For nearly 30 years,Pokemonhas enthralled millions of audiences worldwide thanks to its creature design, world building, and addictive gameplay. WhilePokemoninitially became popular thanks to its simple turn-based battle and catching mechanics inPokemon Red,Green,Blue, andYellow, Game Freak has strived to build upon those basic concepts in practically everyPokemonentry. From the introduction of new types and breeding to regional variants of preexisting Pokemon, thePokemonfranchise has evolved as much as the Pocket Monsters themselves. Not every new mechanic or feature was universally well-received, but each experiment helped the mainlinePokemongames grow over the years.

One of these mechanics managed to appear in multiple games and has remained popular among fans for nearly 12 years: the transformative Mega Evolution, first introduced inPokemon XandYfor the Nintendo 3DS. A mysterious phenomenon still under investigation by dozens of Pokemon Researchers, Mega Evolution allows a select number of fully evolved Pokemon to go beyond their natural limits and temporarily Mega Evolve into new powerful forms in the midst of battle. WithPokemon Legends: Z-Abringing back Mega Evolutionto modern platforms this fall season, it’s worth examining every existing Pokemon Mega Evolution by their appearance, typing, and well-improved stats.

S-Tier Pokemon Mega Evolutions

The best Mega Evolutions inPokemonare some of the most powerful in the series: forms that best utilize new types, forms that are the most visually interesting, and forms that play pivotal roles inPokemonstories. For example, Mega Charizard X is often regarded to be one of the best designed Pokemon due to its black and blue coloring and flames representing its new Dragon typing. Mega Charizard X is additionally one of the most well-known Mega Evolutions in the franchise as one of the first Mega Evolutions revealed throughthe hit animated seriesPokemon Origins. Similarly, Mega Gallade is a great mirror to Mega Gardevoir, but it beats it slightly due to Wally’s epic use of Mega Gallade inPokemon Omega RubyandAlpha Sapphire.

Mega Rayquaza is one of the few legendary Pokemon to receive a Mega Evolution, becoming one of the most deadly Pokemon in the whole franchise to date. The way in which players acquire Mega Rayquaza is just as awesome, by defeating it on Sky Pillar and using Mega Rayquaza to destroy an asteroid and defeat Deoxys in space. Arguably, the Hoenn starter trio ofMega Blaziken, Mega Swampert, and Mega Sceptileare some of the best designed Mega Evolutions in the franchise in terms of visuals and stats. While only Mega Sceptile gains a new type (a secondary Dragon type), all three of the Hoenn starters can deal massive damage with increased stats such as Blaziken’s high attack stats and Swampert’s high Defense stats.

A-Tier Pokemon Mega Evolutions

SeveralMega Evolutions introduced inPokemon X,Y,Omega Ruby, andAlpha Sapphireare close to perfect in terms of visual design and stats but just barely meet the requirements to be considered among the best Mega Evolutions in the franchise. For instance, Mega Venusaur and Mega Blastoise do have high Defense and Special Attack stats but are a bit underwhelming design-wise, with Mega Venusaur only gaining a small flower on its head and a bigger tree on its back compared to the normal Venusaur. In comparison, Mega Blastoise just gets cannons attached to its shell and forearms which isn’t as visually interesting as other Mega Evolution forms.

Mega Mewtwo Y is another Mega Evolution made famous for appearing inPokemonanime, with Mega Mewtwo Y appearing inPokemon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakenedbefore its official debut inPokemon XandY. With Mega Mewtwo Y being the first Mega Evolution officially unveiled to the public and featuring characteristics similar to Mew, it’s often been favored over the more odd-looking Mega Mewtwo X, despite the latter form featuring better Attack stats.

Other notable Mega Evolutions change or add typings that perfectly improve their offensive capability such asMega Gyarados becoming a Water/Dark type, Mega Altaria becoming a Dragon/Fairy type, Mega Pinsir becoming a Bug/Flying type, and Mega Lopunny becoming a Normal/Fighting type.

B-Tier Pokemon Mega Evolutions

Several Mega Evolutions have interesting designs but are around the mid range of Mega Evolutions in terms of their offensive capability. This is perhaps best exemplified with Mega Lucario with its decently high Attack and Special Attack stats.Mega Lucario is additionally used inPokemon XandYas essentially a tutorial about Mega Evolved Pokemon. The Shalour City Gym Leader gifts a Mega Lucario to the player atop the Tower of Mastery immediately after first receiving a Mega Ring.

Mega Latias and Mega Latios are similarly gifted to the player inPokemon Omega RubyandAlpha Sapphire, though that’s primarily to allow players to freely fly anywhere in Hoenn. Mega Latias and Mega Latios are powerful Pokemon, but their stats are relatively weaker compared to many other Mega Evolutions.

In terms of visuals, many of these Mega Evolutions are interesting but much less so than other Mega Evolutions. For example,Mega Steelix features crystals and floating magnetic piecesof metal, illustrating its increased connection to the planet. Mega Sableye essentially looks like a regular Sableye just with its eyes replaced with red jewels and holding a massive red jewel. Mega Absol simply looks like a regular Absol with wings added to its shoulders. This lack of visual changes and alterations to their typings from their base forms makes these Mega Evolutions overall less interesting than others.

C-Tier Pokemon Mega Evolutions

Many Mega Evolutions are rather underwhelming in terms of visual design and stats, with several looking just slightly different from their regular fully evolved forms. For example, Mega Pidgeot just looks like a regular Pidgeot with a few more colorful feathers and most of its stats are stuck around 80, save for its Special Attack and Speed, making it one of the weakestMega Evolutions in thePokemonfranchise. Mega Slowbro is similarly underwhelming, with the parasitic Shellder just growing larger and enveloping the Slowpoke in a fairly comedic-looking way. Mega Kangaskhan, while equipped with highly powerful stats, is extremely underwhelming in its visual design, only being a regular Kangaskhan with its baby outside of its pouch.

Mega Charizard Y faces a similar issue toMega Kangaskhan, with Mega Charizard Ysimply being a slightly more spiky version of a regular Charizard just with increased Special Attack and Special Defense stats. Mega Salamence is infamously known throughout thePokemonfan base for its rather odd appearance, resembling more of a crescent moon or a croissant than an intimidating dragon. Likewise, Mega Aerodactyl looks as if it absorbed some of its old fossilized rock into its skin which could explain its increased Attack stat but doesn’t explain its increased Speed stat. While many of these Mega Evolutions are less powerful or less visually interesting than others, all of them are welcome additions toPokemon’s ever-expanding lore and gameplay.