The Problem With Legendary Pokemon

[@JPRPokeTrainer98]

HAPPY JPR FRIDAY, what are your thoughts on modern Legendary Pokemon?

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

Well, overall I love modern Legendary Pokémon. Ogerpon, Koraidon and Terapagos are perfect.

[@a-ash666]

It depends, legendary like Kabfoo and Miraido/Coraidon don't feel like that. But then they also had legendary pokemon with them like ruin pokemon or crown thundra

[@KuroBlitz]

"scarcity creates value" is pretty much why legendaries feel pointless post ORAS since the game after it was GO

[@noviranger88]

They’re not Jeff Gordon levels of legendary.

[@Espurr.8]

My thoughts on modern legend pokemon are the same as the old one it just neat

[@Superstar5_]

I think “Legendary” nowadays means they are strong in battle and important to the plot, and not necessarily a judge of how “rare” they are.

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

Yeah, that argument pretty much sums it up.

[@eduardoyyxy]

most legendaries were never really rare tbh. you are literally guaranteed to get most of them

[@Superstar5_]

@@eduardoyyxyYeah but they would just be SUPER hard/annoying to battle/catch.

[@Superstar5_]

@@AngelPerez-tu1nkI don’t think a legendary being common or gifted to you makes them “bad” per se, I mean my favorite legendaries are from Scarlet/Violet.

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

@@Superstar5_ Wholeheartedly agree. I love the Paradox trio, Ogerpon and the Treassures of Ruin. But I do hope world-impacting legendaries do return.

[@esteban8471]

I like that recent generations are trying to get you emotionally invested in their legendaries. Zacian and Zamazenta choose to fight alongside you and Hop, you help Calyrex find their steed (they outright thank you and are happy to travel with you by the end of it), you and Koraidon/Miraidon go on a journey together that reaches a sentimental climax with the friends you've made, and you become good friends with Ogerpon. It almost feels like the Pokémon movies that gave you a reason to care about these Pokémon, not just because they were special and rare, but because they had stories and arcs. Sure, some like Terapagos don't always stick the landing (although it made for a fun climax), but I personally like this new narrative approach.

[@bigmemvb]

I loved my Zacian like a real dog, and Ogerpon is the first Pokémon I sought out merch of

[@LiamRockefeller-o5q]

Yea I like it to plus some legendaries felt less legendary when you can just catch them like why can I catch the god of time and honestly I hope this continues

[@N6LR0]

Terapagos is def S/V's weak link in terms of legendaries as characters but at least it adds interesting lore to the world. Like, Heatran just shows up w/o any real lore lmao

[@ZachaRicO]

I think the best executed ones so far are Solgaleo/Lunala and Koraidon/Miraidon.

[@xtrem5428]

Agreed.

[@sergioricardosantosdoamara5452]

Just a small correction, capturing Okidogi, Munkidori, and Fezandipiti is 100% optional in the post-DLC/Game, you can't catch them during their boss battles and has to go look for them later on.

[@iTerra_]

And they aren't a guaranteed catch, I went through buckets of Dusk balls just to catch Okidogi.

[@JPRPokeTrainer98]

You are absolutely correct. I should have specified that I meant that the game introduces you to them via the story, not that their catches are required.

[@sergioricardosantosdoamara5452]

@JPRPokeTrainer98 That's okay, since all other DLC Legendaries are catchable post-battle, it was logical to assume the three were as well.

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

I admit, I definitely can't deny that current Legendary Pokémon do not feel as grandiose as in past generations (though to be fair it's hard to top creator gods and elemental titans like the Hoenn trio). But I do firmly believe that current Legendary are still great mechanic and lore wise. Ogerpon's story is heartbreaking and I just wanna hug her, and Koraidon and Miraidon are badass. I will welcome grandiose world-ending Legendaries in games again though.

[@Kyle-zz6mx]

Could Eternatus be considered world-ending?

[@AngelPerez-tu1nk]

@@Kyle-zz6mx Definitely. I take responsibility for my misstep

[@raymaikeru]

In Gen VII we had Necrozma, which threatened to absorb the light of all of the world (which would really eff up nature and overall life.) Heck it already succeeded in 1 world.

[@thecod2345]

Tbh, the only problem I’d see is they were flat out running out of grandiose positions to give to legendaries. Mewtwo is a manmade species coming from the origin of life, Kyogre made the ocean, Groudon made the land, Rayquaza destroys both of them and patrols the upper atmosphere, the creation trio are gods, xerneas and yveltal are life and death, how many primordial positions are left really?

[@toumabyakuya]

@@thecod2345 Well, there are two locations that have religious undertones that could have Legendary Pokemon.

[@hardmancanada]

''Once every Pokémon is legendary, no Pokémon will be legendary.'' Syndrome ( Incredibles movie 2004)

[@TheDeathmail]

Except they aren't. It's like how Japan had tons of gods in their pantheon and so did the Greeks and the Norse and the Celts... They are like the gods and demigods of the Pokemon world and belong to different pantheons...

[@Dusxio]

The thing with legendaries to is... it's not really fair to expect new fans to get every previous game to collect the old legends. So the Old Guard who have been with the series for years, 'oh no, my 15th Giratina'. But someone new just has this one game. So... weird balance as always.

[@13KuriMaster]

I feel like, when they copy and paste the older legendaries into the newer games, it would be better received if the games did more to give weight to them being there then just... well, plopping them there. Like, for the Utra Warp Rides... instead of just taking you to an arena where Mewtwo is, it took you to a small dungeon that looks like an alternate version of the Cinnabar Mansion, and as you transverse it, you hear the sounds of something breaking out, get that feeling that your close to a powerful pokemon, and right before you enter the room where Mewtwo resides, you see a Scientist that is collapsed on the floor, urges you to get away, and says "We tried to make the most powerful pokemon... and we succeeded." Before never giving any more dialogue (or movement) at all afterward. For Snacksworth, instead of him just giving you a treat that makes the pokemon show up, he asks for your help in getting the ingredients to make the treat as he finds the best location to leave them and hopes to lure said legendary pokemon out... you gather the ingredients, meet him at the location, and he gives a small story on how he encountered the legendary pokemon, and is hoping that the snack will work so he will have proof that he actually did encounter them and wasn't making it all up (with the idea that no one believes that he met all these legendary pokemon from other regions in Paldea). For the Hoopa rings... instead of just them being there. Have there be a Hoopa centric post-game plot, where we see the little Djinn summon these Legendary Pokemon to cause Havoc (with everyone freaking out as seeing all these possibly world ending Titans in one place), and after the story beat is completed, we now have to traverse the Region to clean up any leftover Hoopa Rings left behind, which gives us a chance to catch both the Legendaries we saw Hoopa pull out, and well as some that didn't debut during the story itself.

