Discussion Are megas not returning?

[Their Goominess]

Well, think of it this way. The two games that did have Mega Evolution had some plot around the mechanic. XY was all about discovering it for the Professor and in ORAS it was about Mega Rayquaza. It's just a theory, but we also haven't seen any info about it yet, which is strange. Usually by now we'd of seen some sort of indication or foreshadow. Instead we get a Ring and Crystal for Z-Moves that mimics the mechanic of Mega Evolution to a more limited and balanced degree.

Plus with the lack of Gyms, is there really any need for Mega Evolution? We don't even know if there's an Elite Four or Battle Frontier/Maison. You could say the Kahunas are the E4, but we fight them after each set of Captains. Sun/Moon feel a lot more story driven like the console and spinoff Pokemon games were.

"some sort of indication or foreshadow" like the Mega Rings seen on Dexio and Sina? If that's not an indicator that we'll see Megas in the game I don't know what is.
Anyway, it's more logical and obvious that they'd show off Z Moves (and Alolan forms to an extent) over Megas; they're cool new features whereas we've known about Megas for 3 years now.

And I don't really get your point about the Gyms since no leaders used Mega Evolutions in their main battles in the storyline (with the one exception of Korrina who was the person to give you the Mega Ring). The only league people to use them were Diantha and Steven who, as being champions, made the most sense having them out of everyone.

Anyway, I'm sticking to my theory of Megas being in the games but just with a lot less importance and being given out in the postgame (or some point in the late main game).

 

[Scattered mind]

Definitely post game, though I am not sure if they are going to introduce new Megas. There are so many new features in this game.

 

[Unyubaby]

"some sort of indication or foreshadow" like the Mega Rings seen on Dexio and Sina? If that's not an indicator that we'll see Megas in the game I don't know what is.
Anyway, it's more logical and obvious that they'd show off Z Moves (and Alolan forms to an extent) over Megas; they're cool new features whereas we've known about Megas for 3 years now.

And I don't really get your point about the Gyms since no leaders used Mega Evolutions in their main battles in the storyline (with the one exception of Korrina who was the person to give you the Mega Ring). The only league people to use them were Diantha and Steven who, as being champions, made the most sense having them out of everyone.

Anyway, I'm sticking to my theory of Megas being in the games but just with a lot less importance and being given out in the postgame (or some point in the late main game).

Dexio and Sina are cameos though. All we know is they show up in vacation gear and give us the Zygarde Cube. They don't play a part in the story what-so-ever unless Zygarde suddenly does. It would be like if the protagonists from Coliseum and Gale of Darkness made a cameo in a mainstream Pokemon game and no Shadow Pokemon were involved. Plus it makes sense for them to have the Mega Rings on if they get into a sudden battle with someone and want to show off how Kalos fights.

My point about the gyms is that this game is a lot less focused on competition than previous games. Every game with gyms has boasted competition through these gyms and then the Elite Four and Champion followed by some kind of postgame challenge area. Here in Alola, we don't have that (as of yet concerning the postgame challenge area part). Mega Evolutions are heavily competitive-based so it'd be out-of-place even in postgame (unless aforementioned challenge area exists). So far in Alola, we have Alolan Forms, Totem Pokemon, and Z-Moves. Do we really need Mega Evolution? This game has a lot of great stuff already. I'd rather it focused on that instead of a mechanic from previous games.

But yes, as all of this is theories, no one answer is correct yet. I'll stick to my theory of Mega Evolutions being Gen VI exclusive.

 

[superdan51]

Good to see that someone agrees with me, megas have no place in pokemon sun and moon. With Z moves now if we saw megas again, the competitive scene would probably drop even more than it did when megas were added. I dont even wanna talk about when they added legendaries to the competitive scene. Im sorry but megas need to just stay in gen 6 and only gen 6

 

[Their Goominess]

Dexio and Sina are cameos though. All we know is they show up in vacation gear and give us the Zygarde Cube. They don't play a part in the story what-so-ever unless Zygarde suddenly does. It would be like if the protagonists from Coliseum and Gale of Darkness made a cameo in a mainstream Pokemon game and no Shadow Pokemon were involved. Plus it makes sense for them to have the Mega Rings on if they get into a sudden battle with someone and want to show off how Kalos fights.

