Favourite Super Mechanic?

[Coronis]

A post in another thread (wanting Megas to return) got me thinking about this, so what’s your favourite super mechanic from the past 4 Gens, and why?

 

[Magcargo]

Mega > Tera > Z-Move > Dynamax / Gigantimax

I liked Megas because they felt semi-permanent and unique to the Pokemon. It didn't seem like a gimmick, but a natural addition more akin to a form change.

 

[bdt2002]

I’m not sure if this opinion is a popular one, but I don’t like any of them so far. For casual players, these are fun ways to spice up gameplay, sure, but in the context of a multiplayer RPG game, it’s unhealthy to have official and unofficial metagames alike warped around the Pokémon that can best utilize these mechanics. Terastalizing is especially bad in this regard, as the mechanic forces even more luck into the game when trying to figure out how to check prominent offensive threats (see the recent Regieleki quickban from OU as an example).

The idea here is that most Pokémon are not created with various mechanics in mind. We’ve already seen what Terastalizing can do for Pokémon that would benefit from a type and/or movepool change, and what Z-Moves and Dynamax can do for Pokémon looking for just that little extra bit of firepower to push them over the edge. Even Mega Evolution isn’t safe from this problem, due to the specific Pokémon that were “allowed” to have new forms (rip Flygon, smh).

Z-Moves, regular Dynamax, and Terastalizing (pending any changes to the mechanic later down the line) at least have the advantage of being universal additions as opposed to species-specific, but Megas and Gigantamax forms can both screw off for all I care. Because let’s face the facts here. There is absolutely no reason Pokemon like Gengar, Garchomp, etc. needed help more than the hundreds of other options constantly being pushed aside.

 

[Ironmage]

1. Megas. I actually really like the lack of universality, it gave some potential for the mechanic to be used by something that isn't already at the top (though there were some exceptions in practice). It has the most potential for interesting setups, in design as well as mechanics. Megas can have a question of when to use them like Z-moves for type changes and on mons with good starting abilities in addition to teambuilding constraints.

2. Z-moves. Not a huge fan of the attacks, but I think there's a cool dynamic with status moves. That's still more than can be said for the ones later on the list.

3. Terastal. Boring. The best I can say about it is that it can be easily discarded now that planned obsolescence is a pillar of pokemon's game design.

4. DMax/GMax. Awful, unfun mechanics. Some of the Gmax designs are cool, which ends up being a detriment because this is the gen 8 mechanic. It feels like several gen 8 designs are incomplete without their Gmax, despite these also being the games where they committed to making this kind of mechanic temporary. So now we have mons that feel incomplete even if they do manage to get included, so not even removing this crap could go smoothly. Even though Megas could also define a mon, there's at least the argument that the designs were meant to be standalone (to mixed success) since a gen 6 mon with a mega is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[bdt2002]

1. Megas. I actually really like the lack of universality, it gave some potential for the mechanic to be used by something that isn't already at the top (though there were some exceptions in practice). It has the most potential for interesting setups, in design as well as mechanics. Megas can have a question of when to use them like Z-moves for type changes and on mons with good starting abilities in addition to teambuilding constraints.

I think these are all solid points, but I struggle to understand the hype behind Megas when questions about team building can also be applied to the other mechanics on this list. I find myself in this unique spot here I feel like Mega Evolution is the best of the four mechanics gameplay-wise, but only if it was handled better as for which species benefitted the most from the changes.

3. Terastal. Boring. The best I can say about it is that it can be easily discarded now that planned obsolescence is a pillar of pokemon's game design.

It’s going to be pretty funny how irrelevant the upcoming Terapagos will become if or when this mechanic leaves the core series. The obvious solution is just to Dexit Terapagos in all games where the mechanic doesn’t exist, but for the sake of humor it’s funny to imagine such a Pokémon without the entire reason it exists. Something similar happened recently with Eternatus in the HOME update, because apparently it makes sense to keep the move called “Dynamax Cannon” in a game… without… Dynamax… I’m sorry, what?

 

[KaenSoul]

Really wish that they never happened but if I had to choose megas could stay, maybe with some changes but is still the best.
They feel like GF just keep trying to innovate but in the most basic way and I don't like their approach of trying something big that will change everything until it no longer exists 3 years later and is replaced by something completely different.

 

[Hugin]

Megas were fine, they're easy enough to balance for Smogon(since we could just tier them like a new mon), and there were some interesting/cool design ideas. I think a lot of the designs were mid, relying too much on making it xtra, but at least there was some creativity and thought. As a way of helping low-tier/forgotten mons they were successful(more than anything that came later), but of course GF also gave megas to various powerhouses, because that makes sense?

Z-Moves were basically Gems Mk 2, and that's fine. At least on offensive moves. Not broken(except in VGC, but VGC is always broken), generally not a major shift for anything's viability. When used with Status moves is where things got interesting. Z-Conversion, Mirror Move, even Trick Room rewarded building strats that otherwise wouldn't even be considered seriously, which is what made this my favorite super-mechanic.

Dynamax can go take a long walk off a short pier. "What if we kept the offensive boost of Z moves for 3 turns, AND it sets you up for free, AND it's an HP buff, AND we make you immune to basically any non-damage counterplay? Isn't that fun and awesome?! Oh, but we eliminated the unique status effects on non-attacking moves, those were too much trouble and would discourage the 'just hit harder' strategies we're promoting." Most broken mechanic ever, while also being as bland as possible.

Tera is...eh. I'd be a lot happier with it if it eliminated the original STAB bonus as we were expecting it to, that would make it an actual trade-off. As-is, it's too good offensively and doesn't do enough defensively to counter that. And it's very bland. I like that it's an in-battle choice and mind game now, I just wish is was slightly less optimal to just stack Tera on your best sweeper and then win. Feels like Gen V's stacking multipliers.

 

[Samtendo09]

I have a hard time deciding for a favorite, though it’s not exactly a close contest either. Top is favorite, bottom is least.

Z-Moves: Although the first one that is universal, it is the one that have done the best. The Status Z-Moves helped the mechanic to be a lot more interesting and allows for more creative movepools than Dynamax or Terastalization in comparison, so that’s another major appealing aspect in both in-game and competitive.

Terastalization: Despite too much emphasis on offense due to keeping the usual STABs on top of the Tera-Type, it wasn’t really overcentralizing by itself and require careful thinking, and not use it first. Only few Pokémon were genuinely broken by Terastalization, and even then, they usually are already very powerful on their own. It helps that Terastalization can be used defensively, or even a combination of offense-defense.

Mega Evolution: Awesome concept, overall poor execution. It prioritized too much on fan favorites over Pokémon that really needed a boost, and should not be treated as a fix-all solution either (same goes traditional evolution) as we saw woth Audino and Banette. Continuing Mega Evolution will also contribute to an even more awkward item bloat unless - or perhaps even if - they gain their own item bag section.

Dynamax: Horrendous execution all around, on top of barely exciting concept and downright confusing lore behind it. It takes the worst part about Mega Evolution and Z-Moves and none of their weaknesses, with 3 turn limit proving too little to matter in the end. It gets especially uglier if used by a permanent-until-defeated Dynamaxed Pokémon in Max Raids or similar battles.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

I share the same opinion as Magcargo in terms of ranking, but I guess I can elaborate my own personal views on each.

