Dragonite, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross, Garchomp, Hydreigon, Goodra, Kommo-o, Dragapult – aside from Legendary and Mythical ‘mons, Pokemon’s illustrious pseudo-Legendaries are the most powerful creatures the series has ever seen. Last year, I wrote about how it’s a bit silly that so many of them are dragons – especially given that Pokemon doesn’t appear to fully understand what a dragon actually is – although that problem is relatively minor compared to the fact that Gen 3’s Gardevoir was absolutely robbed of pseudo-Legendary status.
Gardevoir recently made its debut in Pokemon Unite, becoming the first post-launch ‘mon to be added to the roster. While I personally reckon its build was royally messed up – who honestly needed another attacker? – I was just happy to see the Embrace Pokemon finally being shown the love it deserves. Who out of you doesn’t remember escorting timid little Wally east of Petalburg to meet his trusty Ralts, eh? While other catching tutorials often focus on boring Pokemon like Weedle or Zigzagoon, seeing Ralts for the first time was an experience in and of itself. What is this little green-haired edgelord in a white dress doing skulking through the long grass? Why did Game Freak decide to introduce what’s essentially a less elusive and more powerful version of Abra? How has Gardevoir, one of the best Pokemon ever designed, continued to be confined to the shadow cast by dragons who aren’t even dragons?
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In order to be considered pseudo-Legendary – and, as a result, be seen as the non-Legendary face of a generation – there are certain prerequisites that need to be met. First of all, all pseudo-Legendaries need to be the final form of a three-stage evolution line. While Gardevoir fits this description – as do plenty of other non-pseudo-Legendaries – these ‘mons also need to have accrued exactly 1.25 million experience points at level 100, indicating a base experience yield of 218 in Gen 4 and all prior games, and 270 from Gen 5 onwards. Gardevoir’s yields in these two cases are 208 and 233, respectively.
Pseudo-Legendaries also have a base stat total of 600, whereas Gardevoir’s own base stats clock in at a collective 518. The only other Pokemon with this total is Gallade, the alternate form of Gardevoir that is obtained by evolving a male Kirlia with a Dawn Stone. Not including Legendaries, pseudo-Legendaries, or Mythicals, there are 48 regular Pokemon with higher stats – although my argument is that Gardevoir should be higher than all of those.
Pokemon has long had an issue with saying, “Here’s a dragon, it’s strong because it’s a dragon.” On one hand, I get this. Dragon-types have been the most mysterious ‘mons in the series ever since Lance – who actually uses barely any dragons – rounded out the Elite Four all the way back in Gen 1. The only times a non-Dragon-type managed to garner this illustrious pseudo-Legendary status happened in Gen 2, one generation before Gardevoir, and Gen 3, in the same generation as Gardevoir (Tyranitar and Metagross, respectively). In hindsight, though, Gardevoir could have easily been the Pokemon that bucked this ridiculous dragon trend once and for all. Even without wildly inflated stats, it has maintained a place in the meta for years, has value as both a special sweeper and utility ‘mon, and has regularly lingered near the top on lists of the most popular Pokemon of all time.
In some ways, The Pokemon Company has honoured this properly. Ralts has been readily available to catch in almost every mainline game to date, and Gardevoir has made appearances in both New Pokemon Snap and Pokemon Unite this year alone. It’s also one of the most formidable Pokemon in Pokemon Go both in terms of its Psychic and Fairy typing, being an extremely powerful choice for both types. Gardevoir isn’t short on love from the people who work on Pokemon – it just isn’t being used to its full potential.
Admittedly, Metagross is a Psychic-type pseudo-Legendary. Given that we’re missing pseudo-Legendaries for Water, Fire, Grass, Bug, Electric, Fairy, Normal, Poison, and Ice-type Pokemon, making a ‘mon with a type that’s already represented in the pseudo-Legendary pantheon – especially retroactively – would be extremely weird. I’m not saying Gardevoir should be made pseudo-Legendary now – I’m saying it should have been pseudo-Legendary all along. It was robbed back in 2002, as opposed to being robbed now.
When Gen 9 eventually rolls around, Game Freak should learn from its mistakes with Gardevoir and make that generation’s pseudo-Legendary different to all of those who have come before. Pokemon needs a nuanced take on this iconic staple of the series’ formula – I mean, Gardevoir came out 19 years ago. This is an issue that has been affecting the series for almost two decades.
Let’s be real, though – it’s probably going to be another stupid dragon, isn’t it?
