Legendary Pokémon Aren’t Special Anymore, but Not for the Reason You Think by Emperor Cubone (2024)

One thing I feel like isn't talked about enough is,how they handled Meltan...

For me - Meltan is the closest we've got to a real Mystery in the recent times.

I remember it suddenly appearing on my phone screen without knowing what it was. Me and my friend have made up theories of what this thing might be.
Then Niantic started to make a YouTube series completely based on Meltan and it's origin, while we were finally able to catch it - and even unlock a secret Evolution for it!

We don't even know where it comes from today, because it is listed as "Unknown" in every single Pokédex.

I really really enjoyed Meltan's whole journey!
And it is so underappreciated in the community...

I mean that’s just how society is nowadays it’s just more convenient this doesn’t just apply to Pokémon

I mean people prefer to just have their groceries delivered rather than go to the grocery store

Or people just prefer to watch tv shows on streaming instead of trying to find a show from thousands of channels

Society nowadays just values convenience

That’s not necessarily a bad thing

It means it’s just more inclusive

I never got the chance to obtain mythicals when I was younger because by the time I learned about certain events I had already missed out on them

But now I can get them

Gamefreak is just trying to stay in touch with society’s value of convenience mindset it’s not their fault

So the reason Legendary Pokemon aren't special anymore is because there are less of them per region which makes the ones that are introduced feel off since they are all mandatory Legendary encounters and not like the ones in the first few regions, right?

I remember in Pokemon Black I was doing some back tracking and found a Pokemon in a Cave, it was Cobalion and I actually made it a regular of the team until I finished the Main Story of Black.

Funnily enough I also had another Legendary on my team, Tornadus, whom I caught at level 40. So my Party was Audino, Emboar, Vanilluxe Cobalion and Tornadus, I managed to find out that Reshiram was going to be added left my last slot open.

So, my conclusion is that People want more Legendaries per region so that they can differentiate the Legendaries between the Box Art Legends, and the optional Legends whose myth's are more mysterious since you have to look for them specifically instead of being driven to them by the story or being given via mystery gift.

I think they best thing more Mythical Pokemon was in Gen 4 with the Mystery Gifts being items for them, and allowing one to find them once one has the item in question.
I think this was discontinued due to hackers being able to trigger the events for these Mythicals without the Key Item.
Though now we can have it back since Pokemon and GameFreak can just update the Game with the new Mythical to coincide with their Key Item and Event.

@Sam MacDhubh

I don't mind much the "Kanto pandering", I didn't get into Pokémon until G5//"soft reboot-mon", so it's neat.

I will say, the ever-changing gimmick of each Generation is part of why we could NEVER have a "Global"/"All Regions" Pokémon game. They need to pick a single gimmick and plan accordingly lol

The Totems, Alphas, and DMax are basically the same thing—Big Pokémon with minor stat boosts.

Megas, Primals, and GMax were Pokémon that got bigger (barely) and MAJOR stat boosts//New/Stronger moves

GMax Moves were just the Z-Moves but locked to a "Mega".

They need a new gimmick that takes everything they've tried between G6-G8 and fuse them into a cohesive mainstay, until we jump to G20~? and this same issue reappears.

I mean that’s just how society is nowadays it’s just more convenient this doesn’t just apply to Pokémon

I mean people prefer to just have their groceries delivered rather than go to the grocery store

Or people just prefer to watch tv shows on streaming instead of trying to find a show from thousands of channels

Society nowadays just values convenience

That’s not necessarily a bad thing

It means it’s just more inclusive

I never got the chance to obtain mythicals when I was younger because by the time I learned about certain events I had already missed out on them

But now I can get them

Gamefreak is just trying to stay in touch with society’s value of convenience mindset it’s not their fault

I just did the math. The average amount of legendaries in a generation is 12. With Sinnoh being the average, we can now line up the 8 generations in order by the amount of Legendaries introduced.
Kanto- 5
Johto- 5
Kalos- 6
Hoenn-10
Sinnoh-12 *
Unova- 13
Galar- 14
Alola- 27

The issue I have with the modern Pokemon games is that there's too many of them. A legendary is meant to be a rare, one of a kind pokemon. This is what the first two generations and Kalos get right. By having a limited amount of legendaries, it adds to their uniqueness. But all that changed in Sun and Moon. With a whopping 27 legendaries, that is way too many if you factor in the Ultra Beasts. The more legendaries you have, the more it takes away from their uniqueness

@Emperor Cubone I mean that’s just how society is nowadays it’s just more convenient this doesn’t just apply to Pokémon

I mean people prefer to just have their groceries delivered rather than go to the grocery store

Or people just prefer to watch tv shows on streaming instead of trying to find a show from thousands of channels

Society nowadays just values convenience

That’s not necessarily a bad thing

It means it’s just more inclusive

I never got the chance to obtain mythicals when I was younger because by the time I learned about certain events I had already missed out on them

But now I can get them

Gamefreak is just trying to stay in touch with society’s value of convenience mindset it’s not their fault

I mean in bdsp you have to beat legends arceus and get a completed dex entry for every Pokémon before you have access to it in BDSP so that kind of adds more effort and challenge to obtaining a legendary although people I guess weren’t happy with that approach

Should they just handle every legendary like that?

You need to 100% a game to unlock it in a different game because that requires the challenge and effort that you guys were saying they are lacking

I think all main series Pokémon games will have the "story legendaries". The ones you catch at the end of the story. Basically the box-art legendaries.
Here's a few other ideas for other types of legendary encounters.

Hidden Pokémon, like the Regis in Hoenn. The puzzles make them much more interestinf. With some small hints along the journey as well.

Wandering Pokémon, like the Lati duo or the Lake Guardians. I think the gen 8 DLC actually did a great job with the Galarian legendary birds. More of that please.

A side mission for some random legendary would also be cool. Like you hear people going around "Did you see it? It flew so fast! I think it went that way."
As you'd go to that direction, you'd find more hints and eventually the legendary Pokémon itself.
Or maybe you'd read a book or something, that isn't a part of the main story, and only then you could get access to a puzzle that reveals the legendary.
Of course, they should only be available late-game.

Another interesting idea could be similar to Nebby, having a Pokémon follow you around, and it turns out to be a legendary later on. Though it should be much more subtle.

Finally, the games could have a downloadable mythical, but it should have some sort of event in game, just like Mew and Celebi had.

Yes, this comment is literially what the video was about, lol.