Mega Evolution is my favorite of the super mechanics thus far. It's very different from the other super mechanics in that it's a very specific and personalized transformation power-up, but unlike Z-Moves and Dynamax which had a "special" version assigned to certain mons and a generic version at the same time, Mega Evolution fully commits to the fact that it's a specific mechanic and capitalizes on that by giving each Pokemon that gets it a personalized stat buff, ability change, type change, etc. that capitalizes on the "evolution" aspect of the transformation: it's effectively the pinnacle of the evolutionary line as the Pokemon "evolves" into its ultimate form, with a new appearance to create effectively a new Pokemon, and it has the stat buffs and changes to make it compelling to use on the Pokemon that have it. In other words, it's a great way to breathe new life into old Pokemon by giving them these buffs, and that's what made them so cool to begin with: even if not everything had it, the ones that did were given new life and that in and of itself was exciting, and also made them cool to use in battle. In competitive Megas often have to compete with each other for the "Mega Slot", which created an interesting cost-benefit analysis to perform in the teambuilder as to which one would give you the most benefits to your team, but it made for a great way to bring old Pokemon to life and make them shine in battle in a new way.

I'd say as far as more general super mechanics go, Terastal handles it the best. I've talked about it, but aside from the fact that it's completely generic and has no special treatment of any Pokemon, ie it fully commits to being a generalized power up, it also is a transformation like Mega Evolution is, but capitalizes on the transformation aspect in a way that works with it being generic, that being it's used as a type change and/or type boost to the individual Pokemon, and it can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used offensively as either a means to create super STAB by using the same Tera Type as one of the user's own types, or into another type to have STAB coverage, and in this case even change defensive properties. Because the Pokemon literally changes the user's type, it can also be used purely defensively, with even stall Pokemon like Clodsire, Garganacl, and Skeledirge using it to change their defensive type to work in tandem with their own innate defensive qualities (stat spreads, abilities, movepools) to change the set of Pokemon they can wall/counter, in essence being a power-up even defensive teams can benefit from. In a sense it works as a "generic" transformation power-up that doesn't change the user's stats, ability, or moves, but uses its type change/boost aspect to allow the user to work with the transformation in tandem with their own innate qualities to utilize Terastallization to their advantage in battle, either to hit harder with their own STABs, gain stronger coverage, or change their defensive qualities. Different Pokemon can even benefit from different Tera Types for different reasons, creating for a flexible mechanic in battle. There are of course, some Pokemon who don't necessarily always find it ideal to Terastallize. It's also a simple generic transformation where the Pokemon shines like a crystal and the Tera Crowns telegraph what's going on, so the style and substance go hand in hand, in a different way from Megas. As far as teambuilding and opportunity cost, Terastal goes in the opposite direction of Megas, in line with being a generic mechanic: whereas Megas used a "Mega Slot" to devote to, with Terastal anyone can Terastallize, but you have to choose which one gets to do so in each given battle depending on the circumstance, and you forfeit the right to Terastallize the other five in doing so. In essence Terastal is a mechanic that's very flexible and has depth for one that is universal/generic, and while Megas capitalize on being specific by breathing new life into old mons, Terastal capitalizes on being generic by being more of a "tool-in-the-box", not something that unintentionally buffs Pokemon or some Pokemon *need* to be good, but rather something that they can use to their advantage to change the tide of the battle if the need should arise.

Z-Moves are pretty good, but tended to skew the power-up scene towards offense almost strictly. One-use nukes created for some surprise uses for offensive mons in battle, but in many ways it fell into the trap of "the rich gets richer" by innate design of the mechanic despite being generic. Offensive mons could use it as a one-time nuke button to KO even walls they wouldn't be able to defeat, turning the tide of battle. Aesthetically they admittedly look cool, but battle wise they only had benefit for offensive Pokemon while defensive builds have little benefit from them. Z-Moves also tried to be both generic and specific at the same time, with specific Z-Moves having ties to specific moves from specific Pokemon, but often times there was more style than substance involved in these and thus little incentive to use the special Z-Move over generic ones from a practical standpoint, being mostly flashy substances. A few of them did have benefits, like Mew and Kommo-o's Z-Moves, but these ended up falling into the trap of "use this or you suck" despite Z-Moves being intended as more general, with Kommo-o relying on its omniboost to be good in higher tiers and Mew's Psychic Terrain making a difference in its use as well. Status Z-Moves do however create for interesting effects that are different across moves, and I like the thought put into status Z-Move effects, that said those still ultimately were skewed towards offensive and fast-paced battles. They're good overall, but I like them less than Mega Evolution and Terastal and they do have some faults.

Dynamax is my least favorite of the lot. It's a very poorly thought out mechanic with none of the depth of any of the above mechanics, and it's both underwhelming in style/aesthetic and lacking in substance, and the style overrides the substance to a point where aesthetically the suspension of disbelief is just out the window. Flavor wise it's literally "haha Pokemon goes giant", and some have a special G-Max form, but unlike Megas, the G-Max forms feel more like a "rule of cool" and the only change from the generic Dynamax form is a signature G-Max move, but in many cases they are basically just the original generic Max move but with the original secondary effect traded for another one that is oftentimes inferior. Dynamax is insanely overpowered with universal/generic Max Moves that can be spammed over three turns, causing stat boosts/drops, weather, and Terrain that allow a Dynamaxed Pokemon to change the tide of battle quickly while in an incredibly boring way using high BP moves and causing beneficial albeit homogenized side effects to power up and steamroll an entire team. Being active for three turns creates little depth to the mechanic while making it overpowered in a boring way, and aside from the moves stat wise it also is an HP boost, which is boring compared to the stat changes Megas would give, while the power-up moves are Z-Moves/Tera-boosted moves on an extremely broken scale. In other words, it's too boring for how strong it is. Aesthetically the "goes giant" aesthetic seems cool, but with the way the gameplay works they don't hit much harder and only take hits slightly better, and while gameplay wise this ends up making the mechanic overpowered, the style of facing a Pokemon the size of a battleship but not hitting that much harder or taking hits any better just ruins the suspension of disbelief of battling a Dynamaxed Pokemon. The transformation again skews the scene towards offense with little defensive value, and ends up also being a case of "the rich get richer" by inherent design, and the G-Max forms have little to differentiate from the generic forms gameplay wise except for design and a move that is often worse than the generic one: unlike signature Z-Moves, G-Max Moves also aren't tied to a specific move which makes them even less flavorful. Oh and did I mention every status moves becomes Max Guard aka Protect on steroids? Boring.

Long ass rant but there you go, my opinion on each super mechanic.

 

[Karxrida]

Megas > Tera >>> Z-Moves >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dynamax

Not gonna go over Megas and Tera cause Magcargo and ScraftyIsTheBest covered my thoughts on them already.

My biggest issue with Z-Moves are that the majority of them are just nukes with no side effects and there's very little thought or preparation required to use them. The best utilization of the mechanic is for lure sets, which already existed and the Z-Move versions somehow feel cheaper because they're a bit more consistent and widespread.

