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Will Riolu become the new Ash-Greninja?

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.

Fair.

My thing was that the megas were being presented as new Pokemon anyhow so it wouldn't have bothered me if an older Pokemon got the spotlight.
 
Interesting thread! I mean the way Riolu looks up to Korrina's Lucario/Mega Lucario kind of reminds me of Litten admiring the Masked Royal's Incineroar. Will Ash get the items needed for Mega Evolution or will his Lucario beat Mega Lucario with a new form or something?
 
Ash-Greninja could have been planned for Pokemon Z, but got relegated to the Sun and Moon Demo like how Zygarde was a huge fetch quest in Sun and Moon due to that happening instead of Z.
 
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.
Indeed. I once considered writing my own (now scrapped) Pokémon story that revolved around this very idea. But I digress.

While Ash-Greninja is quite cool, with a fascinating concept surrounding the Trainer-Pokémon bond (and was what elevated Greninja from neutral to sharing the spot of #1 overall Pokémon with Hydreigon for me), it does feel a little bit contrived the way it was written in XYZ.
 
You know what would have made Ash-Greninja less luck based and actually related to the plot? The megalith that created Lysandre’s weirdass Zygarde kaiju. It was all about collecting mega energy, so having Greninja be exposed to lots of it could have triggered the transformation (with its destruction later on serving as the reason why no further tests happened). Furthermore, the megalith’s involvement would be a less convoluted explanation as to why the Zygarde cores couldn’t sense the evil tendrils but Greninja could.

I would have also liked it better if the previous Bond Phenomenon user hadn’t been a Greninja. You can’t make the gimmick seem species exclusive and give it an explanation that would fit literally anything else like they did with the whole bond power thing.
 
Ash-Greninja could have been planned for Pokemon Z, but got relegated to the Sun and Moon Demo like how Zygarde was a huge fetch quest in Sun and Moon due to that happening instead of Z.

That's assuming that Z was ever in development or they had made any plans for the game, which I highly doubt was the case.
 
That's assuming that Z was ever in development or they had made any plans for the game, which I highly doubt was the case.
I recently read an article claiming that scrapped data for a "Z" version (or X2Y2, it's kind of unclear) was discovered but idk if the info is even credible, so take it with a grain of salt.
 
I recently read an article claiming that scrapped data for a "Z" version (or X2Y2, it's kind of unclear) was discovered but idk if the info is even credible, so take it with a grain of salt.

I remember hearing about that too, but I don't think that necessarily means that a Z version of shorts was in development. At the very least, I doubt it was in development long enough to have stuff like Ash-Greninja and the Zygarde Cell quest already planned out since releasing a brand new generation for the franchise's 20th anniversary makes much more sense than an updated version of X/Y.
 
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

Huh? Why are you acting like we have to like Ash-Greninja in order to like the XYZ saga?? Because I hate that frog but still enjoyed most of the Team Flare stuff and the other subplots that were happening. Greninja stealing screentime 24/7 was annoying but it doesn't change the fact that XYZ was pretty good.
 
I remember hearing about that too, but I don't think that necessarily means that a Z version of shorts was in development. At the very least, I doubt it was in development long enough to have stuff like Ash-Greninja and the Zygarde Cell quest already planned out since releasing a brand new generation for the franchise's 20th anniversary makes much more sense than an updated version of X/Y.


We know that GameFreak reserved space for two additional games set in the Kalos Region, but we might never know how far those games are along in development unless we get further leaks.

And it is a real shame too... I really believe a third version/sequel/second paired games set in Kalos would solve so many problems with Gen 6, kind of like how Platinum solved so many issues with Diamond and Pearl.
 
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.
To me it made perfect sense the Bond phenomenon was introduced later in Kalos. It isn't something that starts shining through when a Pokemon is still young but only when it has reached its full potential and its mental and emotional connection to its trainer is at a very, very high level.
Charizard, Chimchar/Infernape, Ash-Greninja, Litten/Incineroar and/or Lycanrock all had their respective "super powers" and regardless of whether or not those abilities were specific to they species, I think they conveyed the message those Pokemon were all very special in some way or another. I just hope Riolu/Lucario will be the next to join that group.
 
While Riolu has only just recently appeared for us over here in the dub, I find that he's okay in small doses.

But given recent episodes I could get really annoyed if he hogs the spotlight too much. We'll just have to see...

Be prepared for the fast forward button.
 
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