I still can't believe GF passed on the opportunity to make a Mythical Pikachu clone based on Ratatoskr. Electric/Dark Baddinyan/Warunyan-aesthetic the rest writes itself money in the bank etc. etc.
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RTTP: The Pokemon. All 721 of them, and counting.
- Thread starter Watch Da Birdie
- Start date
I still can't believe GF passed on the opportunity to make a Mythical Pikachu clone based on Ratatoskr. Electric/Dark Baddinyan/Warunyan-aesthetic the rest writes itself money in the bank etc. etc.
Ah Zygarde, the embodiment that pretty much sums up my disappointment of Gen 6 as he had so much potential but was skipped over for gen 7 which him being shoehorned in, despite Dexio saying otherwise.
When I found out that the Kalos legendary were based on Norse mythology I was excited as I love Norse mythology and was curious to see how they will play within the lore and region.
But alas all three of Kalos trio were wasted and squandered with the interesting stuff being shown in other media but the main game itself.
So as a result I find it very difficult to give a toss about Zygarde as he had so much potential but ultimately failed to live up to it, heck I even stopped collecting the cells in Sun and Moon after creating and destroying his 10% form.
The way I see it that he was an experiment for the better Pokémon that is Nebby as they are similar in concept.
Your memory isn't playing trick;
-Suicune was told within the Johto folklore and was found in the Burnt Tower, which the Player can visit.
-Rayquaza was mentioned by several NPC as a flying Pokémon that was always flying, they also mentioned Sky Pillar.
-Giratina was never mentioned due to him being banished to the distortion world but the Map made mention on how Sendoff Spring was the fourth lake that was hidden within the Sinnoh region.
-Kyurem was mention in the lore of the original dragon plus the town folk of Lacunosa Town talked about how a meteor crashed in the nearby Giant Chasm bringing forth a mysterious creature causing the town folks to lock themselves in at night to which the game reflected if you visited Lacunosa Town at night.
-Necrozma was
Zygarde got nothing almost as Game Freak planned that he wouldn't be getting his own game and would use the animé to act as "Pokémon Z".
Zygarde is the first legendary related to the box mascot not to get his own game or receive a backstory, that is a major mess up as Game Freak failed to make him and his cohort feel connected to the region that they are from both in lore and in the role.
Also the only legendary Pokémon without backstory are the Kanto legendary birds and that's because they were the first and originally existed as super boss, it wasn't till gen 2 when Game Freak stepped up in giving Legendary Pokémon back stories and make them feel connected to the region that they are from.
When I found out that the Kalos legendary were based on Norse mythology I was excited as I love Norse mythology and was curious to see how they will play within the lore and region.
But alas all three of Kalos trio were wasted and squandered with the interesting stuff being shown in other media but the main game itself.
So as a result I find it very difficult to give a toss about Zygarde as he had so much potential but ultimately failed to live up to it, heck I even stopped collecting the cells in Sun and Moon after creating and destroying his 10% form.
The way I see it that he was an experiment for the better Pokémon that is Nebby as they are similar in concept.
Your memory isn't playing trick;
-Suicune was told within the Johto folklore and was found in the Burnt Tower, which the Player can visit.
-Rayquaza was mentioned by several NPC as a flying Pokémon that was always flying, they also mentioned Sky Pillar.
-Giratina was never mentioned due to him being banished to the distortion world but the Map made mention on how Sendoff Spring was the fourth lake that was hidden within the Sinnoh region.
-Kyurem was mention in the lore of the original dragon plus the town folk of Lacunosa Town talked about how a meteor crashed in the nearby Giant Chasm bringing forth a mysterious creature causing the town folks to lock themselves in at night to which the game reflected if you visited Lacunosa Town at night.
-Necrozma was
mentioned by Looker when he thought that he found an Ultra Beast, but Annabelle said that Looker must be mistaken as HQ didn't detect anything.
Zygarde got nothing almost as Game Freak planned that he wouldn't be getting his own game and would use the animé to act as "Pokémon Z".
Zygarde is the first legendary related to the box mascot not to get his own game or receive a backstory, that is a major mess up as Game Freak failed to make him and his cohort feel connected to the region that they are from both in lore and in the role.
Also the only legendary Pokémon without backstory are the Kanto legendary birds and that's because they were the first and originally existed as super boss, it wasn't till gen 2 when Game Freak stepped up in giving Legendary Pokémon back stories and make them feel connected to the region that they are from.
SciencePilot
Member
Oh no, I missed the Zygarde bump of this thread! I guess because it happened on 24 December and I wasn't checking GAF then.
I like Zygarde a lot visually (all forms). Mechanics-wise, the only thing I'm disappointed about it is that the type is so done already. Flygon and Garchomp are both really cool Pokemon so I don't see why we needed another ground-dragon. I don't even see where the dragon fits in to its design. It seems like it should be pure ground, or maybe ground-psychic (the psychic referencing how the cells all work together). Gamefreak has been playing fast and loose with dragon type lately, which I have mixed feelings about.
I, too, am sad Zygarde didn't get more lore but I'm so glad Gamefreak decided to skip Pokemon Z. Around the time of XY and ORAS, the Pokemon franchise was starting to feel really tired and pretty stale, especially compared with the new hotness (at the time) Yokai Watch, which had much better graphics, etc. Making the next game a third version of XY would have only exacerbated that staleness. Sun and Moon were an injection of freshness and life the Pokemon franchise desperately needed, and they came at exactly the right time.
I like Zygarde a lot visually (all forms). Mechanics-wise, the only thing I'm disappointed about it is that the type is so done already. Flygon and Garchomp are both really cool Pokemon so I don't see why we needed another ground-dragon. I don't even see where the dragon fits in to its design. It seems like it should be pure ground, or maybe ground-psychic (the psychic referencing how the cells all work together). Gamefreak has been playing fast and loose with dragon type lately, which I have mixed feelings about.
I, too, am sad Zygarde didn't get more lore but I'm so glad Gamefreak decided to skip Pokemon Z. Around the time of XY and ORAS, the Pokemon franchise was starting to feel really tired and pretty stale, especially compared with the new hotness (at the time) Yokai Watch, which had much better graphics, etc. Making the next game a third version of XY would have only exacerbated that staleness. Sun and Moon were an injection of freshness and life the Pokemon franchise desperately needed, and they came at exactly the right time.
Pieman0920
Member
If Zygard is based around Norse myth, he'd actually be Nidhogg, which is a different giant snake, which I don't believe was actually ever stated to be poisonous, unlike the snake that killed Thor, Jormungandr.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I thought Nidhogg is a dragon
snow in jamaica
Member
Nidhoggr is a dragon, yes. Jormungandr would additionally fit if the dog form is based on Fenrir. I couldn't tell you how the robot form would be based on Hel, though.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Well for some odd reason Japan has this weird obsession with Nordic themes with mecha so there's that.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
The Story of Z - Part 2 of 3: Iku-Z!!!
After the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire the Pokemon fanbase as a whole experienced a sense of distrust towards the franchise for a variety of reasons---Masuda leaving out the Battle Frontier in ORAS due to trying to appeal to kids who "don't have time for it" came across as the franchise abandoning its long-time fans and aiming for "casuals", and 2015 seeing Pokemon's first foray into the FPS market with Rumble World, Picross, and Shuffle, the latter hitting mobile, only strengthened these feelings. It didn't help matters that many fans felt ORAS was lacking in many key areas, especially compared to Heart Gold and Soul Silver that were packed with features, and that Game Freak were foregoing quality in exchange for quantity and trying to bank on the franchise pandering and going after "whales". We needed a new mainstream title more than ever, a game that would save Generation VI, yet the expected "Pokemon Z" didn't materialize in Spring 2015 as expected and fans were left thirsty for a new mainline Pokemon title---outside of the cheap F2P games even the spin-off scene was lacking, Super Mystery Dungeon being the only title to get excited about as Pokken Tournament wasn't announced for a home console release and reports claimed that its reception in Japan was mixed, though some sources claimed it was outright despised. All this led to The Pokemon Company announcing a special business meeting in September, with many getting hyped Pokemon Z was coming, only to be let down when Nintendo revealed they were going mobile with Pokemon Go.
