The History of Obscure Evolution Methods in Pokemon 

I felt bad for anyone in Diamond & Pearl who raised a male Combee on their team... then looked it up.

What about Tyrogue? Doesn’t it count? It needs a specific stat distribution to evolve into the one you want. When I was a kid I remember wanting an Hitmontop but just couldn’t get one, because I didn’t understand the mechanics and thought it was just luck based… 😅

These Pokémon are the reason i look up how to evolve every Pokémon

Gen 8 really just made the player complete a Legend of Zelda dungeon to evolve your Mon.

Alright so, the weird numbers. I'm taking these from Bulbapedia so that you don't have to look it up: - For *Runerigus,* the number of 49 could be a reference to a Buddhist equivalent of purgatory between death and reincarnation, which lasts 49 days. Given that some Yamask are human spirits reborn as Pokemon, this makes a degree of sense. - For *Basculegion,* 294 can be read as "nikushi", which is archaic Japanese for "hatred". Ghosts and hateful grudges usually go together.

Palafin's name has PAL in the name. Your friend is your pal. Although I'm not a fan of the evolution method, the method actually makes sense

I like the part with the spinning milcery lol

istg malamar and runnerigus sound like mew under the truck and jirachi on the moon all over again but it's true somehow

Milcery evolution you forgot to mention is it also depends on time of day. Rainbow alcremie can only be gotten at dusk when the sky is orange when you do the spin.

You missed Tandemaus, who evolves without an evolution screen

For Gen 10: 1.Jump 20 times while _____ is in your party 2.Wait for 56 hours and level ______ up once

I see these new convoluted evolution methods more as side quests you have to complete, with the reward for the quest being the evolution. The problem is that Gamefreak rarely gives a way to figure out these evolution methods. This isn't a new issue- like how is a kid supposed to figure out a Nidorina evolves with a moon stone. Gamefreak can fix this in a few ways. First, have the information told to you by the NPC or the environment. For example, Galar route 6 houses ruins, and is also where Galarian Yamask can be found. Imagine if the ruins had a statue of a Runerigus, and there were inscriptions underneath that were the instructions on how to evolve Yamask. It's a natural way to let the player know about the evolution method and rewards the player for investigating the statue. Next are actual side quests given to you by NPCs, mostly to obtain evolution items. Like imagine a scientist NPC asking you to help him research Porygon by leveling it up and using it in battle, and after completing the tasks he uses the research to create an upgrade to evolve porygon into porygon2. Or a miner npc who asks you to gather materials to create a protector to evolve rhydon into rhyperior. Then, these NPCs can give you more of the item if you want to evolve more of the pokemon, in exchange for money or items. The most universal method would be a Legends Arceus style Pokedex, where you have to do tasks to fill out the dex instead of just catching the pokemon. After youve done enough research on that pokemon, the dex will just tell you how to evolve it.

Youre not cooking alcremie, youre whipping it 😏

I think these evolutions methods make the game more fun and interesting.

Erm, actually, the history of unique evolution methods begins in Gen II, with Tyrogue needing its Attack higher than its Defense, or vice versa, or perfectly balanced (as all things should be) in order to evolve. This is an incredibly important detail to overlook. Disliking this video and unsubscribing.

The spare Pokéball was not a requirement until Diamond and Pearl.

Yow good vid pls help me I am a small youtuber and I want to do a challenge to get all Laycanroc cards

I was so thankful in ORAS that you can just find Feebas under the bridge on that route

Uh… you need a pal to evolve into Palafin

I got that damn dolphin in Scarlet all the way to the Champion fight and i only found out the way it evolves on a random tiktok video before i deleted the app, not to mention online i was avoiding for my first playthrough. Ut since i avoided npcs cause Tauros owner froze my game upon talking to him.

Gamefreak in Gen 8: location based evolutions are too complicated, lets just make them stones. Also Gamereak in Gen 8: so here's how you evolve G-Yamask.....

As soon as Sun and Moon was announced, I avoided anything pokemon related until the game came out so I could play it blind and through fresh eyes. I had a crabrawler leveled into the 50s and it wouldn't evolve despite trying all the methods I could think of. I finally decide to look it up(while still covering up its evolution to not spoil it for myself) and saw that it had to be at Mt. Lanakila. Location based evolutions weren't new, nor where they usually that difficult to figure out. But who would think you needed to bring a crab to a freakin' mountain? Especially a pokemon you can get pretty early on and the location is at the end of the game. Plus it's not like its evolution is a world beater and worth the wait(it has incredible attack but that's it), not to mention it's kind of hideous.

