One of Legends: Arceus’ selling points was that it introduced a breadth of different forms and evolutions for Pokemon. While not a new idea, since variations of existing Pokemon have been around since Pokemon’s seventh generation of games with Sun and Moon, Legends: Arceus was the first to introduce historical variations of Pokemon beyond these regional forms. But despite the potential the historical regional variations brought to the series, Legends: Arceus didn’t best capitalize on this. A new Legends game could therefore give Game Freak an opportunity to learn from Legends: Arceus and improve these variations in the future.
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The Issue With Hisuian Forms
When Pokemon Legends: Arceus was leading up to its eventual release, fans were abuzz with excitement following the reveal of Hisuian forms of Pokemon. Based on a feudal Sinnoh region, named Hisui at that time, these Pokemon were from long before the modern-day versions players are used to but had “died out” after many years of adapting and changing. As with any regional form, Game Freak explained away the changes made to these Pokemon, such as Hisuian Zoroa and Zoroark, who were apparently shunned by humans due to their illusions and perished in Hisui’s harsh winter wilderness, only to manifest as Ghost-type Pokemon.
At face value, there’s little to criticize with the new regional forms. They provide a unique, alternative interpretation of familiar Pokemon with a new balance of types, movesets, and even evolutions. However, unlike previous regional forms, these Hisuian variations have to contend with Pokemon’s history. The best example of this is that of Voltorb and Electrode; Voltorb’s Pokedex entries for Ruby and SoulSilver both suggest that the Pokemon first appeared when mechanical Poke Balls were invented.
Poke Balls have a strange history that muddies this canon, with issues ranging from Apricorns and Tumblestones being used to create Poke Balls to the Pocket Monsters Encyclopedia alleging Poke Balls were invented by a Professor Westwood in 1925, not Professor Laventon from Legends: Arceus. It’s therefore even more unclear as to why Voltorb resembles a Poke Ball, as prior to Legends: Arceus many fans had been under the presumption that Poke Balls had always come first and then Voltorb followed. Now many are left with Voltorb’s chicken and the egg conundrum, and rather than help clear things up, Legends: Arceus has only complicated things further.
Future Legends Games Can Tidy Up The Pokedex
It would be unfair to treat Voltorb and Electrode as the only examples of confusion contradictions or inconsistencies in Pokemon lore as there has been plenty other examples. For instance, FireRed’s Pokedex entry for Parasect tells plays “In China, [Parasect’s] spores are used as herbal medicine.” Given that as the Pokemon games have continued to grow and expand, Game Freak has evidently done its best to avoid tackling the issue of Pokemon and the real world, which means that likes of Voltorb, Parasect and many other Pokemon could have conflicting lore behind them that are becoming increasingly more obvious.
This is where a future Legends game could help clean up any loose ends that might jeopardize the Pokemon canon. It wouldn’t be the first time Pokemon has taken advantage of previous Pokedex discrepancies to refine its lore, as many fans pointed out that Kantonian Raichu and Copperajah might have corrected the Pokedex entry from FireRed (and unusually Sun too) which claims Raichu can knock out an Indian elephant. Many now suspect that given Copperajah’s own Sword Pokedex entry says it came from another region helps retcon the contradiction and fill in the blanks; it might even promise a future Pokemon game set within an India-inspired region.
For a new Legends game, Game Freak would be wise to scrutinize its current extensive list of Pokemon and Pokedex entries in order to weed out these canonical errors and, if possible, address them with new regional forms. For instance, Trubbish and Garbador are based on modern-day pollution and waste. A new version of Trubbish and Garbador might replace its Poison typing with something like Dark and redefine how it came to be. Similarly, Grimer and Muk allegedly only exist due to x-rays from the moon since Stadium introduced its Pokedex entry. A Legends game therefore might want to try and clean up Grimer’s haphazard scientific origin, along with any other Pokemon who have now-inconsistent entries, from Xatu in South America to Poliwrath crossing the Pacific.
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Game Freak Could Be Playing It Safe
As much as fans might want to levy criticism at Game Freak for not fully exploring these new, historical regional forms, it also stands to reason that the studio might want to first test the waters of the concept before diving in. Though clearly trying to engage with its fans and inject creativity into its series, Game Freak’s primary responsibility is to ensure Pokemon remains steadfast, which means no rocking the boat with ideas that could be perceived as too radical. For instance, when first introducing the regional forms in Sun and Moon, fans noted that these forms were exclusively based on Gen 1 Pokemon, suggesting Game Freak relied on Gen 1’s popularity as a vehicle to introduce a concept that has since reshaped Pokemon games.
Combining this with the fact that Legends: Arceus was a spin-off game already proposing a great many changes to Game Freak’s formula, it’s completely understandable that Hisuian forms weren’t as adventurous as fans might have wanted. However, now that Legends has proven itself capable of serving as a sister series to the core games, future Pokemon Legends games have the ideal opportunity to fully embrace the lore that’s been built up over the many years of Pokemon. A new Legends game could more deeply explore the games’ canon, revisit Pokemon with inconsistent Pokedex entries, and ultimately help flesh out the history, culture and legends behind Pokemon.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is available now on Switch.
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