Now let's talk about Psystrike, Mewtwo's signature move with a base damage of 90 which is laughable in comparison to the average 120 base damage of a main Legendary Pokémon’s signature move. There are multiple legendary Pokémon with two or more signature moves to Mewtwo's one.
I would like to see Mewtwo's BST returned to 744, get a uniquely powerful ability only available to it, either a boost to Psystrike's base power or an additional signature move and a deepening of its lore and importance. A Pokémon Legends: Mewtwo game would be the perfect opportunity to implement these upgrades or an "ultimate form" and finally give it narrative and lore importance.
Before anyone tells me a Pokémon Legends game for Mewtwo is impossible, I will remind you that time travel is a major element in Legends games which means a game set in the near or distant future (even during its creation or slight after or before) is absolutely possible. I also expect Mew to be an important secondary character.
Either that or in an open-world Kanto "reboot" game, with a new narrative that elevates the original material, and deepens Kanto's lore (it has the least lore of all existing regions), Mewtwo is important and present to said narrative that builds on its lore, trainer customization, chance encounters with partner/buddy Pokémon that are more powerful than normal but cannot evolve like Partner Eevee and Pikachu from Let's Go and following Pokémon.
Am I being delusional? Possibly. I am 100% nutter butters, but I have a dream. Who are you to crush it? Bet none of you made it this far. Plebs ( I’m joking.)
It's time to talk about power creep and how it continues to erode the relevancy and competitiveness of older Legendary Pokémon with them being endlessly outclassed. The power creep must stop at some point. It's not sustainable in the long run. I'm not sure how many of you realize this, but upon the release of Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal Mewtwo was heavily nerfed as its base stat total if kept intact was 744 when factoring in the Special stat.
The Special stat was the average of what eventually became Special Attack and Special Defense. To this date, Mewtwo is the only Legendary Pokémon that had its stats significantly nerfed and this was done specifically to avoid power creep. That nerf should be reversed to bring Mewtwo back on par and compete with modern Legendary Pokémon and level the power creep. Not to mention that the psychic type was over-nerfed.
In one of Mewtwo's older in-game Pokedex entries (not just in the anime) it was stated that Mewtwo was created to be the strongest Pokémon so why not give it the upgrade to support this lore?
I'm not saying Mewtwo should curbstomp everyone/every Pokémon. That's stupid, not to mention counter to what I'm advocating for. I'm saying I want Mewtwo to once again be competitively relevant, get some well-deserved love in the games, and feel as important as all other Legendary Pokémon.
Back to Mewtwo. As I mentioned before, the main Legendary Pokémon of every generation should have a strong narrative focus where its lore and significance are explored. In the original games Red/Blue/Yellow/Green, despite being the main Legend, Mewtwo wasn't even physically in the game until after completion and what little lore it had in the game could be easily missed. It was treated like the third main Legendary of the generation like Rayquaza, Giratina, and Kyurem, whom you can't face until finishing the main game, the ones who were fleshed out and focused on after they got their own special third version. Before Legends Z-A, Mewtwo and Zygarde were the only main legendary Pokémon to have not received their own version.
Only the anime and movie did Mewtwo justice, creating one of the anime's deepest, most complex characters in history with a tragic backstory and existential inner turmoil. The Japanese script anyway. In the games, Mewtwo hasn't had the best treatment or representation. Yes, it received two ugly, lackluster mega evolutions 11 years ago. Big deal. Megas are obsolete and no longer relevant now and will continue to be so after Pokémon Legends Z-A. I've grown so weary of "the get a new gimmick, lose the last one" formula. Legendary Pokémon deserve something permanent and substantial that doesn't ultimately become obsolete.
Modern Legendaries have powerful abilities unique to them as well as special gimmicks and narrative focus/relevance. Mewtwo has the generic, lackluster Pressure ability. Pressure has those placeholder "Oops I ran out of time" slapped on vibes. There is absolutely nothing valuable or interesting about it whatsoever. To digress briefly, I will add that they should give Groudon and Kyogre unique abilities since they gave average Pokémon theirs as a hidden ability. Back to the subject, each Legendary should have an ability based on its lore and have special battle effects and secondary traits. Battling a Legendary Pokémon should evoke anxiety, anticipation, and epicness comparable to how I felt facing the Lich King in WoW. I shouldn't be able to conquer it with a single Joe-Schmo Pokémon. I shouldn’t be able to defeat God with a ratatta. I want a challenge. If you want the old experience, give the game a story mode, basically what we have now, and give those of us who want something more a different mode. Gamefreak has largely refused to innovate and change up Pokémon battles for decades.
All Legendary and Mythical Pokémon deserve unique, powerful abilities and gimmicks. No other Pokémon should have access to them at all. They are called Legendary Pokémon for a reason; they are meant to have special significance in lore, be amazingly powerful with distinct mechanics, yet the meaning of the legendary classification has lost impact over the life of the franchise. Mewtwo, Ho-oh, and Lugia are among those that have been neglected by Gamefreak. But because of Mewtwo's deep personal significance in my life, I will focus on Mewtwo when addressing the issue. Don't mistake that for me excluding other older Pokémon legendary or otherwise. There are plenty of old Pokémon in need of love like those mentioned in the article above.
Comments 5
Re: Soapbox: The Next Pokémon Game Should Rework Old Critters, Not Just Add Dozens More
@ButterflyWitch
Now let's talk about Psystrike, Mewtwo's signature move with a base damage of 90 which is laughable in comparison to the average 120 base damage of a main Legendary Pokémon’s signature move. There are multiple legendary Pokémon with two or more signature moves to Mewtwo's one.
