Will Riolu become the new Ash-Greninja?

[Daren]

No love for my Sceptile huh

DP had him beat Darkrai but Sceptile was mostly just a consistent performer in AG; Pikachu and Swellow had better W/L rates and Pikachu got to beat a Legendary while Swellow had two battles where he got multiple KOs in the league.

 

[Yami-no-Game]

No love for my Sceptile huh

What were his feats in AG again?

The more time passes the more obvious it becomes that Riolu's the star of Ash's team among his new Pokemon and will probably get powerhouse status when it evolves. Pikachu had every right to get jealous.

 

[game3524]

I think Lucario will be a lot like Lycanroc. It will probably be the star against Bea at the PWC and then job to Leon's Charizard while Pikachu gets the spotlight there. I hope I am wrong though since Pikachu has gotten boring over the last couple of years and Lucario has never been interesting IMO.

 

[Max1996]

The more time passes the more obvious it becomes that Riolu's the star of Ash's team among his new Pokemon and will probably get powerhouse status when it evolves. Pikachu had every right to get jealous.

Reminds me of how I actually thought a 'Pikachu jealousy' episode wouldn't have seemed out-of-place in XYZ.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Good lord, I hope not. I don't think the fandom would be able to survive the release of yet another powerful ace. Especially because Lucario in particular is one of, if not the most requested Pokémon for Ash to catch. Ash releasing a Pokémon that fans have been clamoring for him to get for years could very well surpass the outrage over the Kalos League loss and subsequent release of Ash-Greninja. Who mind you, to this day still has lots of people hoping for its return.

Yes but they have no reason to care.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I'm kind of hoping they just let Lucario be Lucario. No bond phenomenon form, no G-max form (which like Pikachu would basically take away nearly everything it's known for), just a regular ol' Lucario that can show off it's skills without having to rely on a crutch.

 

[Beary]

I'm kind of hoping they just let Lucario be Lucario. No bond phenomenon form, no G-max form (which like Pikachu would basically take away nearly everything it's known for), just a regular ol' Lucario that can show off it's skills without having to rely on a crutch.

Let’s be honest here, That’s not happening as a different lucario will allow it to sell as merchandise here. Also would create a lot more hype than a regular lucario. However I don’t think that lucario will have an Ash-Greninja form. But a form similar to Infernape’s blaze where blue aura shrouds lucario when it comes out of the pokeball. Maybe add some changes to it design as well. Or it’ll just have a regular mega evolution but I’m 99% sure that this isn’t a normal lucario without any gimmicks

 

[Panky..]

I'm kind of hoping they just let Lucario be Lucario. No bond phenomenon form, no G-max form (which like Pikachu would basically take away nearly everything it's known for), just a regular ol' Lucario that can show off it's skills without having to rely on a crutch.

Lucario doesn't need any new forms or gimmicks when there's already a decade old established one that has seen use quite often now - its aura. The reason Ash's Lucario would stand out from the other ones we've seen (minus Riley's and M08's) is the aura affinity that Ash has that can potentially becoming something more. And to be honest, I'd much prefer this gimmick instead of something contrived brought up on the fly like the Bond Phenomenon / Ash-Greninja shtick.

Though JN025 hinted at a Mega Evolution...

 

[game3524]

I would hate for them to give Lucario some special ability. It worked with Infernape given the storyline, but it boarded on fan fiction territory with Greninja. They didn't have to pull these sort of writing gimmicks with Charizard or Sceptile to portray them as strong Pokemon, so I don't think they need to do the same thing with Lucario.

 

[RustyTrubbish]

I would hope not because Lucario is already one of those Pokemon that gets a lot of love from the writers so I don't want them to have another excuse to shove Lucario down our throats. Maybe Ash can mega evolve Lucario a few times in upcoming battles which wouldn't be so bad since we've seen Mega Lucario before.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Mega Lucario would be a good thing. It's something every Lucario can do. They can also use his aura connection with Ash.

 

[Gengarzilla]

The really telling thing about this comparison is that I was completely ok with Ash's Greninja as a Froakie/Frogadier and only began disliking him once the Bond Phenomenon tripe got more and more ridiculous (kicking around a Champion's Mega Evolved ace at a type disadvantage was the last straw for me). Meanwhile Riolu has just been an instant "no, I don't like this idea" from the moment he hatched.

