Pokemon player’s new Indigo Disk DLC ‘mon saved by little-known trick

A Pokemon Scarlet & Violet player thought they were locked out of a Pokemon introduced in The Indigo Disk DLC, but a little-known trick was able to help them.

The Pokemon series loves throwing in annoying methods for evolution, dating back to the trade evos from Pokemon Red & Blue. This meant people without friends with the title or playing the game on an emulator were locked out of Gengar, Alakazam, Machamp, and Golem.

As time passed, the annoying evolution methods only got worse, ranging from taking Pokemon to specific locations, holding your console upside down, raising their friendship, leveling them up at certain times of day, or possessing a specific move.

The Indigo Disk DLC for Pokemon Scarlet & Violet introduced a new evolution for Dipplin, named Hydrapple. All you need to evolve Dipplin into its new form is to teach it Dragon Cheer and then level it up.

Pokemon players learn that it’s still possible to evolve a level 100 Pokemon

A user on the Pokemon Reddit created a thread complaining about how they missed out on Hydrapple on their beloved Dipplin, as they got it to level 100 before it was revealed. Users quickly pointed out that giving a level 100 Pokemon a Rare Candy will trigger the evolution, to the surprise of many.

“Can’t believe this was Introduced back in SwSh and I’m just finding out about it now,” one user wrote, while another said, “So you’re telling me my naturally level 100 magikarp can actually become a gyarados. This is a happy but sad day.”

With this information in hand, the OP was able to create Hydrapple, while other players learned of the ability to evolve a level 100 Pokemon through the use of items.

Most players would never be put in a position where they couldn’t evolve a max-level Pokemon. This is because people tend to evolve a Pokemon as soon as possible. The fact that Game Freak introduced a method is a great little QoL feature, even if most people aren’t aware of it.

Fans have no idea if Game Freak plans to introduce new evos in later games. They might max out a Pokemon’s level for use in-game, not realizing that more forms are on the way. At least they can use a Rare Candy if they want access to the new evolution.