The Pokémon franchise is frequently snarked on for resting on its laurels. For being afraid to change up the formula. Speaking as a huge fan myself, there’s denying that this is totally valid. After all, everybody knows how your typical Pokémon game goes. You set out tꦉo be the very best, you tackle the gyms, a nefarious and fairly incompetent ‘Villainous Team’ gets in your way throughout… it’s pretty standard stuff💝.
The experience is much more than the sum of its parts, sure, but when you boil it right down, very little has changed since the original games released twenty years ago. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your perspective, but there it is. As the series has gone on, Game Freak have thrown in a number of gimmicks to mix things up a little. Pokémon Sun and Moon, for instance, did away with HMs, gym battles and the like, while staying true to what it means to be a Pokémon game. On a �✨�smaller scale, the battle mechanics have seen new additions like Mega Evolution.
The jury’s still out on this one. When we first heard of Mega forms of Pokémon, it seemed like a great way to bring otherwise-irrelevant ‘mon into the limelight a little. Mega Drudd🌠igon, for instance? I’d have been all over that. Sadly, this wasn’t quite how it worked out. As is always the case with the series, the balance ended up way off. We saw some monst🐎rous powerhouses like Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Rayquaza, and some questionable ones (Mega Garchomp, for instance, is outshined by its own regular form for the most part). Let’s dive into the shonky world of Mega Evolution.
25 OP: Mega Char🍒izard Y - Why, Oh Why, Y?
Charizard is a Pokémon that’s always been a fan favourite. Along with Mewtwo, it’s the only Pokémon to have received two 💟di🌄stinct Mega forms, which says a lot about their popularity.
At the same time, though, its vanilla form’s stats are nothing ♛stellar, and it’s been a real pain to use ever since our old friend Stealth Rock came along.
The flaming lizard was tossed a huge lifeline in the form of Mega Charizard Y, though. Its speed remains the same, but it gets a huge boost in Special Attack. On top of which, it gains the auto-sun ability 💮Drought, which boosts the p♎ower of its Fire-type attacks to astronomic proportions.
24 𝓡 TOO WEAK: Mega Alakazam - Who Many Spoons Does One ‘Mon Need?
Now, don’t get me wrong here. Mega Alakazam isn’t weak in the conventional sense. You wouldn’t want to make disparaging remarks about𓃲 the weight this guy’s been putting on lately, that’s for darn sure.🉐 With a base Special Attack of 175 and a base Speed of 150, it’s built to be a darn fast and fearsome special sweeper.
Which is all well and good, but Mega Alakazam is held back by the simple fact that it needs to hold its Mega Stone. Gen🅷eℱrally, Alakazam wants a Focus Sash, so it’s not knocked into the year 3065 by a slight breeze. Priority is everywhere, and Speed alone isn’t enough.
23 🅷OP: Mega Kangaskhan - Don’t Mess With Mama ✅
Ah, yes. Here she is, friends, Mega Kangaskhan herself. If you’ve been playing competitive Pokémon for a few years now, you’ll remember Mega Kangaskhan’s reign of terror. I still wake up s𝔉ome nights howling NOT FAKE OUT! NOOOOO! Seriously. My wife’s sent me to sleep on the couch about twenty times for this.
I nev♚er thought I’d be so൩ afraid of/sick of the sight of Kangaskhan, of all Pokémon, but there it is. With its dreaded Power-Up Punch shenanigans (yep, it got two boosts from the one attack), this darn thing was everywhere.
Fortunately, its Parental Bond ability has𓆉 been nerfed as of generation eight, with the second hit now only dealing a qu🧔arter of the damage of the first.
22 OP: Mega Mawile - The Menacing Mou🔜th
If it was surprising to see the humble Kangaskhan emerging as a powerhouse, it was downright gobsmacking to see Mawile doing the same. This sub-par Steel-type was a complete nonentity, the sort of Pokémon you wouldn’t even notice if its toupee suddenly caught fire onꦓ the subway. Suddenly, Mega Mawile appeared, and the world took n💟otice.
It has decently bulk𓄧y stats to take hits, as well as one of the highest raw Attack stats in the game (when Huge Power is taken into account). Its Steel a💝nd Fairy typing is very nice, too. An all-around excellent pick for a team.