Yeah, 2015 was a bad year to be a Pokemon fan. Now many people ended up enjoying Pokemon Go, but that didn't hit till 2016 and there wasn't much to get excited about since no one expected the game to hit as big as it did---though most fans were correct in assuming Pokemon Go wasn't going to be a particularly deep experience. For much of 2015 Pokemon fans went crazy, and I'm not exaggerating, if you look through the archives of any major Pokemon site during this time period you'll come across folks losing their minds at a lack of a new Pokemon title and endless arguing over the future of the franchise, most of it extremely negative. Pokemon Go and Sun and Moon have definitely reinvigorated the franchise, perhaps more than ever before, but in 2015 it almost felt like the franchise was falling apart at the seams. It didn't help there were multiple rumors about Game Freak leaving Nintendo and striking out on their own (reinforced by the lack of Tembo the Badass Elephant on any Nintendo system) flying around leaving many to wonder if Pokemon was gonna abandon the core series in favor of cash-in mobile titles like many other franchises had turned to. One of the reasons I begun this thread in 2015 was to hopefully reignite my interest in the franchise, which did work, though even now I feel like the bad year of 2015 soured me on Pokemon a bit.
The only major development that happened in 2015 when it came to the main series was two mysterious Pokemon appearing in a teaser airing after the Hoopa film, the first a small green creature and the latter an enormous creature cloaked in shadows. While many fans went wild and declared these two be Generation VII Pokemon, that wasn't the case as more savvy fans pointed out that they wouldn't reveal completely New Pokemon before they officially revealed Volcanion, and those fans were indeed correct as these two Pokemon ended up being related to Zygarde. This was the first sign of Pokemon Z, and fans got hype---this all happened in July, mind you, with small details like their connection to Zygarde being gradually revealed over time so when September came and The Pokemon Company announced a special conference it wasn't a leap to assume all that was leading up to Pokemon Z, and even I thought it was going to be that at first. Alas I left disappointed, but I didn't stay disappointed for long as a few days later in September CoroCoro finally dropped the bomb we were all waiting for...
Pokemon Z! Or, rather, Pokemon XY&Z. And it wasn't a game, it was a new season of the anime featuring Zygarde, and its multiple Formes, as well as what appeared to be "Mega Greninja" though code-named "Ash-Greninja". Needless to say this was quite unexpected. While the anime has been used to showcase New Pokemon, never before had it outright been used to advertise what was seemingly the next mainline game in the series---I mean we saw Ho-Oh and all in Episode 1, but beyond that nothing was said about a Pokemon Gold and Silver being on the horizon. Here for the first time ever really the anime seemed to be leading the franchise into the next era, and as an anime fan I was pretty excited. Of course as we know now XY&Z ended up simply being an anime series that the games ignored outside of the Zygarde Formes and Ash-Greninja making their way into the games, though in rather hamfisted ways as we'll see in the final part, but at the time it posed more questions than it answered. But as a series XY&Z was fairly strong despite some pacing issues likely caused by Sun and Moon seemingly being pushed out to breath life into the franchise, and I enjoyed what they did with it---it actually did Team Flare justice somewhat, and Zygarde though he never got a game to himself was done right by the anime as far as I'm concerned. Most Legendaries get tossed into a forgettable film, or thrown into a filler episode, but Zygarde got a solid season to develop and ended up becoming a far more interesting Legendary than many of its contemporaries. Outside of Mewtwo it's probably the best Legendary plot in the entire series, and you really got to know the Pokemon and care for it. Or, I did. It only made the fact Zygarde never got a game to himself all the more disappointing. Anyway, let's talk about the new Zygarde Formes introduced in XY&Z:
Zygarde Cells
These aren't technically a "Forme", nor are they even considered true Pokemon---they're simply mindless cells who come together to make up the larger Zygarde Formes and are shown to have no true will of their own, merely serving as eyes and ears scattered around the Kalos Region to keep watch of the ecosystem and ensure that everything is working in proper order. They are usually shown to be invisible till they're needed.
Zygarde Cores
An advanced Zygarde Cell that possesses sentience as signified by its heart-like "core" and upright position, it's still not considered a true Pokemon and is somewhat of a plant-like creature that survives through photosynthesis. Usually in other RPGs the "Earth" element includes both the actual earth and plant life, so I think this makes it clear why exactly Zygarde was a Ground-type due to it being a force of nature and all rather than simply a "made of dirt" Ground-type Pokemon. Zygarde Cores act as the "brains" of Zygarde and are spread out across the Kalos Region (in the anime), using the Cells to maintain order and communicating with one another telepathically. In the show there are shown to be only two Cores, Z1 (Red AKA Squishy) and Z2 (Blue) who work together to maintain order, and they exist independently from one another with their own minds.
Though it isn't technically a Pokemon, "Squishy" (as it was dubbed by Bonnie) is a surprisingly cute design despite being so simple and seemed to be surprisingly marketable---I'm actually kind of disappointed it ended up being simply a Key Item in Sun and Moon. What really helped though was Squishy's portrayal in the show, starting out as a rather cold creature who over the course of XY&Z legitimately bonded with Bonnie and her friends and grew to learn the good side of humanity opposite the other Core, Z2, who was captured by Team Flare and tortured in order to turn it against humanity. Though it usually just went "wolololol", Squishy was shown on multiple occasions to be capable of speaking telepathically and was quite intelligent, giving it a chance to develop as a character easier than most Pokemon who lack the ability to articulate their feelings. In a way Squishy became a core member of the cast during XY&Z, and though not every episode utilized him beyond having him serve as a second Dedenne he received enough focus to become rather memorable. Compared to Meloetta who also hung out with the cast for a brief period of time during Best Wishes 2 Squishy was a worthwhile character with great build-up that culminated in a solid arc wrapping up his plot and letting him leave the show on-top.
Zygarde 10% Forme
Also known as "Zydoggie", Zygarde 10% unlike the previous two is considered an actual Pokemon and is the result of a single Core fusing with 10% of Zygarde's Cells, though it's also said that Zygarde 50% can deploy its 10% Forme if needed for a brief duration. As a "Pokemon" Zydoggie is quite powerful and fast, shown to be able to handle fully-evolved Pokemon quite easily though its strength doesn't come close to even 50% Zygarde of course. Because it doesn't need a lot of Cells to form its body however it's seen the most frequently in the show and is the first Forme Squishy takes originally to defend itself from Team Flare in the first episode of XY&Z, the viewers' first sign that there's more to Squishy than meets the eye though none of the heroes learn of this ability till later on. While the XY&Z Opening shows Bonnie comically being pulled along by it like a haphazardly dog walker, it only really took this Forme when battling was required and never just hung out with Bonnie like a pet dog or anything like that.
A lot of fans didn't like the concept of Zygarde's Formes, due to the fact it felt like a concept straight-out of Dragon Ball Z (comparisons to, well, Cell were almost immediate), and Zydoggie got quite a lot of hate originally due to feeling like a tacked-on Forme that didn't seem to make sense at first and looking like a rejected Ben 10 design. On the other hand if you consider the fact that Zygarde 50% was possibly based on Jormungandr, then 10% furthers that motif by serving as a reference to Fenrir, a wolf in Norse mythology who was Jormungandr's brother. It even has the Gleipnir, a magical chain created by Dwrarven smiths to bind the beast. But as I've said many of times a Pokemon having a real-world concept behind their design doesn't necessarily mean their design is good, especially considering Game Freak don't really do anything with the Norse mythology elements, though I do think Zydoggie is a slick design and pretty neat. It might end up lost in the mix in future games due to being a Legendary Forme as opposed to a full-fledged Pokemon, but it's a far better design than, say, Shaymin Sky Forme or Keldeo's Resolute form.
