Official Pre-Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield Speculation & Leaks thread

[Spinjira]

So what was Zygarde's original purpose? The focus of Pokemon Z? was that canceled so he was shoehorned into having a "bigger" purpose in SuMo?

It's a shame the amazing Zygarde 10%'s design was wasted on him.

 

[KiranTheWitch]

Zygarde in general seems to have been wasted.

 

[Grimbad]

Zygarde in general seems to have been wasted.

Its a shame. Definitely my favourite legendary in a while. Tiny cells spread all around the world that unite to form a giant gundam when the earth needs protecting. Its an amazing concept and a cool looking design. Should have gotten a whole game to focus on it

 

[IncineROAR]

Its a shame. Definitely my favourite legendary in a while. Tiny cells spread all around the world that unite to form a giant gundam when the earth needs protecting. Its an amazing concept and a cool looking design. Should have gotten a whole game to focus on it

I would have taken Pokemon Z any day of the week over the Gen 7 games. They are okay games, but they feel rushed and unfinished, just like Gen 6.

 

[Blast]

Zygarde in general seems to have been wasted.

I wouldn't say that. Zygarde did get a lot of attention in the anime and a whole special quest in the orignal SM after all. The Generation 6 Legendary Pokémon didn't have a lot of backstory in general compared to Legendaries of other generations anyway.

 

[William-Jdubz]

from what I read, Z or a second kalos instalment was planned but got scrapped, most of the planned stuff with Zyguarde was lopped into Gen 7 instead.

 

[SodiumChloride]

from what I read, Z or a second kalos instalment was planned but got scrapped, most of the planned stuff with Zyguarde was lopped into Gen 7 instead.

I wish they made that and saved oras for the switch

 

[KiranTheWitch]

I wish they made that and saved oras for the switch

It'll be exciting to see Sinnoh on the Switch.

 

[Knightwolf09]

I wish they made that and saved oras for the switch

I still wished the Kalos starters got megas in the game they debut in and the same one introduced mega evolution!

 

[Esserise]

Its a shame. Definitely my favourite legendary in a while. Tiny cells spread all around the world that unite to form a giant gundam when the earth needs protecting. Its an amazing concept and a cool looking design. Should have gotten a whole game to focus on it

But it’s kind of hard to give it any kind of major role in the game while also maintaining the idea of collecting cells to any meaningful degree. Having to collect 100 or even just 50 of the things in order to actually progress through the game is a bit of a tall order, and conversely, the further they whittle down the required number, the more it begs the question of why they’re even bothering with that kind of approach. I think cell collection pretty firmly works best as a lengthy sidequest that you can do at your own pace as you go through the game, rather than in order for you to go through the game, and I also don’t think that Zygarde really had much of a story to tell anyway. If the environment is in trouble, it shows up to deal with the problem. So in theory we’d have seen the environment get into trouble, and Zygarde would have shown up to deal with the problem. But then all you’ve got is a France-based remake of Emerald, and it’s extra-redundant because they’d sort of already hit some of those same notes with ORAS (because at the end of the day, without something like the cell quest to call its own, Zygarde really is just an imitation Rayquaza from underground).

Personally, I prefer that they decided to generally try new ideas with Zygarde and with the games as a whole instead of going with the formulaic, done-to-death, box-ticking option. And like @Blast said, Zygarde still got a ton of promotional focus due to the anime. It’s not as if they completely ignored its existence and just didn’t milk it at all. They simply decided not to do Ultra X and Ultra Y for the 20th anniversary, which was surely a sound decision, and to use Zygarde in a more unique way than other third game mascots.

(And I’m not sure I understand what’s being suggested in that Twitter thread, or why people are treating it as reputable. If there was supposed to be a Zygarde/Necrozma clash in the anime, then uh, okay, weird, but the anime does make weird choices sometimes, I guess. But if they’re saying that’s how it was supposed to be in USUM, then I can’t really see how. The idea seems incredibly forced, and I’d argue that it would have likely been a disservice to both Zygarde and Necrozma.)

I wish they made that and saved oras for the switch

Even if they had made a Z game, I highly doubt that ORAS would have ever been in consideration for the Switch.

