Pokemon players demand the end of evolution gimmicks in future games

Pokemon players are over some of the more complicated gimmick evolutions they have endured over the years.

Aposton the Pokemon subreddit laid out justhow ridiculoussome Pokemon gimmick evolutions have become, pointing to Alcremie, Kingambit, and Runerigus as examples.

An image of Kingambit in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.

To reach their final evolution, all three Pokemon involve players doing something in-game other than leveling the creature up or giving it a stone.

Players lamented how complicated it is to level up specific ‘mon thanks to gimmicks like Galarian Farfetch’d needing to land three critical hits in a battle to evolve. One player also pointed out how these mechanics quickly become convoluted in future titles.

How to evolve Inkay into Malamar in Pokemon GO

“My problem with gimmick evolutions is they’re hard to replicate in future generations, so they get removed. Case in point: Eevee now using a Leaf stone to evolve into Leafeon in SV instead of a mossy rock,” one Reddit user said.

“What’s the point of adding gimmicks if you give up on them in future generations? How are they going to handleInkay’s evolution conditionif the next console isn’t able to recognize when it’s upside down?”

pokemon legends z-a mega evolutions confirmed

Others said that they don’t mind the few gimmick evolutions that deepen the lore of the Pokemon world and aren’t “arbitrary,” but they would prefer if the game was more explicit about how players can get them to evolve.

“It’s fine if there are weird gimmick evolutions, but I would appreciate it if the game just had a book or something that outright said, ‘Bisharp must defeat 3 other Bisharp that are with a group of Pawniard.’ I shouldn’t have to Google things to figure this out,” a player said.

pokemon go missing mega evolutions

Every Mega Evolution in Pokemon Legends Z-A

Every Mega Evolution missing from Pokemon Go

Pokemon TCG’s new ex cards fix the biggest problem with Megas

However, many agreed thattrading Pokemon to evolve themis worse than any gimmick evolution out there.

Mega Evolution Pokemon TCG

“Unlike all these other gimmicks, it requires you to have a friend. Terrible mechanic,” another player said.

Pokemon games seem to have at least a few gimmick evolutions with every generation, so that’s unlikely to change despite this outcry. For now, players can only hope Game Freak doesn’t make any evolutions too complicated or hard to figure out in future titles.