Zygarde Complete Forme
"Perfect Cell", Zygarde Complete Forme is the ultimate Guardian of the Kalos Region that appears when things get really bad and consists of all the Zygarde Cells coming together as well as the Cores, though it's never explicitly said if it needs all the Cores or just all the Cells---in the actual series it only appears when Z1 and Z2 join together, but in the Volcanion Movie Squishy is shown to take this Forme on its own without the help of the other Core. As you can imagine Complete is incredibly powerful, said to easily outrank both Xerneas and Yveltal, and most fans assume it's on the same level as top-class Legendary Pokemon such as Mewtwo, Rayquaza, or even Arceus though that's just speculation at this point. One can't deny that it certainly has an imposing appearance, and is another Generation VI design that seems to happily embrace Game Freak's love of classic mecha by looking like the love-child of multiple Japanese Super Robots. You either like this aspect of its design, or see it as another needless escalation in Pokemon's Legendary arms race. I'm a bit on the former, personally, though at this point we're still not really sure where Zygarde fits in compared to the other Legendary Pokemon beyond how important it looks aesthetically.
In the show Complete was a big part of the original promotional poster and hinted at throughout the season, but didn't appear in-person till the very end where Z1 and Z2 fused together along with all the cells to combat Team Flare's "Megalith", a bioweapon of sorts, and blast Lysandre into smithereens. Cold. Blooded. You'll recall Complete was first teased in the teaser trailer for Movie 19 at the end of the Hoopa film, but his role in that film ultimately ended up being pretty cheap---Squishy randomly combines into Zygarde Complete to combat the bad guy's laser beam and that's it. None of the main characters even witness this either so it comes off as ultimately a "just throw it in!" moment. Speaking of which, poor Xerneas and Yveltal got completely left out of this arc and their only connection to Zygarde occurs in the final episode of XY&Z where it's shown that Zygarde 50% in the past wrecked a town who messed with Xerneas. So, yeah, Zygarde's connection to the two remains vague and uninteresting---Zygarde ended up ironically being the most interesting Gen VI Legendary if you ask me, Xerneas and Yveltal just ended up being completely forgettable and pointless.
Oh, as for the Norse mythology tie-in here? Who the hell knows. Rather, who the Hel---y'see, Loki and Angrboða had one more child in addition to Jormungandr and Fenrir known as Hel. She wasn't a crazy mecha, just a regular looking woman (though a giant I think) who took care of the souls of those who died from sickness or old age, basically the afterlife for those who didn't die heroic deaths. I don't see any connection between Complete and Hel so I think Game Freak just gave up on that. Or it was just a coincidence the whole time, though some of the parallels seem too coincidental to be an accident. We may never know. They kept the French motif though (Kalos is France, remember!?) with it literally having the colors of the French flag on its chest.
As XY&Z continued to air it became apparent that Pokemon Z wasn't going to happen, one of the biggest nails in the coffin I recall being when TVTokyo announced they were distributing Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde through events which probably wouldn't happen if Game Freak was planning to release a third Generation VI game with all three available for capture, and the fate of Zygarde (and Ash-Greninja) remained up in the air. Though they popped up in various multimedia such as the TCG, Shuffle, and the Japanese-only arcade titles, many were convinced they were anime-only Pokemon, comparing them to "Dark Celebi" from Movie 4. It was clear to me these Pokemon were getting way to big of a push to be one-and-done characters who would completely disappear from the franchise after XY&Z concluded, but it wasn't till the middle of 2016 that we'd finally learn their fate. Would Zygarde finally be given justice in the games?
Find out next time!
After the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire the Pokemon fanbase as a whole experienced a sense of distrust towards the franchise for a variety of reasons---Masuda leaving out the Battle Frontier in ORAS due to trying to appeal to kids who "don't have time for it" came across as the franchise abandoning its long-time fans and aiming for "casuals", and 2015 seeing Pokemon's first foray into the FPS market with Rumble World, Picross, and Shuffle, the latter hitting mobile, only strengthened these feelings. It didn't help matters that many fans felt ORAS was lacking in many key areas, especially compared to Heart Gold and Soul Silver that were packed with features, and that Game Freak were foregoing quality in exchange for quantity and trying to bank on the franchise pandering and going after "whales". We needed a new mainstream title more than ever, a game that would save Generation VI, yet the expected "Pokemon Z" didn't materialize in Spring 2015 as expected and fans were left thirsty for a new mainline Pokemon title---outside of the cheap F2P games even the spin-off scene was lacking, Super Mystery Dungeon being the only title to get excited about as Pokken Tournament wasn't announced for a home console release and reports claimed that its reception in Japan was mixed, though some sources claimed it was outright despised. All this led to The Pokemon Company announcing a special business meeting in September, with many getting hyped Pokemon Z was coming, only to be let down when Nintendo revealed they were going mobile with Pokemon Go.
Yeah, 2015 was a bad year to be a Pokemon fan. Now many people ended up enjoying Pokemon Go, but that didn't hit till 2016 and there wasn't much to get excited about since no one expected the game to hit as big as it did---though most fans were correct in assuming Pokemon Go wasn't going to be a particularly deep experience. For much of 2015 Pokemon fans went crazy, and I'm not exaggerating, if you look through the archives of any major Pokemon site during this time period you'll come across folks losing their minds at a lack of a new Pokemon title and endless arguing over the future of the franchise, most of it extremely negative. Pokemon Go and Sun and Moon have definitely reinvigorated the franchise, perhaps more than ever before, but in 2015 it almost felt like the franchise was falling apart at the seams. It didn't help there were multiple rumors about Game Freak leaving Nintendo and striking out on their own (reinforced by the lack of Tembo the Badass Elephant on any Nintendo system) flying around leaving many to wonder if Pokemon was gonna abandon the core series in favor of cash-in mobile titles like many other franchises had turned to. One of the reasons I begun this thread in 2015 was to hopefully reignite my interest in the franchise, which did work, though even now I feel like the bad year of 2015 soured me on Pokemon a bit.
The only major development that happened in 2015 when it came to the main series was two mysterious Pokemon appearing in a teaser airing after the Hoopa film, the first a small green creature and the latter an enormous creature cloaked in shadows. While many fans went wild and declared these two be Generation VII Pokemon, that wasn't the case as more savvy fans pointed out that they wouldn't reveal completely New Pokemon before they officially revealed Volcanion, and those fans were indeed correct as these two Pokemon ended up being related to Zygarde. This was the first sign of Pokemon Z, and fans got hype---this all happened in July, mind you, with small details like their connection to Zygarde being gradually revealed over time so when September came and The Pokemon Company announced a special conference it wasn't a leap to assume all that was leading up to Pokemon Z, and even I thought it was going to be that at first. Alas I left disappointed, but I didn't stay disappointed for long as a few days later in September CoroCoro finally dropped the bomb we were all waiting for...