My point about the gyms is that this game is a lot less focused on competition than previous games. Every game with gyms has boasted competition through these gyms and then the Elite Four and Champion followed by some kind of postgame challenge area. Here in Alola, we don't have that (as of yet concerning the postgame challenge area part). Mega Evolutions are heavily competitive-based so it'd be out-of-place even in postgame (unless aforementioned challenge area exists). So far in Alola, we have Alolan Forms, Totem Pokemon, and Z-Moves. Do we really need Mega Evolution? This game has a lot of great stuff already. I'd rather it focused on that instead of a mechanic from previous games.

But yes, as all of this is theories, no one answer is correct yet. I'll stick to my theory of Mega Evolutions being Gen VI exclusive.

Technically we don't really know what roles Dexio and Sina play, (the official site just lists them as "showing up as you progress through your adventure" which could mean anything) so I wouldn't rule out them being cameos just yet. (although I wouldn't be surprised if they only showed up once or twice, or whenever the player finds x amount of Zygarde Core/Cells)

And Mega Evolution doesn't have to involve some huge competitive aspect in the game. They're not just powerful things to use in competition, they're a mechanic of the game. And no ones saying that they're gonna take a large role or be a particular focal point in the game; a lot of people (myself included) think it will just go something along the lines of"this is what Mega Evolution is about, have a Key Stone, go and find the Mega Stones blah blah blah".
And they've been a pretty big part of promo events, they've proven popular (well, for the most part anyway), I can't see GF just ditching something like that a few years after they've been introduced.

But anyway, I think we're just gonna have to agree to disagree here, it's pretty clear we both have different point of view and tbh I can't really see how this debate will turn out without just repeating the same points (on both sides) several times over.

 

[King Xerneas]

Um I'm not sure if anyone has heard, but Mega Pokemon merchandise has been confirmed to be released in 2017. I honestly don't think GF has or will kill off something that has generated/will generate more money.

 

[professorlight]

I very much doubt they'll take megas away. Maybe, just maybe they won't add more (or will add sparsely) each new generation, and without publicizing them much (about half of the XY megas were leaked as people played the game, after all).

They obviously don't want megas to take the spotlight from z-moves and alola forms and cthulhu or ultra beasts or whatever; similarly, it's possible that they realized how much of a boneheaded idea was to give the player in XY not one, but two guaranteed mega-evolving pokemon (lucario and the gen1 starter), plus any others they gather on the way, making winning battles so much easier.
So, it seems safe to say that they won't remove the mechanic, and they won't have it as a part of the main game, possibly leaving it to the postgame, like they did with mega gardevoir and many others.
Maybe after the game, dexio and sina will gift you with the bracelet and keystone (I just remembered you need that), like sycamore gives you the detect power in XY.


That said, I always had the feeling that GF sometimes doesn't quite think their new mechanics in the long term, so I'm not completely discarding the chance that they go "oops, we messed up with this" and pretend like nothing happened, leaving them only to be used in gen 6 battles.
I mean, the following games have to have Amie, super training, megaevolution for some, Z-moves, Z-forms (if those are true) for some others, alola+any other regional forms, legendary mascots, legendary trios, event legendaries, ultra beasts, a zillion unique pokemon, another zillion moves, another zillion abilities, IVs, EVs, items, breeding... I can go on. It almost seems they don't think things fully through and end up accumulating too many mechanics and "parts of the game" eventually.

 

[steffenka]

Dexio and Sina are cameos though. All we know is they show up in vacation gear and give us the Zygarde Cube. They don't play a part in the story what-so-ever unless Zygarde suddenly does. It would be like if the protagonists from Coliseum and Gale of Darkness made a cameo in a mainstream Pokemon game and no Shadow Pokemon were involved. Plus it makes sense for them to have the Mega Rings on if they get into a sudden battle with someone and want to show off how Kalos fights.

