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Would Gamefreak ever decide to "re-allocate" types of existing pokémon?

Would Gamefreak ever decide to "re-allocate" types of existing pokémon?


  • Total voters
    7

Rune Knight

Well-Known Member
A s far as I am aware, the only two times this ever happened in Pokémon History was when they introduced the Steel and Fairy types in Gen 2 and 6 respectively.

Now I'm not referring to a new type being introduced, but more so, would Gamefreak ever decide to change or add on to types of already established pokémon, and would you be okay with that?

For example; if they decide to make standard Psyduck and Golduck into Water/Psychic types in a near generation, or Lugia into a Water/Flying type, etc.

I would personally be open to the idea, but unsure if they would ever go through with such as it would be a pretty big and significant change to the metagame.

And just for fun, which pokémon would you like to see changed if you are open to the idea as well?
 

Rune Knight

Well-Known Member
Yes, and they've done this before. Originally the Rotom forms stayed Electric/Ghost, but in Gen 5, they were all retyped to Electric/(whatever type corresponded to the form). So they can choose to retype an existing Pokemon without needing a new type if they so wish.

I didn't know that!
 

wobbanut

Team Awesome
A lot of pokemon got screwed with the introduction of steel and dark types in gen 2. Scyther went from x2 fire weakness to x4 with Scizor. Magnemite went from x2 ground weakness to x4. Onix retained its fighting and ground weaknesses with Steelix and gained a fire weakness it had immunity to in its first form. Even the only pokemon to gain the new dark type- umbreon- retained its fighting weakness from eevee. At least when fairy types were introduced, they learned their lessons and improved things for some pokemon, especially Mr. Mime, azurill, clefairy, and jigglypuff. If they were to introduce new types, they should make sure to not make the mistakes they did in gen 2.
 

Rune Knight

Well-Known Member
A lot of pokemon got screwed with the introduction of steel and dark types in gen 2. Scyther went from x2 fire weakness to x4 with Scizor. Magnemite went from x2 ground weakness to x4. Onix retained its fighting and ground weaknesses with Steelix and gained a fire weakness it had immunity to in its first form. Even the only pokemon to gain the new dark type- umbreon- retained its fighting weakness from eevee. At least when fairy types were introduced, they learned their lessons and improved things for some pokemon, especially Mr. Mime, azurill, clefairy, and jigglypuff. If they were to introduce new types, they should make sure to not make the mistakes they did in gen 2.

I agree to an extent, but I'd argue that the addition of the steel-typing provided more benefits for those pokémon since it has so many resistances. And pokémon like Onix and Scyther would lose their grass and electric type type weaknesses respectively, so I don' think it was all that bad.

Still, it would be a huge change to the metagame, and require many people shift some of their team members that they've been utilizing for a long time. But personally, I want to see it happen for the sake of pure interest. :)

Also, I'm wondering why Magnemite doesn't have the levitate ability.
 

Luthor

Well-Known Member
A s far as I am aware, the only two times this ever happened in Pokémon History was when they introduced the Steel and Fairy types in Gen 2 and 6 respectively.

Now I'm not referring to a new type being introduced, but more so, would Gamefreak ever decide to change or add on to types of already established pokémon, and would you be okay with that?

For example; if they decide to make standard Psyduck and Golduck into Water/Psychic types in a near generation, or Lugia into a Water/Flying type, etc.

I would personally be open to the idea, but unsure if they would ever go through with such as it would be a pretty big and significant change to the metagame.

And just for fun, which pokémon would you like to see changed if you are open to the idea as well?

Would I be ok with it? Yes. Could they do it? of course
That being said if it was my preference I'd rather they add in new final evolved forms or branched evolutions for the ones already 3 stage. Regional forms, Megas or some form type we don't know are also an option . I quite liked what they did with Stantler and gave it an evolution with the Psychic type I always thought it should have been and I thought it worked really well.
 

octoboy

I Crush Everything
The precedent so far has generally been for that sort of thing to be reserved for when a new type is introduced, with rotom's case as mentioned by Bolt being relatively exceptional, and even then, rotom's base form stayed the same type it was, so the only time base forms have been re-typed is in cases where a new type was added to the game and given to species made before the type existed.

I am, and always have, been more inclined to want Pokémon to stick to their guns in terms of precedent, but it seems as of gen 8, Gamefreak has appeared to decide that precedent can be thrown out the window if they deem it inconvenient, as seen with Dexit, the retconning of evolution methods, the introduction of certain species into new breeding groups, etc. Thus, it doesn't seem impossible a decision like this would be made, but as of now, it's unprecedented, and I'd be perfectly glad if it were never done.
 

Palamon

Silence is Purple
I honestly don't think they will? Unless it's for regional forms, I don't see a reason for them to unless they're making a new type altogether. The only time they've changed the types of Pokemon outside that is when they added the Fairy, Steel type and changing Rotom's formes to be different types in Gen Five.
 

Rune Knight

Well-Known Member
I am, and always have, been more inclined to want Pokémon to stick to their guns in terms of precedent, but it seems as of gen 8, Gamefreak has appeared to decide that precedent can be thrown out the window if they deem it inconvenient, as seen with Dexit, the retconning of evolution methods, the introduction of certain species into new breeding groups, etc. Thus, it doesn't seem impossible a decision like this would be made, but as of now, it's unprecedented, and I'd be perfectly glad if it were never done.