I have definitely made it clear by now that I believe competent writing almost never coexists with recurring Riolu/Lucario. Both species are screenhogs by contract and if Ash-Greninja told me anything, that trait doesn't make for good quality episodes.

 

[Beary]

The really telling thing about this comparison is that I was completely ok with Ash's Greninja as a Froakie/Frogadier and only began disliking him once the Bond Phenomenon tripe got more and more ridiculous (kicking around a Champion's Mega Evolved ace at a type disadvantage was the last straw for me). Meanwhile Riolu has just been an instant "no, I don't like this idea" from the moment he hatched.

I have definitely made it clear by now that I believe competent writing almost never coexists with recurring Riolu/Lucario. Both species are screenhogs by contract and if Ash-Greninja told me anything, that trait doesn't make for good quality episodes.

Bruh people say that and then contradict themselves saying that Kalos was the best season. I loved ash-greninja and honestly I didn’t really care about the other pokemon except maybe hawlucha and noibat. They all got development earlier on in the series and greninja got it all towards the end. I know this is a really unpopular opinion on here but I would be personally be happy if an ash lucario happened lol. But i would also like to see the other pokemon too because they are my favorites as well

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Bruh people say that and then contradict themselves saying that Kalos was the best season.

I don't think that's a contradiction, though. It's perfectly possible to like the XYZ saga in spite of Ash-Greninja rather than because of him.

 

[R1ke]

Pretty sure he’s just gonna mega evolve down the track and be Ash’s ace from there. If they give him anything else, I’ll find that really stupid.

Mega Lucario does have that ‘max aura’ attribute after all, if I’m not mistaken.

 

[jbmasta]

I would hate for them to give Lucario some special ability. It worked with Infernape given the storyline, but it boarded on fan fiction territory with Greninja. They didn't have to pull these sort of writing gimmicks with Charizard or Sceptile to portray them as strong Pokemon, so I don't think they need to do the same thing with Lucario.

Chimchar’s prodigal power level Blaze was established very early on as the reason Paul kept it around, and Froakie’s first main episode made a huge point of it wanting Ash to be its trainer after a string of trainers it refused to listen to, so it makes sense Riolu will end up te same since Aura was brought up again.

 

[Panky..]

Chimchar’s prodigal power level Blaze was established very early on as the reason Paul kept it around, and Froakie’s first main episode made a huge point of it wanting Ash to be its trainer after a string of trainers it refused to listen to, so it makes sense Riolu will end up te same since Aura was brought up again.

The only difference being that Chimchar/Infernape's and Riolu/Lucario's titular gimmicks were well established early on and were in line with their respective species in a way that made sense in-universe.

Whereas the Bond Phenomenon was contrivingly created pretty much after halfway into XY, on the fly and just for Greninja with the "chosen one" and "once in x years" tropes, in an attempt to not having to bother giving Ash a reserve or a Mega compatible Pokemon from an older Gen (given how the XY series was the most self contained). Think about it, the Bond Phenomenon is very much interchangeable with any Pokemon if needed and is not necessarily something that Greninja as a species itself is special to have.

 

[Greninjaman]

Think about it, the Bond Phenomenon is very much interchangeable with any Pokemon if needed and is not necessarily something that Greninja as a species itself is special to have.

I do agree with you. That makes sense. They could have given it to Pikachu for example. After all, Pikachu has been there with Ash since Episode 1 of the anime. While I liked the Ash-Greninja thing, I still feel like Pikachu should have gotten it, though I guess Ash-Pikachu doesn't roll of the tongue that well.

 

[game3524]

They should have just gave Ash an actually mega (Zard had two megas and if they didn't want to use him then they could have used Sceptile). The best arc in XY IMO was the Korrina arc and the fact that it ended up being wasted on a supporting character at most was frustrating. That really should have been Ash's arc.

 

[Daren]

They should have just gave Ash an actually mega (Zard had two megas and if they didn't want to use him then they could have used Sceptile). The best arc in XY IMO was the Korrina arc and the fact that it ended up being wasted on a supporting character at most was frustrating. That really should have been Ash's arc.

To be honest I pin a lot of the blame on GameFreak for not having any of the new Pokémon--even the starters--able to Mega Evolve.
So Ash-Greninja was created as another of those weird quirks of the XY anime that will keep it controversial until the end of the universe.