Like @His Goominess said, we don't know if Dexio and Sina are cameos or more. And we don't know what part Zygarde has in the story, but considering the Zygarde Cube's introduction and the fact that you will collect Zygarde Cells throughout the region, whether it's post game or during the main story, there's a rather big chance that Zygarde will be a part of a plot (whether the main or another) in the games. Also, why would it make sense for them to just show off how Kalos (and Hoenn too) fights (and presumeably Mega Evolutions) work? Wouldn't it make more sense for them to give the player a Key Stone, a Mega Ring and perhaps a Mega Stone and introduce Mega Evolution that way, so that players actually got to use them, instead of just seeing one or two in battle, with you not even controlling them?

My point about the gyms is that this game is a lot less focused on competition than previous games. Every game with gyms has boasted competition through these gyms and then the Elite Four and Champion followed by some kind of postgame challenge area. Here in Alola, we don't have that (as of yet concerning the postgame challenge area part). Mega Evolutions are heavily competitive-based so it'd be out-of-place even in postgame (unless aforementioned challenge area exists). So far in Alola, we have Alolan Forms, Totem Pokemon, and Z-Moves.

Once again, we do not know the amount of focus put on competition compared to other games. We might not have gyms, an Elite 4, nor a Champion, but we still have Totem Pokémon and the Kahuna's to battle against. And there's also Team Skull that the player will have to beat in Pokémon fights. Also Z-moves seem to be competetive-based too, so why are they introduced?

Do we really need Mega Evolution? This game has a lot of great stuff already. I'd rather it focused on that instead of a mechanic from previous games.

No, we don't need Mega Evolution. But by that logic, shouldn't Shiny Pokémon (a mechanic all the way back from Gen 2) or the form changes (Gen 3 - 6) be removed too? If Mega Evolution were to be featured as heavily as it did throughout Gen 6, I'm rather confident in the fact that we would've seen at least one new Mega Evolution by now. I don't really think you need to worry about the games focusing on Mega Evolution instead of the new features

I think the fact that it's been confirmed that Mega Evolution products will be released in 2017, as @King Xerneas said, pretty much confirms that Mega Evolution will appear in Sun/Moon. Whether they're in the main plot or in the aftergame, I don't know, but they'll probably be in the games, which I don't mind at all

 

[Unyubaby]

Like @His Goominess said, we don't know if Dexio and Sina are cameos or more. And we don't know what part Zygarde has in the story, but considering the Zygarde Cube's introduction and the fact that you will collect Zygarde Cells throughout the region, whether it's post game or during the main story, there's a rather big chance that Zygarde will be a part of a plot (whether the main or another) in the games. Also, why would it make sense for them to just show off how Kalos (and Hoenn too) fights (and presumeably Mega Evolutions) work? Wouldn't it make more sense for them to give the player a Key Stone, a Mega Ring and perhaps a Mega Stone and introduce Mega Evolution that way, so that players actually got to use them, instead of just seeing one or two in battle, with you not even controlling them?

Once again, we do not know the amount of focus put on competition compared to other games. We might not have gyms, an Elite 4, nor a Champion, but we still have Totem Pokémon and the Kahuna's to battle against. And there's also Team Skull that the player will have to beat in Pokémon fights. Also Z-moves seem to be competetive-based too, so why are they introduced?

No, we don't need Mega Evolution. But by that logic, shouldn't Shiny Pokémon (a mechanic all the way back from Gen 2) or the form changes (Gen 3 - 6) be removed too? If Mega Evolution were to be featured as heavily as it did throughout Gen 6, I'm rather confident in the fact that we would've seen at least one new Mega Evolution by now. I don't really think you need to worry about the games focusing on Mega Evolution instead of the new features

I think the fact that it's been confirmed that Mega Evolution products will be released in 2017, as @King Xerneas said, pretty much confirms that Mega Evolution will appear in Sun/Moon. Whether they're in the main plot or in the aftergame, I don't know, but they'll probably be in the games, which I don't mind at all

As Goomy also said we can bash our heads together over speculations all we want, we'll both have differing opinions on the matter. And I still stand by mine.

Though I will contest against one thing. You're comparing Mega Evolution to Shiny Pokemon, one of which has no impact on the game as a whole. Also to use merchandise as a reason for something to be included isn't very stable. After all, we always get merchandise of Pokemon that don't appear in games as often. For example, Stunfisk. It makes sense for Mega Evolution merchandise to still be released because Gen VI isn't defunct yet. Both XY and ORAS Leagues are very much active and I doubt they'll be shut down any time soon. So just because the merchandise is coming out doesn't mean it'll impact Sun/Moon. Would you say that Suicune would be in Sun/Moon if it gets a new figure?

 

[King Xerneas]

After all, we always get merchandise of Pokemon that don't appear in games as often. For example, Stunfisk.

But it's still in the game. The starters are barely in the games, and Pikachu is too. So are the Eeveelutions. We get merchandise for them because they are in the games.

It makes sense for Mega Evolution merchandise to still be released because Gen VI isn't defunct yet. Both XY and ORAS Leagues are very much active and I doubt they'll be shut down any time soon.

Gen 6 as a whole is over in 2017, that's the point. Yeah you can buy the games, but GF isn't supporting them anymore (GameSync is being discontinued in XYORAS before the release of SuMO for example), once the last anniversary event ends in December, GF will be solely focusing on Gen 7 and future gens. So for TPCi to be releasing merchandise of mega evolution during gen 7, it would mean that they're not a gen 6 exclusive thing.

So just because the merchandise is coming out doesn't mean it'll impact Sun/Moon. Would you say that Suicune would be in Sun/Moon if it gets a new figure?

Actually yeah. Suicune is going to be in the games anyways, just as it has in every generation since GSC.

 

[Starsoulklr]

I feel as though Mega's won't be dropped but they won't have anything to do with the plot.

Personally i feel like they'll only be accessed in post game.

This: I expect you would get it after the main game.

With how important Mega Evolutions were for Gen Six I highly doubt it will be completely removed from the series. They just won't be in the spotlight as much as before. They also kinda reigned supreme too for the main game. The Z Move is set to be usable once per battle but there's still things we need to see about it.

 

[Unyubaby]

But it's still in the game. The starters are barely in the games, and Pikachu is too. So are the Eeveelutions. We get merchandise for them because they are in the games.

Gen 6 as a whole is over in 2017, that's the point. Yeah you can buy the games, but GF isn't supporting them anymore (GameSync is being discontinued in XYORAS before the release of SuMO for example), once the last anniversary event ends in December, GF will be solely focusing on Gen 7 and future gens. So for TPCi to be releasing merchandise of mega evolution during gen 7, it would mean that they're not a gen 6 exclusive thing.

Actually yeah. Suicune is going to be in the games anyways, just as it has in every generation since GSC.

Suicune is also in Pokken, where some Megas are as well. I don't see any news about Pokken being discontinued, do you? Then there's the TCG, Megas still in there. And there's no confirmation that GX is replacing it. The mainstream games aren't Pokemon's only ad revenue. Even if Mega Evolution isn't in Sun/Moon doesn't mean it'll disappear completely, nobody's saying it will. Mega Pokemon merchandise sells well, so of course they'll continue making it. It's still not 100% proof that they'll be in Sun/Moon. To further illustrate this, Shadow Lugia plushs are still around while the Pokemon in question hasn't been since Gamecube era. Until we can physically see otherwise that Megas are in Sun/Moon, anything any of us say is speculation. I'm not claiming to be right. I certainly hope you aren't either. I'm just offering another viewpoint.

 

[J.D.]

Not gonna get into the debate on whether or not Mega Evos are returning, since there's no real point in debating it when we'll know soon enough, but I will add this; the whole idea of Mega Evolution was a pretty weak mechanic to begin with.

