Speculation Is Generation VI really done?

[MissingNo. 1]

Was anyone else really surprised (and not in a good way) about the announcement of Generation VII? Don't get me wrong; I love seeing the Pokemon franchise still going strong and progressing after 20 years. I definitely would have liked to see Generation VII, but not as soon as it did. Here are my reasons for why I found the SM announcement a bit too early.

First, Generation VI is not done yet. Or at least, all the mechanisms and planned storylines that GF at least planned initially were not implemented at the end. This is mainly in the form of Zygarde. All this hype about the new Zygarde formes and the Kalos series in the anime tacking on the letter "Z" was making the impending announcement of a Zygarde-themed Kalos game a little...too obvious. Yes, I know it was all within the anime. And although this has never happened before (or at least to a major extent such as this), it could be possible that the new Zygarde formes are intended to be anime-exclusive. But if you look at Zygarde's Pokedex entry:
X/OR: When the Kalos region's ecosystem falls into disarray, it appears and reveals its secret power.
Y/AS: It's hypothesized that it's monitoring those who destroy the ecosystem from deep in the cave where it lives.
There were obviously plans to give Zygarde a much bigger role in a future Kalos game than it had in XY (exactly identical to the cases of Rayquaza, Giratina and Kyurem). And based on its Pokedex entries, the Zygarde-themed Kalos game would have involved some issue in the ecosystem. Not to mention, there are two unused moves within the XYORAS database (Thousand Arrows & Thousand Waves) that, based on the descriptions, sound like Zygarde's counter moves to Xerneas and Yveltal. This was the case with Ice Burn and Freeze Shock, which were in the database since BW but weren't officially revealed until B2W2.
Minus Zygarde, there is Ash-Greninja (which, to me, seems like a Mega Evolution variant).

Another thing is the length of Generation VI. It is just as long as Generation V. But with Generation V, there was good reason to cut it short (the 3DS was already out before B2W2's release and I'm guessing GF didn't want to change the required handheld console in the middle of a gen to avoid compatibility within gens). But with Generation VI, there is no upcoming handheld in the horizon (unless the NX is handheld, which I think is not but I might be wrong). It could also be putting a risk of Generation VII having a similar fate as Generation V, with a new handheld coming out smack in the middle of the generation span and forcing the generation to be cut short. At least imo, I was not too fond of the short length of Gen V (although I completely understood the tight situation GF was in). But with Gen VI, it could be continued on for a few more years (i.e. Z in 2016, one more Gen VI like megaverse Kanto remake in 2017-18 and Gen VII in 2019-20).

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Sun and Moon are gen 7 games which means gen 6 is finished. However, things like Eternal Floette and Zygarde's forms need to be addressed. It is disappointing that they kept Zygarde in 50% form forever in gen 6. However, I hope we get to go back to Kalos or have a post game which involves these two.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Sun and Moon are gen 7 games which means gen 6 is finished. However, things like Eternal Floette and Zygarde's forms need to be addressed. It is disappointing that they kept Zygarde in 50% form forever in gen 6. However, I hope we get to go back to Kalos or have a post game which involves these two.

Nyeeeeeeh... Giving Zygarde a post game role in Sun and Moon would be like giving Rayquaza a post game role in Diamond and Pearl.
Not to argue against it, but that would just feel really out of place. Gen VI was a better time to feature Zygarde but that's obviously fallen through.

My biggest complaint though, has got to be the presence of Thousand Arrows/Waves. Just like Freeze Shock and Ice Burn before them, they and the announcement of two new Zygarde forms were indications of another Gen VI game. I honestly feel like I've been misled and lied to now. If there was never going to be any Zygarde focus in Gen VI, why push us to think otherwise?

 

[Necrozma]

My biggest complaint though, has got to be the presence of Thousand Arrows/Waves. Just like Freeze Shock and Ice Burn before them, they and the announcement of two new Zygarde forms were indications of another Gen VI game. I honestly feel like I've been misled and lied to now. If there was never going to be any Zygarde focus in Gen VI, why push us to think otherwise?

Your biggest complaint is about something Gamefreak never even officially revealed? Okay sure.

