Pokemon’s Legendary Problem

Pokemon’s Legendary Problem

News is that next month, select GameStops across the US will distribute shiny rare Pokemon: Dialga, Palkia and Giratina according to Siliconera. The idea, in a way, is both cool and indicative of an absurd problem Pokemon has when it comes to legendaries.

Let me put this into context: every generation, a new set of legendaries are introduced to the Pokemon games. Legendaries are supposed to be group of “incredibly rare” Pokemon, often super-powered. Only legendaries don’t really feel so rare, do they?

The first couple of games introduced the legendaries most people are familiar with: the birds (Zapdos, Articuno, Moltres) and the Mew duo (Mew and Mewtwo). From there the games have gone on to have even more legendaries, each a part of a set representing different things, ideas or mythologies in the world. We’ve got legendaries for the weather, the moon and just about everything in-between — meaning that Pokemon’s legendary problem is not exactly new.

Dialga, Palkia and Giratina in particular are a part of a “creation trio,” as they represent time, space and antimatter. You’d think it doesn’t get much more powerful than that, but no, there’s also the Pokemon that’s the creator of the universe, Arceus. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day we’ll get a Pokemon that’s more powerful than Arceus too, although it’s hard to imagine what kind of Pokemon that could be. Naturally, the upcoming games will also have its own set of legendaries. Of course they will. And in a way, you can’t blame Game Freak. Some Pokemon have got to be special, right?

But each new special Pokemon introduced makes the last one seem less unique. Nowadays you can just have a box or two in your in-game PC lying around that’s strictly legendaries, and that’s crazy. At the same time, it would be boring for them to just stop introducing legendaries as the number of normal Pokemon grows. It’s kind of a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation.

To be honest, I’ve stopped caring about legendaries in Pokemon games. I’ve stopped trying to keep track. Giving out shiny legendaries only reinforces to me how far Game Freak has to go to make legendaries seem exciting now….only the gesture seems absurd, like too much. Getting a shiny legendary should be way more impossible than turning on a handheld in a Gamestop.

For now, I will sit back and wait to see what Game Freak does with X & Y’s legendaries. I keep thinking they won’t be able to keep going and adding more, but so far I haven’t been right.

GameStop And EB Games Giving Away Shiny Legendary Pokémon [Siliconera]


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


19 responses to “Pokemon’s Legendary Problem”