Feature: Dynamax Ain’t That Bad - Pokemon’s Recent Battle Mechanics Ranked

I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Glick as a competitive Pokemon player myself I think Mega Evolutions and Z moves are the way to go. I mean the argument that Megas only made certain Pokemon viable can easily be used for Dynamax. I mean after all certain Pokemon get access to gigantamaxing which also causes them to go undergo a massive design change but also changes one of their moves that matching their type of a specific signature move which is basically Z moves but more spamable for three whole turns. I mean yeah I suppose it could survive a Dynamax if you don't mind being accosted by the same move again and again. Also in competitive Pokemon usually most players use the same Pokemon time and time again like Landorus, or Heatran, And Thunderous Theirian. Just to name two examples so I don't understand why only certain Pokemon being viable is a problem when it's been like that since the Inception of competitive Pokemon sorry for the long reply.

Z-Moves could have been cool if the animations were half as long and 10x as polished, but they ended up feeling unnecessary and tedious for the most part. And I think Arceus's Alpha pokemon executed on the "make them big" concept better than Dynamaxing did. Mega Evolution is the clear winner for the coolest power up among the mainline games.

I hope Scarlet and Violet don't have their own version of the same thing. All three are pretty similar to each other. Hopping from one mechanic to another makes them feel like gimmicks. I liked Mega Evolutions even though I barely used them. The other two I'm not a fan of. I'd rather take new meaningful battle mechanics worth keeping for future games.

I know some people feel the need to defend dynamax by saying over and over how "actually, it's not that bad" or "megas are bad too". But, to be honest, my biggest issue with dynamax is how it throw out all the designs of megas for something that is very similar.
All the mega designs are still innaccesible in modern games. That, to me, is the worse thing about this desition of having shallow one game gimmicks. They could improve the megas and make them more balanced for competitive, but they decided to ignore they ever existed and created a very similar mechanic instead.

And it doesn't matter that some people like Dynamax and Gigantamax more, because all the designs of Gigantamax and strategy of Dynamax only lasts one game.

I don't really like the idea of Dynamax in terms of "the pokémon grows massive", but gameplaywise, it has the most interesting gameplay functions. I never really cared much about mega evos or Z moves, but fighting with dynas was pretty interesting. I kinda just wish this interesting gameplay didn't require Pokémon to become stupidly large, because i really don't like that aspect of it.

They need to find a way to make mega evolutions a permanent evolution for each Pokemon moving forward. Maybe a reward for reaching level 100. There are too many cool ones that I never get to see.

I definitely enjoyed Dynamax as it consistently felt special when it was used. It was only in gym or important battles outside of the raid areas. It never lost its luster for me, and it never felt overpowered. I could still take them down with a normal Pokemon using type advantage.

Mega was nice, but it felt if you weren't using it every single match then you were wasting your potential. And I can't be tasked with tracking down dozens of special single stones for Pokemon I may only use once.

THIS! This article perfectly encapsulates how I feel about all three of these.

Mega Evolution: great for a design and lore perspective, absolutely horrible from a gameplay and balance perspective. Also, Mega Rayquaza is just so insanely busted. It and the Primals absolutely ran the meta for both ORAS and SuMo’s restricted format, which isn’t fun to watch.

Z-Moves: middle of the road of coolness between Dynamax and Megas. Much more balanced than Megas and not exclusive to only a few Pokémon, and the unpredictability factor made matches fun to watch, but playing with them made things too unpredictable, even for Pokémon

Dynamax: conceptually boring, but the fact that you couldn’t rely on them for most of the main game and the balancing employed has made it the best addition of the three from a battling standpoint.

I liked Z-moves. It had flashy effects and good attack power. It added strategy to play with the game's mechanic. Mega Evolution was good too because it changed the way the fully evolved Pokemon would look like. Aridactyle is one of my favorite.

My big issue with dynamax was how long the animation cutscene takes. Especially if both you and you opponent are using it on the same turn, then there's a lot of waiting around.