I don't see how that's pushing us to think something when we only have ourselves to blame for hacking into the games to learn about data that may not mean anything.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Your biggest complaint is about something Gamefreak never even officially revealed? Okay sure.

I don't see how that's pushing us to think something when we only have ourselves to blame for hacking into the games to learn about data that may not mean anything.

I just had to wonder: If it meant nothing, then why was it still there?

 

[Hidden Mew]

Yes, the sixth generation is basically over. Sun/Moon have already been confirmed as the seventh generation from multiple sources, so the sixth generation is done. While I was hoping for some kind of direct sequels for X/Y to help improve on the storyline and characters, especially some of the wasted potential with characters like Malva, I'm not really bothered that it didn't happen too much. We'll get more new content from Sun/Moon than we would have through a third version or sequel, which could help to potentially make it better in the long run, and I'm still glad that they didn't announce a Z game. That would have been too predictable and wouldn't really fit as a 20th anniversary celebration like a new generation would be. If they were going to have a Z version or anything to basically take that role like XZ/YZ, we would have gotten it last year, not after a year break to tie in with the 20th anniversary.

I know that Zygarde was hyped up a lot with its forms and the anime title did make me think we'd get something like XZ/YZ, but the fact that they only showed them in the anime artwork should have been a tip-off that they weren't planning on featuring them in a main series game all that soon. That's not to say that I think they'll stay anime exclusive. There's already other merchandise for them like the cards and I think they were featured in Pokemon Picross, but I don't think that they had planned out anything major for Zygarde, despite the hacking revealing those two moves. We can still have Zygarde featured in a post storyline to make fans happy and I wouldn't be against it, but I'm kind of glad that it isn't the main feature of its own game. I feel like fans put it on a pedestal primarily due to the patterns more than anything else. Even if they did release a Z version, I would have bought it and it still could have been enjoyable, as I do like most of the third version games, but Sun/Moon were much more unexpected and have more promise as a new generation.

As far as Eternal Floette goes, I don't think that is much of an issue. Like with the two moves, we only know about that through people hacking into the game. While I seriously doubt that they ever had plans for Z game to scrap, I could buy that they original was going to have an event with Eternal Floette and dropped it for whatever reason. There is still plenty of time to do something with that through an event before Sun/Moon comes out, but I don't see much of a need for that. At least with Zygarde, I could see it being featured in something like a post storyline, but not so much with Eternal Floette. It's tied into AZ and his story was pretty much done at the end of X/Y. It wasn't handled nearly as well as it could have been, but it was wrapped up.

 

[Esserise]

There were obviously plans to give Zygarde a much bigger role in a future Kalos game than it had in XY (exactly identical to the cases of Rayquaza, Giratina and Kyurem).

Were there "obvious plans," or are you just making the inevitable guess based on the red herrings that they put into the game?

They know what we've come to expect, and it seems to me that they intentionally subverted it. Just like with B2W2 being sequels. Masuda even said that they wanted to surprise the fans... and there we went, taking the bait.

 

[Necrozma]

I just had to wonder: If it meant nothing, then why was it still there?

Maybe they had plans which they decided to scrap?

Wouldn't be the first time there was data in the games that wound up not meaning anything.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

Your biggest complaint is about something Gamefreak never even officially revealed? Okay sure.

I have to agree with this. There was no mention of the games when they were revealed, and they were revealed specifically for the anime. I actually seriously wonder if the Cells, Cores, and Complete Forme were all things invented for the anime.

Which I guess seems unlikely, since it is an awful lot of work for something to be supposedly exclusive to it. But I wouldn't put the idea past. Maybe at one point they were seriously considering making a "Z" version but then decided to scrap it and let the anime use the formes anyway. We'll never know.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Official heights and weights only tilted me towards the "Pokémon Z" camp though. It felt unnecessary for something anime exclusive, so I guess you're right about them seriously considering Z at one point.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

Well I guess we'll just have to wait and find out. If Zygarde's formes still aren't in Generation 7 in some way, then I guess they were created solely for the anime.