Pokemon Z! Or, rather, Pokemon XY&Z. And it wasn't a game, it was a new season of the anime featuring Zygarde, and its multiple Formes, as well as what appeared to be "Mega Greninja" though code-named "Ash-Greninja". Needless to say this was quite unexpected. While the anime has been used to showcase New Pokemon, never before had it outright been used to advertise what was seemingly the next mainline game in the series---I mean we saw Ho-Oh and all in Episode 1, but beyond that nothing was said about a Pokemon Gold and Silver being on the horizon. Here for the first time ever really the anime seemed to be leading the franchise into the next era, and as an anime fan I was pretty excited. Of course as we know now XY&Z ended up simply being an anime series that the games ignored outside of the Zygarde Formes and Ash-Greninja making their way into the games, though in rather hamfisted ways as we'll see in the final part, but at the time it posed more questions than it answered. But as a series XY&Z was fairly strong despite some pacing issues likely caused by Sun and Moon seemingly being pushed out to breath life into the franchise, and I enjoyed what they did with it---it actually did Team Flare justice somewhat, and Zygarde though he never got a game to himself was done right by the anime as far as I'm concerned. Most Legendaries get tossed into a forgettable film, or thrown into a filler episode, but Zygarde got a solid season to develop and ended up becoming a far more interesting Legendary than many of its contemporaries. Outside of Mewtwo it's probably the best Legendary plot in the entire series, and you really got to know the Pokemon and care for it. Or, I did. It only made the fact Zygarde never got a game to himself all the more disappointing. Anyway, let's talk about the new Zygarde Formes introduced in XY&Z:
Zygarde Cells
These aren't technically a "Forme", nor are they even considered true Pokemon---they're simply mindless cells who come together to make up the larger Zygarde Formes and are shown to have no true will of their own, merely serving as eyes and ears scattered around the Kalos Region to keep watch of the ecosystem and ensure that everything is working in proper order. They are usually shown to be invisible till they're needed.
Zygarde Cores
An advanced Zygarde Cell that possesses sentience as signified by its heart-like "core" and upright position, it's still not considered a true Pokemon and is somewhat of a plant-like creature that survives through photosynthesis. Usually in other RPGs the "Earth" element includes both the actual earth and plant life, so I think this makes it clear why exactly Zygarde was a Ground-type due to it being a force of nature and all rather than simply a "made of dirt" Ground-type Pokemon. Zygarde Cores act as the "brains" of Zygarde and are spread out across the Kalos Region (in the anime), using the Cells to maintain order and communicating with one another telepathically. In the show there are shown to be only two Cores, Z1 (Red AKA Squishy) and Z2 (Blue) who work together to maintain order, and they exist independently from one another with their own minds.
Though it isn't technically a Pokemon, "Squishy" (as it was dubbed by Bonnie) is a surprisingly cute design despite being so simple and seemed to be surprisingly marketable---I'm actually kind of disappointed it ended up being simply a Key Item in Sun and Moon. What really helped though was Squishy's portrayal in the show, starting out as a rather cold creature who over the course of XY&Z legitimately bonded with Bonnie and her friends and grew to learn the good side of humanity opposite the other Core, Z2, who was captured by Team Flare and tortured in order to turn it against humanity. Though it usually just went "wolololol", Squishy was shown on multiple occasions to be capable of speaking telepathically and was quite intelligent, giving it a chance to develop as a character easier than most Pokemon who lack the ability to articulate their feelings. In a way Squishy became a core member of the cast during XY&Z, and though not every episode utilized him beyond having him serve as a second Dedenne he received enough focus to become rather memorable. Compared to Meloetta who also hung out with the cast for a brief period of time during Best Wishes 2 Squishy was a worthwhile character with great build-up that culminated in a solid arc wrapping up his plot and letting him leave the show on-top.
Zygarde 10% Forme
Also known as "Zydoggie", Zygarde 10% unlike the previous two is considered an actual Pokemon and is the result of a single Core fusing with 10% of Zygarde's Cells, though it's also said that Zygarde 50% can deploy its 10% Forme if needed for a brief duration. As a "Pokemon" Zydoggie is quite powerful and fast, shown to be able to handle fully-evolved Pokemon quite easily though its strength doesn't come close to even 50% Zygarde of course. Because it doesn't need a lot of Cells to form its body however it's seen the most frequently in the show and is the first Forme Squishy takes originally to defend itself from Team Flare in the first episode of XY&Z, the viewers' first sign that there's more to Squishy than meets the eye though none of the heroes learn of this ability till later on. While the XY&Z Opening shows Bonnie comically being pulled along by it like a haphazardly dog walker, it only really took this Forme when battling was required and never just hung out with Bonnie like a pet dog or anything like that.
A lot of fans didn't like the concept of Zygarde's Formes, due to the fact it felt like a concept straight-out of Dragon Ball Z (comparisons to, well, Cell were almost immediate), and Zydoggie got quite a lot of hate originally due to feeling like a tacked-on Forme that didn't seem to make sense at first and looking like a rejected Ben 10 design. On the other hand if you consider the fact that Zygarde 50% was possibly based on Jormungandr, then 10% furthers that motif by serving as a reference to Fenrir, a wolf in Norse mythology who was Jormungandr's brother. It even has the Gleipnir, a magical chain created by Dwrarven smiths to bind the beast. But as I've said many of times a Pokemon having a real-world concept behind their design doesn't necessarily mean their design is good, especially considering Game Freak don't really do anything with the Norse mythology elements, though I do think Zydoggie is a slick design and pretty neat. It might end up lost in the mix in future games due to being a Legendary Forme as opposed to a full-fledged Pokemon, but it's a far better design than, say, Shaymin Sky Forme or Keldeo's Resolute form.
Zygarde Complete Forme
"Perfect Cell", Zygarde Complete Forme is the ultimate Guardian of the Kalos Region that appears when things get really bad and consists of all the Zygarde Cells coming together as well as the Cores, though it's never explicitly said if it needs all the Cores or just all the Cells---in the actual series it only appears when Z1 and Z2 join together, but in the Volcanion Movie Squishy is shown to take this Forme on its own without the help of the other Core. As you can imagine Complete is incredibly powerful, said to easily outrank both Xerneas and Yveltal, and most fans assume it's on the same level as top-class Legendary Pokemon such as Mewtwo, Rayquaza, or even Arceus though that's just speculation at this point. One can't deny that it certainly has an imposing appearance, and is another Generation VI design that seems to happily embrace Game Freak's love of classic mecha by looking like the love-child of multiple Japanese Super Robots. You either like this aspect of its design, or see it as another needless escalation in Pokemon's Legendary arms race. I'm a bit on the former, personally, though at this point we're still not really sure where Zygarde fits in compared to the other Legendary Pokemon beyond how important it looks aesthetically.
In the show Complete was a big part of the original promotional poster and hinted at throughout the season, but didn't appear in-person till the very end where Z1 and Z2 fused together along with all the cells to combat Team Flare's "Megalith", a bioweapon of sorts, and blast Lysandre into smithereens. Cold. Blooded. You'll recall Complete was first teased in the teaser trailer for Movie 19 at the end of the Hoopa film, but his role in that film ultimately ended up being pretty cheap---Squishy randomly combines into Zygarde Complete to combat the bad guy's laser beam and that's it. None of the main characters even witness this either so it comes off as ultimately a "just throw it in!" moment. Speaking of which, poor Xerneas and Yveltal got completely left out of this arc and their only connection to Zygarde occurs in the final episode of XY&Z where it's shown that Zygarde 50% in the past wrecked a town who messed with Xerneas. So, yeah, Zygarde's connection to the two remains vague and uninteresting---Zygarde ended up ironically being the most interesting Gen VI Legendary if you ask me, Xerneas and Yveltal just ended up being completely forgettable and pointless.
Oh, as for the Norse mythology tie-in here? Who the hell knows. Rather, who the Hel---y'see, Loki and Angrboða had one more child in addition to Jormungandr and Fenrir known as Hel. She wasn't a crazy mecha, just a regular looking woman (though a giant I think) who took care of the souls of those who died from sickness or old age, basically the afterlife for those who didn't die heroic deaths. I don't see any connection between Complete and Hel so I think Game Freak just gave up on that. Or it was just a coincidence the whole time, though some of the parallels seem too coincidental to be an accident. We may never know. They kept the French motif though (Kalos is France, remember!?) with it literally having the colors of the French flag on its chest.
