How Pokemon Does Boss Battles 

I'm surprised you didn't mention my favorite fight in the series, Volo -> Giratina -> Giratina AGAIN. Honestly that fight was brutal, but so fun, especially when you're underleveled.

For the Gen 9 gyms, imagine if the ace's tera type countered the most expected type to be brought to it.

To clarify more on titans, they actually have double the HP in the second fight and most have moves they shouldn't have at their level or at all which helps incentivize you to capture the former titan for your team. They're also maximum size and have 30 IVs in each stat.

I’m so glad they’ve been dabbling in more traditional boss fights in newer games. They lead to really memorable keystone moments that add to the memorability of the region as a whole. The Ultra necrozma fight and Evil Ko/Miraidon are great examples. They’ll stick with me for a while lol

The reason the finale for scarlet/Violet works so well, is that the final team is intentionally made of pokemon you shouldn’t know the typings of, which definitely cripples you in a significant way. I found that a really interesting way to create difficulty for it.

Regarding if you should be thinking about boss battles this early: You probably should be. Even if you lack a story, having distinct elements like a boss battle can jumpstart the writing process as you build the story around them. The story should naturally flow towards a boss battle anyway after all, they are epic tests of skill and preparing the player for them takes time which will inform other gameplay and story elements. Given how many unique designs you have so far I might even say that you may have too few bosses designed.

The idea of rival isn't that bad, whether it's "the neighbor's kid who's better than you in every way", "that kid who's a veteran or has more experience than you", " that kid who wants to catch-up to you" or simply " that kid", it makes it so you're not alone on this journey and you have a friend on this journey and the two of you are on this trip to see who can achieve more

Love how you showed the regis "side quest" - when i first got an SP and ruby, it was before the internet was readily available for me, so i remember i busted out a braille dictionary and had to decrypt everything myself. The fact i still remember that whole event vividly, even though i was probably only like 10 at the time shows how memorable those quest like experiences can be.

Iono also uses Tailwind with her Kilowattrel, activating it’s “Wind Power” ability, which makes it even faster. So Windpowered Kilwattrel plus the effects of Tailwind makes it super duper fast, making Electro Ball more powerful

I've heard numerous times that when creating something like a game or story, its best to figure out the end first then develop everything that would lead to that. So designing the boss early isn't bad. It gives you a possible end point for your game's story to build towards.

It would be cool to see a black hole or white dwarf Pokemon in that star line; I really like their designs, being a space nerd in the past

“show off whatever the pledge moves do” me, a pokemon fan for nearly 20 years: the pledge moves do something??

One of the biggest factor why Whitney is so hard is because of how limited your rosters are at the time Normal's only weakness is fighting type and the only available fighting type before her gym is traded Machop with Karate Chop, It forced players to challenge her at complete neutral And that's the thing, It pretty much countered the design of new pokemon game, Which is the open area. You have about half of the entire game open for you immediately even before the first gym There are the reason why "Catch the first pokemon you met on each route" is a common rule for Nuzlocke, Most of the time "What you can use" outweight "What your opponent used"

I've always loved all the bossfights in Pokemon, thanks for shedding some light on their design choices!

damn i really thought you were gonna talk about volo or the ai professors in this video, which are are some of the coolest fights in the series i think. especially the ai professors, having the likely never-before-seen (unless you explored area zero enough) paradox variants of pre-existing pokemon and you have to adapt on the spot to these new pokemon either off what you know or what you think they could do.

i think an idea for the bossfights in Stema would be some actual scientific mysteries and things we still can't understand, such as if there is life outside of Earth, why couldn't we find it if the universe is so big, or even use just sci-fi tropes and even speculatives

I recently learned about something called a Prince Ruperta Drop, a shape where the one part is one of the most sturdy shapes there is, and another part is the most fragile, makes the entire thing shatter. Would be really interesting to see that in STEMA!

The false dragon Titan also uses dondozo and tatsugiri’s synergy, but that’s pretty much it for them

Never forget that weird lusamine battle where shes posessed by an alien who then battles you like normal

When you talked about Gym Leaders, I was hoping you would mention Raihan, as his Gym is definitely one of the most unique. He takes advantage of weather mechanics within double battles, which teaches players about the VGC format.

new video from the goat!