I just wish they stuck with Mega evolutions, I remember being excited for the possibilities of other Pokemon using it.

@SeantheDon29

Wolfe was caught cheating multiple times. This was proven by the guy who made PKhex

Well personally, I couldn't care less about the competitive scene of pokemon, I liked the mechanic of Mega's because they were cool, unique and fit into the lore of pokemon in a seamless way.
You know, like effort was put into the mechanic.

Meanwhile with Dynamax and Gigantamaxing, it just feels like they were randomly on photoshop and got this idea.
The mechanic is boring, uninspired and looks ridiculous.
And what makes it worse is that the mechanics of Dynamax and Gigantamaxing are just Megas and z-moves but boring. They function almost the exact same way: every pokemon can use dynamax one time (z-moves) and only certain pokemon can evolve into special variations of it (megas).

Lets just hope this is the last uninspired gimmick for pokemon, though I don't like looking at Gamefreaks track record.

I didn't get back into the series until Sword & Shield, so I never experienced Mega Evolution or Z-Moves in action.

But Dynamaxing is kind of dull: I'm never excited when it happens. It's a couple turns of big attacks and some extra HP. Mega Evolutions at least look cool (so do Gigantimaxes, but are hard to acquire).

Yet at the same time.............maybe we should forget the gimmicks, Maybe this is the opinion of someone who hasn't spent years getting bored with the usual Pokémon mechanics, but I feel like simple gameplay changes like infinite TMs and inherent EXP share are the real star mechanics.

Imagine having one of the slowest battle dynamics in a series …. Then add a gimmick that makes everything 20 times slower to the point that you just want to gouge your eyes out everytime there’s a battle/raid. I can’t imagine how this passed the pitch stage of development “Wow!! Let’s make everything bigger and slower!”

Yep, that’s Dynamax in a nutshell.

One potential flaw of this article is that Wolfe Glicke plays VGC. Most people who play Pokemon competitively do so in a 1v1 format with teams of 6, either using the actual games or a sim like Smogon does.

In THAT scene, even the less powerful Mega forms mostly had a solid niche in at least one tier or another.

(from a casual perspective) Dynamax seemed like a cool idea, but was incredibly boring in execution - I hated how it flattened moveset variety, and warped the rest of the gameplay. I also hated how it completely sidelined mega-evolution, which was really fun and cool. Z-moves were boring, but at least they could exist in a game alongside megas...

Imo mega evolutions suck, and having giant pokemon Is the best.

They're all garbage and part of the reason why I don't care for present day Pokémon (but certainly not the only reason).

People called me stupid for it and I don't care for that either, but to me it all takes away from the Pokémon being 'natural'. I don't want these kinds of things forced onto me. If you ask me, the sooner they get rid of these mechanics altogether, the better.

And yes I know there's some man made Pokémon and all so those aren't natural either. But for one that's entirely different, and two, they're not the only ones utilizing these kinds of things.

Dynamax is a great mechanic.
Because the effect lasts for 3 turns, it really changes up the flow and strategy of a battle. And one well placed Max Airstream can change up everything. It's fun!
And the Dynamax/Gigantamax designs are really cool and varied — many being more exciting to look at than mega evolutions.

I love Dynamax, and I really hope it doesn't go away after just one game.

I want to see something like Gestalt Mode from FF XIII on new Pokemon game where you can ride certain rideable Pokemon and they really can change their looking like Transformers to be rideable and they can unleash their ultimate attack during Gestalt Mode.

Oh, since Gen 9 is talking about Past & Future, I'm really sure they will implement the evolution change like Proto style and Neo style.
The evolution was quick as Mega Evolution and the Pokemon will have their ancient Proto looking or futuristic Neo looking which they have different skills.

I enjoyed mega evolutions far more than dynamaxing or z-moves and I feel like there is amazing potential for a Legends game focusing on Mega Lore.

My biggest issue with Wolfe's comments is that no matter what the gimmick certain Pokémon will always dominate the VGC scene (cough...Zacian, Incineroar, Tyranitar, Kyogre, Groudon...anyone?)

