Empoleon Dynamite

This post is pretty self-explanatory. I had to at some point write an entry on the namesake of the title of my blog. To the Pokemon whose fictional height is an ode to its inspiration, Napoleon Bonaparte. Here we have to our personal joy; Empoleon.

Empoleon is the final evolution of the Sinnoh Water starter Piplup. With the dual typing combination of Water and Steel, it is by far in my opinion, the most practical Starter that the Pokemon franchise has come up with.

Empoleon is a healthy all rounder. Add to that the killer design of an emperor penguin detailed with steel armour and golden crown, and what you have is a Starter of sorts that will aid you in your quest far longer than expected from many of the standards.

The inclusive Pokedex text reveals an interesting state of affairs. You as the player are imagining a steel imbued water ride that can go as fast as a jet ski, natural perfection for navigating harsh sea conditions. Ample fodder for the day dreamer in us all.

Let us talk specs for a change of pace. Three weaknesses, one immunity and a whopping ten type resistances is unheard of bordering on the insane! Add to that a movepool that can take down the most powerful of rosters and you have a Pokemon worthy of a slot in your party of six.

Empoleon, to me, will always stand apart from all the Starters thus far revealed and the hope that one day in the future GameFreak will give us a Mega Stone to increase its value is chill inducing (preferably with a speed stat boost). It is already a top tier threat and continues to remain so.

Kawabanga Motherf***ers!

The anime portion of the franchise has definitely not done justice to the mighty Empoleon. Pairing it up with one of the most annoying side characters ever to grace the program, (no offence Barry, your personality was friking annoying) it was the lousiest Empoleon (cringe) to have ever existed.

Take it from someone who knows his way around the field, Empoleon is anything if not legendary in itself. All hail Poseidon!

Mega Evolution, Yay or Nay?

If anyone is as avid as a fan of the Pokemon Universe, they can wholeheartedly admit that the level of excitement an upcoming main series game brings with it.

Mega Lucario

Pokemon X/Y brought with itself a new mechanic into the mix; the ability to transform a select few of the fan favourites (debatable) into a further evolved form. The Mega Evolved Form.

This was a step apart from the Forme dynamic that we were getting used to which was more often than not only limited to the legendaries.

The introduction into the franchise was handled extremely well. The nature of the new designs coupled with the type and stat changes fared well with all players; both novice and veteran.

This was a smart move from the developers point of view because they no longer had to resort to justify stand alone Pokemon like Mawile with an ardent secondary evolution. 

One theory for this might be that they sought to extend gameplay by including a treasure hunt aspect to all the stones. Another less creative theory would suggest that they were running out of cool names for evolutions and attaching Mega seemed appropriate (read easy). Another suggestions might also have been that each Pokemon is a species in itself – a genealogy lesson contained within a single animation. For example the eating habits of Pikachu and the aggressive possession of a mountainside by a Tyranitar. Increasing their stats and giving them a cool new design was a far more interesting tactic to retain the series’ target demographic.

For returning players it is sometimes cumbersome to go through the entire ‘How to catch a Pokemon’ tutorial and the like. The Mega Evolution introduction does well in this regard. The inclusion of a Korrina the Gym Leader as well as getting a Lucario with a Mega Stone attached right off the bat makes it a sweet deal. Takes you back to the novelty of the Red Gyarados in Johto.

Isolating the Mega Evolution to just one Pokemon per battle makes for anticipation inducing gameplay while at the same time not granting any one party a distint advantage from the get go.

A few ways that this particular gamer might want to see this new mechanic evolve would be obviously the release of new Mega Stones for other Pokemon. Given enough momentum there could be even be a new style of battle which involves ONLY Mega Evolutions.

Some queries still left unanswered is probably why some of these select Pokemon were given two Mega Evolutions instead of just one. I understand that Charizard stands on a special pedestal for most Pokemon Trainers but granting it two very well done Evolutions makes it a clear favorite from the start. Not even that, why didn’t Gallade get a Mega Evolution to be paired up with its more gown endowed counterpart?

Point stands that Mega Evolution was an inspired move by the developers in the evolution of the game itself as it opens fans to all sorts of speculations as to which way they might expand this. We can be looking at a plethora of new Forms to deal with in the future series and as captivating as they are in our 3DS’s at the moment; they fare well even further by reeling in old players who were moving away (growing out of) from the franchise.

GameFreak’s conception of Mega Evolution? A definite bulls-eye. 

Swampert and Sceptile Mega Evolution Concept Art

In the meantime, creative fans can help fuel our imagination with brilliant concept art dealing with what we might expect in the future versions of the game.