Since Gamefreak began introducing new pokémon in the midst of a generation starting with Gen 7, I feel like they wouldn't be hesitant on breaking from such conventional norms. I for one would really look forward to seeing them take another big step.

Personally, I would like Trapinch to be changed to Bug/Ground, while Vibrava and Flygon can have their types allocated to Bug/Dragon.

I would also like some type orders to be switched around. Like the Pidove line being changed to Flying/Normal in place of its original order being Normal/Flying. Since it's such a recurring type combination, I think that it would be a great way to create more diversity without changing the Pokémon's gameplay prowess if that's what you may call it.
 
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jaden767

Amphetamine
You mean like a major overhaul? Probably not unless there's a small exception like with Rotom or if a new type gets introduced and a bunch of Pokemon get retconned similar to what happened when Fairy types got introduced.

Regional variants of older Pokemon with new typings are the best we can hope for in all other cases.
 

Pokefan_1987

Avid Pokemon TCG Card collector.
I agree to an extent, but I'd argue that the addition of the steel-typing provided more benefits for those pokémon since it has so many resistances. And pokémon like Onix and Scyther would lose their grass and electric type type weaknesses respectively, so I don' think it was all that bad.

Still, it would be a huge change to the metagame, and require many people shift some of their team members that they've been utilizing for a long time. But personally, I want to see it happen for the sake of pure interest. :)

Also, I'm wondering why Magnemite doesn't have the levitate ability.
It is indeed weird in the Magnemite line case since Levitate would fit in how these things stay off the ground. Instead they have Sturdy for protection because they have 4 common type weaknesses and a Magnet Pull (Prevents other steel types from switching out)
 
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Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
There are plenty of Pokemon who levitate, but don't actually have Levitate as an ability; lots of Psychic-type legendaries for example (Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, etc), as well as certain Steel types like the aforementioned Magnemite line and Klink line. Then you have Bronzor and Bronzong, who are some of the only Pokemon to have other abilities in addition to Levitate. So apparently some Bronzong can't be hit by Ground moves while others can, despite the fact that they all use levitation to move. From a logical perspective, it would make sense to separate levitation from being an ability, but that has gameplay implications that I don't think are wholly good and would need to be considered. A lot of these Pokemon already have potent abilities other than Levitate (Jirachi and Magnezone especially), so giving them Levitate essentially for free might be unbalanced.

But as for the topic at hand, I wish they would for certain legendary Pokemon but I don't think they will. They seem adverse to changing the typing of legendary Pokemon, which results in legendaries who are literal fairies but don't have the Fairy typing. The Lake trio, for example, are clearly fairies (their names are even partially derived from elf, pixie, and sprite, all fairy-like folktale creatures). They don't even have a secondary typing, so it's not like you'd need to remove an existing type as would be the case for Celebi and Jirachi. I doubt balance is a concern either; Azelf enjoyed a brief period of viability in Gen 4 but has fallen off hard since then, and Mesprit and Uxie have never been fantastic or overpowered Pokemon.

Manaphy is another example, although perhaps you could say balance is a concern there because unlike the Lake trio Manaphy is still and has always been a very good Pokemon. That being said, it's literally refered to as a sea fairy by several sources, and like the Lake trio it has no secondary typing to complicate things.
 

RileyXY1

Young Battle Trainer
There are plenty of Pokemon who levitate, but don't actually have Levitate as an ability; lots of Psychic-type legendaries for example (Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, etc), as well as certain Steel types like the aforementioned Magnemite line and Klink line. Then you have Bronzor and Bronzong, who are some of the only Pokemon to have other abilities in addition to Levitate. So apparently some Bronzong can't be hit by Ground moves while others can, despite the fact that they all use levitation to move. From a logical perspective, it would make sense to separate levitation from being an ability, but that has gameplay implications that I don't think are wholly good and would need to be considered. A lot of these Pokemon already have potent abilities other than Levitate (Jirachi and Magnezone especially), so giving them Levitate essentially for free might be unbalanced.

But as for the topic at hand, I wish they would for certain legendary Pokemon but I don't think they will. They seem adverse to changing the typing of legendary Pokemon, which results in legendaries who are literal fairies but don't have the Fairy typing. The Lake trio, for example, are clearly fairies (their names are even partially derived from elf, pixie, and sprite, all fairy-like folktale creatures). They don't even have a secondary typing, so it's not like you'd need to remove an existing type as would be the case for Celebi and Jirachi. I doubt balance is a concern either; Azelf enjoyed a brief period of viability in Gen 4 but has fallen off hard since then, and Mesprit and Uxie have never been fantastic or overpowered Pokemon.

Manaphy is another example, although perhaps you could say balance is a concern there because unlike the Lake trio Manaphy is still and has always been a very good Pokemon. That being said, it's literally refered to as a sea fairy by several sources, and like the Lake trio it has no secondary typing to complicate things.
Bronzong's original gimmick was that each of its abilities nullified one of its two weaknesses (Levitate for Ground and Heatproof for Fire) which forced players to play a guessing game as to which weakness was voided. This was lost in XY when Steel lost its resistances to Dark and Ghost, which gave Bronzong two extra guaranteed weaknesses.
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Bronzong's original gimmick was that each of its abilities nullified one of its two weaknesses (Levitate for Ground and Heatproof for Fire) which forced players to play a guessing game as to which weakness was voided. This was lost in XY when Steel lost its resistances to Dark and Ghost, which gave Bronzong two extra guaranteed weaknesses.
From a logical perspective,
 
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