Like Ash-Greninja.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I still have my serious doubts that Z was ever going to happen. Considering that Game Freak wanted to surprise fans, going for Z would do the exact opposite. So many people expected Z after X/Y, people called Zygarde the Z Legendary for awhile and many people still treated this title like it was already confirmed for ages, which always annoyed me. B2/W2 should have been a huge sign that a third version game wasn't the default way anymore. It didn't make going back to a third version format impossible per say, but it wasn't the only option anymore like it had been before the fifth generation. If they really wanted to surprise fans, then I doubt that Z was ever really in the planning stage, especially when I'm sure that they've been working on Sun/Moon for a good few years at this point.

I'm sure that the Zygarde forms, along with Ash-Greninja or whatever they end up calling it officially, will be featured in future games. I don't think that they'd make the forms anime exclusive.

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

Ash-Greninja is a whole other can of worms. I've said it once before, and I'll say it again, the anime has introduced plenty of Pokemon variations that ultimately never made it to the games. Just because Ash-Greninja also appears on a card and puck, doesn't mean it's a sure thing for the games. For one, Ash is not a character in the games, whom the form is based on. Yellow does not count.

There's speculation that S/M might have "fusions" or linked bonds with the trainers in a similar vein to Ash and Ash-Greninja, but I find this doubtful.

 

[Gengarzilla]

It's probably a long shot, but I'm currently picturing this to be like a combination of the player's name and the Pokémon's species, with Ash-Greninja just being promotional bait/one example.
Say... JoeBloggs-Breloom.

It would definitely remove the association with Ash anyway...

 

[Tuoko]

Generation 6, as a generation, is pretty much over when Sun and Moon are released. They can still expand on stuff from Generation 6 in future generations. Zygarde, Eternal Flower Floette, and Greninja (and probably Chesnaught and Delphox) can be expanded on somehow in those games.

Well I guess we'll just have to wait and find out. If Zygarde's formes still aren't in Generation 7 in some way, then I guess they were created solely for the anime.

Like Ash-Greninja.

Zygarde formes can't be anime-exclusive. Someone here once pointed out that the Zygarde formes have gotten heights and weights, which are useless to the anime, but are needed for the games.

As for the Ash-Greninja stuff, I'm leaning towards it being in the games. Sure, they've had anime-only stuff, but this isn't the same thing as those. Ash-Greninja is also a name only used for marketing purposes, it's never been said in the anime at all, so it pretty much is a disguise. There's nothing really wrong with the "Synchro Evolution" of Greninja and possibly Delphox and Chesnaught being a tribute to the anime as people make it out to be.

There's also the fact that Hero-Greninja has a red middle spike as well... So there's a possible hint at the forme not being exclusive to Ash.

 

[IncineROAR]

I am pretty confident the storyline of the generation VII games will be linked somehow to generation VI and Kalos. The subtle hints of Generation VII games that were placed into ORAS indicate to me that the game release strategy of Generation VI and VII were premeditated.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Yeah, Zygarde forms better be in the games. Gen 6 maybe over but they can still put the forms in Sun and Moon.

 

[Fig]

Zygarde formes can't be anime-exclusive. Someone here once pointed out that the Zygarde formes have gotten heights and weights, which are useless to the anime, but are needed for the games.

Not true. Weight to some degree, and height for sure, would be useful info for animators and anime scripters, so that a given Zygarde forme doesn't appear as tall as Ash in one scene and only ankle-height in the next (or so Ash isn't able to pick one up and carry it in one scene, and then unable to lift it the next episode).

 

[King Robert]

Not true. Weight to some degree, and height for sure, would be useful info for animators and anime scripters, so that a given Zygarde forme doesn't appear as tall as Ash in one scene and only ankle-height in the next (or so Ash isn't able to pick one up and carry it in one scene, and then unable to lift it the next episode).

Like how Munchlax was carried by Max at one point, even though the dex says it's 231 lbs.?

 

[Fig]

I'm not saying having weight and height make those mistakes impossible. (Or, in this case, possibly a deliberate decision to ignore a rather idiotic value given by the game - something as small as Munchlax being 231 lbs.

I am, however, saying that it's easier to avoid those mistakes if you agree on a height or weight. Which makes it idiotic as all hell to say the anime doesn't have any use for height and weight. And likely a matter of fanish wishful thinking.