You mentioned how because of the first two generations the term "rival" has a negative stigma but lets be honest it's a fitting term even in modern Poke'mon games. If you want to use a different word though go with "Foil".

You mentioned how gym leaders should emphasize different strategies, and that is a big reason why I like the fangame Pokémon Insurgence. The gym leaders aren’t based around a single type, but rather a theme. The first gym leader is a sun team, the 5th gym leader is an electric steel specialist, but makes heavy use of the air balloon, the seventh gym leader is a rain team, and the elite four use Baton Pass, Sandstorm, Hail, and Trick Room respectively. The leaders cover their weaknesses well, and demonstrates the potential of certain moves and abilities, something I wish mainline Pokémon did.

One thing I wish that pokemon had done when it still had mega evolutions was instead of having mega stones you just buy or find, most of the mega stones could be hidden behind boss battles, where you have to fight a mega evolved pokemon on its turf. There could probably be neat influences in fights like permanently weathers, more than 4 moves, or even using the hoard mechanic of gen 6 where you would have to fight the mega and 4 other mons at once

I definitely like the variety appropriate. Each is engaging in a different way which keeps things fresh.

speaking from making my own novel, it is extremely important to create your bosses early on. The hard part is filling in the details in between major events/boss battles for the antagonist/group of main characters.

I think having 1 or 2 gyms early on with no gimmick is enough, then future gyms should have some sort of challenge to overcome that makes the battle more exciting. If the teams of bosses aren’t optimized, there needs to be some sort of added layer to contend with for the player. For example, maybe a grass type gym leader’s arena is constantly in the rain. On top of that, the player should either have to contend with a full team past the 3rd gym or be forced to pick the same number of mons as the leader to bring to a battle. Part of the ease in Pokémon games is the fact that the only battle where you have to face 6 Pokémon in a row is the champion battle- and I think some of the newer ones don’t even have that! If the fear is that players will become disheartened because a battle is too hard (and yes there is truth to that because many kids these days have little to no drive to overcome challenges) then maybe this can be the legacy of Pokémon: to show that challenges should be overcome and not ignored.

iono brings me happiness my days are usually down thank you iono

these are undoubtedly some of the the best STEMA creatures you've made and they are my favourites so far

As someone who has been playing Pokémon for almost 20 years. Scarlet and Violet blindsided me with some of their insane boss fights. Sure, I still steam rolled a good majority of this game because of my knowledge of Pokémon and being super over leveled. But when a strategy you know works and could’ve prevented Runs away from you like an out-of-control train you eventually party wipe… I don’t even remember the last time I party wiped in a Pokémon game it was so frustrating, but also Innoway kind of humbling, knowing that these games still can challenge even a veteran. For the record it was the poison team star base leader. Also, the climax battle in the post game against all the paradox Pokémon, a whole team of paradox. Pokémon with competent, move sets and strategies, that almost party white me as well.

One particular aspect of Totems that I really liked is that, especially in Ultra Sun and Moon, the reinforcements that Totems would summon all had movesets designed specifically to make your life harder. Some examples include: - Masquerain in the Araquanid battle using Stun Spore to paralyse your Pokémon whilst using Scary Face and its Intimidate ability to lower your stats. - Skarmory in the Togedemaru Trial using Stealth Rock to make switching your Pokémon risky, Torment to force you to use different moves, and Tailwind to increase the Totem’s speed (Masquerain can also use this move) - Comfey in the Lurantis Trial use Sunny Day to activate the Totem’s Leaf Guard ability, and uses Floral Healing and Flower Shield to heal it and increase its defence. - Scizor in the Kommo-o trial uses Light Screen to make the Totem resistant to special attacks, whilst possessing a powerful Bullet Punch to threaten the normally Super Effective Fairy types. All of these Pokemon, as well as the ones I haven’t mentioned, all stand enough of a threat to where you can’t just ignore them and take them out after the Totem is down. You actively have to consider whether it’s more advantageous to attack the Totem or the reinforcement, and that’s what makes them so challenging.