As XY&Z continued to air it became apparent that Pokemon Z wasn't going to happen, one of the biggest nails in the coffin I recall being when TVTokyo announced they were distributing Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde through events which probably wouldn't happen if Game Freak was planning to release a third Generation VI game with all three available for capture, and the fate of Zygarde (and Ash-Greninja) remained up in the air. Though they popped up in various multimedia such as the TCG, Shuffle, and the Japanese-only arcade titles, many were convinced they were anime-only Pokemon, comparing them to "Dark Celebi" from Movie 4. It was clear to me these Pokemon were getting way to big of a push to be one-and-done characters who would completely disappear from the franchise after XY&Z concluded, but it wasn't till the middle of 2016 that we'd finally learn their fate. Would Zygarde finally be given justice in the games?
Find out next time!
balladofwindfishes
Member
Zygardoggo has a butt hole
I don't really know why. But it does.
I don't really know why. But it does.
SciencePilot
Member
Great write up on the zygarde forms! Thanks!
I really like each of the zygarde forms individually. The cells and dog are cute, and the mecha is cool. However, I don't like the fact that the forms don't really go together. The progression from dog to snake to mecha just doesn't make sense. I guess there's some Norse mythology but it's not like those characters transformed into each other or anything, they were just separate characters. Oh well.
I really like each of the zygarde forms individually. The cells and dog are cute, and the mecha is cool. However, I don't like the fact that the forms don't really go together. The progression from dog to snake to mecha just doesn't make sense. I guess there's some Norse mythology but it's not like those characters transformed into each other or anything, they were just separate characters. Oh well.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Squishy is the best wolololo
also all these sneaky hiding and stealthing does make him a Punished Zygarde
also all these sneaky hiding and stealthing does make him a Punished Zygarde
balladofwindfishes
Member
I'm surprised it took this long for a legendary Pokemon to be part of the main anime cast, albeit in a gooey small baby form.
Baron von Loathsome
Member
?
Same, I thought that I would be a Pokémon fan for life and nothing could shatter it but Gen 6 really tested me as I didn't like the direction the series was going which made enduring gen 6 rough leaving me to debated on quitting the series all together.
Playing gen 7 showed me that I still love the series but not in the same vain I did prior gen 6 as gen 7, while 100% miles better than gen 6 still leave me questioning the direction the series is going and if "Pokémon Star" will help increase my love for the series otherwise there will come a point where I will just stop playing the latest game in the series.
Indeed, they had so much potential but wasted it.
Indeed, which is why I don't care for Zygarde, his form or the X and Y animé.
I wanted to play "Pokémon Z" not watch a boring version of what it could have been.
Spoiler;
Nope.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
But that what made him great - he got an anime all for himself. Not even Meloetta could make a piece like that. Hell, it was already better than what many legendaries had.
GiantBreadbug
Member
Can't jive with Squishy being a good character when it was just another Pokémon Bonnie poured love onto just so everybody cried when it left.
Also the voices were pretty bad.
Also the voices were pretty bad.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
She was more mature of it when he left vs her time with Tynrantrum. Also it works when he really doesn't like humans and it was his travels with Bonnie (and thus Ash and co.) making him learn things. And this would be like... technically only the second Pokemon to have that.
Well whaddayaknow, character development and foreshadowing!
Means nothing to me as I don't care much about the animé as I tend to focus solely on the main series games and treat everything else as a little bonus, with the animé mostly used to see how a Pokémon move, fight or how a attack works which was something I used heavily before the switch to 3D.
In order word for me to enjoy a generation the main series game have to appeal to me greatly, something that gen 1-5 did, along with gen 7 to some degree.
The anime can not satisfy me as it is not my adventure, it's Ash's adventure and I merely the fourth wall watching it which was one of the reasons of why I just couldn't get into the Zygarde arc as I knew that I would never get that experience myself in the main series game.
It might sound silly but one of the biggest reasons to why I love the Pokémon series is that it allows me create my own story and the game is very flexible in accommodating in how I want it to flow with some leeway on my part.
For example with the gen 4 games I made it that Diamond was where my character explored the Sinnoh region and thwarted Team Galactic's plan and became champion of the Sinnoh region.
With Pearl I made it a continuation of the adventure but this time I made that the reason why Cyrus did the same plan again was because he wanted to tested his theory as he suspected that something was off with the Sinnoh lore, which then led into the event of Platinum and acted as a conclusion of the Sinnoh arc.
For me as a writer I was excited for Zygarde as it mean that I could play around with his lore and have his game acted as an ending for the Kalos region, but I never got that so to me Kalos just feels unsatisfying and unfinished so I had to drastically rework my X team and make it act as the conclusion of the Kalos arc just very low key and completely remove Zygarde role out of the game, so my character will never meet or know about him and this will carry over in gen 7 onward, till otherwise.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
The Story of Z - Part 3 of 3: Zygarde Goes Hawaiian
When we last left Zygarde he had become the central star of the anime series and received multiple new Formes, some of which went on to appear in numerous spin-off games suggesting that they were more than simply anime-only creations like some people speculated. When Sun and Moon were announced as Generation VII early on in 2016 it seemed clear that the Pokemon Z dream was dead, but what was the fate of Zygarde? The popular theory at the time was that Zygarde, much like Rayquaza in ORAS, would be receiving a special post-game episode entitled "Episode Z" in Sun and Moon that would wrap up his plot. Some fans went as far to say that Kalos would be included in Sun and Moon as a second region serving as a way for Game Freak to give Generation VI one last shot. June 2016 at the Taiwan National Championship showed the first footage of Zygarde 10% and Zygarde Complete in Sun and Moon confirming that they were "officially" and Pokemon, and over the next few months we learned that the Zygarde Cells and Cores would be scattered around the Alola Region and by collecting them the player could somehow gain access to the Legendary Pokemon. Unfortunately after the initial coverage of Zygarde in S&M Game Freak went quiet on it and the rest of the pre-release period was focused on New Pokemon, Regional Variants, and Ultra Beasts, thus many fans forgot about Zygarde. The official site seemed to kill off the idea of Kalos being included as it wasn't mentioned in Zygarde's page, instead just acting as if it was native to the region, and apart from the return of an older (and cooler) Dexio and Sina it seemed like Game Freak was basically done with Kalos.
And then Sun and Moon was released. What secret did the game hold involving Zygarde? Did he finally get his chance to shine? The answer is no. Zygarde's implementation in Sun and Moon is incredibly awkward, not as bad as the Legendary Birds and Mewtwo being tossed into X&Y, but extremely disappointing as well as something worse---frustrating. Zygarde in Pokemon Sun and Moon is at the center of a region-spanning sidequest involving traveling around Alola searching for 95 Zygarde Cells and 5 Cores. In theory this sounds cool on paper, a reason to explore every nook and cranny and perhaps the largest sidequest introduced to the franchise, but in reality there are many issues with its implementation that makes it into a pain. The biggest problem is there's no way to track which Cells you've collected, you know how many you've collected but not which ones you've collected or from where. Considering the game introduces a map on the bottom screen perhaps having an icon appear in a space where you collected a Cell would've been useful, or at the very least the game should let you know your completion on each island so you can narrow remaining Cells down easier. The fact that some are timed-based only adds to the frustration and unless you play through the game with a guide marking off the Cells you'll naturally encounter as you progress by the end you'll be scrambling to figure out where the last three or four Cells are located. Ugh. I haven't gotten around to searching for them but it's a sidequest I don't ever see myself partaking in anytime in the foreseeable future unless "Stars" makes it easier to do somehow.
So, what do you do with the Cells and Cores? You form Zygarde! At Route 16 around halfway through the game or so is the Zygarde Restoration Center, a place where you can use a machine in conjunction with the Zygarde Cube, a device that stores the Cells and Cores, to either assemble a Zygarde or separate one. With ten Cells you can create 10% Zygarde, and then break it down into ten Cells. Likewise 50% Zygarde can be created when you have fifty Cells, and then broken down into fifty Cells. When you break down your Zygarde it's basically "erased" and gone forever, so be careful if you've grown attached to it. Once you've collected all 5 Cores and all 95 Cells you can merge them all into a special Zygarde (50%, though it can be changed to 10% between battle with the Zygarde Cube) with the Power Construct Ability. Power Construct causes Zygarde to transform into Zygarde Complete at the end of a turn its HP drops to half, and it's the first in-battle Forme change with a change to its base HP---this means Zygarde Complete will actually regain health upon transforming. The Power Construct Zygarde is a permanent Pokemon who cannot be separated into Cells, and thus could be considered the "true Zygarde" for all intents and purposes. When forming a Zygarde its initial level is based on game progress by the way, Level 30 pre-Champion and Level 50 post-Champion.