Dynamax is shit. None of the special Gigantamax look good, it's overpowered as fuck because no opportunity cost, and the concept is just inherently dumb because kaijus are only cool when you see them actually destroying stuff. A turn-based RPG with canned animations doesn't do that any justice.

 

[PokePoindexter]

4. Mega Evolution
Yay for bootleg Super Saiyans! Or not.

First off, both XY and ORAS do a terrible job of showcasing the mechanic, with only 3 and 4 (5 if you count the Delta Episode) battles respectively during the main adventures against opposing trainers with them. Secondly, in almost all cases where "it makes a bad Pokemon good", I find that reasoning completely redundant, because there are other, better ways to do just that. Why not just give Mawile, Pinsir, Banette, Lopunny, or Altaria actual evolutions? Why not buff Beedrill's and Pidgeot's stats and/or give them better Abilities (like Gen 7 did with Pelipper)? That way, none of those would have had to rely on a gimmick that lasted for only two generations to remain relevant.

Also, you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that Garchomp, Scizor, Heracross, Metagross, Salamence, Tyranitar, or Gyarados (all of which were competitive staples in the prior generation) needed them in the first place. Lastly, even disregarding the idea that they would still benefit more from evolutions or stat buffs, I can easily give you a litany of Pokemon who would have been far more deserving of a Mega Evolution than something created 3000 years after the mechanic it can exploit in two different ways was (and more besides those). Some fan service is understandable, but this is fucking ridiculous.

I know I'm going against the popular consensus here, but that's too bad. Get rid of the redundancy and abysmal distribution and I'll be happy to bump this up a place or two.

3. Dynamax
Yay for more bootleg Super Saiyans! Except this one is at least less redundant and better distributed. Plus, the combination of it and the crowds in the stadiums did help make the Galar gym battles feel a lot more memorable and climactic than they otherwise would've been.

Whether or not I can say I like this mechanic in competitive battling is a very different story. But in-game, it's not bad.

2. Terastallization
Like Dynamax, I can't say that I'm the biggest fan of Tera in competitive play, but I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge how ridiculously fun it is to toy around with in-game. Being able to turn any Pokemon I want into any type I want is something I've wanted to be able to do pretty much since I first started playing Pokemon. SV also excels at showing this mechanic off, as you can find Tera Pokemon in the wild, you can battle in Tera Raid dens (and those with at least 5 stars actually require some skill and teamwork to defeat), and every Gym Leader, Elite Four member, and Academy Ace Tournament participant uses it. But while that's all well and good, what stops me from putting it at number 1 is that it's also stupidly easy to exploit in competitive play. I need only mention the likes of Annihilape and Espathra to cause the average OU player back in December to shit Stakatakas.

1. Z-Moves
You may have noticed I like not needing to have a specific Pokemon in order to use a gimmick. And I like when said gimmick doesn't break a good chunk of Pokemon who use it. Z-Moves, by and large, fit both descriptions. To the extent that signature Z-Moves exist, few of them have any notable improvements that would make them preferable to standard ones (Eevium and Kommonium Z being the only ones I can think of off the bat), and almost nothing became broken all because of their ability to use them (Naganadel would've still been banned from USUM even if Z-Moves didn't exist). Alola also does a decently good job of showing it off, with the kahunas and a handful of Battle Tree, Battle Royal, and title defense battles all using them (plus the occasional "strongest trainer" on a route in USUM). The only major knock I have against Z-Moves is how easy it is to plow your way through the game with them, since you never have to recharge your Z-Ring or can only use it at select locations.

But honestly, I could do without any of these and would rather see Triple and Rotation Battles brought back. Arceus knows they have their flaws as well, but I still had more fun with them than I did any of these.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I know it's been a month since was posted, but I was busy in June so just catching up with stuff now.

While I could write down my thoughts, anything I said has been said already. So here's what I'm going to do:

My "Super Mechanic Ranking" is the same as Ironmage.

Though my exact thoughts are a combination of Hugin, Samtendo09, and ScraftyIsTheBest.

"Um, what's your point posting here than"? To bump up this thread, I feel its a major question we often ask elsewhere and so probably be a good idea to keep around to share our thoughts and point to if needed.

 

[Samtendo09]

I know it's been a month since was posted, but I was busy in June so just catching up with stuff now.

While I could write down my thoughts, anything I said has been said already. So here's what I'm going to do:

My "Super Mechanic Ranking" is the same as Ironmage

Though my exact thoughts are a combination of Hugin, Samtendo09, and ScraftyIsTheBest.

"Um, what's your point posting here than"? To bump up this thread, I feel its a major question we often ask elsewhere and so probably be a good idea to keep around to share our thoughts and point to if needed.

In that case, you can go ahead.

Just make sure it will encourage further discussion and ensure your insights on why you place something 4th or 1st.

 

[SturdyShedinja]

1. Megas
Imo megas feel a lot more well thought out than the other mechanics. They feel like personalized extensions of existing pokemon and helped give some terrible pokemon a chance to shine, even if it hurt their chances of getting something new in the future. And while this is definitely a Smogon focused mindset, megas feel a lot easier to balance due to how exclusive they are. Overall, megas just feel like they have more effort put into them to make every evolution feel unique and powerful.

2. Z-Moves
I find that most of the z versions of moves are a bit boring, but there are still a lot of interesting options especially compared to max moves. Things like z-splash giving +3 attack or just z-giga impact and hyper beam skipping the recharge turns gives them a lot of interesting applications, although usually the team’s z-move just becomes a one time nuke

3. Tera
Imo, Tera is just boring. It’s just a simple type change and a corresponding power boost. There’s no interactions with specific moves or pokemon, and even the power increase is just a basic modifier. Maybe the dlc will make it more interesting, but for now, Tera is the most bland super mechanic so far.

4. Dynamax
Dynamax somehow manages to be both extremely boring and incredibly overpowered at once imo. The only stat changes being an increased hp bar and every status move becoming glorified protect makes it a lot less interesting to me. A lot of the max moves, especially knuckle, ooze, and airstream, are also just blatantly overpowered, to the point where some gigantamax forms, such as machamp and gardobor, are objectively worse than the regular forms. Maybe it could’ve been improved upon if it had more time, but it just feels poorly executed

I don’t think anything in this post is a particularly unpopular opinion, but I still think it’s an interesting topic. However, I believe that the pokemon formula is strong enough to stand on its own, and while I doubt it’d happen, I hope that the next mainline games don’t introduce a new super mechanic at all. Whatever the inevitable next mechanic is, though, I hope they learn from the balancing issues they’ve had with all four mechanics, and that the next one at least comes with some sort of opportunity cost to balance it out while still feeling unique enough compared to what came before it.

 

[RocketSurgery]

It seems like my rankings might qualify for the unpopular opinions thread. My views are primarily shaped by designs, the lore/depiction/use in the games and anime and how enjoyable/interesting the mechanics have been as a spectator of VGC tournaments. I don't care about Smogon's formats, so my rankings are not shaped at all by those.