Great video and even greater design, I love them a lot! Not only do they have that "mystical mighty creature" vibe to them, but they're also adorable! Peak creature design!

Some of the titans were actually challenging boss fights if you fought them while substantially underleveled like I did. I only managed to beat dondozo without coming back later in the game by specifically tracking down a sleep powder compound eyes vivillon to keep it from outputting too much damage

Damn i love that feeling when i open youtube on a friday and find a nortist video in the homepage

I'm working on my own head cannon region and making up some pokemon, the region is called Ancreo and its heavily influenced by archeology and paleontologist, so there is a heavy influences on ancient creatures, civilization, or artifacts in all my creatures

Absolutely superb designs for star creatures!!! The solar flare horn things WOWW!!!!! LOVE EM SO MUCH!!!!

Another thing about the 2v1s in island trials is that they have actual strategy to which Pokémon they summon. For example, lurantis summons castform to use sunny day, making its solar blade have a 1 turn cast. Kommo-o summons a scizor to cover its fairy and psychic weaknesses.

Very well written and edited video my man! Thanks for sharing :)

How you want to see gym leaders is pretty much how Cassette Beasts handled their version of gym leaders. Trying different mon games can help give you ideas. Also, recently a new channel called the Golden Owl just started and made a video about how Onix is actually designed as a boss pokemon. Unfortunately, a boss rarely translates into competitive play well.

I'm not that into pokemon like I was years ago, but your dedication to your project won me over, good luck!

Working on the boss battle this early means you can work them into the plot more efficiently! When you get around to the game I hope it gets a really cool boss!

Fascinating insights and awesome mons! Great vid

Great analysis and wonderfully cute design! Definitely adding Gianaut to my team!

An interesting (but maybe broken) idea would have been to make it have three Mega evolutions, each with extreme strengths and weaknesses, with them appearing as a white dwarf, a neutron star or a black hole.

I think a main reason stuff like Miltank was memorable and difficult was because our options were limited, like our only options really were the female Machop trade (even then still a chance to lose), getting lucky in some way (ie a gastly?) or you just are overlevel, which in Johto is a chore.. so sometimes the game limiting you is all you need.. but modern games giving you so many options, sure is great for team building but just makes the fights way more weighted in our favor, like I have a full team of 6 with a possible evolved starter all before the first gym, I am not gonna struggle since I possibly already have the backbone of what is gonna sweep *the entire* game with few exceptions.. Like Iono could be difficult but again.. I have a full team of 6 and probably took minimal damage from rest of her team... so she still has to deal with 5-6 mons all decently leveled whittling her down One thing I want is what happened in the anime.. limiting how many we can bring, like imagine them telling you "hey bring only 2 mons" and now you can't rely on 2v6s in your favor Also the totems and just.. giving a random legendary busted stats still feels not fully right since sometimes it's just "welp there goes my whole team since I'm straight up at a disadvantage" like some fights are easier than others don't get me wrong but just in a vacuum a fight where my single mon is fighting a something designed to fight a team of 6.. without a balance for the 6 to not be OHKO'd anyways.. just means I am sending out my team one at a time to get sent back just to be told to train.. when I already figured that out after my bulkiest mon got OHKO'd or whatever The titan Pokemon do get boosts in their second round.. but since SV bad at giving you any info on order of stuff (except some blurbs of text only for Katy and Brassius I think) you could wind up fighting an uphill battle.. or streamrolling Klawf twice because you explored a bit on the opposite half of Paldea for a bit and are now leagues above its unseen level (which apparently is 16 I think?)

Discovered your channel last night, honestly surprised you haven't reached 100k yet.

This pokemon line is like the perfect opportunity to make a black hole pokemon. Maybe as alternative evolution

Fantastic video! I always enjoy watching these, as it feels almost like an analysis of Pokémon in addition to showcasing your own designs. Also something I thought about when I saw Gianaut: maybe you could give it an ability similar to Aftermath, where it does damage to the enemy present when it faints, similar to a red giant going supernova?