@RubyCarbuncle nope. It’s a real complaint and one of the reasons I thought SW/SH were garbage. Everytime I battled in one of those I just did something else or watched a series as I was “playing and waiting” for all the other 3 CPUs to finish whatever they were doing during the raids. TERRIBLE mechanic. Or maybe I’m mad about the raids. Either way, both things are uninspired and an idea a 5 year old came up with. “And then BOOM! They are giants!”

Also, I finally played Legends: Arceus and loved it. Just throwing it out there because I remembered we were arguing one time about BDSP and I was on the fence about PLA. Great game. Dynamaxing… not so much.

If it keeps going like this, Pokémon is becoming like Sonic, they need gimmicks, they need to create something completely new in every single game, instead of improving on the previous games.

I wish Dynamax made them really strong without making them the size of a building. I just can't wrap my head around how that would work without killing everyone in the stadium.

Also, I wish we could do the online without CPU/randos if you have less than 3 friends to play with. Also letting us use our own Monz in Dynamax Adventures.

Just make those changes and the mode would be cool. As it is?? Hard meh.

Dynamax was by far the best for me even if just by way of not limiting you to a specific sub-set of Pokemon that could do it. But also not requiring specific items for specific Pokemon to do it was a huge bonus. And it just felt cool, especially with the crowd chanting in the stadium battles!

I will agree though, the limited moveset was a shame. Especially if your Pokemon had multiple moves of the same type that now just all became the same move.

I feel like the perfect system lies between all 3 gimmicks. Bring in the cool Mega designs as Gigantamax options, but keep it so any Pokemon can Dynamax. Keep the original moveset but maybe add a Z-type move when Dynamaxed for that Pokémon's primary type as well? And keep 'em going big and for 3 turns because that was silly and fun and have you time to work with it.

I like Megas, Z-Moves were hit or miss, Dynamaxing is only good for Raids... but can they just make actual new Pokémon instead of gimmicks for old ones? They keep using these gimmicks as an excuse for not making new Pokémon, which is why the numbers for new Pokémon have been so low compared to past Gens. I'm fine with Regional Forms though, since those aren't tied down by a gimmick tied to a Key Item, which means they can actually pop up for future games. But why bother designing these other gimmicks if you're gonna toss them in the trash 1 or 2 games later?

I think they're trying to bring old fans back with nostalgia, but it doesn't work. More people decided to come back because they actually made an interesting game in Legends than stupid stuff like, 'look we made Pikachu big!' You know what gimmick I hope Scarlet-Violet have? That they're actual good games - the end of a wave of mediocre & stagnant games.

❗️I voted 'Dynamax' but I don't really like it.

All of these have felt impermanent from the jump. Even the regional forms. I love Alolan Sandshrew, but when is Alolan Sandshrew going to be in a regional dex again? Never, because "Alolan" is right in the name.

Mega Evos were especially infuriating because half the pokemon who got them sorely needed REGULAR evolutions, and the mega designs would have been perfect for those - Mawile, Banette, most of the gen 3 ones really. But of course they also had to give megas to pokemon that were already OP, so no sweeping change to make permanent mega evos is possible.

Good pokemon games aren't complicated. Make new pokemon that can appear in other regions. Make lots of them, like Gens 1, 3, and 5. Make them able to EVOLVE. And if a new mechanic is needed, make it something that will also improve future games.

I think gigantamax is what makes dynamax above average, but mega evolution is better by far.

I loved the concept of Mega Evolution in how it breathed new life into old favourites. My only issue with it was that later generations were too frequently overlooked, and that it wasn't kept as a mechanic in Generation VIII.

I was lucky enough to find a shiny Abomasnow in Legends Arceus, but I can't bring myself to use it as I would rather harness its potential in a future game where I can put its Mega form to use.

Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee also massively p'ed me off by not migrating post Gen I evolutions and baby forms, which is the absolute least they could have done to make the overall experience a little less tedious (and also jarring for newer/younger fans who may not understand why their Pokémon can't evolve in the game).

Of course, there is the downside to the fact that they need to be holding a specific item and that far too few Pokémon have Mega forms, but it was a novelty I was happy to toy with when the option was there.

I never cared for Z-Moves. The physical toy that was made was pretty cool (and it can sync with the 3DS games), but it was boring as a mechanic, and simply made battle animations even more drawn-out.

I quite liked the Dynamax concept, but like many others, I found raid battles to be extraordinarily tedious (hellllllllo Gen IV, my old friend!), and was disappointed that Dynamax battles didn't occur enough in regular gameplay. Gigantamax forms are really cool though, and I wish that there were more of them.

But I suppose one of the better attributes of Dynamaxing over Mega Evolution is that any Pokémon can improve their Dynamax level, but Megas are my favourite of the three gimmicks.

But speaking of battle mechanics, I really miss triple battles, which we haven't seen since Gen VI (and it made post-game grinding a lot less tedious).

I probably played the most of Sun and Moon, so I would probably say Z-Moves.

The problem with Mega Evolution is it's made perfectly to fit into the Pokemon world's anime "My Friends Are My Power" narrative and feels like the logical evolution of the Pokemon brand as a whole, and should have continued essentially to ALL species lines. It's a fantastic bit of world building. But gameplay-wise it's at odds with the competitive even playing field mentality. It's MEANT to be your Ultima Weapon, the culmination of you and your monster's journey, it's an emotional bond Super Saiyan power boost hard baked into THE series known worldwide about making connections with your favorite monster, but some monsters are just made better than others to use when given this buff. Even if every single species of Pokemon out there got its own unique Mega Evolution right now, Mega Rayquaza would still tower over all of them. Because of course it would, the plot was literally written that it should and thus its stats reflect so. It's what Arceus was supposed to be.

Z-Moves went a whole other direction of being a super-limited regional culture thing lore-wise and just gave each playing a free kill button on one of the opponent's team. It's overall just....fine? But after that Game Freak seemed to have taken all the wrong notes casual plot-wise with gen 8 and dumped all their time into making it work the best for fighting fairness. So not only did they make it lore-wise super limited in available scope again to ever see outside Galar, they also gave it the most boring of backstory reasonings to happen at all and least interesting physical change possible.

So....yeah, Mega Evolution is obviously the best choice for the Pokemon brand as a whole. Duh. But it's incomplete and as-is abandoned like so many other Game Freak threads. So others have replaced its gameplay use and improved on the moment-to-moment gameplay but striped out the meaningfullness.

I see I'm in the minority who prefers Z-Moves. I dislike the temporary nature of Mega Evolution and Dynamaxing.

One vote option is missing : "NONE"

I understand these modifications have been done in order to provide some fun stuff to the newcomers. But obviously, for someone like me who started to play with Pokemon Red since 1999 (when it arrived in France), these modes are evil. Something I hate in the latest games.

I voted by default for mega evolution, as it was the one who slows the game rhythm the less.

Weird article. It's common knowledge mega evo was by far and away the best.

@swoose I mean it always can. There is a lot of animals in real life named after countries you can find in other places of the world. German Shepherds can be found in more than just Germany or Austria as an example. Aloha Sandshrew could let's say gotten imported into a different region and adapted to the cold environment. There are tons of ways for Pokemon to BS there way into having different regional forms show up in other regions. They already have all Gen 8 from Let's Go to Isle of Armour.

Mega Evolutions, as they gave Sense to unused Pokemon.
Z-Moves, because they look cool.

@traceman some punctuation would've made that readable

I like Z-move the most. I feel that with megas, the best way to counter them is to have another mega on the team or a legendary - it makes the tiers more distinct and elitists more loud . I would have liked megas more if there were more of them and didn’t have a 100-point boost to their stats. I think dynamax could have been great, but I don’t like that they had 4 z-moves. I think it would have been more balanced if they kept the original moves and added a dynamax bonus to power or status effects.

@DudeshootMankill sorry I was using voice dictation. Not exactly easy to add punctuation. -_-;