1. Dynamax

Although I initially disliked the concept of giant Pokemon, especially after the ridiculous giant torterra in the Detective Pikachu movie, the in-universe lore that it is some sort of hard-light-holographic projection is acceptable enough for alleviating that gripe (according to a single sign late game + an interview). It would have been nice if they focused on that aspect at all in the anime, but whatever, I'll take it. With that issue resolved, the reason dynamax makes the top of my list is

i) I think it actually gives the best feeling of a really exciting energetic battle---like if you were actually watching a Pokemon match in a stadium and one of the mons turned huge, that would be way more exciting than the other gimmicks. This was conveyed pretty well in the anime, with several david vs. goliath-esque battles.

ii) In VGC it did make for some really cool strategies, like the prankster trick room setup, and there were some exciting moments in tournaments, like the players cup where Wolfe dynamaxed his Urshifu-R instead of Coalossal, to the surprise of viewers and casters (from Wolfe's point of view he knew his Coalossal was slower than his opponent's). With the 3-turn limit it also didn't feel like the matches were purely decided by whoever managed to KO the other dynamax mon first, and there was a lot of variability and strategy as to when players dynamaxed their mons. The fact that any mon could dynamax led to more interesting choices than with Megas

iii) Hot take apparently, but I think the Gigantamax designs are overall better than the Mega designs. I'll say more about that when I get to Megas, but essentially I think the Gigantamax forms better captured the essence of the base designs while making them look and feel more powerful. In several cases the Gigantamaxes were enormous improvements over the base design too (cough Drednaw Coalossal cough).

2. Terastallization

This is a tentative placing since we're not through the generation yet; the DLC could bring some additional twists on terastallization, and the gimmick has only had one depiction in the anime so far.

This said, the reason I'm placing this 2nd for now is largely based on the VGC tournaments so far. Terastallization in VGC has been super interesting to watch, and a lot of the decisions have been largely for defensive purposes rather than just pumping up hyper offense. The fact that all official VGC tournaments are open team-sheet helps a lot with this, I think, because it prevents the matches from being riddled with too many surprise teras. While a player might not always guess correctly when a Pokemon will tera or which one will tera, they at least know what the options are and can go for plays like doubling-up on a Pokemon with moves that will hit the original typing or the tera typing (or ideally a switch in).

I think in-universe it would feel less exciting when a Pokemon terastallizes compared to dynamax, which helps place tera at the number 2 slot. I think if the DLC happens to bring something like tera forms, it might only solidify tera's position at number 2 on my list, rather than bump it up past dynamax, but that would really depend on what any hypothetical tera forms would do, and how many mons they're distributed to. e.g., if it just had something to do with the masks in part 1, that might be pretty meh. At any rate, we'll have to wait and see.

3. Z-Moves

It was hard to pick between Z-moves and Megas, because on the one hand I like form changes, which Z-moves did not offer, but on the other hand I have a soft-spot for Z-Moves because of Marshadow's move, and because I think Z-Moves came off really well in the anime, and those are the factors that tipped it to 3rd place.

In particular, the depiction of Z-Moves in the anime (and partly in the games) gave me the impression of a connection between the trainers and the Pokemon more than Megas did. While there were several episodes focused on trainers working together with their Pokemon, I don't know, it just felt like Z-Moves involved the trainers sharing their energy with their Pokemon to pull off a powerful attack.

The clash between Pikachu and Tapu Koko's Z-Moves, as well as later Pikachu vs. Gigantamax Charizard are also now very iconic depictions of the mechanic (both of those examples also tying into the 'excitement' of a powerful move being used against a huge opponent).

In terms of VGC, Z-Moves weren't quite as exciting, as while they could make for some impressive moments in games, they often didn't feel as exciting as they could be pretty inconsistent: you either nuked a mon or they protected to only take pitiful damage, or worse they switched in a mon with an immunity and the big cinematic attack did nothing. It would also have been cool if a few mons other than just Necrozma had associated form changes from using Z-Moves (which even Necrozma didn't really have -- it was really just a mega that unlocked a Z-Move after use).


4. Megas

Okay, hear me out here. I don't hate megas, I just don't think they have held up as well on the various fronts of the franchise. There are several reasons they have ended up in the bottom slot:

i) Designs. As I said earlier, I think Gigantamax designs were overall better than Megas. This point may be biased by the absolute travesty that is Mega Blastoise compared to the amazing Gigantamax Blastoise. I just hate Mega-Blastoise's chin so much. Why did they give it that chin? The forehead doesn't do it any favors either. In terms of cannons I like what they did with Gmax-Blastoise way more. It looks more organic, whereas Mega Blastoise looks too clunky, kind of like Transformers kibble.

Similarly, while I like Charizard X better than Gmax-Zard, the Gmax beats Charizard-Y, and G-Max Venu beats Mega Venu. I like both Mega Gengar and Gmax Gengar, but I think I like Gmax Gengar's design better. I think Mega Mewtwo-X was over designed, and while I like Mega Mewtwo Y ok, I think it is still a downgrade from regular Mewtwo.

Mega Banette and Mega Mawile are amazing, though.

I think that's the crux of what I like about the Gmax designs over megas: they generally feel more organic. Megas generally made things too smooth.

ii) In terms of watching VGC, memory is faded by now and I watched less VGC then than now, but I have the impression that Megas were a lot more centralizing in the format because only a select number of Pokemon had them. While it did bump some previously forgettable mons into the spotlight it was also just given to a lot of already good mons that made the opportunity cost of using the worse mons too high. Plus, because Megas required the item slot it meant you would less frequently see multiple possible megas on a team, making it a bit less interesting to watch (though that may be a positive to the players!)

iii) Megas were depicted fine in the anime, and the final battle between Mega Zard X and Ash-Greninja was definitely exciting (right up until the end), but overall I don't think Megas have been depicted as well as the other gimmicks. For example, both Megas and Dynamax had episodes in which a non-Mega/Dmax mon had to go up against them, and for Dynamax it was often portrayed as more high-stakes, while for Megas it didn't often feel as tense -- Ash's Dragonite beat Korrina's Mega Lucario (which had been beaten by Pikachu before, I think), Leon's regular Charizard nuked Alain's Mega Charizard, vs. Ash's regular Lucario having to bust out a "Gmax Aura Sphere" to KO Gmax Duraludon and Pikachu enduring several attacks from Gmax Charizard. Granted a lot of this is the writers' choice, but it doesn't help Megas' case.

iv) Pokemon GO's handling of Megas doesn't do the gimmick any favors. When it first came out it left me entirely uninterested in wasting raid passes to grind mega energy (with species-specific mega energy that you needed to spend each time to mega-evolve the Pokemon, and you needed to go multiple raids to get enough energy). They eventually revamped the system somewhat and you can replenish mega energy without raiding in some ways, making it better, but not enough to remove all traces of the bitter taste from the initial rollout.

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

iii) Megas were depicted fine in the anime, and the final battle between Mega Zard X and Ash-Greninja was definitely exciting (right up until the end), but overall I don't think Megas have been depicted as well as the other gimmicks. For example, both Megas and Dynamax had episodes in which a non-Mega/Dmax mon had to go up against them, and for Dynamax it was often portrayed as more high-stakes, while for Megas it didn't often feel as tense -- Ash's Dragonite beat Korrina's Mega Lucario (which had been beaten by Pikachu before, I think), Leon's regular Charizard nuked Alain's Mega Charizard, vs. Ash's regular Lucario having to bust out a "Gmax Aura Sphere" to KO Gmax Duraludon and Pikachu enduring several attacks from Gmax Charizard. Granted a lot of this is the writers' choice, but it doesn't help Megas' case.