Love your vids. Please keep up the good work. I love the science Themes you incorporate in your vids. It has a very unique Touch in the Pokémon Community. And it is appealing to me personally, as i‘m as the Green goblin Would put it „something of a scientist myself“😂

Honestly, gen 9 has so much content when it comes to the bosses. the Turo/Suda fight, as well as Team Star. Both very memorable aspects of the games. Team Star especially with them all using the same final mon, but each one still having something unique.

I love the music in your vids!

I love how your idea for a boss is the literal flaming sun. That's one hell of an object Mon.

Don't know if the evolution benchmark for gianaut was a placeholder or not, but I think you should make it an item, just so you can make sure overlevelling wouldn't be an issue with how strong they are, assuming there isn't something else planned for them.

The drawings you made of all the gen 9 Pokémon are SO CUTE.

I like that for some gym leaders they plan around a commonly used type for the gym, usually a type that can be found relatively close by. It makes the type exclusivity seem more like a tactical ploy rather than a disadvantage. I also love when gyms deviate from the norm to create unique matches. My favorite in recent times is Raihan and his doubles weather team. You encounter weather throughout the game and have likely battled in double battles, but the gyms have exclusively had only their type of Pokemon and been a single battle. Raihan shakes it up with a doubles match utilizing weather and Pokemon that aren't dragon type that fill half of his team. It teaches you that Pokemon battles can become much more complex than you would expect, and ends the match with a showcase of the dynamax mechanic within a doubles battle. It's a learning experience for every type of player, new and old, with a ton of mechanics thrown out at you to keep track of. It sucks that his "Elite Four" match was limited to a singles fight, making his weather team less effective (plus the juggling of different weathers makes the whole team slightly weaker overall), but it's still a great example gym that I hope Game Freak looks to when making more gyms. I and many others know the type matchups, so having later gyms introduce more mechanics to learn or watch for would making things more interesting while still teaching players.

I like the concept of your star pokémon

I’m so happy u choose lurantis!

I’m surprised you didn’t mention gen 9 Team Star Battles. Not only are the in the same game as Titans, but they are also far more interesting, and a bit harder because the leader is has a normal team except with a buffed up final mon.

This was just an excuse for you to show your OC pokemon and I'm all here for it!

9:55 That Lurantis fight haunts me to this day. Like it has the help pokemon set up sunny day to boost its synthesis and solar blade. And in Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon it has a power herb for the first time with solar blade. Why did they make it so hard

Years ago I bought myself pokemon gold on the virtual console as my first pokemon game, and i still remember that damn Miltank. Love that game.

>why do you need a rival? "Everyone needs a rival, someone who can spur you on and make you feel invincible, the thrill is irresistible" - Ken ashcorp

YES! n0Rtist is a pikmin fan! Love the Waterwraith reference. 0:03

Eternatus: this fight will basically play itself with the two wolves, but don’t drag out too long lest the wolves run out of PP Necrozma: GAZE UPON ME AND DESPAAAAIIIIIIR MORTAL

It’s crazy u already have 63k subs I subbed when you had 5k

I love the “Oh Be A Fine Guy Kiss Me Like That Yo” acronym used to remember the stellar classes of stars. (It’s an actual acronym google it)

Whatre your thoughts on the boss battles from the orre region that a shadow Pokémon on their teams?

I always thought that gyms and the elite four having monotypes was a gigantic flaw of Pokémon. Usually aside from one Pokémon you just blast their whole team with super effective moves and it's a wrap

What a beautiful design.

Hey, I noticed something interesting about your videos. The music you use is in this chiptuneish-spaceish-thingy style. And it's not just different tunes playing at different parts of the video, usually it's like one song playing on the majority of the video and changing depending on the topic you're talking about, and I love that. I was wondering, do you make them yourself, or have someone else do it for you? And is there anyway we can listen to them as different remixes of the ost s? Anyway, I love your videos as always, it really shows how much effort and care you put into them, and they turn out great. Keep it up and I support you!

Now how they make boss fights is much more significant

what's the name of the remix you used when you introduced Ultra Necrozma???

The first penultimate boss battle I really remember fighting in Pokémon was Necrozma’s ultimate form in ultra moon. Sure I had played and completed the original Pokémon moon. But necrozma’s final form and just fighting him always stuck with me. I still consider him one of the most difficult and intimidating boss battles in the entire main line series.

