After an entire year going by without a mainlinePokemontitle, fans luckily don’t have much longer to wait beforePokemon Legends: Z-Alaunches in October. In it, players will explore Lumiose City fromPokemon XandYas it undergoes an urban redevelopment plan to encourage the coexistence between people and Pokemon. Exploring the city and battling trainers by night,Pokemon Legends: Z-Aseems to be doing a great job at capturing the Generation 6 nostalgia while bringing back what many fans loved aboutLegends: Arceusat the same time.
It is undeniable that one of the biggest things fans are excited about regardingPokemon Legends: Z-Ais the return of Mega Evolution. It served as one of the series' first generational gimmicks, and after its use in Gen 7, it vanished. Now that it’s set to come back, manyPokemonfans have been discussing its impact on competitive play, as well as the chance of new Mega Evolutions. After plenty of speculation, Mega Dragonite has beenrevealed asLegends: Z-A’s first new Mega, and its reception by fans is divisive because of how it tackles an evolutionary issue with its entire line.
How Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Mega Dragonite Misses Its Mark
Mega Dragonite Answers a Common Design Criticism With Dragonite
For as long as the Dragonite evolutionary line has been around, many players have commented how Dragonite’s position as the final evolved form takes the entire line’s eastern dragon theme in a different direction. If one doesn’t know what’s meant to come next whenevolving Dragonite, they could easily be surprised by how the cute and majestic Dragonair is replaced with a big cartoony dragon. Dragonite is certainly an appealing critter on its own, but the two preceding it capture the hearts of fans in a different way than the yellow dragon does on its own.
Leaks ahead of thePokemon Presents that revealed Mega Dragonitecertainly managed to describe the form quite well. Wings on Dragonite’s head, feathers in the place of supposed extra wings, and a ball at the end of its tail. Fans who paid attention to the leaks had something a bit more cohesive with Dragonair in mind, with the leakers who pointed out the Dragonair-like features that even the Presents itself had to make a mention of.
Some picturedDragonair’s blue color schemereturning, others thought adjusting the wings on Dragonite’s back to be a bit more majestic might help bridge the gap. While the wings on Dragonite’s head and the ball on its tail certainly tie it closer to its previous evolution, it feels as if it’s for the sake of having these features rather than truly tying them all together.
How Mega Dragonite Ignores What Made Dragonair So Interesting
These “Dragonair-like features” as the Presents advertises, are placed on Mega Dragonite in a way that doesn’t completely mirror how it is on Dragonair itself. The wings are on Mega Dragonite’s head in a way that goes against the way they were done on theentire Dragonite evolutionary line. The feathers feel arbitrarily placed. The same can be said about Mega Dragonite’s pearly tail, which may have gone over better if it used Dragonair’s two or even used three to emphasize some progression.
The way that these features aren’t used in the same way as Dratini or Dragonair makes it seem like these finishes were added without thinking as to why fans might have wanted them back on Dragonite in the first place. It comes off as awkward due to missing the point, or it even manages to highlight the evolutionary line’s issues by repeating them in a whole new way. At the very least, among Megas likeMega Mewtwo Yand Mega Scizor, Mega Dragonite is one of the more refreshing options out there. Players are already certain that Mega Dragonite will sit as one of the stronger Mega Evolutions they can choose from, and thankfully there are only a few more months to bide time with until fans can find out how powerful it is for themselves.