[@theboostedbaboon4586]

Yeah it feels like a lot of the problems with legendary stem from mainline Pokemon trying to be both a single player and multi-player game, rather than splitting them into 2 different series. Single player pokemom benefits from unique encounters, region-specific limitations, and just generally mixing up the formula. The problem is that those things are at odds with competitive pokemon. Competitive players (rightfully) want it to be easier to catch pokemon, train them up, and gain access to all their moves. I think this problem could be solved (or at least helped a lot) by creating a separate video game for pvp pokemon. Like make a battle simulator like showdown that you build teams on & fight online without actually having to play the adventure parts of pokemon.

[@TheDeathmail]

Here is the thing, I think the issue is how YOU are thinking about "Legendary Pokemon" Like, if you think of them as Legendary due to lore and ignore game issues, then these Legendary Pokemon perfectly fit. They are gods (minor/major) and demigods of the Pokemon world. The ease we get them is due to Gameplay purposes.... Even the argument of there are "too many Legendaries" seem to make no sense if you view them in the lens of a pantheon.... Gen 4 had minor and major deities.... we call them Legendaries... Like, your complain is less why they aren't legendary and more about how you don't like how Legendary Pokemon are introduced and treated... which is different from if they are legendary.... Legendaries are legendary cause of their lore and social position... they are literal legends.... And for Gen 7, to be fair, some of the Legendary Pokemon technically belong to different dimensions and aren't native to the main Poke'world. That said, I think what was done with the Swords of Ruin and Koraidon and Miraidon were almost perfect. I do think that the Trouble Making Trio should have been roaming Pokemon similar to the Galarian Birds... In fact, the Crown Tundra did it best in Gen 8. One group that was easy for the sake of story, one group had to have you actually find their locations and solve a puzzle, one group was roaming and the other group made you look for clues and finally, Regigigas had to be discovered.... It actually was a great balance and way to get them....

[@kalosianporygon]

The fundamental problem about the "Legendary" label is the lack of conditions. To quote Bulbapedia: "No explicit criteria defines what makes a Pokémon a Legendary Pokémon. Instead, the only way to identify a Pokémon as belonging to this group is through statements from official media, such as the games or animation." No wonder the likes of Unown were thought to be Legendary.

[@dtell3424]

I think a main part of a legendary pokemon is that you are only able to catch one of it per save file like how in sword and shield you could only catch zacian, zamazenta, and eternatus only once per save file

[@TheDeathmail]

To be fair, the term "Legendary" was more of an in universe term than a game term... they are literal legends or demi-god Pokemon that we meet.

[@bdt2002gaming]

The Pokémon Ranger games are pretty good examples of how to do Legendary Pokémon right. Yeah, yeah, take it from the guy with Ukulele Pichu as his profile picture, but for the most part the trilogy spreads them around their regions in ways that actually make sense within each game’s context, and a few of them are actually pretty challenging for first-time players. Above all else, I just like that it’s the player him or herself fighting these Pokémon for a change, as opposed to “send out your trained team members and throw Poké Balls until you get lucky”.

[@Dw7freak]

I actually think that Moltres being in Victory Road is a very good place for it, but only if it's done once. Seafoam Island and the Power Plant are both optional locations. And even if you go there, you might not even see the birds while going through it. But Victory Road is mandatory. And the path puts Moltres's overworld sprite on the screen, but you can't access it from where you're at. And going down the main path takes you out of Victory Road, missing the encounter. If you haven't encountered Articuno or Zapdos yet, you wouldn't know what that bird sprite is, so you feel curious about what it might be. You find the side path that takes you to it, interact with it, and BOOM! Level 50 encounter with a fire bird. Moltres is visually striking enough to incentivize catching it. This leads to the player thinking about going to those places they haven't been to yet in the off-chance there's other great goodies there. And if you know any spanish, you'd realize that part of its name means "3", meaning there are at least 2 more hiding somewhere. In fact, I feel that all three of the birds are well placed. Zapdos is a reward for remembering that one stretch of Surf tiles way back after you got Cut. And Articuno rewards exploration. You can pass through Seafoam Isle without needing to affect the current blocking Articuno. But if you do complete the puzzles, it rewards you for being a completionist in the area.

[@sorepluto4329]

I feel story and lore is much, much more important then “how out of your way you have to go to find them” l. That’s why I think the kanto birds and Lugia are very underwhelming as legends. I mean a legend is a story, and considering I think Lugia is only mentioned like once in the entirety of Silvers script with 0 story about it.

[@lorekeeper685]

Tbh lugia was made for the movie

[@SweetBananaDigital]

I was fine with getting Koraidon/Miraidon at the beginning and getting to grow with them through the story. It was a good unique twist. Now if they start repeating that formula it will get stale really fast. I want to see more things like the Treasures of Ruin, I think they were incorporated in one of the best ways possible for an open-world game. I think Dynamax Adventures may have been the best compromise to make older legendaries accessible. They always felt non-canon to me, and the game mode is fun. The one drawback is it can be a bit challenging if you don’t have other players to take it on with you.

[@zero1343]

The base idea behind the treasures of ruin is interesting but the execution is kind of underwhelming and lore behind them similarly lacking. But i feel thats the case with a lot of things when it comes to scarlet and violet, hopefully they are more used to the open world development after having this game under their belt and give us something with a bit more oomph for gen 10

[@SweetBananaDigital]

@ I like how they give you lore if you go out of your way to do all the history classes, but I agree there could have been a bit more to it.

