Pokemon fans finally got a few sorely-desired updates on their upcoming installments. While the deeper look into Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl was a sight for sore eyes, the secondary trailer for Legends: Arceus was a whole different beast.
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The interesting new battle mechanics and overworld gameplay (Pokemon can actually hurt you!) are great to see, but what piqued a lot of Pokemon fans' interest was the extensive look into the region's lore. What is now the Sinnoh region was once called the Hisui region, and with that comes some new Pokemon — a first for a mid-generation release. The trailer introduced four new Pokemon forms, two of which are Hisuian regional variants, and two being Hisui-exclusive evolutions. While it wouldn't be crazy to expect more to come, Pokemon fans have these four to work with and compare with one other, in terms of design, lore, and even potential competitive viability for the hardcore battlers out there.
Hisuian Growlithe
It would've been nice to see whatever this evolves into (it could be a Hisuian Arcanine or a completely new Pokemon) in all its glory, but Hisuian Growlithe is a nice recreation of the beloved Generation I Pokemon. Getting a regional variant was only a matter of time after its counterpart, Vulpix, got a regional form in Generation VII.
It doesn't stray too far from its original form, getting a bigger, less scruffy mane, a darker hue to its fur, and a sharp but brittle horn on its head. They seem to be less trusting than their Kantonian counterparts, always coming in pairs and being very protective of each other and their territory.
It's a Fire/Rock-type. That typing's proven to be pretty bad from a battling standpoint. So if you're hoping to use it on a competitive team, you better hope it evolves into a different typing.
Hisuian Braviary
Braviary is already a decently popular Pokemon in itself, so to get a regional variant this good is a treat. Rufflet evolves into this regional variant of Braviary when it does so in the Hisui region.
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One can't help but notice a few shades of Galarian Articuno here and there, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's certainly more majestic than the Galarian regional bird, with its gorgeous wings and the purple flame-like feathers above its eyes. It can create psychic shock waves with its screeches, which sounds really intimidating — especially for players that might want to approach it, now knowing you could possibly get hurt.
In terms of its battling ability, it's safe to say this version of Braviary will stray pretty far from its original in terms of stat distribution. There will be much more love given to its Special Attack, which works perfectly with its Psychic/Flying-type, a pretty good dual-type both offensively and defensively.
Wyrdeer
This new evolution to Stantler was the first to grace Pokemon fans' screens, and it's also a majestic fellow. The antlers, the beard-like fur, and the winter-appropriate coloration combine to make an excellent recreation of Stantler's archetype that establishes itself as perhaps a wiser version of its pre-evolution.
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It's apparently been loved and treasured by the community of the Hisui region since even before the time Legends is set in. Its fur is harvested for winter clothing, and the antlers have psychic powers, which isn't a foreign concept for its pre-evolution.
Speaking of which, it gains the Psychic-type upon evolution, turning it into a Normal/Psychic-type. It seems like it's going to be more of a special attacker, with a lot of attention being put on its psychic abilities rather than its physical power (despite Stantler having more Attack than Special Attack). The type combination could give it some competitive potential depending on how its stats shape up.
Basculegion
This is what regional evolutions are all about — taking one of the most useless and forgettable Pokemon ever released and giving it some new life and purpose. Basculegion is incredible and has been unanimously approved by the Pokemon community so far.
For its four generations of existence, Basculin has looked like it needed to evolve into something, and it had some interesting design choices to work with should Game Freak go that route. What fans got was a Pokemon much more interesting and lore-heavy than they expected. Basculin evolves into Basculegion by taking the souls of other Basculin that perish from swimming upstream, and it turns into a Water/Ghost-type.
Avid battlers can probably expect Basculegion to be a fast physical attacker, kind of akin to Barraskewda. Basculin already has a surprisingly not-terrible 460 base stat total. Most of the love goes to physical Attack and Speed, so doubling down on that would make sense. The ability Basculegion gets could be interesting, with Basculin already having access to an excellent ability in Adaptability.
NEXT: New Diamond And Pearl-Themed Nintendo Switch Model Releasing
