Gen 8 Mythical Pokemon

[lonerlotad]

Both Kubfu and Calyrex are considered to be Gen 8 Legendary Pokemon. We only have Zarude as Gen 8 Mythical Pokemon. I'm wondering if we're going to have a new mythical Pokemon to be announced soon. We still haven't got our mandatory cute Mythical Pokemon, the likes of Shaymin, Victini, Jirachi and etc. Any thoughts about this?

 

[Melba Acquiescence]

I thought Zacian and Zamazenta were the only Gen 8 Legendary Pokemon. I guess I haven't been keeping up with the new legendaries being added.

 

[PinkIceFox]

Considering Mythical Pokemon are usually just glorified movie ads and rare simply because of limited release and availability...

Gods I sure as heck hope there's no more this gen. Mythicals are the worst.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Mythicals tend to be a yearly affair, and this year's is Zarude, so we probably won't get any more until next year. There's probably going to be 1 or 2 more this generation. The bigger issue in my eyes is where is the international distribution for Zarude? Japan's had it for 4 months already, when is the rest of the world going to get it?

 

[Esserise]

Having put out a number of "lol there might not be another set of Gen 8 games" conspiracies, the question of more Mythical Pokémon is something I've been trying to puzzle out.

Presumably any Mythical Pokémon for this generation would have been designed and put on the calendar before the pandemic really set in, so I'm very cautiously assuming that COVID complications wouldn't affect the Mythicals themselves, but might interfere with the production schedule for the associated films.

Let's looking over the last few years:

2016 - Traditional movie shared by Volcanion, the last Gen 6 Mythical, and Magearna, the first Gen 7 Mythical. SM released in November.
2017 - The first of the reboot movies, this time spotlighting Marshadow. USUM released in November.
2018 - Reboot sequel with Zeraora. Meltan and Melmetal are also revealed this year, with Let's Go releasing in November.
2019 - No Mythical in this year's film which is instead a CGI remake of the first movie. (I guess technically this makes Mew the 2019 Mythical? lol, but of course, all of the marketing went toward Mewtwo and its goofy new armor.) Meltan does have an arc in the anime, though, kind of like Meloetta in the B2W2 days (and I have previously argued that Meltan may be more appropriately thought of as being more akin to a Gen 8 Mythical, though I really don't want to rehash that whole debate right now). SwSh release in November.
2020 - Another reboot sequel, now featuring Zarude. Delayed by COVID. SwSh DLC is rolled out in Q2 and Q4. No other Mythical Pokémon besides Zarude are introduced into the games' code.

Now, if there is to be a new set of games next year, then really there's no problem. I would assume that those games would simply include the new Mythical(s) natively within their code, which can then be patched into SwSh for compatibility. But of course, a new Gen 8 game coming next year makes me wonder how far off we are from Gen 9. I can only imagine that Game Freak would need a break somewhere in order to really focus on the core work for Gen 9. If there's another Gen 8 game next year, then surely we shouldn't expect Gen 9 until 2023 at the earliest? In which case, just how many more Mythicals are there going to be? Three, one for each year until then? Just two, since the Mewtwo movie remake has demonstrated that they don't necessarily need every movie to feature a new Mythical as long as it has something else novel (first all-CGI Pokémon movie, for example) that it can promote? Or even just one? Is it possible that they could also try another Meltan-like surprise, unveiling one of the new Mythicals through Pokémon GO rather than anything else? Strictly speaking, they wouldn't even need to create a set of games like Let's Go this time, since the main series will have GO compatibility by then, via Pokémon HOME.

Meanwhile, if there isn't a new game next year and we are instead on-track to start Gen 9 in 2022, then I don't know what they plan to do as far as more Mythicals for Gen 8 go. Simply patching a single new species into SwSh devoid of any kind of major release on the video game side just doesn't feel very much like Game Freak to me.

 

[RileyXY1]

Now, if there is to be a new set of games next year, then really there's no problem. I would assume that those games would simply include the new Mythical(s) natively within their code, which can then be patched into SwSh for compatibility.

I don't know if they would do that, as Zeraora was never patched into SM.

 

[Silktree]

Isn't it a given that the remaining 200-ish Pokemon will be added to SwSh? I personally have little doubt that we'll get a new game for the anniversary (even if it means a 4-year generation), but a mythical could easily be added regardless.

Hell, they could do it just for another Go-based mythical to promote Home compatibility. Two more mythicals would be my guess, bringing up the Pokemon count to 900.