[@Lithosagymfan173]

Legendary Pokémon are actuallyrelevent characters in the story now, instead of being McGuffins to find and be done over, plus, they're still very, very, VERY strong(Koraidon is rumored to have split the land with his bare fists, theorically the Crater leading to Area Zero).

[@BJGvideos]

Wasn't the crater caused by a meteor? Or by seismic activity?

[@jvbon646]

The Crater was created by a meteorite millions of years ago

[@Shinntoku]

​@@jvbon646 it was formed by tectonic movement not a meteor

[@Jlaps941]

Making them relevant to the story actually makes me want to use them now

[@jvbon646]

@@Shinntoku It was created by a meteor, they literally state it multiple times, explicitly No tectonic movement would ever create such structure ever, no idea where you got that from. I assume you're just being confused by Terapagos's Dex Entry.

[@Nagatem]

If a Pokémon is very rare, very powerful, and has mythology surrounding them that affects a region in any way, I would say yes, they are still legendary as legends are still spread about them., The loyal three and ogrepon are prime examples as they are literally a legendary tale that has a whole festival dedicated to them

[@xtrem5428]

Yeah, they are legendary to the world, just less to the player. I personally feel those 4 are much better than the legendary birds, because of how Kitakami's residents treat them.

[@PlatinumAltaria]

They should just reassign new categories: put the lower level legendaries like Articuno or Regice in the games as static encounters, but don't just have gods hanging out in every game. They should only be available in whatever game features them as part of the story, banned from competitive as a result.

[@Diembee]

I’d really love if they brought say, half of the legendaries back and handled them like BW2. Even something as simple as “Put X legendary in a random, out of place area and have it do something.” Coming across Latios randomly in the Dreamyard and playing tag with it is one of my favorite memories in the game- there’s no lore reason for it being there but it acts as a great reward for exploring tucked away areas and gives the Lati Twins some personality. There’s also little things like Bianca studying heatran in reversal mountain, or the strange house ghost girl side quest, or the lake trio traveling to locations that fit their themes. These aren’t massive events, it’s like one or two pieces of dialogue and two things to do, but it shows that thought went into each mon’s implementation. Maybe in the next game you just encounter Kubfu training by itself in a tucked away forest, or maybe an NPC in a random town gives you a mysterious cursed tablet that you use in certain routes to reawaken the treasures of ruin. Hell, maybe Glastrier and Spectrier are being taken care of on some old secluded ranch owned by a super strong trainer, and if you beat them they’ll let you care for one of their horses. Just little things that go a long way.

[@robertlupa8273]

Kinda like SwSh had Cosmog being taken care of by someone in the Crown Tundra?

[@zyphrdrake9123]

I also agree with giving legendaries some semblance of personality, who didn't laugh at Galarian Zapdos troll running away from you, Galarian Articuno being a magician petty enough to attack you for seeing through his trick, and Galarian Moltres acting like this invincible monster or predator that you can easily ambush if you pay attention.

[@pokedude720]

ORAS kinda did that with the hoopa rings being at natural locations for the legendary (bottom of a sunken ship for Lugia, Heatran in an underground volcano, etc.)

[@ninjakirby777]

I think something you missed about what makes the dynamax den important is that it’s basically the only guaranteed way to get shinies of many legendaries, which used to be given out at in store events which don’t exist anymore.

[@BJGvideos]

I don't know what being part of the plot has to do with being seen as legendary or not. I don't get what you're saying. Something having a puzzle to it doesn't make something more impactful than being part of their story. Like, the legendary birds, what makes them legendary? They're big? What are their stories? People point to the anime but one, that came years after the original games, and two, the Shamouti birds are said to be larger and more powerful than others of their species. So what makes the rest of the species so special? Also, the paradox dragon didn't regain its true power to fight the AI professor. It regained its power to fight the other of its species, the one that killed the real professor. It was finally able to fight back and protect its friends, something it couldn't do before. And some parts of the world just flat out have more legends and stories about special creatures than others. Frankly it's rather realistic.

[@Lithosagymfan173]

Namely Japan, the country which Game Freak are from, is known to have a bunch of legends and stories(Either Yokais, Gods, even War stories).

[@clothieredward5248]

I don't believe the issue with legendaries is that there are too many or that they have story beats. Quite the opposite, I really like the amount of diverse Pokemon that serve as these rare and powerful creatures and I really like the ones that have story beats to them (especially those that are pulled off well). The real issue with legendaries is that too many legendaries don't have anything interesting to do in the games they're in. Most returning legendaries are just slapped into some new mechanic such as the Ultra Space Ride or the Snacksworth quests without anything interesting to do other than battling them and catching them. There is no mystery surrounding these powerful Pokemon. There are no dungeons or puzzles you have to go through before encountering them. There aren't many story beats for these legendaries (especially not the returning legendaries). All of these things, I hope they return in a future Pokemon game, one way or another.

[@toumabyakuya]

Thing is that this is a sympton of a bigger problem: There are too many Legendaries. Because of how many there are GF has no way to create dungeons for them all unless they literally give every single Route in the game a dungeon.

[@zero1343]

@@toumabyakuya Which given we haven''t really seen a proper dungeon since they switched to 3d, isn't particularly likely in the first place

[@Ashketchum12233]

Hi. I used one of your videos for a school presentation of mine

[@JPRPokeTrainer98]

I hope you got a good grade lol

[@Ashketchum12233]

@ I can confidently say that I did. (It was the banned episodes video to be specific)

[@donvhermit5803]

Instant A+

[@xtrem5428]

IMO my favorite handling of legendaries were Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza in ORAS. You really feel their presence when they show up and cause a world-ending cataclysm, and it comes from mostly themselves, unlike Xerneas/Yveltal who are basically MacGuffins for the weapon. I did enjoy the 4 ruin Pokémons too as they had their not-too-explicit side quest with the stakes.