For legendaries and Pokemon with three stages of evolution, it makes a good enough excuse for giving them even more power they likely otherwise wouldn't be able to get a hold of. But for any Pokemon still able to get an actual, new evolution, getting a Mega Evolution would significantly undercut their potential, wouldn't it? I mean, a temporary form that denies the user a hold item, has only one ability, and only boosts the base stat total by a whole 100? Real evolutions have none of those weaknesses, and can easily see a base stat total boost between 120-150. Getting a Mega Evolution... that just seems like a downgrade...

I will say this though... if Mega Evos do come back, Rayquaza better be getting some Rayquazanite item or something, because even without a Life Orb item, Mega Rayquaza is still ridiculously overpowered... especially for a legendary weather dragon...

 

[Unyubaby]

Not gonna get into the debate on whether or not Mega Evos are returning, since there's no real point in debating it when we'll know soon enough, but I will add this; the whole idea of Mega Evolution was a pretty weak mechanic to begin with.

For legendaries and Pokemon with three stages of evolution, it works well enough for giving them even more power they likely otherwise wouldn't be able to get a hold of. But for any Pokemon still able to get an actual, new evolution, getting a Mega Evolution would significantly undercut their potential, wouldn't it? I mean, a temporary form that denies the user a hold item, has only one ability, and only boosts the base stat total by a whole 100? Real evolutions have none of those weaknesses, and can easily see a base stat total boost between 120-150. Getting a Mega Evolution... that just seems like a downgrade...

I will say this though... if Mega Evos do come back, Rayquaza better be getting some Rayquazanite item or something, because even without a Life Orb item, Mega Rayquaza is still ridiculously overpowered... especially for a freaking weather dragon...

I concur, Mega Evolution did have some rather weakly made or confusing changes. I'm sure we'd of all loved to see a Mawile or Sableye evolution as they were non-evolving before, and though their Mega Formes are highly worshiped, it does feel like they were blindsided a touch. There's also the matter of Slowbro that I feel was rather one-sided. Slowbro receiving a Mega yet not Slowking. And really Mega Slowbro is just the upgraded form of Slowbro with nothing new besides the design. Considering we are getting Alolan forms of G1 Pokemon, it would have been interesting to see an Alolan Slowbro and Mega Slowking, to give use to both sides. I would say the same to Poliwrath's family should anything happen with them be it Mega or Alolan. Should Mega Evolution return, even in post, I would like to see a focus similar to what the Alolan Forms are doing, breathing new life into lesser used Pokemon and not just Starters + "Uber/OU/UU Tier".

 

[Their Goominess]

So in the new trailer Mega Evolution was officially confirmed to return.
Although we've heard nothing about new ones, I'm assuming we're only getting the ones from Gen.6 (and not getting any new ones).

 

[Scattered mind]

So in the new trailer Mega Evolution was officially confirmed to return.
Although we've heard nothing about new ones, I'm assuming we're only getting the ones from Gen.6 (and not getting any new ones).

The fact that Mega evolutions are banned from the official competitive scene of Sun&Moon only strengthens the possibility that we won't see new Megas, in addition to the introduction of Z-moves. I guess they really want to get rid of them, but they know it would be too harsh to just completely erase them from the new games.

 

[superdan51]

The fact that Mega evolutions are banned from the official competitive scene of Sun&Moon only strengthens the possibility that we won't see new Megas, in addition to the introduction of Z-moves. I guess they really want to get rid of them, but they know it would be too harsh to just completely erase them from the new games.

When I first saw the trailer I almost cancelled my pre-order, but after a few minutes they updated the site to let us know that they arent gonna be part of VGC 2017 I had a big smile on my face. Megas werent cool and im happy theyre gone (kinda..?)

 

[J.D.]

Hmm... the new rules specifically state that Mega Stones are banned. I suppose it could just be wishful thinking, but this makes me hope Rayquaza needs a Mega Stone to Mega Evolve now.

 

[King Xerneas]

Hmm... the new rules specifically state that Mega Stones are banned. I suppose it could just be wishful thinking, but this makes me hope Rayquaza needs a Mega Stone to Mega Evolve now.

Rayquaza also isn't in the Alola Dex so it couldn't be used in the VGC this upcoming year anyways