There is a workaround to collecting Cells, though, and that's the fact that you can simply have someone trade you a non-Power Construct 10% or 50% (or trade one in from X&Y once Bank hits) and then break it down for the Cells, and you can through this method actually collect up to 999 Cells. Though note that if you trade away a Zygarde you formed with Cells, you lose those Cells for good unless you get that Zygarde back or someone trades you another one. This also means if for whatever reason you decide to release a 10% or 50% Zygarde, those Cells also permanently disappear from your game. I don't believe you can lose the Cores though, as your Zygarde Cube stores the Signature Move they bestow on your Zygarde. Overall though expect once Bank hits and people have access to multiple Zygarde for it to become an easy way to grab 50 Cells to score Zygarde Complete. The 50% Zygarde you import from Gen VI will be forever lost, but I don't imagine too many people are particularly attached to theirs. By the way forgive me if I've made any mistakes explaining this method, it's quite clunky and I've yet to experiment with it for myself.
As for the Cores, they have a secondary use in acting as Move Tutors for Zygarde. Zygarde has its own level-up moveset that's the same regardless of what Forme it's in, but each Core through the use of the Zygarde Cube can teach it an additional move. The first two Cores you'll probably come across allow you to teach it Extremespeed and Dragon Dance, but the other three grant it new Signature Moves in addition to Land's Wrath from Generation VI which it still learns naturally through Level-Up. In Part 1 I mentioned a "hidden" Signature Move for Zygarde in the data of X&Y and that move, Thousand Arrows, finally becomes available in Sun and Moon through the use of the Zygarde Cube and one of the Cores. Thousand Arrows is a fairly powerful Ground-type attack that hits Flying-type Pokemon for neutral damage and causes Flying and/or Levitating Pokemon to fall to earth, making them vulnerable to subsequent Ground-type attacks and ground-based hazards until they switch out. It can also hit Pokemon mid-air during Fly, Bounce, and Sky Drop for double damage. The fourth Core introduces the new move Thousand Waves, a Ground-type attack equal in power to Land's Wrath and Thousand Arrows that prevents the opposing Pokemon from switching out as long as Zygarde remains. And finally the fifth Core allows it to learn the ultimate Signature Move Core Enforcer, a 100 BP Dragon-type attack that removes the target's Ability if Zygarde moves after them. As you can see Zygarde gains some useful skills here to utilize, from negating Levitating Pokemon to working as a trapper. Zygarde certainly got a boost here, so let's break down the individual Formes:
First off is 10%, who basically functions as a "normal" Pokemon due to only having a BST of 486 but as a fan of its design I actually see this as a plus---since it only requires ten Cells, you can easily create one by the time you reach the Zygarde Restoration Center! Thus you have an interesting Pokemon to use on your in-game team that is technically a Legendary Pokemon, but isn't powerful enough to make you feel cheap for using one. Furthermore you can simulate evolution by collecting forty more Cells as you journey across Alola eventually adding them to 10% to transform it into 50% Zygarde for the Elite Four. Then you can finally "complete" it during the End Game by collecting the rest of the Cells for Zygarde Complete. Thus here's a Legendary Pokemon you actually get a chance to use and grow with during your journey, which is actually pretty cool. Not sure if it's as fun in practice as it sounds on paper (did anyone do this?), but it's an interesting little mechanic. Though it takes awhile for Zygarde to get some moves through Level-Up and relying on mainly late-game TMs, though Land's Wrath should serve as a nice bread-and-butter, 10% happens to outspeed the majority of Alola Pokemon easily and, while somewhat frail, its three weaknesses are somewhat rare throughout most of the game so it's pretty strong. Though 10% can use Power Construct to transform into Zygarde Complete, it's risky to bank on that considering 10%'s HP is so low that it may be taken out in a single hit before it gets a chance to transform.
Competitively (and note that the New Pokemon are still being experimented with, so new strategies may emerge) 10% isn't too shabby of a Pokemon though any serious competitor looking to win in a tierless-format will definitely want to go with 50% who is overall more useful. It's the fastest of the Zygarde but that's all it has going for it as it doesn't have any unique moves or Abilities to help it stand out from 50%, and here's a missed opportunity for me personally. Now Smogon has already banned Power Construct, leaving both 10% and 50% with the extremely situational and worthless Aura Break. Sun and Moon would've been a good time to adjust it, such as cutting the power of Fairy-type and Dark-type moves in general instead of simply reversing Fairy Aura and Dark Aura, but they didn't. From a lore standpoint Zygarde 10% is weaker, so having an Ability that opposed two Legendary Pokemon doesn't make sense for me, so I think they should've given it a "normal" Ability like Intimidate or something, one that isn't as majestic in terms of lore but more useful for the lower tiers it'll inhabit due to its lower BST. Well, in the end you have a cool looking pseudo-Legendary Pokemon with enough speed and power to use alongside your favorite Pokemon in more casual fights without feeling like a cheapskate for using an OU Pokemon.
Next is 50%, who didn't change apart from the addition of new Signature Moves, the most important being Thousand Arrows which allows it to take down almost every Pokemon for neutral damage. The biggest addition though is of course Power Construct, which introduces a rather interesting element to using 50% Zygarde---health management. Zygarde 50% will change to Zygarde Complete at the end of a turn its health has fallen below 50%, and because Complete is rather slow (though fast for an Alola Pokemon) it likely won't go first the next turn. Complete due to its higher HP BST will restore some health, but at the same time you'll want to try and keep Zygarde 50%'s HP as close to 50% as possible---too little HP lost won't activate the transformation, and if you happen to heal with an item before the end of the turn you'll also mess it up and might have to take even more damage overall next turn to transform, and too much HP lost will leave Complete weakened from the get-go. So you gotta plan on going after an opponent who can't hit you too hard, but can hit you hard enough to initiate the transformation.
So, Zygarde Complete can only be used after Power Construct has activated giving it a whopping BST of 708---the highest non-Mega/Primal/Arceus Pokemon. The majority of its increased stats though go into its enormous HP, a whopping base 216 putting it behind only Chansey and Blissey as of Gen VI, and unlike them it has a decent amount of bulk and offensive power to play multiple roles instead of merely stalling. It's slower then both 10% and 50%, and its other stats don't increase too notably, but the biggest advantage is basically "resetting" the match since the increased base HP of Complete compared to its lower Formes means that it'll heal. It doesn't have any other decent recovery options though beyond Rest, however it can be deadly much like Chansey and Blissey due to being able to outlast many opponents while crippling them with Toxic, shuffling through them with Dragon Tail, and working around their immunities with Thousand Arrows. It's certainly a powerful and awesome Pokemon fitting its image, and a great turnout for what was once considered a rather uneventful Legendary Pokemon, and thus in terms of the competitive scene we could perhaps call Zygarde a "success".