 

[Blast]

Speaking of the cell and sticker collecting, I found it to be a very fun and rewarding sidequest to encourage exploration of the various places within the region. I hope the new games will have something similar, because I think it's a great feature.

 

[KiranTheWitch]

Speaking of the cell and sticker collecting, I found it to be a very fun and rewarding sidequest to encourage exploration of the various places within the region. I hope the new games will have something similar, because I think it's a great feature.

I thought so too .I still haven't found all of the stickers yet .I need 9 more .

 

[William-Jdubz]

I really enjoyed the USUM side quests they felt fun and wasn’t a chore tbh, I’d rather collect 100 cells / stickers than have the side quests from ORAS to get mega stones, the ones locked behind the contests were a real huge turn off.

 

[KrisiChiki]

I enjoyed Zygarde’s story in the anime, but there are plenty of people who don’t watch the anime or don’t have access to it. In “smaller” countries there isn’t Pokemon merchandise to be found anymore, besides the games and the cards. I don’t know if said countries even air the anime at this point.

I say that because I live in one of those countries, and I often visit relatives in another such country. I think the last time I saw merchandise or the anime was during Gen 4. It’s possible to watch the anime online, but that’s probably mostly old fans who know their way around the internet.

My point is, the anime shouldn’t be a replacement for things that are missing in the games. Like others, I find Zygarde to be a very interesting Pokemon conceptually, but is ultimately wasted.

It’s true that on the surface Zygarde seems like a copy of Rayquaza, but that’s precisely why we needed a game with focus on it. There is nothing new under the sun after all, and it’s often a matter of how you use and present your ideas, not so much what those ideas are. Even Gen VII doesn’t get away from the “Pokemon formula” (beat x, collect y, beat the league, become champion) but it presents said formula in a different way that makes it feel new and refreshing.

I strongly believe there are things they could have done to make a game about Zygarde interesting, without making it feel like a rehash of Rayquaza in Hoenn. Plus, Kalos was fairly bare bones in terms of lore so there was a lot of room for expansion.

With that said, making Gen VII for the 20th anniversary was probably the better choice, but it’s sad to see Kalos’ potential wasted. I hope one day Kalos gets a remake to redeem it, but that’s in the far, far future.

 

[CalamityRobin]

I like the idea of legendaries having subplots in games outside of their generation. Maybe not those who played major roles in their own games like the ones you'll find on the box art, but legendaries who didn't get much plot in the games they debuted in like Zygarde, Heatran or Cobalion. Their generations may have ended, but I don't think they should have to wait for remakes if good story ideas exist for them.

 

[KrystalStar Productions]

Something I wonder about, Megalith or better call as zygarde megalith, and how that man made pokemon was in the anime with the dragon snake pokemon,

It almost like they may have either intended to have a 3rd and 4th version for both of them, Either that or to maybe have megalith as a final boss or as a event in a cancelled Z or maybe even in sun and moon version, I even wonder if it will get uses in a future game like gen 8 or even in a gen 6 remake in the future.

Heck megalith seen so forgotten, even glitchxcity haven't done a theme music/remix of team flare monsterous pokemon yet, There not even much fan art of it, Just 2 or 3 bit of fan art, Heck zygarde even has a corrupted red form in the anime, Whatever even happen to that? Was the red form meant for the games as well but got scraped at the last second, Or maybe it was a anime only thing which I highly doubt if they did plans a Z version of some kind.

 

[Matleo]

Zygarde concept is fantastic but it would need a overthinking when transforming into its forms, something that would allow it to transform depending on the level of its oponent maybe. This way it wouldnt get overpowered if it would react to the stages and levels of its opoents.

 

[Esserise]

I enjoyed Zygarde’s story in the anime, but there are plenty of people who don’t watch the anime or don’t have access to it. In “smaller” countries there isn’t Pokemon merchandise to be found anymore, besides the games and the cards. I don’t know if said countries even air the anime at this point.