21 TOO WEAK: Audino - You Won’t Get Mucཧh Joy From This N𝔉urse
As a huge Final Fantasy fan, I can totally appreciate🍨 the design of Mega Audino. It’s got a bizarre White-Mage-crossed-with-a-rabbit vibe going on, and heck, what’s no🅰t to like about that?
It’s right down in the lowest tier of Mega Forms, though, there’s no denying. It serves perfectly well as a tank and clꩲeric (with the Healer ability to help out your partner in doubles), but that’s not really something you want to spend your only Mega Evolution on. Typically, you want your once-per-battle Mega to crush the opposing team into sad hunks of defeated, fleshy spam, and Mega Audino really isn’t up to that task.
20 OP: Mega Beedrill: Yep, I Said Be༒edrill
Now, there are a lot of inexplicable things happening in this shonky world of ours just now. Just flip on the news or scroll down a social mediaꦯ timeline for a second or two, you’ll soon see that.
What a bizar𒀰re time to be alive. Of all of them, though, nothing’s quite as strange as the fact that Beedrill can actually be deemed OP now. Much like Mega Alakazam, Mega Beedrill is a very fast, very 🍷feeble and very threatening attacker. Base 150 Attack with Adaptability thrown in?
If you can kee🥂p it away from priority, Beedrill can punch holes with the best of them.
19 OP: Mega 🧸Salamence - The Croissant Of Doom 🌟
Yes, I know. I hear you. I’ve seen the memes. Mega Salamence doe💎💝s have unfortunate, hilariously-shaped wings. That’s beside the point, though. We’re not here to judge. That is, we are, but we’re here to judge raw dang POWER, not designs.
Raw dang POWER, needless to say, is Mega Salamence’s strong suit. In its vanilla form, Salamence has lost a little ground to the likes of Garchomp, but there’s no argu💧ing with its Mega form. It’s powerful; able to hit hard from both ends of the spectrum with high base power moves (backed by Aerilate). At base 120, it’s also got just the Speed boost it needs.
18 TOO WEAK: Mega Houndoom - Who Let The Dogs Out? ღ
Who? Wh… oh, dang, I haven’t had that song stuck in my♏ head for about twenty years. Good job, me. Poor Mega Houndoom. It faces that familiar Pokémon issue: it isn’t weak by any means, 🎃it’s just that there’s something else more OP that renders it largely irrelevant.
In this case, it’s Mega Charizard Y, the sun sweeper of choice for just about everꦓybody. Mega Houndoom is faster, and boasts the ability Solar Power (which boosts the strength of its special attacks🍌 in exchange for a little HP each turn), which is super neat. The trouble is, you can only have one or the other, and the utility of Charizard Y’s Drought usually trumps that.
17 OP: Mega Heracross - It’s *HOW* Stro🎐ng?
In my eyes, Heracross has always been a great offensive Pokémon. Bug/Fighting comes with some unfortunate flaws (read: a Pidgey could probably Gust it into oblivion, with that 4x weakness)✤, but its high-powered twin STABs, Close Combat and Megahorn (along with good coverage moves), can obliterate a whole range of foes.
Its major drawback, for me, has always been its average Speed (Choice Scarf Moജxie has been my set of choice). Mega Heracross amplifies both of these traits. With💟 no possibility of a speed-boosting item, you’ll need speed control support, but it’s totally worth it. Mega Heracross can wreck some real havoc.
16 🦂 OP: Mega Rayquaza: A Mighty Wind Is Blowing
Now, see, this is too much right here. Think of all theജ Pokémon that were crying out for a Mega Evolution. Mega Dunsparce, say, or even Mega Mr. Mime (imagine what a horror show that could have been). All these great candidates, and what do we get? Meg🗹a Rayquaza, that’s what we get.
Already super-strong, Rayquaza was totally fine. Game Freak, hꦰowever, came along and buffed it all the way to the top of Mount What-The-Heckola. Not only are its stats absurd, not only does it have an exclusive weather effect all its own (mysterious air currents, which remove the Ice, Rock and Electric weaknesses of🐽 Flying-types), but it doesn’t need a Mega Stone. Slapping a Choice Band on something with base 180 Attack is just… I need to lie down for a minute.