 

[RileyXY1]

Isn't it a given that the remaining 200-ish Pokemon will be added to SwSh? I personally have little doubt that we'll get a new game for the anniversary (even if it means a 4-year generation), but a mythical could easily be added regardless.

Hell, they could do it just for another Go-based mythical to promote Home compatibility. Two more mythicals would be my guess, bringing up the Pokemon count to 900.

I don't think so as they haven't ever patched an old game to include content from a new game.

 

[RK9]

I wouldn't be surprised if the 'small, cutesy myhtical' for Galar would be introduced in the next set of games that are away from Galar. They've done it for Zeraora, Meltan/Melmetal before as well and Magearna was also introduced in the second set of games from that gen (Even though it was still in the same region).

 

[Silktree]

I don't think so as they haven't ever patched an old game to include content from a new game.

We haven't had DLC before now, either. Or games that lack 400+ Pokemon initially...

I wouldn't be surprised if the 'small, cutesy myhtical' for Galar would be introduced in the next set of games that are away from Galar. They've done it for Zeraora, Meltan/Melmetal before as well and Magearna was also introduced in the second set of games from that gen (Even though it was still in the same region).

Magearna was introduced in SM before Marshadow. This is being nitpicky, but Meltan and Melemetal have nothing to do with Alola and that could be a trend going forward.

 

[RileyXY1]

We haven't had DLC before now, either. Or games that lack 400+ Pokemon initially...


Magearna was introduced in SM before Marshadow. This is being nitpicky, but Meltan and Melemetal have nothing to do with Alola and that could be a trend going forward.

Not patching the new Pokemon in would also ensure that VGC would move on to using the new games instead of sticking with Sword and Shield.

 

[Puddle]

I don't think so as they haven't ever patched an old game to include content from a new game.

There's a first time for everything! Game Freak are treading new ground with Sword and Shield - Zarude and the 200 Pokemon from the Expansion Pass were all patched in after the games' original release. I could see this becoming the norm for Mythical Pokemon going forward, because it allows Game Freak to reveal a new one when they want to reveal it, instead of it being datamined months or even years prior.

That being said, I'd find it quite refreshing if Zarude was the only Mythical we got this gen. I'm getting a little tired of Mythicals, to say the least, and there are far too many of them now.

 

[RileyXY1]

There's a first time for everything! Game Freak are treading new ground with Sword and Shield - Zarude and the 200 Pokemon from the Expansion Pass were all patched in after the games' original release. I could see this becoming the norm for Mythical Pokemon going forward, because it allows Game Freak to reveal a new one when they want to reveal it, instead of it being datamined months or even years prior.

That being said, I'd find it quite refreshing if Zarude was the only Mythical we got this gen. I'm getting a little tired of Mythicals, to say the least, and there are far too many of them now.

It would cause problems with VGC, and may even force them to set up two different tournaments: one for the new games, and one for Sword and Shield.

 

[Silktree]

Mythicals are always excluded from VGC, and they don't need to exclude the missing Pokemon from SwSh just to restrict VGC to new games (that always happens, except for LGPE).

 

[RileyXY1]

Mythicals are always excluded from VGC, and they don't need to exclude the missing Pokemon from SwSh just to restrict VGC to new games (that always happens, except for LGPE).

It would make people less willing to buy the new games if VGC stuck to Sword and Shield.

 

[Phosphene]

It would make people less willing to buy the new games if VGC stuck to Sword and Shield.

I highly doubt anyone will be less willing to buy the new games if the VGC was restricted to SwSh. Competitive is already rather niche, I'd say, in the Pokemon fandom, and I figure a negligible amount of competitive players purchase the games solely for the competitive aspect.

 

[swiftgallade46]

It would make people less willing to buy the new games if VGC stuck to Sword and Shield.

I think Silktree was saying they would restrict the VGC to the games following Sword and Shield; not to Sword and Shield themselves.

Which, I actually don’t know if they did that for ORAS and USUM, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

 

[RileyXY1]

I think Silktree was saying they would restrict the VGC to the games following Sword and Shield; not to Sword and Shield themselves.

Which, I actually don’t know if they did that for ORAS and USUM, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.

That's actually a good thing as it would increase the sales of the new games.

 

[AngryBinacle]

We live in 2020, they already know how to patch in 'mons. A new game in the same generation should mean full compatibility and patches for the old one.

 

[RileyXY1]

We live in 2020, they already know how to patch in 'mons. A new game in the same generation should mean full compatibility and patches for the old one.

It never has, and it might never will. Thanks to Dexit they can now lock Pokemon to certain games in order to boost sales.