[@warrockenjoyer2170]

I feel like a good rule for legendary Pokémon is that they NEED to have a legend about them or be significant to a story to truly be considered. The BIG ones I feel should be considered are Weather trio Creation trio Emotion trio Tao trio Aura trio Tapus Necrozma Darkest day trio Terapagos

[@BJGvideos]

It would eliminate a lot of mons from that as well. As I said in my comment, what makes the legendary birds so special? They've never been all that lore-heavy.

[@spongeb27]

I don't think bringing back legendaries has anything to do with not costing VGC players money buying an extra game, they still have to get plane tickets and they're amongst the most likely groups of people to be buying every single game anyway, plus a lot of VGC players have friends and fans help them get good mons anyway

[@Laudbonto]

Did we forget that you can catch Koraidon or Miraidon in Area Zero after beating the Professor

[@BJGvideos]

And you can use it against Arven in the school tournament. Considering that it's the monster that killed his parent, I let him win. Against it anyway. I wiped him with the rest of my team. But I let him mollywhop the Guardian. It's the closest thing he's going to get to therapy.

[@Eldorriots]

11:59 I blame the VGC (especially Wolfe) 14:13 okay question answered, Boom(burst)er. Due note they are Shiny-Locked, so transferring from older gens warrant this

[@ZachaRicO]

With Generation 10 on the horizon, if only very faintly visible, I hope that if Game Freak decides to include all the legends again (they probably will), they don't just copy and paste them like they have in the last few generations and handle them more like they did in HeartGold and SoulSilver, where they tried to make every legendary encounter in the game unique. Given that Generation 10 will release somewhere around Pokemon's 30th anniversary, it would make a lot of sense to do that and take fans new and old down memory lane by showing each of these Pokemon's history in the series.

[@gechoman44iwantahippo]

I think that the one rule for being a Legendary should be that there is canonically only supposed to be one of that Pokémon. Mythicals should also be considered a sub-class of Legendary (which I’m pretty sure they already are, and a lot of people just ignore that for some reason). That would make a lot of Legendaries no longer be considered Legendaries, but I honestly don’t think that’s a bad thing (especially when a lot of them are Ultra Beasts and Paradox Pokémon, which should just be considered their own thing, tbh.)

[@lagnuzlocke261]

Ultra beasts and Paradox mons are there on things besides the box art ones and Necrozma.

[@compatriot852]

Not really, we went from creatures and essentially gods in control of nature to just normal pokemon that play a role in the role. The current one is just an Ultra beast that you use as a bike There's also the fact you had to work to get most of your non story legendaries. They were very hard to get. This is even more obvious for mythicals that went from having special stories to just being dropped off to your account via events

[@Warlord_Megatron]

Yes, yes they do. They're stronger, faster and better in the literal sense of the words than their previous gen counterparts

[@ShayTheValiant]

How are they supposed to make Legendary Pokémon rare again when people can just Google how to get them, or even datamine the games?

[@thomasator1139]

If someone wants to look up how to get them and ruin the fun for themselves then that’s their own problem it shouldn’t ruin the fun for everyone else

[@xtrem5428]

@@thomasator1139 Agreed. I purposefully avoided looking at any info about the ruin legendaries before getting SV, just so I can get some surprise when encountering them.

[@andrewellisonlee]

Make them genuinely difficult to obtain. But it's a children's game so that won't happen.

[@edgargaebolg9307]

​@@andrewellisonlee At the risk of sounding like a boomer, they were kids games too when you needed to learn Braille to get the Regis

[@DanteCrowlley]

They still hit hard, even with questionable designs, yes I'm taking the philosophy in count

[@lightyoshiman]

At this point legendary in pokemon feels like being a prodigy in dragon ball it started out amazing but as time went on it almost feels basic

[@castform7]

I just love how quirky the Regis are. Something's always up with them and it's always pretty neat.

[@noahberan6498]

Idc what people say, the twist that the little helpless Nebby grows up to be the box legend is a moment I'll never forget

[@tabbender1232]

Mewtwo wasn't seen as a legendary in gen 1. There's a NPC that says the legendary pokemon are all birds

[@BJGvideos]

Except in gen one they also tell you that Arcanine is a legendary in China

[@daltonoakleyjr391]

Well to be frank , Mewtwo was a man made pokemon and the only people who knew about it at the time was Mr Fuji and anyone part of that project team

[@toumabyakuya]

I myself prefer how GF is handling Legendaries for two major reasons: Attachment and accessibility. For attachment, I myself never treated Legendary Pokemon in Gens 1-4 as anything special, for me they weren't even creatures, they were just items, because I didn't care about them at all. I just wanted to get them to complete the Dex, yet I would never use them. Since Gen 5 and especially since Gen 8 that has changed, all because the story of the game makes me care about them, so I do see them as characters. That's why I do not want this to change. As for accessibility? Something people need to understand is that not everybody can buy more than one console and the oppossite game to have access to all Legendaries, buying older games might not be an option either. So GF is doing a good thing by having most of them available in some form in the newest games.

[@andrewharris1344]

I don’t mind having the new legendaries being more plot relevant especially sense their on the cover you would expect them to be seen more then the butt end of the story. And while I understand bringing only legendaries in new game may remove the importance I don’t think it’s that bad sense every region has its own stories and as much as I like Miriadon I don’t think it needs murals or a story about it in a region it didn’t originate in as it would lessen the value of the Pokémon that are actually from there.

[@KuroBlitz]

It's cool how the first 4 Legendary Pokémon were located at the utmost 4 cardinal points of the Kanto region. I do wish sub-Legendaries were recategorized as Fabled (non boxart ones) and Cryptid (UBs and Paradoxes).

[@raymaikeru]

Except UBs and Paradoxes aren't Legendary Pokémon?

[@mstarlight4102]

@@raymaikeru they are about as strong as them and share many of the conventions outside of scarcity, which I think would actually means a special label for them would be more warrented.

