Pokemon players praise “underrated” Gen 4 cross-generation evolutions
The Pokemon CompanyPokemon fans are praising the cross-gen evolutions introduced in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl for empowering otherwise underwhelming creatures from earlier games.
The concept of Pokemon gaining new evolutions in later entries has existed since Gen 2, when Pokemon like Slowpoke, Scyther, and Onix were granted new forms that didn’t exist in the Kanto region, as they weren’t discovered until later in the timeline.
In the later games, it became more common for existing Pokemon to receive regional variants, such as Alolan Exeggutor, which more closely resembled a palm tree due to it existing in the warmer climate of the Alola region.
The most famous game for its cross-generational evolutions was Pokemon Diamond & Pearl, which introduced many new forms of classic Pokemon.
Pokemon fans love Gen 4’s cross-gen evos
A user on Pokemon Reddit has created a thread to celebrate the cross-generational evolutions from Gen 4. The thread discusses how they enhanced certain Pokemon lines that needed a boost. Other fans have joined the thread to share their opinions on these underrated Pokemon.
“Hard agree. They’re all very high up for me in terms of design (except Ambipom I guess) and I appreciate that they made me care for a lot of Gen 1-3 Pokemon that I never really liked before,” one user wrote, while another said, “Agree, especially when most of the Pokemon that were given new evolutions really did need one.”
“Agreed. People complain a lot, but the idea of just taking popular designs and just giving them a stat boost without changing the design too much is great,” one user said, while another agreed, “I remember when they all came out, it was one of the many reasons why I hopped on the Gen 4 hype train. This was before I even knew what Giratina, Heatran, and Darkrai were.”
The main issue fans had was with the designs. “I love that gen 4 added those evolutions, and I’d love to see future gens do that too, like Annihilape,” one fan wrote, “The only thing I hate is that every gen 4 cross-gen evolution is a straight visual downgrade from the original, the period from gen 4 to gen 5 was my least favorite era of Pokemon design.”
The concept of introducing new evolutions over time has run parallel with fresh mechanics, like Mega Evolutions and Dynamaxing. While those mechanics tend to get phased out over time, the concept of cross-generational evolutions is something that will remain in future games, as it’s building on an established concept with already popular Pokemon.