Pokemon players demand the end of evolution gimmicks in future games

Pokemon players are over some of the more complicated gimmick evolutions they have endured over the years.

A post on the Pokemon subreddit laid out just how ridiculous some Pokemon gimmick evolutions have become, pointing to Alcremie, Kingambit, and Runerigus as examples.

To reach their final evolution, all three Pokemon involve players doing something in-game other than leveling the creature up or giving it a stone.

Players lamented how complicated it is to level up specific ‘mon thanks to gimmicks like Galarian Farfetch’d needing to land three critical hits in a battle to evolve. One player also pointed out how these mechanics quickly become convoluted in future titles.

“My problem with gimmick evolutions is they’re hard to replicate in future generations, so they get removed. Case in point: Eevee now using a Leaf stone to evolve into Leafeon in SV instead of a mossy rock,” one Reddit user said.

“What’s the point of adding gimmicks if you give up on them in future generations? How are they going to handle Inkay’s evolution condition if the next console isn’t able to recognize when it’s upside down?”

Others said that they don’t mind the few gimmick evolutions that deepen the lore of the Pokemon world and aren’t “arbitrary,” but they would prefer if the game was more explicit about how players can get them to evolve.

“It’s fine if there are weird gimmick evolutions, but I would appreciate it if the game just had a book or something that outright said, ‘Bisharp must defeat 3 other Bisharp that are with a group of Pawniard.’ I shouldn’t have to Google things to figure this out,” a player said.

However, many agreed that trading Pokemon to evolve them is worse than any gimmick evolution out there.

“Unlike all these other gimmicks, it requires you to have a friend. Terrible mechanic,” another player said.

Pokemon games seem to have at least a few gimmick evolutions with every generation, so that’s unlikely to change despite this outcry. For now, players can only hope Game Freak doesn’t make any evolutions too complicated or hard to figure out in future titles.