Have Mega Evolutions imbalanced the game?

[LegendChu]

How many of you agree with the fact that Mega Evolutions have somewhat imbalanced the gameplay of Pokemon games?

Pika Pika :chu:

 

[Centipede Chan]

It depends on the Pokemon team and who they are opposing really. I'm guilty of starting a team with a mega, but usually just one I like because of how it looks, and sometimes the power it has. I mean there are some very OP pokemon or at least some very difficult to deal with pokemon that don't have mega evolutions. Mostly legendaries I say, or guys like Aegislash.

 

[KetsuekiR]

Mega evolutions have imbalanced the game in the same way that legendaries have. Even not all of them are exactly "overpowered", they have unfair avantages over Pokemon who can't mega-evolve that has pushed certain Pokemon down.

In addition, I despise that fact that Pokemon like Tyrannitar, Salamence and Metagross got mega-evolutions when they were already imbalancing games without it.

 

[Megan]

Powercreep has been going on for quite a while, though:
- gen 4 gave us the phys/spec split, which gave a lot of Pokemon really powerfull STAB moves (e.g. Waterfall as a physical Water move for Gyarados)
- gen 5 introduced tons of Pokemon, some of them being better versions of older ones (Garchomp > Flygon, Ferrothorn > Forretress)

and of course gen 6 introducing free pseudo legendaries, aka Mega evolution. Even if there's a limit of only one per team, it still means that there's at least one Pokemon with stats that can easily go up to the likes of 150 base and beyond, which is hugh and hard to take for most others. That mean, that there's only certain other Pokemon that can actually take them on. If you want to take on something powerfull, you need something powerfull in return.

 

[Witchcraft]

I don't think they "imbalanced" battling any more than the Pokemon Gen 5 released did. If anything it's made more Pokemon usable than ever before. I thought this generation, megas and all, added a little balance.Some mega evolutions are ridiculously overpowered. But so are some legendaries (in fact a lot of them.) And also some non-legendaries.

 

[Tamashi_Seishiro]

Well, it depends.

For example: Charizard having a mega? Way to OP/Overrated
Audino having a mega? Improving the underrated.

So yeah..it has it's ups, and downs.
Also because of mega. I think the legendaries are worthless anymore (No hate!)
They should upgrade the legendaries too!

 

[Drayton]

Certain megas can be consider OP (Over-power) and some are not that OPish.
- Mega Kangas would be OP because Parental Bond would make very serious threat and this is why Smogon forbid on certain tier because how much destruction it would hit

- Primal Groudon is overboard OP because Desolate Land makes 1 weakness go away and you wouldn't do 4x water damage to it unless cloud nine or air locking it also it renders any weather alters aside from sunny day pretty useless, same way as primordial sea douse the fire-type away and like Desolate Land any weather-moves completely useless.

- Mega Blaizken is a beast and powerful house, top with Speed Boost which it make it very OP and banned on certain tier on Smogon

- Mega Pinsir and Salamance would make Giga Impact or Double Edge does some serious damage because it gives little STAB boost which makes it twice as deadly

- Charizard X is a beast and makes Dragon Claw/Outrage/Flare Blitz do some serious harm because tough claws makes contact moves lethal.

Though non-legendary megas and pseduos are not as powerful as legendries and their mega states, megas might/might not makes the game bit imbalance due to how powerful they are like you can serious take out mega lucario with just fighting moves because megas have certain stats which makes them deadly

 

[Aisu]

Well...it depends on what Pokemon you're referring to and how you use them. Most Mega Evolutions are like adding nuclear power to a tank, I'll admit; Nintendo seemed to want to kick weaker competitive players by putting in powerful Pokemon like Gengar and Salamence etc. and giving them an even more powerful Mega just to baffle them. And if you're counting the Primal Forms of Kyogre and Groudon and even Rayquaza's ability to Mega Evolve without a species-specific Mega Stone, then yeah, that's worse. Mega Evolutions can be and for the most part are advantages over weaker, overlooked Pokemon that lack them, but that's not really any different from pulling a Legendary Pokemon in the middle of a battle (you know, excluding Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza); they're still beatable, it just requires more roundabout thinking. They have stat advantages and sometimes Ability advantages but they really can't be worse than that random Mew or Deoxys or something.

