So, we're all familiar with Eevee and how the thing can turn into pretty much anything under the sun because that's it was gimmick, but I want to draw your attention to other variant evolutions because that is a really cool concept. It forces the player to make a choice at a certain point or it makes the player really examine his/her Pokemon closely to make sure that the Pokemon he/she eventually wants is the one that evolves. Let's see a few examples, shall we?
This was one of the first ones we heard about when Generation-II hit the stores. Oddish levels up and evolves into Gloom, but Gloom will not evolve unless exposed to either the Leaf Stone or the Sun Stone. It's similar to Generation-I Eevee in the sense that it is entirely reliant on the use of an evolution stone, but Gloom will either keep or drop its secondary Poison type based on the choice made by the trainer. That's a pretty big choice to make, considering the weaknesses and strengths of having a dual-type versus a single-type Pokemon, and it really comes down to preference and strategy of the trainer. Here's another:
This evolution tree has a lot of similarities to the Oddish tree, but there's one big difference: it is more reliant on convenience. Poliwag evolves into Poliwhirl by leveling up, then into Poliwrath when exposed to the Water Stone. However, if Poliwhirl is holding the King's Rock and is traded to another player, it becomes Politoed and does not take on the secondary Fighting-type. Now, here are the things to consider:
- Is the player patient enough to find the Water Stone/King's Rock when he/she has the other item already?
- Has the player already used one of the evolution items on another Pokemon, or is saving the one for something else?
- Does the player have the ability to trade with a friend?
It's factor like these that really make the player consider his/her choices very carefully and much further in advance than the Vileplume/Bellossom issue.
This one I especially like, since it doesn't so much boil down to one choice, as much as it boils down to a series of choices. Depending on the equality or inequality of Tyrogue's Attack and Defense stats, he either evolves into Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, or Hitmontop. There are really only three ways to ensure that you get the Pokemon you want out of this deal: either load Tyrogue up with the appropriate vitamins before he hits level 20, EV train him very carefully, or keep pressing B when he tries to evolve and hope the stats eventually level out the way you want. There is a lot of effort needed in raising a Tyrogue, and that's what makes that Pokemon so interesting.
Wurmple is a very weird situation, since the player really has no control over the Pokemon Wurmple evolves into unless the trainer keeps catching Wurmples and goes through trial and error. There's a sort of randomness to it that both relieves the player of responsibility while simultaneously creating suspense and tension as it gets closer to its evolution level.
Now, here's my question: why don't you do this more often with Pokemon? I mean, instead of just creating new ones that are completely independent, it would be fun and engaging to create more branches, especially in Pokemon the players may not expect to have these options...
...like old starter Pokemon.
Heresy, I know, but think about it for a second:
These are the Galapagos Islands. When we think of weird evolutionary traits in the animal kingdom of our world, we think of the Galapagos Islands. Why don't you create a place in the Pokemon world the works similarly to the Galapagos? You already have the mechanics and coding in the game when you developed the means for Eevee to evolve into Glaceon and Leafeon, so why not make certain Pokemon evolve into previously unknown forms because they were isolated in an island ecosystem?
And it's really easy to come up with ideas, too, especially for the starter Pokemon. When they get to their third stage, just tweak the secondary types. Maybe Charmeleon evolves into a pure Fire-type Pokemon without wings like Charizard, or maybe gets even bigger wings and more draconic features to become a Fire/Dragon Pokemon. If Lance is going to pass off Charizard, Gyarados, and Aerodactyl as "dragons", maybe we can put some validity into that charade.
I know you've been favoring Fire/Fighting with the newer Fire-type starters, but I think players would be even more drawn into that crucial pick-your-starter dilemma if they knew the choice wasn't just between three final forms, but six, or maybe even nine. Who knows, we could go crazy with it!
Of course, you'd need to really find good alternative type combinations for the starters' final forms, and that's where I could come in.
Hire me, Sugimori!
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