, it only goes to show just how unfinished the core games were at launch. At this point, it feels less like the DLCs are extra content and more so that they are what the actual game was meant to be, but due to time constraints, they were half assed and, instead, if you want to play the actual game you have to pay another 30 bucks on top of the 60 that you paid for the unfinished, unpolished mess of a half game that was the core games. Ironically, this almost makes me miss the 3rd games in the franchise because, if you waited a year, you could just pay for the game once.

The last hour of the DLC feels like it was the hour that was missing from the central story of the game. Just replace Kieran with Arven being upset that his parents cared more about the pokemon than him, replace Briar with Nemona, and be excited to meet a new pokemon and Carmine with Penny and you can have the exact same story. Hell, it would make more sense for Geeta to trust the player and trainers from paldea with the investigation of the crystals instead of complete strangers. What was Nemona up to in Indigo Disco anyway? Are you telling me that Geeta would ask for the help of Carmine instead of Nemona? Nemona, whose original team we have yet to see? Don't get me wrong, I like the plotline in the DLC. I just don't think that that last part deserves to be DLC. It simply feels incredibly unfair and greedy. The least you can do is put out one complete main story instead of half assing 3 of them.

That's my rant, anyway. Expect a rewrite of these games soon. For the record, I really, really like the dlc. I would give it a solid 8.5/10. However, seeing it and what the base game could have been makes the core games drop down quite a bit, from a 6.5/10 to a 4/10.

[cut-content-contest]

Pokémon Z

As you may or may not know, every Pokémon game had an enhanced version that was released later. Pokémon Red and Green/Blue had Yellow, Gold and Silver had Crystal, Ruby and Sapphire had Emerald, Diamond and Pearl had Platinum, Black and White had Black 2 and White 2, and Sun and Moon had Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The two (technically three) exceptions are: • Sword and Shield and Scarlet and Violet because they started to add content through DLC • Pokémon X and Y which just didn't get one Because of the rush to get to the Switch and them needing a big reveal for Pokémon's anniversary (like a new region), they scrapped it and went to work on Sun and Moon and it wasn't made public that there was a scrapped enhanced version of X and Y in the works until a leak revealed it in 2020. What sucks about this X and Y absolutely needed enhanced versions, the PokéDex had odd filler pokémon, the teams for important battles were weak, the story was lackluster, etc. This is one thing I will never forgive Nintendo, Gamefreak, and TPC for. I loved the Kalos region and stay up at night sometimes thinking about how it wasn't done justice.

cut beta pokémon

It would have given us one tailed baby vulpix and cute baby meowth and they TOOK IT AWAY FROM US. they probably thought they had plenty of baby pokemon as is, and redesigned some to better fit the pokemon evolution line.

Just Pokémon that were cut or reworked to be completely different. It was amazing when the demo leaked.

tcrf link: https://tcrf.net/Proto:Pok%C3%A9mon_Gold_and_Silver/Spaceworld_1997_Demo/Pok%C3%A9mon

[rararazaquato]

do u ever think abt what your team would be if you were a gym leader? i do. for all 18 types. here's normal, fire, and bug!!

(some of these pokemon were mons i've used in in-game teams! here's a list)

Mandarin the Darmanitan: Pokémon Black. He and Janice the Scrafty were the Route 4 Power Couple of the team, but you'll meet Janice if/when I ever draw my Dark type gymsona.

Zazzy the Salazzle: Pokémon Moon. Absolute powerhouse, swept the shit out of the grass trial.

Jack Swellow the Swellow: Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. Embarrassingly, he wasn't initially named after Jack Sparrow. His name at first was just Jack, after the person I was compulsory-heterosexuality crushing hard on in middle school. When my cousin asked me for the origin of the nickname, I told her it was after Jack Sparrow, but Jack Swellow was too many characters. She immediately pointed out that it was just the right amount of characters, so I took him to the Name Rater and made the change then and there.

Alba the Noctowl: Pokémon Platinum. I like to think she's a lesbian and had a big crush on Antoinette, my Empoleon. They were very sweet with each other, in sharp contrast to Voltron the Luxray (in the inevitable Electric team) and Boneless the Gliscor (in the Flying team), who were toxic yaoi before I had ever considered the phrase "toxic yaoi".

Ursaring: Pokémon X. He had no nickname because I got him from Wonder Trade. I think if I did nickname him, I would've called him something really stupid, because I was 10. I'm tempted to say Freddy, but I don't think FNaF came out until after I had beaten X. Either way, he was kind of a beast. Did super well against Wikstrom with his Fighting moves.

Dunsparce: Pokémon Y. This guy actually did have a nickname, but I don't remember what it was. I actually played Pokémon Y with the language set to French to study for my French final in my junior year, and I beat it super quickly. Therefore, I don't remember a lot of my team members' names. There was a Nidoking who you'll see in the Ground team named Roi, but everyone else is evading me. Shockingly powerful, I ran paraflinch strats with Serene Grace, Glare, and Headbutt.

Gamzee the Obstagoon: Pokémon Shield. Don't look at the nickname. He was in a polyamorous relationship with Baby the Toxtricity (on the Poison team) and Sasha the Inteleon (who you won't see because I didn't include any starters on this list). He filled a similar role to Ursaring, having Fighting type moves for good coverage. For some reason, Sword and Shield are super good games to have a Fighting type in. Alas, I didn't have a Fighting type in those games, so that was Gamzee's job.

Snuggles the Frosmoth: Pokémon Shield. When I saw the leaks, I knew I had to use a Snom/Frosmoth. I didn't care how long it took to find one, I didn't care about the blatant 4x weaknesses, but I had to use it. She was super solid into Marnie's team when Whippy Cream the Alcremie (on the Fairy team) didn't quite cut it!