[@jvbon646]

​@@mstarlight4102 They ALREADY have a special label 🤦‍♂️ Do "Ultra-Beast" and "Paradox" ring a bell? That's their special label, they aren't Legendary but they aren't "regular" mons either. Just like how Mythicals are their own special category of Pokemon (no, they aren't Legendary either) I swear most people just say stuff for the sake of feeling like they did something ffs

[@mstarlight4102]

@@jvbon646 I meant a generalized label. There are very high odds neither group will get new members in future gens, but there are equally high odds that new similar groups will be introduced. Having a broader category for "mons that are similary to leegndaries power wise, but are based on paranormal folklore and can be caught more than once per save in their intro gen" would be a very useful thing to have and might help bring them closer to Pseudo-Legendaries if established.

[@bbro43]

I honestly catch the legendary for the Pokédex then box it anymore. I think Scarlet & Violet would have been better off giving trainers a starter and then at the academy having Nemona trade you a Cyclizar. Then as your Cyclizar ate the herba mystica and then gets exposed to the time machine, have them unlock a rare lost/not yet discovered evolution into the box legendary.

[@annarenfold438]

I think the recent trend of every legendary possible in the modern games is a double edged sword. For one, it allows regular people to get "box" legendaries from games they can no longer play, they can't own or can't afford to get. It makes it so most people are able to trade these pokémon for Pokédex completion or other similar in-game rewards. And it allows everyone a shot at beating the battle towers and other endgame challenges even without spending the time required to build a "viable" team. Even just trying to get the right nature can be a nightmare, but add egg moves or gender-locked evolutions and it's way too much for some endgame rewards most people are not gonna use. On the other hand, it just means you will see more and more people using legendary pokémon everywhere. Be it to finish the story, compete with friends or just to hunt for shinies or otherwise rare pokémon. This either makes teams more varied or even more repetitive. And sure, you can say this also makes them "less legendary" but I think it's perfectly fine that more people have them; even if in-game the encounters are underwhelming or frustrating (roaming beasts, low catch rates, shiny-hunting). To me, it has allowed me to get legendaries I'd never be able to get otherwise. Yet, the mythical Pokémon are another story. They gift you some like in BDSP if you have some other game's savefile in your console. But most of them are still locked behind in-game events that will never trigger officially anymore or movie events exclusive to specific regions (there are still tons of monsters locked to Asian locations). You don't see Nintendo putting them in the games often.

[@WildDancer101]

To me, Legendary Pokemon feel as such when they give you a challenge to catch them without the Master Ball. In recent entries, some Legendary Pokemon are just handed to you on a silver platter, like the Eon Duo in the Gen 3 remakes.

[@DragonstarTDB5]

What makes a legendary Pokémon is how strong they are how cool they look and also their story

[@TheCindering]

Gen 4 did have some fun things with a few of the Legendaries. Like in platinum you could potentially get the Regi trio if you had an event Regigigas, or Regigigas himself required you to bring the Regi Trio to him which are both really cool. There was also the SinJoh ruins in HGSS if you had an Event Arceus, Cresselia and her wing, the stuff with Darkrai (I know, not counting Mythicals) but still, Gen 4 had some very cool things involving their legendaries that I think people forget about.

[@RJ-kg5fe]

I mean they still try to implement someways of getting pokemon I mean look at meloetta for example. The way to find her was very creativf

[@Zoroark_Master]

1.legendary are kinda deities and there’s a lot of deities depicted in the real world (do you know how many Greek gods there is) so i never say the "there’s to many legendary" as a problem (you don’t see historians or archeologists complaining about to many gods in folklore) 2.dumping most or all past legendary in the new game without anything interesting is definitely better than not adding them period (if i want to use one of them, would be difficult without them being obtainable in game) with so many, you can’t expect each to have some unique dungeon/puzzle to go trough to get them

[@Lithosagymfan173]

To add to your first point , Pokémon is a Japanese franchise, made by Game Freak, a Japanese company, and deities and high spirits are a norm in there.

[@villainkaiju]

I'd argue that the general stance of Legendary Pokemon lands more on how dissapointing newer generations like Gen 8 and 9 just come to be, especially within it's design complex. We literally had three Kaiju monsters within Sinnoh and Unova, while in recent games they just hand you a normal blue turtle in Gen 9 after you literally get Ogerpon in Teal Mask. ( a better legendary IMO for being a powerhouse )

[@thomasfinch6292]

Amen about Urshifu. I remember seeing the DLC and being like “THAT’S a legendary?!”

[@cin2110]

No not really last time that I cared for them was zekrom and reshiram from specifically b&w after b2&w2 and xy I didn't care for them.

[@tessenjutsu97]

personally, i think the best handling of a legendary pokemon ever in a pokemon game is with giratina in platinum. that game managed to make the legendary pokemon do the following: -have story & lore significance -have a good build up of the mystery surrounding the legendary pokemon leading up to the climax where you encounter it -have a memorable encounter with the whole spear pillar jump scare all the way to the puzzle/battle in the distortion world (iconic) -make your heart pound for actually being quite a challenging battle when you want to catch it so you really gotta earn it i think these are what makes a memorable legendary pokemon

[@WiGgYof09]

Unfortunately, the internet and social media have ruined surprise in media. Trailers show the whole plot, leaks ruin game, etc. There were so many things to just stumble upon in Red and Blue. Now, the entire story of a game is out before anyone even plays it.

[@MrRuePine]

Surprise was already "ruined" on games ever since they became a thing with that logic. Weren't there stuff like game manuals with the old games which also showed the story and the characters? Game trailers are no different.

[@WiGgYof09]

@MrRuePine old play guides that you had to go into a store and buy are not the same as your entire social media feed being loaded with spoilers.

[@MrRuePine]

​​@@WiGgYof09 Wrong. Game manuals use to come with lots of NES, SNES, Sega Genesis games, etc. inside the box of the game. You literally needed to read them in order to know how to play the game correctly, as they did not have "tutorials", and they also had the story of the game on them. And if you remember correctly, none of the games' official trailers ever told you the bosses of the game, the final boss, ending, post game content.

[@BJGvideos]

I don't remember the game trailers ever showing the whole plot of these games. I've seen it happen with anime episodes though.