But that's the only success in Sun and Moon for Zygarde. Otherwise it plays absolutely no role in the plot, even though Dexio and Sina tell the player about its role in defending the ecosystem and hinting at it having a mission in Alola nothing comes of that---when the Ultra Beasts attack Zygarde is nowhere to be seen, and the players hoping for an "Episode Z", or a fleshed-out post-game plot for that matter, will leave disappointed. One wonders if a plot was planned for Sun and Moon but then cut, either due to time constraints or a purposeful content cut to save something for the rumored Switch version, "Pokemon Stars". There is one interesting hint though hidden in Sun and Moon that eagle-eyed Trainers will note and that's the fact that one room of Resolution Cave in Alola is identical to Zygarde's Chamber in Terminus Cave, and this room happens to be the home of one of the Ultra Beast. Said Ultra Beast, Guzzlord, has been noted to share Zygarde's Dragon-type, has a slight resemblance to Complete with a similar head and chest-mouth, and like Complete its best stat is a massive HP which dwarfs the former. This is just a fan theory at the moment, but one hopes Game Freak actually does explain Zygarde's role in Alola in the future. Stars is possibly the last time for Zygarde to shine till we get Gen VI remakes in a decade or so, otherwise I imagine it'll just become another Legendary Pokemon they toss in future games. I don't imagine they'll bother with the Cell Hunt either post-Stars, they'll probably just let you catch 50% and then toss you a Zygarde Cube loaded up with all 95 Cells and 5 Cores. Let's face facts, Zygarde was yesterday's news the moment Magearna popped up (she herself though was quickly forgotten though) and Game Freak is probably done with it. In the end it wasn't too bad of a life, out of all the Legendary Pokemon it probably caused the most Internet arguments and got a decent roll in the show, but one hopes Game Freak treats their next "3rd Version Mascot" far better.
Well, that's all 721 Gen I-Gen VI Pokemon, from A to Z. It's been a fun time doing this and I hope to do this in the near future once I have two or three new Generations to talk about.
(pretend I photoshopped Zygarde heads over them.)
When we last left Zygarde he had become the central star of the anime series and received multiple new Formes, some of which went on to appear in numerous spin-off games suggesting that they were more than simply anime-only creations like some people speculated. When Sun and Moon were announced as Generation VII early on in 2016 it seemed clear that the Pokemon Z dream was dead, but what was the fate of Zygarde? The popular theory at the time was that Zygarde, much like Rayquaza in ORAS, would be receiving a special post-game episode entitled "Episode Z" in Sun and Moon that would wrap up his plot. Some fans went as far to say that Kalos would be included in Sun and Moon as a second region serving as a way for Game Freak to give Generation VI one last shot. June 2016 at the Taiwan National Championship showed the first footage of Zygarde 10% and Zygarde Complete in Sun and Moon confirming that they were "officially" and Pokemon, and over the next few months we learned that the Zygarde Cells and Cores would be scattered around the Alola Region and by collecting them the player could somehow gain access to the Legendary Pokemon. Unfortunately after the initial coverage of Zygarde in S&M Game Freak went quiet on it and the rest of the pre-release period was focused on New Pokemon, Regional Variants, and Ultra Beasts, thus many fans forgot about Zygarde. The official site seemed to kill off the idea of Kalos being included as it wasn't mentioned in Zygarde's page, instead just acting as if it was native to the region, and apart from the return of an older (and cooler) Dexio and Sina it seemed like Game Freak was basically done with Kalos.
And then Sun and Moon was released. What secret did the game hold involving Zygarde? Did he finally get his chance to shine? The answer is no. Zygarde's implementation in Sun and Moon is incredibly awkward, not as bad as the Legendary Birds and Mewtwo being tossed into X&Y, but extremely disappointing as well as something worse---frustrating. Zygarde in Pokemon Sun and Moon is at the center of a region-spanning sidequest involving traveling around Alola searching for 95 Zygarde Cells and 5 Cores. In theory this sounds cool on paper, a reason to explore every nook and cranny and perhaps the largest sidequest introduced to the franchise, but in reality there are many issues with its implementation that makes it into a pain. The biggest problem is there's no way to track which Cells you've collected, you know how many you've collected but not which ones you've collected or from where. Considering the game introduces a map on the bottom screen perhaps having an icon appear in a space where you collected a Cell would've been useful, or at the very least the game should let you know your completion on each island so you can narrow remaining Cells down easier. The fact that some are timed-based only adds to the frustration and unless you play through the game with a guide marking off the Cells you'll naturally encounter as you progress by the end you'll be scrambling to figure out where the last three or four Cells are located. Ugh. I haven't gotten around to searching for them but it's a sidequest I don't ever see myself partaking in anytime in the foreseeable future unless "Stars" makes it easier to do somehow.
So, what do you do with the Cells and Cores? You form Zygarde! At Route 16 around halfway through the game or so is the Zygarde Restoration Center, a place where you can use a machine in conjunction with the Zygarde Cube, a device that stores the Cells and Cores, to either assemble a Zygarde or separate one. With ten Cells you can create 10% Zygarde, and then break it down into ten Cells. Likewise 50% Zygarde can be created when you have fifty Cells, and then broken down into fifty Cells. When you break down your Zygarde it's basically "erased" and gone forever, so be careful if you've grown attached to it. Once you've collected all 5 Cores and all 95 Cells you can merge them all into a special Zygarde (50%, though it can be changed to 10% between battle with the Zygarde Cube) with the Power Construct Ability. Power Construct causes Zygarde to transform into Zygarde Complete at the end of a turn its HP drops to half, and it's the first in-battle Forme change with a change to its base HP---this means Zygarde Complete will actually regain health upon transforming. The Power Construct Zygarde is a permanent Pokemon who cannot be separated into Cells, and thus could be considered the "true Zygarde" for all intents and purposes. When forming a Zygarde its initial level is based on game progress by the way, Level 30 pre-Champion and Level 50 post-Champion.
There is a workaround to collecting Cells, though, and that's the fact that you can simply have someone trade you a non-Power Construct 10% or 50% (or trade one in from X&Y once Bank hits) and then break it down for the Cells, and you can through this method actually collect up to 999 Cells. Though note that if you trade away a Zygarde you formed with Cells, you lose those Cells for good unless you get that Zygarde back or someone trades you another one. This also means if for whatever reason you decide to release a 10% or 50% Zygarde, those Cells also permanently disappear from your game. I don't believe you can lose the Cores though, as your Zygarde Cube stores the Signature Move they bestow on your Zygarde. Overall though expect once Bank hits and people have access to multiple Zygarde for it to become an easy way to grab 50 Cells to score Zygarde Complete. The 50% Zygarde you import from Gen VI will be forever lost, but I don't imagine too many people are particularly attached to theirs. By the way forgive me if I've made any mistakes explaining this method, it's quite clunky and I've yet to experiment with it for myself.
As for the Cores, they have a secondary use in acting as Move Tutors for Zygarde. Zygarde has its own level-up moveset that's the same regardless of what Forme it's in, but each Core through the use of the Zygarde Cube can teach it an additional move. The first two Cores you'll probably come across allow you to teach it Extremespeed and Dragon Dance, but the other three grant it new Signature Moves in addition to Land's Wrath from Generation VI which it still learns naturally through Level-Up. In Part 1 I mentioned a "hidden" Signature Move for Zygarde in the data of X&Y and that move, Thousand Arrows, finally becomes available in Sun and Moon through the use of the Zygarde Cube and one of the Cores. Thousand Arrows is a fairly powerful Ground-type attack that hits Flying-type Pokemon for neutral damage and causes Flying and/or Levitating Pokemon to fall to earth, making them vulnerable to subsequent Ground-type attacks and ground-based hazards until they switch out. It can also hit Pokemon mid-air during Fly, Bounce, and Sky Drop for double damage. The fourth Core introduces the new move Thousand Waves, a Ground-type attack equal in power to Land's Wrath and Thousand Arrows that prevents the opposing Pokemon from switching out as long as Zygarde remains. And finally the fifth Core allows it to learn the ultimate Signature Move Core Enforcer, a 100 BP Dragon-type attack that removes the target's Ability if Zygarde moves after them. As you can see Zygarde gains some useful skills here to utilize, from negating Levitating Pokemon to working as a trapper. Zygarde certainly got a boost here, so let's break down the individual Formes:
First off is 10%, who basically functions as a "normal" Pokemon due to only having a BST of 486 but as a fan of its design I actually see this as a plus---since it only requires ten Cells, you can easily create one by the time you reach the Zygarde Restoration Center! Thus you have an interesting Pokemon to use on your in-game team that is technically a Legendary Pokemon, but isn't powerful enough to make you feel cheap for using one. Furthermore you can simulate evolution by collecting forty more Cells as you journey across Alola eventually adding them to 10% to transform it into 50% Zygarde for the Elite Four. Then you can finally "complete" it during the End Game by collecting the rest of the Cells for Zygarde Complete. Thus here's a Legendary Pokemon you actually get a chance to use and grow with during your journey, which is actually pretty cool. Not sure if it's as fun in practice as it sounds on paper (did anyone do this?), but it's an interesting little mechanic. Though it takes awhile for Zygarde to get some moves through Level-Up and relying on mainly late-game TMs, though Land's Wrath should serve as a nice bread-and-butter, 10% happens to outspeed the majority of Alola Pokemon easily and, while somewhat frail, its three weaknesses are somewhat rare throughout most of the game so it's pretty strong. Though 10% can use Power Construct to transform into Zygarde Complete, it's risky to bank on that considering 10%'s HP is so low that it may be taken out in a single hit before it gets a chance to transform.
