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Mega Evolution And Its Effect On Evolving In Battle

BlackButterfree

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After a quick search to make sure this subject wasn't already around...

Mega Evolution as a mechanic makes it so that a Pokémon can evolve mid-battle at the start of your turn with their previous speed on the turn they Mega Evolve, but with their new Speed the next turn.

Yet, while Pokémon can Mega Evolve in battle, they still can't evolve regularly in battle, something that has been possible in every other Pokémon canon (anime, manga, etc.) since the beginning of the franchise.

Instead, when a Pokémon's in-battle conditions have been met, such as leveling up, learning a certain move, etc., they evolve after the battle, even if fainted.

So does Mega Evolution possibly pave the way for mid-battle evolutions in Generation 7 onwards, or is the fact that it wasn't implemented when Mega Evolution was an omen that we won't get mid-battle evolution for years to come?

And for those who will say "well, evolution can't happen mid-battle because then we wouldn't be able to cancel it," I'm pretty sure GameFreak could work their way around that, since we have many optional things in battle (the option to switch Pokémon, the option to pick targets in double/triple/horde battles, etc.), just like evolution could be.
 
I've never quite understood the allure of evolving mid-battle (other than inadvertently over-leveling and missing a good on-evolution move).

I think it's more for hype and excitement than anything else, it makes the battle more exciting (I'm fairly certain the anime has done so for this reason at least once).
 
I don't really see the battles in the anime where pokemon evolve in-battle as just one battle. It mostly goes like this: Pokemon A vs Pokemon B, pokemon B defeats pokemon A (1 ingame-battle). Pokemon A evolves outside of battle, then they fight again with an evolved pokemon A (2 ingame-battles).
Atleast that's how it appeared to me, they don't exactly evolve right when the action happens (or in game logic, during battle).
 
I've never quite understood the allure of evolving mid-battle (other than inadvertently over-leveling and missing a good on-evolution move).

I think it's more for hype and excitement than anything else, it makes the battle more exciting (I'm fairly certain the anime has done so for this reason at least once).

Not to mention, there's just something so heart-poundingly awesome about it. Imagine it. You have a team of six Pokémon that can evolve twice, but you still have one Pokémon in its second stage. You're up against the Champion, and you're down to that NFE Pokémon when you kill his second-to-last Pokémon. And you evolve just before he throws out his ace. It could be the difference between victory and defeat. :D
 
I've never quite understood the allure of evolving mid-battle (other than inadvertently over-leveling and missing a good on-evolution move).

I think it's more for hype and excitement than anything else, it makes the battle more exciting (I'm fairly certain the anime has done so for this reason at least once).

Not to mention, there's just something so heart-poundingly awesome about it. Imagine it. You have a team of six Pokémon that can evolve twice, but you still have one Pokémon in its second stage. You're up against the Champion, and you're down to that NFE Pokémon when you kill his second-to-last Pokémon. And you evolve just before he throws out his ace. It could be the difference between victory and defeat. :D

That's basically what I was just saying.
 
I think it would be better to leave mid-battle evolution to the non-video game part of the franchise. Yes, it might look cool and might build up hype, but things like the manga, anime, and fanfictions need that sort of thing, as they're a different medium altogether. Also, how would it even work? Would a Pokemon hit the level or requirements necessary, then just change form right then and there? Would it suddenly cut to the "What? [Pokemon] is evolving!" sequence? Would Pokemon who level up because of the Exp Share evolve too, while another is battling?

Even looking over those questions, I don't really think I'd appreciate my Pokemon interrupting the fight every time it levels up w/ the requirements. What if your Pokemon received enough Exp to level up several times, going over the required evolution level? Would the game activate the sequence every darn time it levels up? That would be so annoying. If you want to argue that the Pokemon could just hold an Everstone to avoid the trouble, well, what if I wanted it to hold something else that actually HELPS during a fight, like a Berry or Scarf?

tl;dr: I think evolution is fine the way it is now. Changing it could have some unexpected, annoying consequences, and its usefulness and "coolness" is very situational at best.
 
I think it would be better to leave mid-battle evolution to the non-video game part of the franchise. Yes, it might look cool and might build up hype, but things like the manga, anime, and fanfictions need that sort of thing, as they're a different medium altogether. Also, how would it even work? Would a Pokemon hit the level or requirements necessary, then just change form right then and there? Would it suddenly cut to the "What? [Pokemon] is evolving!" sequence? Would Pokemon who level up because of the Exp Share evolve too, while another is battling?

That's probably how it would work exactly.

Even looking over those questions, I don't really think I'd appreciate my Pokemon interrupting the fight every time it levels up w/ the requirements. What if your Pokemon received enough Exp to level up several times, going over the required evolution level? Would the game activate the sequence every darn time it levels up? That would be so annoying. If you want to argue that the Pokemon could just hold an Everstone to avoid the trouble, well, what if I wanted it to hold something else that actually HELPS during a fight, like a Berry or Scarf?

You can also just cancel the evolution sequence.

Also, in most cases your Pokemon probably isn't going to level up twice in one battle, so it would be no more annoying than normal.
 
A level 44 Beldum holding the Metagrossite could evolve into Metang and Metagross and Mega Evolve into Mega Metagross all in one battle.
 
A level 44 Beldum holding the Metagrossite could evolve into Metang and Metagross and Mega Evolve into Mega Metagross all in one battle.

Not really. You still need to level up twice, since the trigger is level-up. You don't double evolve outside of battle, so why would you in-battle.
 
A level 44 Beldum holding the Metagrossite could evolve into Metang and Metagross and Mega Evolve into Mega Metagross all in one battle.

Not really. You still need to level up twice, since the trigger is level-up. You don't double evolve outside of battle, so why would you in-battle.

You don't double evolve outside of battle because the aftermath of the battle is your only opportunity for evolution. In battle it could happen at any point that you level up, so there's multiple opportunities to evolve.
 
Evolution outside of battle (the current system) treats "Sufficient level reached" as a Y/N proposition from the next stage's perspective: i.e., Beldum reached level 20, 44, 46, etc. It only allows for one evolution because it only allows for one check.

Evolution if allowed in battle, as it is a different system, could simply be made differently. The Y/N proposition could be renewed upon level up, even between stages if applicable between stages. That is "different" in the highest degree, although the highest degree is not the only degree conceivable. (They could simply limit pokemon to one evolution or one evolution and a Mega evolution if they wanted to, for instance.)

Now Beldum is arguably one of the tougher cases as it evolves at 20 and 45 and is in the slowest experience group if I am not mistaken: you'd have to find a trainer that Beldum/Metang could take that would yet yield enough experience to cover level 44 on the trek to 45 (as Beldum could enter battle 1 XP short of level up to 44). This could otherwise work more easily with an RSE starter, or maybe a Mareep. Beldum would just most dramatically gain a lot of weight and metal. And arms. (And legs.)
 
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