I would like to see Mewtwo's BST returned to 744, get a uniquely powerful ability only available to it, either a boost to Psystrike's base power or an additional signature move and a deepening of its lore and importance. A Pokémon Legends: Mewtwo game would be the perfect opportunity to implement these upgrades or an "ultimate form" and finally give it narrative and lore importance.
Before anyone tells me a Pokémon Legends game for Mewtwo is impossible, I will remind you that time travel is a major element in Legends games which means a game set in the near or distant future (even during its creation or slight after or before) is absolutely possible. I also expect Mew to be an important secondary character.
Either that or in an open-world Kanto "reboot" game, with a new narrative that elevates the original material, and deepens Kanto's lore (it has the least lore of all existing regions), Mewtwo is important and present to said narrative that builds on its lore, trainer customization, chance encounters with partner/buddy Pokémon that are more powerful than normal but cannot evolve like Partner Eevee and Pikachu from Let's Go and following Pokémon.
Am I being delusional? Possibly. I am 100% nutter butters, but I have a dream. Who are you to crush it? Bet none of you made it this far. Plebs ( I’m joking.)
Re: Soapbox: The Next Pokémon Game Should Rework Old Critters, Not Just Add Dozens More
@ButterflyWitch
It's time to talk about power creep and how it continues to erode the relevancy and competitiveness of older Legendary Pokémon with them being endlessly outclassed. The power creep must stop at some point. It's not sustainable in the long run. I'm not sure how many of you realize this, but upon the release of Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal Mewtwo was heavily nerfed as its base stat total if kept intact was 744 when factoring in the Special stat.
The Special stat was the average of what eventually became Special Attack and Special Defense. To this date, Mewtwo is the only Legendary Pokémon that had its stats significantly nerfed and this was done specifically to avoid power creep. That nerf should be reversed to bring Mewtwo back on par and compete with modern Legendary Pokémon and level the power creep. Not to mention that the psychic type was over-nerfed.
In one of Mewtwo's older in-game Pokedex entries (not just in the anime) it was stated that Mewtwo was created to be the strongest Pokémon so why not give it the upgrade to support this lore?
I'm not saying Mewtwo should curbstomp everyone/every Pokémon. That's stupid, not to mention counter to what I'm advocating for. I'm saying I want Mewtwo to once again be competitively relevant, get some well-deserved love in the games, and feel as important as all other Legendary Pokémon.
Re: Soapbox: The Next Pokémon Game Should Rework Old Critters, Not Just Add Dozens More
@ButterflyWitch
Back to Mewtwo. As I mentioned before, the main Legendary Pokémon of every generation should have a strong narrative focus where its lore and significance are explored. In the original games Red/Blue/Yellow/Green, despite being the main Legend, Mewtwo wasn't even physically in the game until after completion and what little lore it had in the game could be easily missed. It was treated like the third main Legendary of the generation like Rayquaza, Giratina, and Kyurem, whom you can't face until finishing the main game, the ones who were fleshed out and focused on after they got their own special third version. Before Legends Z-A, Mewtwo and Zygarde were the only main legendary Pokémon to have not received their own version.
Only the anime and movie did Mewtwo justice, creating one of the anime's deepest, most complex characters in history with a tragic backstory and existential inner turmoil. The Japanese script anyway. In the games, Mewtwo hasn't had the best treatment or representation. Yes, it received two ugly, lackluster mega evolutions 11 years ago. Big deal. Megas are obsolete and no longer relevant now and will continue to be so after Pokémon Legends Z-A. I've grown so weary of "the get a new gimmick, lose the last one" formula. Legendary Pokémon deserve something permanent and substantial that doesn't ultimately become obsolete.
Re: Soapbox: The Next Pokémon Game Should Rework Old Critters, Not Just Add Dozens More
@ButterflyWitch
Modern Legendaries have powerful abilities unique to them as well as special gimmicks and narrative focus/relevance. Mewtwo has the generic, lackluster Pressure ability. Pressure has those placeholder "Oops I ran out of time" slapped on vibes. There is absolutely nothing valuable or interesting about it whatsoever.
To digress briefly, I will add that they should give Groudon and Kyogre unique abilities since they gave average Pokémon theirs as a hidden ability. Back to the subject, each Legendary should have an ability based on its lore and have special battle effects and secondary traits.
Battling a Legendary Pokémon should evoke anxiety, anticipation, and epicness comparable to how I felt facing the Lich King in WoW. I shouldn't be able to conquer it with a single Joe-Schmo Pokémon. I shouldn’t be able to defeat God with a ratatta. I want a challenge. If you want the old experience, give the game a story mode, basically what we have now, and give those of us who want something more a different mode. Gamefreak has largely refused to innovate and change up Pokémon battles for decades.
Re: Soapbox: The Next Pokémon Game Should Rework Old Critters, Not Just Add Dozens More
All Legendary and Mythical Pokémon deserve unique, powerful abilities and gimmicks. No other Pokémon should have access to them at all. They are called Legendary Pokémon for a reason; they are meant to have special significance in lore, be amazingly powerful with distinct mechanics, yet the meaning of the legendary classification has lost impact over the life of the franchise. Mewtwo, Ho-oh, and Lugia are among those that have been neglected by Gamefreak. But because of Mewtwo's deep personal significance in my life, I will focus on Mewtwo when addressing the issue. Don't mistake that for me excluding other older Pokémon legendary or otherwise. There are plenty of old Pokémon in need of love like those mentioned in the article above.