I think the opposite, and as an avid watcher of Anipoke, I frankly consider Dynamax to be the least exciting and compelling mechanic seen in battles in the anime (I've watched most of Journeys). Dynamax gives off a very false sense of stakes in my eyes as far as anime battles are concerned and more than anything, it actually ends up restraining how compelling and good battles can actually look in the anime, and for the most part the manner of how Dynamax battles are handled in the anime is incredibly one dimensional.

Literally any battle that has involved Dynamax has been literally written in one or two manners: either a Dynamax mirror match that involves both opponents remaining completely stationary and firing attacks at each other, which is a very uninteresting battle and why most of them have been quick (G-Max Pikachu vs G-Max Cinderace in Ash vs Leon for instance rapidly ended with Cinderace getting one-shotted, same with G-Max Charizard vs G-Max Duraludon in Raihan vs Leon early on which was Duraludon getting shot in just one G-Max Wildfire), or in many cases, it is literally "non-Dynamax Pokemon tries their best to survive until the Dynamax wears off, then finish off the opponent".

Most of the Dynamax battles in the Masters 8 for instance were literally "survive until Dynamax wears off" written in the exact same manner, and in all cases, because Dynamax involves the Pokemon becoming incredibly large, I would also agree with an above point that the kaiju aesthetic does not suit Pokemon battles overall. Especially in the anime, where the charm is getting to see Pokemon in their full fidelity, the Dynamax Pokemon is forced to remain stationary and cannot move very much at all while they just stand there and fire off attacks, and the kaiju aesthetic commands a mostly stationary position for the Dynamax Pokemon that is practically impossible to animate well. Lucario relying on giant Aura Sphere to KO Duraludon was not a good battle in my eyes because in that case, Raihan's Duraludon was completely stationary and immobile: it was literally just standing there waiting to be attacked, which created a very poor sense of stakes in my eyes.

Gigantamax Charizard is probably my least favorite to actually witness in battle. I believe a big part of Charizard that makes it so cool to see in the anime (and why OLM loves showing it off) is that it's an incredibly aerodynamic and mobile design that is very effective to animate in an interesting way in anime-style battles, and G-Max Charizard just completely goes against that. I think the writing team at OLM even agreed with this notion: had this been more like Megas or Z-Move battles, Ash vs. Leon would've ended with Gigantamax Charizard itself being the finale and being defeated, likely by Gigantamax Pikachu, but instead it was sent out earlier in the battle and Ash's Pikachu was trying to stall it, and then the finale climax (which is usually the height of the battle) was normal Pikachu vs normal Charizard. And there's a reason for that: as I said, normal Charizard is more aerodynamic, and it was much easier for them to create an action packed and tense battle with the base forms of Pikachu and Charizard, who are both very nimble and easy-to-anime designs.

I guess the point I'm making is that I would disagree that Dynamax was better than Megas in the anime, and if anything Dynamax was actually fundamentally incompatible with the kinds of battles the anime is designed to portray, and thus the weakest mechanic that has been seen in the anime as of yet. There are literally only two ways to write it: A Dynamax mirror match, which is actually rather boring to see in the anime and most of the ones in Journeys ended in one or two moves (Leon's G-Max Cinderace for instance was one-shotted), or one Dynamaxed Pokemon against a non-Dynamaxed Pokemon and the latter tries to stall it until it wears off. Both of these are incredibly uninteresting to see in a medium that is predicated on seeing Pokemon in their full fidelity, in action packed battles, and a transformation that involves the Pokemon going large isn't a very compelling one especially when they have to remain in a stationary pose and essentially cannot move: the stakes are inherently lower especially when their attacks don't actually get that much stronger, and it's impossible to suspend disbelief there.

Megas are a transformation that involves a new appearance but the mon is still functionally mobile and can move around a lot: this created for a variety of interesting battles such as Ash Greninja's battles against Mega Abomasnow, Mega Sceptile, and Mega Charizard X, and while Mega vs normal Pokemon battles in Journeys weren't that different from normal ones, that's just more because JN was an inconsistent mess of a production and in the case of Leon vs. Alain, they went way too far in trying to portray Leon as "overpowered": they basically equated "never lost a battle in his career" to being borderline invincible, to the point where even in his battle against Ash, he gave Ash a systematic advantage by letting Ash use all three of Dynamax, Z-Moves, and Mega Evolution so that he could show off how strong he is by overpowering all of a Dynamaxed and a Mega Evolved Pokemon and a Pokemon with a Z-Move with his non-super mech'd (for the most part) team, and still came very close to nearly beating Ash, who only barely managed to win and Pikachu blacked out immediately afterward.

In general I think Megas and Z-Moves were both far better suited to anime style battles than Dynamax was: the former still invites flexible designs and move animations while the latter is essentially a super nuke and thus is actually quite cool to see in battles. We haven't seen much of Terastal yet but the one instance we saw it in looked nice, even if the crystal texture and Tera Jewel hat were evidently a large investment to draw in the anime. Dynamax on the other hand just does not work with a medium that's all about showing Pokemon in full action and fidelity in my eyes.

 

[pika pal]

To get it out of the way: Mega >> Terastal > Z-Moves >> Primal Reversion >>>> Shadow Pokemon >>>> Balan Wonderworld Gameplay > Dynamax.

Elaboration may follow as discussion continues, but in brief summary for now.