I think that Stone and Trade evolutions are fine alternatives to normal level up, i think there should even be a third odd evo method (there really should be an in game way to obtain trade evos without trqding, maybe a post game item). I really don't like these unique one way evos, it feels so strange to ether loos a specific areas or specific styles in later games

My first accidental evolution ever, as in I thought never to be able to get there as I didn't even knew it was possible. Was Leafeon. It's still my fave evoltuion as it was so, unique in Sun and Moon to have it. And man it did help me out in so many battles. I truly loved playing with it and I try to have it in every game since.

My only gripe sbout odd or obscure methods is the absence of any in-game hint at their existence. With a number of the "trade with item" Evos, the item will at least include "beloved by a certain Pokémon" or a similarly worded phrase to get you thinking. Runerigus is the King of Unnecessarily Convoluted because: there's no real correlation between the method and the evolution; you are unlikely to stumble upon it accidentally; there's no hint at the method in-game, meaning the only way a person can feasibly learn of it is to use a third-party source. Inkay's a bit of an annoying gimmick, but you can at least follow the logic behind it. And I would argue the same applies to Milcery. There is none, to my knowledge, explaining Runerigus (unless this method is a reference to some well-known Viking's in England trivium, which I'm not British enough to properly recognize).

I always wondered how much of the Pokédex may somebody complete with only in-game knowledge. Nobody explains the Runerigus evolution for example. Trading and evolution stones or items may happen with trial and error but those more obscure evolution methods...?

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="168">2:48</a> not having an acellgor isn’t the worst thing, eviolite Shelmet is the best X3

Galarian Yamask evolving into Runerigus through this weird evolution method is WHY I used it in my Pokemon Sword playthrough.

the xtransceiver in gen 5 was a huge help for obscure evolutions, since you could call the professor and get a hint in the right direction if you wanted to

They are "innovative" in all the wrong places...well, it's a lot easier than making an innovative game lol

I'm ok with crazy evolution methods, but I wish they were not legal for pvp, because of cooourse they will be hacked

They should just make sure an npc tells you how possibly cryptically or that its in the pokedex entry so you can play the game blind. Having to look stuff up is no fun and breaks immersion.

You completely missed Melmetal and Zygarde, and arguably Phione maybe, since that one HAS to be breeded.

I’ll live and die by this belief: different does not equal good. Subverting expectations does not equal good, in and of itself.

Meltan? Not unique to Go, but it is to main series.

Imkay upside down evolution I actually tried out, it was amazing to do xD

i remember having an Inkay untill the end of the x and y. after that i always google evolution methods for my party members in later games to make sure there wasn't anything stupid i had to do,

how the hell did they figure out galarian Yanmask's evolution method in the first place?

My friend was determined to get every form of Alcremie in game…now he’s doing it irl.

Getting shedinja for the first time as a child terrified me. I put it in the box thinking it was a glitch that would crash my game.

How does this only have 54 views?

I get them wanting to do something like this but they should also add npc's that would give hints on how to evolve these specific pokemon so we don't need search them up

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="535">8:55</a> What is that website please.

I know he’s not pronouncing is “roo-NARE-ih-gis”

and hwat about the obscure evolution/variation methods?

I infinitely prefer these obscure, wtf ways to evolve pokemon than having to evolve pokemon through trading Screw trading

Pokémon Is Awesome.

I don't mind some of these methods,but can they please introduce like a "trade stone" or something? It'd make getting and using the likes of Gengar,Alakazam and Machamp way easier and you get to use the one you originally caught instead of a traded one

I thought he was guna talk about a leaf stone or summ

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="160">2:40</a> Why is no one talking about that image 😭

Isn‘t Pancham unique too? I remember being a bit confused in Gen6 before looking it up.

surprised you didn’t mention annihilape

I would put in Ulsaluna on that list.

I really hope game freak stops with the overly obtuse evolution methods. Stuff like undocking my switch for inkay and spending a crap ton of time grinding white stripe basculin tick me off so much

People always talk like this was recent, my brother in christ this was around since gen 1 with trade evos. How were you supposed to figure out Runerigus without randomly stumbling across it? Same way you were supposed to figure out Gengar back in the day, you weren't.

Nice vid, man! You got another sub

what about Ursaluna?

What about Maushold?

I just wish there was an NPC who would give you lore-friendly tips on how to evolve any pokemon

Nice video, new sub earned

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="514">8:34</a>

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="390">6:30</a> the random numbers probably have symbolic meaning in japan

I gave my Farfetched a leek to increase its critical hit rate and made it use false swipe.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="324">5:24</a> should've picked YELLOOOOOOOOWWWWW

Top tier vid, would have thought you were one of the big poke tubers with that delivery and well executed editing

thanks for the video i really had fun watching it. love your work