[@jvbon646]

All of the dumb crying about "spoilers" have to be some of the stupidest things to come from modern era movies ffs 🤦‍♂️ Marvel really did irreperable damage to a whole generation

[@Blazekip]

I’m just glad that my first Pokemon game was emerald, even though there are many flaws with the game they did it perfect with the legendary Pokemon

[@jtwatts7990]

I’ll admit I miss when Legendaries use to be hidden away almost hard to find and mythicals were special events where I had to walk my happy butt down to GameStop for a card with a code

[@ashenwolf98]

As an idea, what if in the next generation of games, you get access to a good majority of the past legendaries, but are limited in how many you can catch per save file? The way I see it happening would be as part of a sidequest where you make choices that determine which legendaries will spawn (let’s say 5 for sake of argument), and then the 5 legendaries decided upon by your choices will spawn in respective dungeons/side areas for you to find, battle, and catch. In order to catch any further ones, you would have to make a new save and play the game again.

[@icetypejulia]

I actually really liked getting the gen 9 legendaries early and using them as ride pokemon its was something different and having them along for the story was really cool, I have more gripe with them making all the mythicals just distributions and not actual events, so I was happy that pecharunt got a whole event just like the older mythicals

[@wanderlustwarrior]

With the benefit of hindsight, it would've made more sense if the Swords of Justice were Kalosian Pokemon. And there's too many event legendaries and mythicals. We don't need so many, and some could've just been extra rare regular pokemon (like Manaphy, Phione, Heatran, Diancie, Volcanion, Type Null, Silvally, Kubfu, Urshifu, the Loyal Three, and every Mythical introduced after Magearna).

[@datoneguy436]

I dont mind them bringing back old Legendaries to newer games. As someone who didnt get to play Gen 5 or 6, these newer games gives me a first time with some of them

[@CrimsonNineTail]

I think one part of the overabundance of legendaries is that at one point, we couldn't transfer our Pokémon from previous games to new ones. Well, to a degree, but you had to gey a bunch of tech, and money was an issue too. So I think that's why we got the same Pokémon in new games.

[@mudkipmercenary3647]

I usually like the ways you get legendary Pokémon in each game. My only thing is that they keep putting in other legendary Pokémon from other games to catch as well. Like you said though it’s probably more so for convenience sake so no one has to go broke with buying the whole nine yards. Thankfully my way of countering this is to just focus on the region exclusive legendary Pokémon. Like Kyoger, Rayquaza, and the three Regis in ORAS and nothing else. Or using the ultra warp ride to get only the ultra beasts in ultra sun and moon. Just ignoring the legendary Pokémon you can catch in other games makes things a lot easier than just catching like 20 of the same legendary Pokémon from every opportunity you have. Granted I do admit I probably have like at least 5 of the same legendary Pokémon in my Pokémon home account. And I’ll probably be adding more with my OC ideas, but I digress.

[@Mustache99]

Most of time legendaries were just there you met them at some point of the story sometimes they are mentioned by an npc but you don't feel any attachment, in most games you could switch them and nothing would change, I like that you build a connection to them like meeting zacian or zamazenta at the start of the game, same with koraidon and miraidon, hell even with kabfu you have climb a tower so you build a deeper connection

[@starterking]

I didn't realize that Zapdos was in an abandoned power plant. Mostly because my brain defaulted to an abandoned power plant wouldn't generate electricity to attract electric types. I just assumed it was a standard power plant and that workers would just show up to work seeing the legendary bird sitting at the exit. Just being a casual menace to society. It's certainly lines up with Scarlet and Violet where Zapdos is just chilling over arvin's house.

[@togarashi6437]

About the abundance of legendaries, there are 71 legendaries and sub-legends, taking up 7% of all Pokemon species. And if you count Mythicals and legendary-adjacent Pokemon like the Ultra Beasts and Paradox mons, that's 125 out of the total 1025, making up nearly 1/8 of all Pokemon species (as of mid-Gen 9).

[@TheGilGS]

I like those that are scattered in the region and make you explore it, as part of it ! Rewarding the discovery of new places with an important Pokemon is a funny adventure !

[@SpikeThePorcupine23]

I think another argument to make about the whole subject was how scarce it was to get information on finding new legendary Pokémon. Think about it there was no Internet but Nintendo Power Magazines or something of the sort to find on Mewtwo and I think that's why that Pokémon is so special amongst the rest of them especially being among the gen 1 pokedex. We're about nine generations in where we get Internet on our smartphones, and we can easily find a solution of a puzzle in the dungeon for a Pokémon game to find a Legendary Pokémon. I'm just saying that legendary Pokémon would feel more special if we were to randomly find them without spoilers that lead us to them, even if game freak themselves distributed easier methods to unlock them or capture them. Otherwise, I see the argument with catching a previous generational legendary Pokémon per generation Does decrease their value over time. And don't get me started on Pokémon go

[@Deltastorm-px5xm]

Frankly I agree with most of these but I do hope they do a Unova style game where for atleast that generation only new pokemon and legendaries were allowed and then like in Black 2 and white 2 where past Pokemon could be brought in it would make things alot more fun especially for me since I play mostly Pokemon showdown and a bit of Variaty would be nice rather the all Meta pokemon

[@popper03244]

OMG the rage I feel trying to climb up a vertical surface is unreal, it feels very gratifying to hear you mentioning it. It means I wasn't losing my mind and it really is that bad. And I think you will be alright 26 isn't really that old I'm about to turn 35😂😅

[@zero1343]

Personally for me the issue is the way they are handed out or show up in the more recent games that makes them underwhelming. it makes them lose that specialness which they should feel when going to try and get them, many of these pokemon are meant to be incredibly powerful and seen as forces of nature. They should have specific zones of the map to call their own when they show up in a game, They dont have to be super specific, like how zapdos shows up at the powerplant compared to sky pillar for rayquaza in its debut game. But they should be in an area that makes sense and be the part of the reason for that area to be in the game. Groudon being found in an optional part of a cave unlocked in the post game. A hidden grove in the forest where a celebi was spotted being revealed to you A sandstorm clearing and a new set of ruins found out in the desert for Regirock etc If they keep up the interconnectivity they dont need every legendary pokemon available, they have already chucked out half the pokedex in each game since gen 8 after all. Just have a few per region that they feel would fit and give them fitting circumstance to be there, I do think that alone would solve many of the apparent issues people feel.

