Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Legendary Tera Type references lost mechanics
The Pokemon CompanyThe Tera Type feature in the Gen 9 Pokemon games gives one Legendary Pokemon a power that will be familiar to fans, as it reflects a transformation that was cut from the mainline games.
The Pokemon series has been cycling major battle mechanics in and out since the Nintendo 3DS era, with Mega Evolutions from Gen 6 and Z-Moves from Gen 7 being replaced with Dynamaxing in Gen 8. Dynamaxing would also be canned in Gen 9 and replaced with Terastallization.
The mechanic gives Pokemon an additional Tera Type, which has been used to recreate a lost Legendary power. Users on the Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Reddit have pointed out that Groudon will always have Fire as a Tera Type when it’s caught, referencing the cut Primal Reversion mechanic.
“Well Primal Reversion led to one of the most annoying metas in Pokémon history so I’ll let it slide,” one user wrote, while another said, “Dude, I just want the lava effect, I just want him to look cool.”
“I thought it was a reference to how Groudon really should’ve been Fire, or at least part Fire, this whole time,” another user wrote, “The Pokemon is all about the win and heating things up by drying oceans and expanding landmass; he should’ve been dual type since the beginning but that would’ve made him wildly weak to his counterpart.”
Groudon isn’t the only Pokemon with an odd reference, as pointed out: “I have now only just noticed that some of the ID legendaries have Tera Types that reflect other things and aren’t just matching their native types, like Lugia being Water, Groudon being Fire, etc.”
While Primal Reversion might be gone in the mainline games, it still makes Groudon a major threat in Pokemon Go. Mainline fans will have to rely on Tera Types to emulate the old effect.
Hopefully, Primal Reversion will return alongside Mega Evolutions in Pokemon Legends Z-A, considering how similar the mechanics are. When that time comes, Groudon will be a force to be reckoned with rather than possessing the pale imitation of its old power that it has now with its Tera Type.