Explanations

1. Megas were designed specifically around their users so they tended to have a clear goal in mind, whether it was improving their current playstyle or giving a new gameplan entirely (be it replacement or adding one to a Mon that had none to begin with like Mawile or Beedrill). Some will argue the opportunity cost, to which I say this applies to all the other gimmicks anyway: Me electing to use Mega Gyarados over Mega Houndoom has the same outcome as me electing to Dynamax Tornadus instead of Pidgeot (I don't know what good Max users are but I needed two names) in that the low tier Pokemon still doesn't get used due to the limited access to the gimmick. Yes, I CAN Max or Terastalize or Z-Move with whatever I want, but what is my incentive to not use the same stuff that the mechanic most empowers anyway? At that point the best I can credit is on the thought put into the mechanic's design to try and make as many Pokemon valid options as possible rather than throwing up the hands in a "rich-get-richer" generic approach every time.
2. Terastalization is the first generic mechanic I actually like a bit, in that it keeps the Toolbox decently wide with different typing options. It still has the caveat of locking yourself to one type once the battle is underway, but there are ways to customize the build so that even if they didn't design the Pokemon around the gimmick, they left ways for you to find a set up that suits how you want to use it offensively OR defensively. We see all manner of Pokemon using it from fast sweepers to Bulky Walls to Tanky win conditions, it's very versatile and reminds me a bit of things like Mario Maker or Deck-Building in Trading Card Games: Some engines or gimmicks work better for a given subject than others, but there is room to experiment and find it yourself.
3. Z-Moves are mostly generic and I don't consider the individualized ones to be that special, though I can acknowledge they had unique animations and some secondary effects that felt flavorful if not elaborate. I knock them compared to the above because they did not put nearly as much stock into supporting anything besides Offensive playstyles (it's there but feels very secondary), meaning they mostly improve Pokemon that benefit from nuking specific targets in games that are highly centralized (such that you can easily guess Lynchpins you'll face) or have absolutely absurd amounts of Pokemon variety such that you just need to overburden general roles/blanket checks. Aesthetic points for being the one gimmick that legitimately feels integrated into the culture of the region-basis it's tied to.
4. Dynamax is not only my least favorite Super Gimmick, I rank it as possibly one of the worst designed mechanics I have ever seen in an RPG for its combination of thoughtlessly overpowered interaction and incredibly boring usage of them. This one gets sub-bullets because I have a LOT more to say right here. I will make the acknowledgement that some of these points might apply to the above, but only Dynamax encompasses ALL of them
   • To start minor though, remember that thing I mentioned about Z-Moves aesthetically fitting the region? Yeah that shit goes right out the window with Dynamax: what the hell do Kaiju projections have to do with a region based on Great Britain? Megas and Terastalization lack much basis in the other regions either but at least have the excuse that they're based on alien elements and objects that were found/created in those regions rather than naturally occurring, where Dynamax is based on an energy that pervades Galar to the point of being what it runs on and builds its League from.
   • It's not even original. Conceptually it's just turning your Pokemon into a Raid boss straight out of Go or one of the Dens in Gen 8 (or 9 afterward to an extent). Just bigger, beefier, and good luck winning against it unless it's outnumbered like said Raid Bosses were designed around.
   • Dynamaxing has literally no effort put into the art of anything besides the GMax forms, which if I see complaints about favoritism for Megas I expect the same here for consistency in the principle. The GMax forms take the favoritism in an even worse direction: I can understand buffing fan-favorites even if they were still sufficiently good, and it at least retained some variety across the generations represented with the exception of the very-recent Gen 5 only getting Audino in ORAS. Where Megas had some Kanto Bias (in XY at least), literally every Gigantamax form besides Garbodor and the Home-exclusive Melmetal is for either a Gen 1 Pokemon or a Gen 8 Pokemon (and this is if you count Melmetal as Gen 7 instead of a Gen 8 early bird like Munchlax and Bonsly cameos in the Orre Games).
   • Mechanically it's so boring. Every move becomes a Z-Move that also throws out a more busted Secondary effect than those ever did, with no intrinsic cost, a longer duration, and BETTER benefits like doubling HP (I'll get into the others on the next point). They just took Z-moves, removed any limiting factors on them and ramped them up. Z-Moves at least had the idea of functioning as an alternative on Megas rather than directly power-creeping OR downgrading the exact same concept.
   • Dynamax is THE most forced Super Mechanic I have ever seen come out of the battle system. Yes, Megas and Z-Moves were incredibly prominent in their Metas and I expect Terastalization to be so as well, but in a Dynamax Ruleset, what recourse do you have against Dynamax besides to use it yourself or prepare so hard for it that you pigeonhole the team anyway (since the only Mons with counter options are restricted Legendaries who have it BECAUSE they can't use the gimmick)? Max moves are busted, the doubled HP makes KOing first ridiculous-bordering-impossible if your opponent has 2 braincells about their Pokemon, you can't Defend with Protect to weather the Storm, and 90% of non-Damage play arbitrarily and literally fails to affect the Dynamax Pokemon, which means you can't even pull a David vs Goliath scenario of outsmarting or going for the weak spot of the larger opponent. Mega Pokemon did not require another Mega Pokemon to counter them, just an understanding of their playstyle to account for them as powerhouses.

Gigantamax Charizard is probably my least favorite to actually witness in battle. I believe a big part of Charizard that makes it so cool to see in the anime (and why OLM loves showing it off) is that it's an incredibly aerodynamic and mobile design that is very effective to animate in an interesting way in anime-style battles, and G-Max Charizard just completely goes against that. I think the writing team at OLM even agreed with this notion: had this been more like Megas or Z-Move battles, Ash vs. Leon would've ended with Gigantamax Charizard itself being the finale and being defeated, likely by Gigantamax Pikachu, but instead it was sent out earlier in the battle and Ash's Pikachu was trying to stall it, and then the finale climax (which is usually the height of the battle) was normal Pikachu vs normal Charizard. And there's a reason for that: as I said, normal Charizard is more aerodynamic, and it was much easier for them to create an action packed and tense battle with the base forms of Pikachu and Charizard, who are both very nimble and easy-to-anime designs.

I made a similar comment to the above that I will link here regarding Charizard's versatility when actually animating battles, which I think extends to its frequent appearances in other media like Smash Bros as a fighter (where it was the only mon to return for Smash 4 out of the Pokemon Trainer's trio initially).

I feel like I understand where Charizard's heavy usage and popularity comes from. Besides "Kid Like big Dragon" to the appearance, Charizard is a very versatile mon in terms of depicting how it fights, being able to shoot for long range, grapple and swipe with its claws, bulky enough to just brawl and body check, headbutting and use of its tail for weird mixing up, can utilize its wings for things like Air Slash or blocks, and both low and high flight for movement on ground or aerial fighting.

Charizard's design lends itself very well to dynamic fighting and Animation, so even if not for its popularity, its a good Pokemon for an Ash ace because they can get really creative with the angles and movement in battles with it, as befits climactic or finale battles that might want to wing back and forth. You can even see this in a lot of big battles Charizard is utilized for.
--snipped here--

And correct me if I'm wrong, but how many significant battles involving non-Mirror Dynamax actually end ON the Dynamax mon? In the Masters 8 for example, the infamous Leon vs Alain battle, Lance vs Diantha, Ash vs Cynthia, and Ash vs Leon all sell the "normal vs Max" mon as their turning point (admittedly with the Ash/Leon fight going to Dynamax Mirror after but it supports my point in a second); of these battles, only Lance vs Diantha is decided at the Max moment, with Alain, Cynthia, and the Final match concluding on the actual aces being in the back and slugging it out in normal forms after the Max mon falls. If anything this doesn't sell Dynamax as the big gimmick so much as a Worf Effect (to borrow a trope name): beating the Max mon proves the Pokemon's a big deal but doesn't guarantee the overall match win, compared to Gen 6 where if a Mega or Ash Greninja hit the field, you knew you were in the endgame of a battle, or Z-Moves being the point where the fight was being decided one way or another.

Ultimately the anime proves to me that Dynamax is fundamentally designed to be a spectacle for images and artwork that only works in the games because of their static (and arguably low) animation design. The second you have to handle Kaiju-sized Mons moving you run into the same problem as actual Kaiju movies, where these things can't move gracefully without looking silly due to either their size (in-universe) or the production means (costumes/animation demand out of universe). The reasons previous gimmicks worked are because Megas were designed as extensions of a Pokemon's design or a clearly thought-about subversion of it like Mega Slowbro's total immobility for defense, so how they would move and fight could extend from previous sequences, while Z-Moves were brief sequences that could get all that flashy focus without keeping the terrain or constant minute movements in mind.