[@GatorOne-in7hk]

I loved the idea of using Koraidon and Miraidon as all-purpose vehicles at first, but there’s one massive problem with this design choice. You can’t battle with them unless you put them in your party, and while they’re in the party you can’t ride them. Did they seriously not see the problem with this?! I almost never put Koraidon in my party because of this because the map is specifically designed for you to be riding it at all times! Sure they let you catch the second one in post game, but most people are going to be smart and trade it to get the other version’s dragon bike, so that doesn’t solve the problem at all.

[@Seyren105]

12:00 On the other side of the argument you have people saying that limiting legandaries makes them basically pay to win characters. There is a lot of people saying that legends Arceus is basically a $60 paywall to get Enamorus or that Urshifu is behind a $90 paywall.

[@lucideirune1635]

There is in fact a way for past legendary Pokemon to be more special than the ones we have today: shiny hunt them in gens 1-4. The modern Pokemon games shiny lock all the legendary Pokemon bc they want you to pay money to hunt them in Pokemon Go. Hunt these past legendary pokemon while you can bc eventually, Bank will close.

[@canisblack]

I haven't experienced a Legendary Pokemon that felt truly legendarily powerful since Gen I Mewtwo. I get that's part of Psychic being so utterly broken, but Mewtwo gave you an incredible feeling of power.

[@jamiewalsh3349]

I absolutely agree about your comment regarding returning legendaries. Returning legendaries just don't feel as rewarding as the ones from their original games. For instance a Ho-oh from Scarlet doesn't feel rewarding as the one you get in Gold (or Colosseum). And the same can be said about the Sinnoh legendaries you get across Gen 8. I mean what's the "real" Dialga? The one from Sword, Brilliant Diamond, or Legends: Arceus. I think you probably know which is not worth your time.

[@Riftrender]

When I was little I clicked on Zapdos and was like oh a lost Pidgey, is this a quest? It was not.

[@ma3mc3mu-X]

In my opinion, there are too many Dragon types as Legendaries nowadays. I don't understand what makes Dragons so special; the only type they're super effective against are _other_ Dragons.

[@HOLDENPOPE]

I think it's moreso the real-world cultural impact of Dragons. In the west, they're apocalyptic monsters. In the east, they're functionally gods.

[@dragonmaster613]

Don't count my boi Mewtwo out just yet. With the move Trick and holding a detrimental item, he could take Arceus' Dark/Bug/Ghost Plate and pound his Demigod behind into the dirt!

[@mazharsiddiqi7288]

Victory Road Moltres later ties to anime Flame of Moltres for the Indigo League which was cool

[@SerDerpish]

I think the way legendaries are handled now was an inevitability. They kinda painted themselves into a corner by making a catchable pantheon of deities. There is only so many you can add before the world you built around them becomes saturated. Reducing the scope of the lore like they did with Ogerpon is probably going to be the standard from now on, as it causes fewer continuity snags in the worldbuilding, and thus less messy in the long run 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@rommelmartinez2941]

First Three generations, the legendaries are felt like their are legend because we don't have leak about their appearances and where we can find them.

[@FedoraReshiramGaming]

Yea, one of the big problems with legends in 'recent' games, is just that they're no longer considered, 'legendary' outside of their games, they're almost treated as common as common pokemon. In past gens the reason for this, at least starting in ORAS, I think was partially the competitive scene, as in order to 'USE' a pokemon from that generation it had to have that generation's mark, aka the the pentagon for oras/xy's gen as an example, or the clover symbol for usum. Then they started forgoing the requirement in SW/SH, but still felt the need to include them without ANY logical explanation. Like, i can SORTA understand why the ultra wormhole might've appeared in galar, its basically a wormhole and you even see it in usum/sm, when nebby's power is overused and forces the wormholes, they're just showing up all over Alola's region, can't be 'farfetch'd' to think that maybe 1 might've appeared elsewhere, or even two. But for the love of arceus why the 'fluff' is Groudon, a pokemon of Hoenn steeped in legend and supposedly slumbering beneath the earth, just as Kyogre is slumbering beneath the waves in a friggin 'dungeon' in Galar filled with dynamax energy. Even Peonia asks the player, 'why are they even down there to begin with', there's just no logical explanation they're just 'there'. Like in S/V why is there a random Kleavor in the Blueberry Academy, a pokemon thought extinct or very 'rare' since it was only seen in ancient hisui/past sinnoh, and by modern sinnoh days was no longer seen. Their explanation is i believe, they brought the species over to save it from extinction, at least that offers 'SOME' explanation. But again, for the legends, there's none its just "here you go!" If they have to include them, fine, but at least give us an explanation or 'lore' related reasons, like say for example, include an evil team that is abusing/hurting pokemon, and thus the Swords of Justice are roaming around kicking their butts, and you sorta show your goodness by rescuing pokemon from that team, and because of that they view you as a potential ally/worthy trainer to commadn them, and so they challenge 'you' to an honorable 1 v 1 with your starter to prove your virtue. I just think I came up with an awesome sub-plot for a trio of legends in a random poketuber's video comment, GF take this idea, i gladly offer it, just fking give me a reason for these legends are here and not some dumbass lame excuse like "they're drawn by the energies of the mechanic gimmick of the region"

[@Shinntoku]

The ultra wormholes explain how the legendaries are there tbh. Pokemon other than Ultra Beasts can be pulled through them, and the huge wishing star fragment that powers the dynamax effect in the cave would be a very bright beacon. Also Kleavor is there because it's very obviously in a large patch of black augerite

[@ericlang7987]

It’s not unheard of that some trainers like Noland have legendary Pokemon, typically the minor ones like Articuno.

