How Legends: Arceus Offers A Fix For Pokémon's Legendary Problem
Pokémon Legends: Arceus features a summoning mechanic for Noble Pokémon located throughout Hisui, which could offer a fix for the franchise's habit of gifting legendary monsters to children. A long-running meme in the Pokémon fanbase has depicted 10-year-old protagonists using in-game deities as personal fighters. However, summoning legendary Pokémon rather than capturing them provides the franchise with a distinct method to bypass this issue and help future Pokémon games avoid some serious lore discrepancies. It's unknown how many mechanics from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will feature from Legends: Arceus, but the latter's positive reception from the community is a promising sign.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus features Noble Pokémon, a series of powerful bosses descended from a lineage blessed by Arceus (Sinnoh) itself. These creatures are viewed as Lords and Ladies, and are cared for by the Diamond and Pearl Clans. Unfortunately, as players soon discover, the wormhole above Mount Coronet forces these Nobles into a frenzy, making them a danger to all humans. While players can't summon every Noble to their side, some can be utilized for traversal or scouting, unlocking new activities to complete throughout Hisui.
Unfortunately, despite allowing players to summon Noble Pokémon in Legends: Arceus, legendaries like Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and Arceus all end up in the player's Poké Balls. While the free-roaming title failed to take advantage of its new opportunity, there are many ways to implement it in future titles. Legendary Pokémon provide players with immense power but are often restricted in several ways. It's traditional for certain legendaries to be edition exclusives, but the franchise should find other methods to obtain and use essential monsters in its games.
It's clear that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet features some variation of the Wild Area from Sword and Shield, but it's unknown how difficult these areas will be to traverse. Since Sun and Moon, the Pokémon franchise has frequently utilized helpful Pokémon mounts and wild monsters to replace HMs, moves that previously occupied vital move slots in parties. Pokémon Legends: Arceus used summoning mechanics with Noble Pokémon as a replacement for HMs due to the game's early period. With limited technology and widespread distrust of using monsters as companions or assistants, players depended on music taught by the Diamond and Pearl Clans to enlist the help of Hisui's Nobles. Scarlet and Violet could adopt a similar mechanic for legendaries.
While it seems degrading to use godly creatures like Dialga and Palkia as mounts, there are many other ways for players to use legendary Pokémon without capturing them. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon featured legendary spawns in wormholes that players could traverse. Many legendary Pokémon feature unique methods of travel and powers that correspond with these abilities. Dialga controls time, Palkia controls space, Giratina controls antimatter, Arceus controls creation, Celebi can travel through time, etc. Since Pokémon Scarlet and Violet could feature new legendaries with unique abilities, Nintendo and Game Freak can likely develop new ways for players to summon and interact with legendaries without stuffing them into Poké Balls. While some players may be disappointed with not obtaining legendaries, there is a lore-accurate way for Trainers to capture their own godly monster.
Mewtwo is a popular legendary Pokémon in Game Freak's franchise whose lore produces several disturbing (and valuable) scientific advances in the usually innocent universe. According to the Pokédex and various depictions of Mewtwo, Team Rocket scientists used a Mew fossil to clone their own version of the legendary Pokémon. Unfortunately, the experiment backfired, and the scientists could not control the monster they created, dubbed Mewtwo. While the process of cloning Mewtwo can be considered a crime against nature, the scientists' treatment of their creation ultimately pushed it over the edge. If Scarlet and Violet want to create lore-accurate interactions with legendary Pokémon, cloning could be introduced into the game's mechanics, preventing young Trainers from catching literal gods.
Cloning mechanics could work similarly to Pokémon's fossil mechanics in different generations, where players can collect DNA samples from legendaries (alive or deceased) and introduce another activity for players to pursue. Cloning mechanics also introduces a new mechanic that could enable Shiny-hunting mechanics for legendary Pokémon. Usually, Nintendo and Game Freak Shiny-lock different species of Pokémon to be released as special events later. Legendaries are the most common victims, leaving players to hack or barter to obtain Shiny legendaries and mythicals. By implementing a cloning process in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, players can turn to legitimate ways to receive their own shiny legendary. Additionally, Pokémon Legends: Arceus lacked a breeding mechanic of any kind, and previous games allowed for abuses against the breeding system. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet could sincerely benefit from a new way to produce Pokémon from scratch.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Diamond and Pearl Clans frequently show distaste towards the Galaxy Expedition Team for keeping their Pokémon in Poké Balls. Having been raised in a setting where Pokémon roam freely, the Clans' points of view have a valid argument. The Clans' glorified treatment of their sacred Pokémon is reflected in regular tributes and the creation of Wardens to guard their Nobles. However, not every Hisuian shares their concern for the natural order nor Pokémon, as shown by Volo's boss battle. This abuse of power and urge to control legendary Pokémon repeatedly appears within the Pokémon franchise. Villainous teams like Team Galactic, Team Rocket, Team Magma, and Team Aqua seek to control forces of nature through brute force, but the player character's actions often coincide with criminal motivations.
Despite many characters in Pokémon games reiterating the importance of legendary Pokémon in the world's natural order, players still end up with dozens of legendaries sitting in their PCs at the game's conclusion. For example, Pokémon Legends: Arceus features players catching Dialga and Palkia, despite their importance to the universe's balance. In addition, Volo's capture of Giratina provides players with a prime example of what can go wrong when Trainers interfere with forces beyond their control. The future Team Galactic also struggled with this, as their leader became trapped with Giratina in its twisted realm. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will likely introduce new villainous teams pursuing legendary targets, but it should utilize other mechanics to prevent players from mirroring the villain's task.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus has many differences from traditional Pokémon games but can provide a good starting point for future innovations to a repetitive series. Pokémon lore has undergone many retcons, with most mediums veering from one another's established canon and adapting unique storylines to suit their needs. Since the Pokémon franchise is so large, it's understandable that changes need to be made. However, Nintendo and Game Freak could take steps to make the Pokémon universe more believable with legendaries.