If gianaut ends up being a boss, his fainting sequence should be a supernova. It would look really cool I believe 🤩

What was the music playing when Nortist was talking about fights like Ultra Necrozma and Eternatus? also great video as usual, Nortist.

8:00 I could say that some Wild Encounters with the Arena Trap ability like Wobofet and Dugtrio are considered as mini bosses offull-fledged bosses for a nuzlocke challenger for example. These mons presenttreats to many and you could have acknowledge them.

Another little example of gym leaders teaching people of new features is Roark from diamond/pearl. Gen 4 introduced stealth rock, a hazard move that is pivotal to competitive Pokémon. The developers clearly knew it was gonna be big as they had 2/3 of his Pokémon have it to ensure everyone knew what it was before the competitive format came

That Was nice

I'M EARLY:D intresting topic, I'm excited to watch:D

I like the little face inside Gianaut's belly.

I feel like bringing up friendship in Pokémon games. In a game series where the whole focus is to become buddies with silly little friends (or the complete opposite) there isn’t a whole lot going on with friendship mechanically in creature collectors. Maybe stems could have a more advanced friendship system, heck, it doesn’t even have to be a friendship system, maybe just something that makes you build a greater bond with even some of the most mundane creatures

I adore your 'mon designs

This is why I love Ogrepon, good stats, and 4 phases.

I like this mon and I like things that go ‘explodes’

6:09 Smack Down Naclstack lol

i really want your game to not only showcase all of these concepts really well but i would love it if there were mechanics or something in the game that also showed off what scientifi concepts all of these mons are based on (simplest would be pokedex of course with a description of the concept)

As a kid I just battled with cool Pokémon and always won it wasn't till the later gens that type match up became a thing I paid attention to.

Fun fact: in spanish, totem and titan pokémon are called the same way: "Pokémon dominantes".

The scripted encounter with ai turo was teh first time i genuinely felt panic in a pokemon game, having a mirror match but your pokemon is weaker is amazing. (maybe it made me panic because i didnt know it was scripted)

also shout out to whitney she trained an entire generation to be tough without her i don't think i would be a good at pokemon she's a legend and MVP in my book thank you whitney

Yhe bosses in the opening from top right to bottom left Cutman (megaman1) Eggman (sonic) (dont know name. Fish) (wandersong?) Water wraith (pikmin 2&4) Nortist(player character) Jackblackbowser (cinemario) Mantis lords/sisters of battle (hollowknight) Darkmatter? (Is literally just black orb with eye) (kirby?) Angry n0rtist (he mad)

along side the titans in s/v, we have the team star fights. using a modified pokemon to fight you

Question! Do you have a gallery of all your revealed designs?

Top Left: Cut Man from Mega Man 1 Top Center: Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog Top Right: Queen Chaos from Wandersong Middle Left: Waterwraith from Pikmin 2 Center: N0rtist (referencing Mega Man Select screens) from RU-vid Middle Right: Jack Black from Super Mario Bros Bottom Left: The Mantis Lords from Hollow Knight Bottom Center: Dark Matter from Kirby’s Dreamland 2 (drawing looks more like Crystal Shards) Bottom Right: Evil N0rtist (name pending) from RU-vid Overall good tastes

Have you considered making an evil team for your Stem based region like how Pokemon has Team Rocket and Team Galactic and Team Plasma? (to name a few) I would like to see what you have in mind for the trainers/characters when you get around to them after completing your Stem creatures.

Something kinda weird I do is always pick grass type so when I tried to play Pokemon soul silver I picked chicorita and just poisoned miltank and it was just a matter of defence and healing

Ultra Necrozma is basically "The Radiance"

I got way too excited seeing the notification for this video..

I swept iono with my naclstack brimstone in scarlet. I will admit, I did have to use recover quite a bit in that fight, but I pulled through.

I think the term rival comes from the English translations of Gen 1. I'm pretty sure the Japanese game just calls them 相手、which is a term that basically means opposition but doesn't necessarily have to carry a negative connotation