[@awes0mechr1s]

Oof... As someone who is turning 35 literally as this video drops, hearing you call yourself old and jaded at only 26 was a shot to the gut

[@blackJJseventeen]

Since Gen 7 every plot relevant Pokemon is a legendary. Even the UBs are a subgroup of Legendaries in the code. Some deserve it, like the Island Guardians, which is quite a special role, some dont, like Type:Null. Its especially noticeable in the DLCs. Kubfu and the horse could easiy be just rare strong Pokemon. But legendaries boost DLC sales I guess. Finally someone who acknowledges the ruin maniacs near the Regis!

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Loved ruin maniacs

[@jvbon646]

UBs aren't Legendary No, timmy, the code listing them doesn't make them Legendary

[@blackJJseventeen]

@@jvbon646 I even specified that they are in the code (and not in general), just so that annoying know-it-all kann keep their mouths shut!

[@dtell3424]

I don't get why some people thinl that the paradox pokemon are legendary pokemon. I think legendary and mythical pokemon are ones that are really strong, but also you can only catch one of per playthrough, and while paradox mons are powerful, you can catch as many of them as you want per play through

[@Zek3nator]

To be fair, Lunala and Miraidon have been my favorite box legends. Which is really impressive considering how much I hate Sun/Moon.

[@Paulo-Gabriéden]

What is a legendary? Remove palkia, dialga and giratina, legendary pokemon are only very rare pokemon, not gods. Honestly i agree with some actual critics for pokémon, but had some things than to me, is just a bunch of adult crying because the time changed. Mewtwo in the games isn't that greatest legendary of all time, he is just cool, not a really good legendary, because he not has connection with history, or importance, is just to complete pokedex, he not had a importance in the qorld like rayquaza, is just mew's clone, a truly overrated pokemon. Now has legendary with evolution lines, koraidon and miraidon create a bond with you in the entire game. But no, mew clone is a true legendary... pokémon fandom is a bunch of baby in sometimes If you see the definition of legendary, is something who came from legends, legends like greek mythology, folkloric histories, only that, and mythicals are legends than a people say "at 33 years ago, i see marshadow in my plant of berries", so, what does a legendary pokemon? In truth, to the fandom, what is a legendary?

[@HOLDENPOPE]

Since the Legendary Birds are obviously each a species if there can be Galarian versions, I'd say the Gen 7 and Gen 9 Box Legendaries are just as legendary as they are. I also like them significantly more than Mewtwo, who I still don't understand why everyone thinks should stomp Genesect, its Gen 5 equivalent with a severe type advantage...

[@jarman_2000]

My legendary Pokémon blackpill was when gamefreak changed Rotom's legendary/mythical status. I remember Rotom feeling like a mythical the way it was introduced in Platinum (I did the WIfi event and everything). Then when I drifted away from pokemon and came back by gen. 7, and Rotom was EVERYWHERE.

[@Jlaps941]

I get what you’re saying since it had the legendary encounter music and unique encounter in the Old Chateau, but Rotom has always been able to breed and every single legendary Pokémon to date has been in the No Eggs Discovered egg group

[@StoicForce]

"The birds and Mewtwo (...) are superb examples of how legendary pokémon should be handled. The games don't even have to tell you that these pokémon are special, you just know they are, based on the fact that these are the only static encounters in the entire game." Snorlax (both of them): Wow, okay. Rude...

[@keikoe5661]

Dialga, palkia, giratina, necrozma, zygarde, and rayquaza are my FAVORITE legendaries. I like my legendary boys as BIG INTIMIDATING BEASTS

[@catninja9896]

I think its for people who have the older games to be still able complete the national dex a bit easier

[@Hax_R_Us]

People went crazy because you were getting the legendary at the start of the game, I find that funny cause that's literally Saitama's whole gimmick and we love him😭

[@Brenden_Hoopes]

You can infact fail to catch Zacian, Zamezenta, and Calyrex. Kubfu is given to you, and Eternatus's capture is a cutscene.

[@knavenformed9436]

DLC being hamfisted to have their cover art legendary just makes it feel like a treadmill. It's always a great idea to sell "power" but when everyone is super, no-one is.

[@ladypool1404]

I like to explore a cave, do a few puzzles and then fight the legendary. It's challenging but fun and him becoming my friend is great! Zacian and Zamazenta only helped the trainer at the end, the small bear was given by a grandpa, Kyogre and all the other legendaries stand in one place in Scarlet and Violet. It's too easy to find them and there's no adventure 😐

[@Lithosagymfan173]

Zacian and Zamazenta have a whole story to make them full again and then have a post-game to help one and get the other. Kubfu is your little partner that you have evolve. Kyogre and co. it's not their game anymore, so who cares about events for them, they're not relevant to the story, and exist mostly for VGC Restrictions.

[@lokitheblu8662]

1:13 kid named pokeflute snorlax

[@zexalbrony4799]

I think its fair to include past Legendaries in the newer games, its for player convence for those who didn't play the older games or lack the equipment and stuff to transfer them up. I mean if we had to buy every single game and all the extra equipment it would cost so much money, plus it would take so much time to playthough every single game, espcially the older ones without exp share because of dang grinding. It gives causal fans or just people who are more fans of the anime and card games so they don't play too many actual Pokemon video games a chance to use their favorite Pokemon, and in the end using your favorites is a staple of the Pokemon game, to borrow a quote from Karen, "Truly skilled trainers should win with their favorites." Who cares an over powered Legendary to crush Youngerst Joey, who cares if your using a regular Pikachu to take on the elite 4 because you love Ash Pikachu and want to be like him even though regular Pikachu kind of sucks, who cares if you never evolve your starter because you thinks it cute in its first form, or use mutiple starters like Ash, who cares if you use Castform of Ditto because you like their gimmicks, if you're having fun using Pokemon you love thats all that matters.

[@jericho86]

The worst part about the cycle pokemon is that their names end in "ridon" because you ride on them.

[@coleneumann1095]

While I agree that having so many legendary Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet is too much, you can't have us complete the Pokedex then, or at least yank them out and replace them with other Pokémon.

[@nmmdouglas]

I think they should go back to being op and rare. And being more creatures of legend as it were

[@Lithosagymfan173]

That's just the Treasures of Ruins, Pokémon that can end the world and thus had to be sealed away.