Competitively (and note that the New Pokemon are still being experimented with, so new strategies may emerge) 10% isn't too shabby of a Pokemon though any serious competitor looking to win in a tierless-format will definitely want to go with 50% who is overall more useful. It's the fastest of the Zygarde but that's all it has going for it as it doesn't have any unique moves or Abilities to help it stand out from 50%, and here's a missed opportunity for me personally. Now Smogon has already banned Power Construct, leaving both 10% and 50% with the extremely situational and worthless Aura Break. Sun and Moon would've been a good time to adjust it, such as cutting the power of Fairy-type and Dark-type moves in general instead of simply reversing Fairy Aura and Dark Aura, but they didn't. From a lore standpoint Zygarde 10% is weaker, so having an Ability that opposed two Legendary Pokemon doesn't make sense for me, so I think they should've given it a "normal" Ability like Intimidate or something, one that isn't as majestic in terms of lore but more useful for the lower tiers it'll inhabit due to its lower BST. Well, in the end you have a cool looking pseudo-Legendary Pokemon with enough speed and power to use alongside your favorite Pokemon in more casual fights without feeling like a cheapskate for using an OU Pokemon.
Next is 50%, who didn't change apart from the addition of new Signature Moves, the most important being Thousand Arrows which allows it to take down almost every Pokemon for neutral damage. The biggest addition though is of course Power Construct, which introduces a rather interesting element to using 50% Zygarde---health management. Zygarde 50% will change to Zygarde Complete at the end of a turn its health has fallen below 50%, and because Complete is rather slow (though fast for an Alola Pokemon) it likely won't go first the next turn. Complete due to its higher HP BST will restore some health, but at the same time you'll want to try and keep Zygarde 50%'s HP as close to 50% as possible---too little HP lost won't activate the transformation, and if you happen to heal with an item before the end of the turn you'll also mess it up and might have to take even more damage overall next turn to transform, and too much HP lost will leave Complete weakened from the get-go. So you gotta plan on going after an opponent who can't hit you too hard, but can hit you hard enough to initiate the transformation.
So, Zygarde Complete can only be used after Power Construct has activated giving it a whopping BST of 708---the highest non-Mega/Primal/Arceus Pokemon. The majority of its increased stats though go into its enormous HP, a whopping base 216 putting it behind only Chansey and Blissey as of Gen VI, and unlike them it has a decent amount of bulk and offensive power to play multiple roles instead of merely stalling. It's slower then both 10% and 50%, and its other stats don't increase too notably, but the biggest advantage is basically "resetting" the match since the increased base HP of Complete compared to its lower Formes means that it'll heal. It doesn't have any other decent recovery options though beyond Rest, however it can be deadly much like Chansey and Blissey due to being able to outlast many opponents while crippling them with Toxic, shuffling through them with Dragon Tail, and working around their immunities with Thousand Arrows. It's certainly a powerful and awesome Pokemon fitting its image, and a great turnout for what was once considered a rather uneventful Legendary Pokemon, and thus in terms of the competitive scene we could perhaps call Zygarde a "success".
But that's the only success in Sun and Moon for Zygarde. Otherwise it plays absolutely no role in the plot, even though Dexio and Sina tell the player about its role in defending the ecosystem and hinting at it having a mission in Alola nothing comes of that---when the Ultra Beasts attack Zygarde is nowhere to be seen, and the players hoping for an "Episode Z", or a fleshed-out post-game plot for that matter, will leave disappointed. One wonders if a plot was planned for Sun and Moon but then cut, either due to time constraints or a purposeful content cut to save something for the rumored Switch version, "Pokemon Stars". There is one interesting hint though hidden in Sun and Moon that eagle-eyed Trainers will note and that's the fact that one room of Resolution Cave in Alola is identical to Zygarde's Chamber in Terminus Cave, and this room happens to be the home of one of the Ultra Beast. Said Ultra Beast, Guzzlord, has been noted to share Zygarde's Dragon-type, has a slight resemblance to Complete with a similar head and chest-mouth, and like Complete its best stat is a massive HP which dwarfs the former. This is just a fan theory at the moment, but one hopes Game Freak actually does explain Zygarde's role in Alola in the future. Stars is possibly the last time for Zygarde to shine till we get Gen VI remakes in a decade or so, otherwise I imagine it'll just become another Legendary Pokemon they toss in future games. I don't imagine they'll bother with the Cell Hunt either post-Stars, they'll probably just let you catch 50% and then toss you a Zygarde Cube loaded up with all 95 Cells and 5 Cores. Let's face facts, Zygarde was yesterday's news the moment Magearna popped up (she herself though was quickly forgotten though) and Game Freak is probably done with it. In the end it wasn't too bad of a life, out of all the Legendary Pokemon it probably caused the most Internet arguments and got a decent roll in the show, but one hopes Game Freak treats their next "3rd Version Mascot" far better.
Well, that's all 721 Gen I-Gen VI Pokemon, from A to Z. It's been a fun time doing this and I hope to do this in the near future once I have two or three new Generations to talk about.
Love this thread, been following it since the beginning as a lurker. Can't wait for it to continue once we have more Pokemon to talk about!
As far as Zygarde goes, I actually like collecting the cores in Sun/Moon and think it's a neat gimmick, but it is pretty disappointing that he played basically no role in the story.
As far as Zygarde goes, I actually like collecting the cores in Sun/Moon and think it's a neat gimmick, but it is pretty disappointing that he played basically no role in the story.
Theslammer
Member
balladofwindfishes
Member
I did that with Zygarde.
Doggo is actually kind of mediocre for awhile, but he catches up once he gets some of his signature moves.
When it "evolves" the speed loss is a little jarring, but the power boost is also noticeable.
At no point did it feel "unfair" to use Zygarde. He seems pretty decently balanced for Sun/Moon, and paced properly to not get overpowered too soon.
Watch Da Birdie
I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
Probably when Gen IX is on the horizon!
...Actually, I plan to do a quick review of Gen VII in this thread to end things. Originally I wasn't, because I planned to finish Zygarde long before Gen VII was released, but it's been three months and I've digested the designs well enough to offer some opinions. I'll probably do a paragraph for each Pokemon, and split it into five posts or so. Then a "look to the future!" post where I go back over the Types, how they've changed since the beginning, and what I think is in store for them in future games.
Nocturnowl
Member
Oooh, the ride never ends!
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I dunno, wouldn't it be unfair to most Gen VII mons when they lack an anime or card appearance?
SciencePilot
Member
Thanks for the awesome thread Birdie! One of my favorites on GAF. Glad to see it to completion.
Did you just decide to wait until Gen 9 is revealed?
Don't know if I ever said it, but this was an amazing thread. Awesome work dude.