 

[Eriorguez]

Megas are the ones that feel like a continuation of the overall trends in the franchise. They are a midgame form change, and them being a flat 100 boost to stat total means that there are diminishing returns the stronger the base form is (as a rule). The one issue I have with them is that some stuff that got one should had evolved regularly (and some of the stuff that got regular evos should had gotten a Mega instead; fucking tired of stuff with Alakazam's stat total evolving, or kids asking for evolutions for Lapras or Gogoat).

I am specially fond of how XY Megas went for "is actually just another set" for the stronger 'mons. Mega Tyranitar was not Tyranitar but better, but it was a held item that would make its DD set work better (and you had control of when the sandstorm would start if you ran Unnerve on base).

Z-Moves were gems with extra steps, and I liked gems better.

Gigantamax is unfun snowballing setup.

Terastal is just chaos, as typing is often what balances a 'mon.


Yeah, Megas are the only one to be good, and feel like an addition to the franchise as a whole rather than a game-exclusive gimmick. It helps that they lasted for 2 gens in the MSG, and that they are still heavily featured in the expanded franchise.

 

[RocketSurgery]

while Mega vs normal Pokemon battles in Journeys weren't that different from normal ones, that's just more because JN was an inconsistent mess...

For the purposes of weighting the contribution of dynamax and megas in the anime to my rankings, this is precisely the crux of the issue. Because a Pokemon is exactly as strong as the writer wants it to be, there isn't a strong, satisfying way to convey the power of Megas compared to regular Pokemon, so unless the mega form was dramatically different in shape/motion or typing, being a Mega functionality had no impact on the 'choreography' of the battle. Most Mega battles, particularly in Journeys, would have played out the same way if the writers weren't allowed to use Megas. I agree that the power level depiction issue was probably handled slightly better in XY because Megas being the only gimmick made it easier for the writers play them up as consistently stronger than regular Pokemon, but as a result most battles came down to Mega vs Mega (or Ash-Greninja), which ends up playing out like a non-mega vs non-mega battle between strong Pokemon.

While Dynamax also suffers from the "exactly as strong as the writer wants it to be," in my opinion it was more meaningful in the sense of forcing the writers to deal with the mechanic in a way that they could generally avoid with Megas. While you might not enjoy the 'kaiju vs kaiju' or 'endure the dynamax' battles, by necessity they weren't just a regular battles with cool racing stripes painted on the Pokemon.

So, to me the inconsistent depictions of power levels of the two gimmicks in the anime essentially balanced out, and after that the picture of Dynamax Pokemon in a gigantic stadium look more visually engaging to me (especially in the Twilight Wings shorts), even if they are less dynamic than regular battles in some ways.

 

[pika pal]

While Dynamax also suffers from the "exactly as strong as the writer wants it to be," in my opinion it was more meaningful in the sense of forcing the writers to deal with the mechanic in a way that they could generally avoid with Megas. While you might not enjoy the 'kaiju vs kaiju' or 'endure the dynamax' battles, by necessity they weren't just a regular battles with cool racing stripes painted on the Pokemon.

So, to me the inconsistent depictions of power levels of the two gimmicks in the anime essentially balanced out, and after that the picture of Dynamax Pokemon in a gigantic stadium look more visually engaging to me (especially in the Twilight Wings shorts), even if they are less dynamic than regular battles in some ways.

I think where we diverge here is that the Dynamax battles do have a more distinct feel from how normal battles play out for sure, but that different way is just always worse than Megas being "Regular" slugfests with different skins.

I think Journeys still nailed it for important battles, like Mega Lucario having to get through Max Togekiss AND Cynthia's Garchomp back to back, or said Garchomp needing to Mega Evolve to overcome Iris's in-sync Haxorus being a more or less epitomized "normal" battler. Dynamax battles are just very static, so they don't feel entertaining to watch and don't feel any more narratively satisfying than reading a summary of the battle to me.

 

[Just A Seaking]

TL;DR Megas >>> Z-Moves > Dynamax > Terastal. The less unique a phenomenon is, and the less they can do for a Pokemon's design, the more I dislike the gimmick. This also goes gameplay-wise, as gimmicks get less and less telegraphed and more frustrating to deal with over time.

Megas are my favorite because they're 100% unique designs that feel like a super-evo to an existing Pokemon, which I think is really cool! Some Megas are misses, and some 'mons that got Megas definitely didn't need them (Garchomp applies for both categories), but overall I think a super-boost that you need a strong bond with your Pokemon to activate both feels really good and makes the gimmick a lot more memorable than the rest. Megas being as strong and distinct as they are is a good thing for teambuilding as well, imo - if you see a Sableye in Team Preview, for example, you know it's almost certainly Sableye and can plan around it.

Z-Moves are a huge step down from Megas, but the unique Z-Moves compensate for it. Z-Moves introduce my primary problem with gimmicks: *anyone* can use them at *any* time, so they become A. much less visually distinct from each other and B. much more difficult to predict.

Dynamax made, what is in my opinion, a huge mistake that I resent about gimmicks - they no longer take up your item slot, completely neutering the need to pick and choose which member of your team is being assigned the gimmick. It also makes gimmicks even less transparent than before - you can't even scout for the gimmick with Knock Off (or even niche abilities like Frisk) anymore. Gigantamaxes are, for the most part, pretty neat, but I'm under no illusion that I should get attached to the concept since they're explicitly tied to Galar only.

Terastal: Over time, I have come to loathe this mechanic more and more. I am far from qualified to talk about its role in the metagame, so let's talk about why I dislike it aside from that. Changing types is an idea that I think is fascinating on paper, but in practice just feels like a cheap "gotcha!" both to use and to play against. Z-Moves had a similar project, but at the very least that A. took up your item slot and B. was a one-time burst of power - Terastal has neither of those things, permanently warping the match (and likely with your original counter/check/whatever down or at a severe disadvantage, too). I'm not opposed to turnaround mechanics, for the record, I just think Tera feels uniquely cheap - and unlike the past few gimmicks, there are zero unique Teras to work with. Singlehandedly necessitating VGC to require team sheets just to make the format playable strikes me as a very bad sign. Every single Tera is completely interchangeable, every 'mon gets the same ridiculous crystal headpiece, you get the picture. Combine that with Teras being handled in the most boring possible way in-game, and I think this is by far the worst gimmick we've seen.

If I had my way (which, I'm just one guy, I don't mean to imply this would be best for the series or anything), Megas would be a permanent thing that are steadily added upon going forward, and any other gimmicks introduced would be A. toned down from what they are now and B. much more telegraphed.

 

[Esserise]

I’m not much of a competitive player, so I’m sure there’s tons of metagame implications I’m not taking into account. That said:

1. Z-Moves: I had a lot of fun with these in regular playthroughs. I found them to be very intuitive, feeling like another tool in the toolbox alongside regular held items. For a relatively low cost, you could get a one-off (or two-off in USUM) super move, or you can play around with Z-status moves, and for me at least, many of the bosses in the Alola games were tough enough (even without using their own Z-Moves) to make me feel like these options really could make a big difference.