On the other hand, if you look, there are the underused Pokemon that have gotten a Mega and come back into play, i.e. Beedrill, Glalie, Pidgeot... Upping their power and giving them a new look has conversely imbalanced the first Pokemon to get Mega Evolutions, the Kalos breed, so I don't think that Mega Evolutions have really thrown the game off balance. I mean, yes, there are a lot of Pokemon that shouldn't have a Mega considering how powerful they are, especially the Legendary Pokemon, but in my opinion Mega Evolutions bring new strategic possibilities into play and make the game more fun.

 

[Nah]

Pokemon has always been imbalanced to some degree really, so Mega Evolution is just one more bullet point. It's kinda impossible to make a truly 100% balanced game tbh, especially when balance (or balance for a particular mode of play) is not the #1 concern of the dev team. It's a concern, yes, but not the concern.

Competitively speaking it does have a Stealth Rocks-esque effect where megas are something basically every team should have or else you're automatically fighting at a disadvantage, so the meta is slightly centralized around it, but it's tolerated because of the beneficial effects it provides too. In-game it hardly matters, and Mega Evolution is certainly not the biggest imbalance problem the series has ever faced for the non-competitive side of the games.

 

[Cassandra]

I'd have to say no really. To be honest, Mega Evolutions almost funtion as entirely different Pokemon from their pre-evolutions, just a bit stronger.

 

[Sopheria]

What do you mean by "imbalanced", exactly? To the extent that Mega Evolution makes the games imbalanced, the games have never been balanced by virtue of the sheer fact that some Pokemon are stronger than others--that's always been the case. If anything, I'd be more inclined to say Mega Evolution has made the games more balanced. With Mega Evolution, ordinary Pokemon can contend with legendaries. Plus there's a lot of Pokemon that were previously forgotten who've now become viable threats thanks to Mega Evo.

There are of course still other Pokemon who aren't any match for Mega Evolved Pokemon, but again, some Pokemon are just stronger than others--that's the way things have always been.

 

[LegendChu]

I agree that you can never have a "balanced" gameplay, but still you can't deny the fact that Mega Evolutions have unfair advantages over other Pokemon.

Pika Pika :chu:

 

[killer-curry]

I agree that you can never have a "balanced" gameplay, but still you can't deny the fact that Mega Evolutions have unfair advantages over other Pokemon.

Well same to me, it just like a pokemon getting a great buff so it can become even powerful. But, you still need a great strategy to play so that you can maximize the power effciency. In conclusion, mega evolutions are very powerful but it will become even better if you know how to use it.

By the way, I haven't play Pokemon X and Y (Don't have 3DS). So this is my opinion only.

 

[Sopheria]

I agree that you can never have a "balanced" gameplay, but still you can't deny the fact that Mega Evolutions have unfair advantages over other Pokemon.

Pika Pika :chu:

Not "unfair" advantages, just advantages. In the same way, fully evolved Pokemon have advantages over non-fully evolved Pokemon, and Pokemon with higher stats have unfair advantages over Pokemon with lower stats.

Although Mega Rayquaza is one exception I'd make to that: I think it might be a bit of an unfair advantage that it can Mega Evolve with no trade-off. But even then, the above still applies. How do you determine what's an "unfair" advantage, and what's just an ordinary advantage, in a game like Pokemon?

 

[Hiatus]

I wouldn't say that much, considering we're all permitted to carry one on our team and are restricted to only one. As for how powerful we take these Pokémon to be, I feel it all falls back on how we use them.

 

[LegendChu]

Well same to me, it just like a pokemon getting a great buff so it can become even powerful. But, you still need a great strategy to play so that you can maximize the power effciency. In conclusion, mega evolutions are very powerful but it will become even better if you know how to use it.

I totally agree with you.

If you don't know the right moves to give to your Mega Pokemon, you will never be able to use them to their full potential.

Pika Pika :chu: