Retconning Pokémon

[SUP3RN0VA]

It would be interesting to see a Psychic/Dark type combination on a Pokemon, although then they would only have a weakness to bug type Pokemon, so I'm not sure how likely it will be to see a Psychic/Dark type, unless it was balanced out by lower stats.

 

[Team Gaara]

Maybe this is just me, but seeing as the Gothita line was just introduced last Gen, I feel like they would have been dark-types if GAME FREAK wanted them to be.

 

[Neptune's Disciple]

It would be interesting to see a Psychic/Dark type combination on a Pokemon, although then they would only have a weakness to bug type Pokemon, so I'm not sure how likely it will be to see a Psychic/Dark type, unless it was balanced out by lower stats.

There are already several pokemon which only have the one weakness, look at all the Bug/Steel types. The bug weakness would be 4x, just like fire is to Bug/Steel. In fact, Dark/Phychic would cancel each other's weaknesses out almost so completely that they would be left with only one resistance - an immunity Psychic. The remaining 15 types would all be neutral. Compare this to our Bug/Steel friends, who hold a whopping 10 resistances (including 1/4x damage and immunity), and there's a huge difference in the defensive capabilities of the two type combinations. Most of these Bug/Steel certainly aren't balanced out by lower stats either, the only exception being Wormadam, which was always meant to be crap anyway. GF have shown us time and again that they're not afraid to combine good typing with good stats, so I'm not sure why this would be any different.

I wish Gothitelle etc were Dark/Psychic, but I highly doubt that they'll be retyped in Gen VI. I think the type combination could lead to some really interesting concepts, so I hope that GF do pick it up regardless.

 

[SUP3RN0VA]

Good point, It would lose it's weakness against ghost, but lose it's resistance against fighting. I guess that would balance it out. I hope they aren't planning on retyping any Pokemon though. I'd rather see them introduce a new Pokemon that's Psychic/Dark than change/add a type to a previous Pokemon.

 

[Paris]

I'd like to see a Girafarig Evo that is Dark/Psychic even though there is few normal/psychics.​

 

[SquirtleMan493]

I personally wish that Gigalith and his family were specially oriented Rock types as opposed to the normal, bland physical. Example:

Switch his Attack stat with his Special Attack stat, going from 135/60 to 60/135.
Switch his Defense stat with his Special Defense stat, going from 130/70 to 70/130.
Add Earth Power to his level up moveset.

There you go, we have a monstrous specially defense Pokémon in the sandstorm with a powerful STAB Power Gem and a dangerous Earth Power. Flash Cannon and Solar Beam become decent options and his a much more unique, interesting Pokémon. I mean, being made of crystals, I feel like it makes more sense that he'd be specially oriented.

 

[Stratelier]

I have sometimes speculated about what it would be like if you could use legendary Pokemon in breeding -- and by which I do NOT mean being able to "breed more legendaries".

On one hand, you have the Manaphy -> Phione style route, where the offspring is a species resembling the parent but does not evolve into the parent's form.

Or, a more comprehensive approach would be that legendary (not mythical) Pokemon get official genders and egg groups like normal breedable Pokemon, but with a catch: They assume a Ditto-like role where the offspring is concerned.

Which means that:
- You can't breed legendaries with Ditto.
- If the legendary is male, normal breeding rules apply (passes down moves, not species).
- If the legendary is female, Ditto-style breeding rules apply (non-legendary father passes down both moves and species).

Technically this would require redefining the "Undiscovered" egg group itself, with a definition of "does not yield an egg of its own kind". And the "Undiscovered" egg group would not be breedable with itself or with the "Ditto" egg group. Thus, a Pokemon solely in the "Undiscovered" egg group is completely unbreedable period, but a Pokemon in both "Undiscovered" AND another egg group is breedable within the latter egg group only (and in a Ditto-like fashion only). E.g. a Raikou could have both "Undiscovered" and "Field" groups, becoming breedable with other Field Pokemon (Luxray, Absol, etc.) but you will never get a Raikou egg from the parents. Likewise, even if you have e.g. a Moltres and Zapdos of opposite genders, they can't breed together because they're both Undiscovered and it does not breed with itself, despite also being in the "Flying" egg group.

 

[GiraFragMich]

The way I see it, IF they indeed introduce a new type, they will HAVE to retype some Pokemon to make the amount of ...-type Pokemon in the dex representable. Gen 6 is a extending generation, meaning there will most probably be not just a few prevos and evos of old Pokemon. This leaves us with much less space for new Pokemon lines. If they don't retype any older Pokemon this will leave the newly introduced type with just a handful of lines for a few generations to come, because I can't imagine them to introduce a full new dex of new type Pokemon just to catch up with the numbers.

Also, the new Professor in the region could just have discovered said type not only on regional Pokemon but on national Pokemon too. It was just not a classification in the other regions.

 

[Stratelier]

Azurill, Marill, Azumarill, Meditite and Medicham should have their Attack stat doubled and their regular abilities (Huge Power, Pure Power) replaced. This allows for more variety in these Pokemon since one ability would not ultimately dominate.

They should at least be merged. Marill can alternately have Thick Fat (doubles defense against fire/ice attacks ... wait, Marill already has resistance to them due to being part Water so what's the point?) and Sap Sipper (absorbs Grass as HP. Which, for a water-type, w00t!). Meditite's alternate ability is Telepathy (protection against friendly fire) which is useful in its own way, but only in double/triple battles. And Meditite doesn't have two normal abilities, so yes, increasing its Attack stat while changing up its ability could be a viable retcon.

Shedinja's base HP should be increased to a decent level (Base 50?) and HP and IVs should work properly. It would make Shedinja much more viable and not immediately killed by status, entry hazards or weather.

A base 50 HP would basically turn Shedinja into a Skitty armed with Wonder Guard and one Swords Dance.

You can't mess up Shedinja's signature fragility. Maybe just calculate its HP using the standard formula, which would give Shedinja slightly less HP than Diglett (whose base 10 HP is already the lowest of any other species) -- that would give it some survival against status ailments, weather, entry hazards, while still preserving how fragile it is.

 

[Venator]

Marill can alternately have Thick Fat (doubles defense against fire/ice attacks ... wait, Marill already has resistance to them due to being part Water so what's the point?)

A double resistance is better than a half resistance?

In a reddit thread, I proposed that Thick Fat also makes the Pokemon immune to Hail, so there's also that idea.

A base 50 HP would basically turn Shedinja into a Skitty armed with Wonder Guard and one Swords Dance.

Low base HP, but, like, 12 immunities? Sure, Shedinja won't be a master tank, for super-effective moves, but the point of the change was not to do that; the point is to ensure that weather, entry hazards and status ailments would not immediately kill Shedinja and improve Shedinja's utility.

Also, I have nothing against a better movepool.

You can't mess up Shedinja's signature fragility.

Er, yes I can. Shedinja's signature fragility makes Shedinja useless nine times out of ten. Nothing is really lost, if Shedinja's HP goes from a near useless 1 to a more workable 210 to 304, with horrible defenses, and that won't be winning any awards.

Maybe just calculate its HP using the standard formula, which would give Shedinja slightly less HP than Diglett (whose base 10 HP is already the lowest of any other species) -- that would give it some survival against status ailments, weather, entry hazards, while still preserving how fragile it is.

Maybe... I kinda like my idea better but eh.

 

[Stratelier]

If the only concern is status ailments, weather, and entry hazards then Shedinja only needs 16 HP at most (weather damage = 1/16th max HP). Shedinja's 12 immunities are its selling point (long as you can keep it from getting hit by the other five), you can't give it the same HP as a normal Pokemon.

Speaking of its immunities, I wouldn't have been able to catch any of the Weather Trio in my Emerald (them all being Lv.70) without Shedinja as my main fighter.

 

[Venator]

...50 Base HP still will not win any awards, and will only allow Shedinja to withstand the weakest of Super-Effective attacks given Shedinja's crappy defenses.

There would be no problem, be it 50 or 10 base.

And, not to brag but, I fared quite well without even touching a Shedinja, in regards to capturing the weather trio.

 

[HoppytheCourier]

I had not thought about a retcon of the Pokemon series until just now. If GameFreak decides to totally reinvent the Pokemon series with X and Y I think that it could be a good decision.
Think about it, every other game exists in a different continuity than the new games. Think of all the cool things GameFreak could do.
They could simplify the battle mechanics, readjust breeding, and in general solve the balance issue with the Pokemon species themselves.
They could add whatever types they wanted to and they could add new moves and new hold items too.
In my opinion, I hope that GameFreak does decide to create a new continuity with X and Y. It could be fun.

 

[Stratelier]

And, not to brag but, I fared quite well without even touching a Shedinja, in regards to capturing the weather trio.

What was your team's level? Mine was like Lv.55 on average, fresh out of the E4 and Champ battles. Up against Lv.70 legendaries. Biggest level gap vs. a legendary I've ever had.

 

[Venator]

What was your team's level? Mine was like Lv.55 on average, fresh out of the E4 and Champ battles. Up against Lv.70 legendaries. Biggest level gap vs. a legendary I've ever had.

Middle 60s, with type advantages, Ultra Balls, Hyper Potions, and Revives.

 

[Stratelier]

Azurill, Marill, Azumarill, Meditite and Medicham should have their Attack stat doubled and their regular abilities (Huge Power, Pure Power) replaced. This allows for more variety in these Pokemon since one ability would not ultimately dominate.