2. Dynamax: While I feel like the boss Trainers are never challenging enough to warrant Dynamax’s high density of power, and it especially sucks that none of those characters ever do anything interesting with Dynamax’s flexibility, I feel like Dynamax really shined in Max Raid Battles and Dynamax Adventures. Not only did I always feel like it was more balanced out in those instances by things like the defensive barriers or the gauntlet structure, but we also wouldn’t have those features without Dynamax to act as a conceptual anchor. This ushered in the possibility of cooperative battles that reward everyone for contributing to, which was something I’d always felt like the series was missing. I also think I like Dynamax’s “lore” the most, at least in terms of how it’s woven into the fabric of the region and how it informs their culture. It works perfectly with the “spectator sport” nature of the Galar League.

3. Terastal: Overall, I think it’s solid, and can lead to some fun strategies. In the main campaign, it sort of has the same problem as Dynamax, where almost all of the characters who use it do so in the most predictable, straightforward ways. But at least even with that much, they still get the benefit of shaving off a few weaknesses. Beyond that, though, I love the discussions that are generated by the 7-Star Raid events; I love seeing what counters people propose and theorize about to account for the target’s Tera Type in conjunction with its possible moveset. I’m certain that always be something that I stands out to me about this Gen and makes it unique. Now if only Tera Raids weren’t such a buggy mess…

4. Mega Evolution: The designs themselves are cool. The new strategic twists they give to certain Pokémon are very nice. But XY were absolute garbage at implementing Mega Evolution into the game. Literally only a couple of bosses ever use it, and 99% of the game itself is so easy and toothless that I never actually have a reason to use it… and even if that weren’t the case, you can only try out like six of the different Megas before the post-game anyway. To be fair, ORAS were better on all of these counts to varying degrees. But when I look back on things as a whole, I don’t really feel like Mega Evolution ever truly added much to my experiences in Gen 6.

 

[Adeleine]

i don't really like any of them. i find most megas to be visually ugly and conceptually vapid. with zmoves and (to a significantly lesser extent) tera, modifying mechanical interactions versus the pokemon themselves in a way, they feel unemotive and dry. gmax was great fun in-game, adding both spectacle and mechanical depth in a way that focuses on the pokemon vs dry mechanics, and its limitation to boss battles kept the novelty. however, im sure someone else has covered its competitive failings more than i. if i was forced to pick my favorite, id be a toss up between the non-z-move options, probably.

 

[awyp]

I don't like any of them but if there was a gun pointed at me I probably say Z Moves.

 

[TheMantyke]

To preface: this is all coming from someone who has mostly played Gen 7-9 as what I might describe as casually competitive. I've done a fair bit of battling with the intention to win, but it's not like I was taking it super seriously or anything. It's mostly been for things like ribbons on my Pokemon in Gen 8-9, or playing with IRL friends in Gen 7. I have not like actively attempted to climb ladders or win tournaments or whatever like I did with Gen 5. This is less an assessment of like what's a good competitive mechanic and more what's a fun and interesting mechanic for someone touring in and out of competitive pokemon over the years.

For me, evaluating a mechanic from this perspective comes down to a few aspects:

• How Flashy / Exciting is the mechanic? - How cool is it? How big of a centerpiece is it to the match? Does it make my simple primate brain excited from something neat happening?
• Does the mechanic make for unique or interesting strategy? - Does it make some unconventional Pokemon interesting? Does it vary things up from the normal slurry of generic goodstuffs? Again, this isn't taking it intensely seriously, so giant centralizing

#1 Terastal - It might be recentcy bias creeping in, but I think I do truly love terastalization. Changing types is such a cool and splashy effect. The span of what you can do with it feels pretty interesting beyond just big nuke attacks. The way you can personalize stuff for certain metagames of Pokemon running around, running Flying to dodge fissures, running Grass to ignore Amoonguss, running Ice to get Snowscape boosts, it's all pretty neat to me. That's also not even mentioning you do get the big nuke attacks I am very much a fan of with my smooth lizard mind. The only thing I'm not a fan of so far is how resource intensive they are to change, but I have to imagine that will probably change through either some new system or easier resources with the DLC.

#2 Dynamax - I'll be real fellas. As someone who played Gen 8 in like bursts of 3-4 weeks of play like 4 times, I really enjoyed Dynamax. It is so incredibly poorly balanced for 6v6 play and changes 3v3 and 4v4 formats so much. But like, goddamn it's so fun and flashy if you're just playing as a tourist so you don't get sick of it centralizing things. OHKOing neutral physical walls with a 50 foot tall +1 Haxorus felt absolutely amazing. The way it drastically rebalanced Pokemon and items was also I feel very unique; Belly Drum and Sheer Force Pokemon suffered a lot, but things with big dumb stats and little else like Porygon-Z and Glaceon suddenly got to do things. Also, just the comedy of an opponent Dynamaxing immediately to a counter attack into them violently exploding is funny! I understand the dislike and divisiveness for this mechanic from so many players and I think all of your opinions are totally justified. If I was playing with Max Airstream for three years straight, I'd also probably be sick of it. But personally? I liked my time with Dynamax.

#3 Z-Moves - I like Z-Moves. I will forever hold my weekly Battle Royals with friends close to my heart and these things made them wonderful. That said, I think it's a super barebones version of what we got later. The options it opens up aren't terribly exciting. There are a handful of some really cool moves with neat effects. Letting a Mamoswine hurl itself into the sky off of Z-Peck is also hilarious. Yet, at the same time, the item restriction can feel painful. A bit of bad timing and your big flashy battle centerpiece is just in the crapper. Worse yet though... It's not really a great battle centerpiece? Like, it feels a tad exciting for a turn, it's a big attack, but what after that? It does not hit like the rest of these mechanic where it really and truly feels like a dramatic point in your game. That's cool and I can see where people prefer that as a light seasoning among their mostly normal Pokemon play. That isn't really my taste. My competitive Pokemon chops came into bloom with Gen 5 VGC and it's gem-infested jankiness; I'm already used to Dragon Gem Draco Meteors, which are hitting harder than the same Devastating Drake. Z-moves just aren't as fun and interesting to me as the other mechanics (though still fun!)

While we're here by the way, shout out to the greatest Z-move play I ever made:

?? Mega Evolutions

So then what, I think Megas are the worst? No, Mega evolution is cool! Personally though I think Megas deserve to be discussed in a different light then as the gen's mechanic.

I am of the opinion that Gen 7-9's mechanics are a different world entirely compared to Megas. I think Megas are at a halfway point between a gen's normal feature of making older Pokemon interesting and a full fledge crazy battle mechanics. It is flashy and there is some slight tension and decision making, like when do you mega your Salamence or Mawile, etc. Yet still, I think it's a closer sister to things like regional forms than anything.

I am tired of writing so I am going to stop my post here, but if I were to make a tier list ranking "Make older Pokemon more interesting", it would look something like this:

1. Cross Gen Evolution Lines
2. Unique Regional Form evolutions
   
3. Regional Forms
4. Megas
5. Regional Form exclusive evolutions
6. (gap)
7. Baby Pokemon
8. (gap)
9. G-Max Forms

G-Max formes are atrocious my god. Why did they go straight from wasting man power on animations you'll only see for one game into Pokemon formes with the effect of changing a singular attack??