Well, you say that the games and cards are still there, and I would think that the games and the cards are two of their biggest merchandising markets, but neither of them are particularly dependent on any one Pokémon getting the sole focus (and specifically when it comes to the games, we can safely assume that a Zygarde game wouldn’t have drawn any impressive numbers like SM, and likely would have undersold compared to ORAS as well). So while there will be some countries that can’t get access to the Zygarde plushies and keychains and whatnot, I’m not sure that TPC would see that as a major problem. Those things are still available in their biggest markets, and the smaller markets at least have access to the major media like the games and the cards.

Just for the record, I don’t watch the anime either. I’ve got no attachment to the XYZ season or indeed any season of the anime. My point is simply that it served its purpose as something on which to anchor the sales of those aforementioned plushies and keychains, which I think is all they really care about in the end.

My point is, the anime shouldn’t be a replacement for things that are missing in the games.

But what’s “missing” exactly? The games got along just fine without putting Zygarde into the climax of one. It’s not something that actually had to happen - it’s merely something that could have, in theory, but was passed up on since it was ultimately too impractical to deal with. And even without a story, Zygarde was still able to serve as a point of advertising for the SM games. It’s kind of like Mewtwo, when you think about it. Its lore is there, in the games, but it doesn’t play an active role in the story, and yet, it gets a big part in the anime, and has tons of merchandise dedicated to it. Because all that really matters as far as the games go is mechanics and battle capabilities. The story can be about whatever. Any given Pokémon really only needs to fill a certain gameplay niche, and to be marketable. Else we wouldn’t have things like Heatran, or indeed, most Mythical Pokémon these days.

It’s true that on the surface Zygarde seems like a copy of Rayquaza, but that’s precisely why we needed a game with focus on it. There is nothing new under the sun after all, and it’s often a matter of how you use and present your ideas, not so much what those ideas are. Even Gen VII doesn’t get away from the “Pokemon formula” (beat x, collect y, beat the league, become champion) but it presents said formula in a different way that makes it feel new and refreshing.

But here’s the irony - without a major story role, Zygarde is completely differentiated from Rayquaza. There’s no tangible overlap at all because Zygarde didn’t even end up being used in a story that would have had to be a reconfigured version of Rayquaza’s story. “A sidequest where you collect its body parts in order to reconstruct it” is about as far from “A big green serpent ex machina that steps in to end the climax” as you can get. So you don’t actually “need a game to focus on it” in order to make Zygarde not seem like a Rayquaza clone, you simply need to do something original with it, which they did. That’s what should be the “new and refreshing” thing about it, but fans are so adamant about this specific box needing to be ticked that they preclude consideration of any alternative (which still strikes me as somewhat odd, because it seemed to me like after Gens 4 and 5, people were getting tired of the increasing prominence of Legendary Pokémon, and many were asking for a more dialed-back approach like that of Gens 1 and 2). I’m not even trying to say that the cell hunt was like the greatest innovation ever, or anything like that, but it is objectively one of the most unique ways they’ve implemented a Legendary Pokémon. But it’s not story-driven, so it’s automatically written off as “screwing over” Zygarde and “wasting its potential,” even though you couldn’t really do that kind of sidequest with any other Pokémon - it is singularly enabled by Zygarde’s concept. I would argue that something like the cell hunt is Zygarde’s potential.

I love how everyone talking about zygarde, But have everyone forgotten about megalith, and how that man made pokemon was in the anime with the dragon snake pokemon, It almost like they may have either intended to have a 3rd and 4th version for both of them, Either that or to maybe have megalith as a final boss or as a event in a cancelled Z version, I hope it get uses in a future game like gen 8 or even in a gen 6 remake in the future.

Heck megalith seen so forgotten, even glitchxcity haven't done a fan theme of team flare monsterous pokemon yet, Heck zygarde even has a red form in the anime whatever even happen to that?

The megalith was pretty much just the anime’s adaptation of the ultimate weapon, and the “red” Zygarde was just stylistic. Nothing special.

 

[Borjitasstoi]

View attachment 110379

This is so relevant right now LOL

jeez that meme ¿again?

 

[Silktree]

We badly need an announcement if the discussion has shifted to Zygarde.