Just a quick follow-up on this angle: The fact that their high attack power is the result of an Ability effectively doubles the effect of EV training their attack, but it also means that you can cut their physical strength by half via Gastro Acid. And without the ability, their base attack power is actually fairly low for fully evolved Pokemon.

 

[Neptune's Disciple]

Azurill, Marill, Azumarill, Meditite and Medicham should have their Attack stat doubled and their regular abilities (Huge Power, Pure Power) replaced. This allows for more variety in these Pokemon since one ability would not ultimately dominate.

I really think Azumarill is fine just the way he is. If you were to triple the base attack (which is what is needed to make it equivalent to the boost from Huge Power), and give it access to a further boosting ability in Sap Sipper (which also grants it an immunity to one of its only 2 weaknesses), it would start to make it a little broken. Sure, it's slow, but it also has access to one of the strongest priority attacks in the game, which also happens to come with good type coverage. It's speed issues are also relatively easy to overcome, even without priority thanks to team support. It's no defensive slouch either, with 100/80/80 and a solid water typing, 101 substitutes are able to serve it very well. Tie this in with leftovers recovery, or even wish support, and it starts to get pretty bulky.

All that aside, changing its stats to 100/150/80/50/80/50, with a BST of 510 wouldn't necessarily put it straight into the league of ubers. However I would not be at all surprised if this, plus the grass immunity and subsequent attack boost, plus very strong priority, plus the potential for Rain support and everything else that goes with it, Azumarill found itself blasting itself through Uber's gates like a big, bouncy torpedo. Also, GF have never changed a pokemon's base stats from one gen to another (other than the special split). While I'm certainly not saying that GF don't change things up each gen, they typically give them new moves and abilities to keep up with new pokemon instead of upped base stats, and judging by the pokemon currently in OU, it seems to be working pretty well. Gen I holds the second highest number of pokemon in OU, sitting at 23.6%, only just behind Gen V at 25.5%. The poorest gen according to OU was Gen III, sitting at just 11.7% of OU pokemon. This will, of course, change as soon as XY are released, as the entire metagame will shift dramatically due not just to new pokemon, but also new toys for old ones. Who ever would have thought that Cloyster, the defensive juggernaut, would be one of the primary sweepers until they gave it Shell Smash.

 

[S.S. Shadow Minun]

I had not thought about a retcon of the Pokemon series until just now. If GameFreak decides to totally reinvent the Pokemon series with X and Y I think that it could be a good decision.
Think about it, every other game exists in a different continuity than the new games. Think of all the cool things GameFreak could do.
They could simplify the battle mechanics, readjust breeding, and in general solve the balance issue with the Pokemon species themselves.
They could add whatever types they wanted to and they could add new moves and new hold items too.
In my opinion, I hope that GameFreak does decide to create a new continuity with X and Y. It could be fun.

Do you mean changing all regular Pokémon's egg groups? I'm also hoping for. HSOWA is no problem, but egg group system, in general, has too many problems that are not addressed.

 

[Stratelier]

I really think Azumarill is fine just the way he is. If you were to triple the base attack (which is what is needed to make it equivalent to the boost from Huge Power), and give it access to a further boosting ability in Sap Sipper (which also grants it an immunity to one of its only 2 weaknesses), it would start to make it a little broken. Sure, it's slow, but it also has access to one of the strongest priority attacks in the game, which also happens to come with good type coverage. It's speed issues are also relatively easy to overcome, even without priority thanks to team support. It's no defensive slouch either, with 100/80/80 and a solid water typing, 101 substitutes are able to serve it very well. Tie this in with leftovers recovery, or even wish support, and it starts to get pretty bulky.

According to BP Huge Power / Pure Power double attack rather than triple it. But either way, good point that if you removed Azumarill's ability in favor of increased stats then we effectively end up with a Pokemon with two "abilities" (increased attack and Sap Sipper) at the same time. Main series is not PMD.

 

[KaylaBaraonda]

Just passed by (I'm new here), but all this Gardevoir discussion doesn't even make sense. I mean, look at it's freakin' Japanese name, for Arceus sake! It's freakin' Sirknight (サーナイト). Yeah, SIR-knight. Then, what actually doesn't make any sense here is the fact that there are actually Female Gardevoirs.

Its Sirknight as in: YOU are the Sir Knight who is protected by Gardevoir. (which is wally s' pokemon in the main canon, then [implied] he gets a green pokedex and a treecko, then falls in a coma and Gardevoir puts him in a coma [that is actually the mistery dungeon timeline] in this coma he meets gardevoir again, and a lot of friendly pokemon but has no memory of his past life, but then timeshit happens and he has to be helped by his treecko that is now a grovyle) (i do not know a lot of things about mystery dungeon trough)