Let's Go Mega Evolve

After having been divulged some two and a half months ago, things have finally come to fruition. Those things would of course be Mega Evolution in Pokémon Go, bringing another facet of the main series into the popular mobile installment. This just happened a few days ago, but as always, I don't cover new things immediately to get some hands-on time with them. And now that I've had some of that hands-on time, it's time to cover this big, wild new thing for the world of Pokémon Go.

Mega Evolution works in a different way in Pokémon Go. Instead of collecting Mega Stones to be activated in battle, Trainers collect Mega Energy instead, and each species that has a Mega Evolution has its own Mega Energy. A Mega Evolution is activated by tapping "Mega Evolve" for a particular Pokémon of the possible species that can do so; the first time doing so uses up a great amount of Mega Energy, while subsequent attempts use up only a fraction. Like in the main series games, Mega Evolution is temporary and limited to one Pokémon at a time, but here, the temporariness constraint is a time limit of four hours or until another Pokémon has its Mega Evolution activated. Mega-Evolved Pokémon can be used to battle Gyms, raid bosses, Team Go Rocket, or a Trainer friend, but they cannot be used to defend a Gym nor to battle in the Go Battle League... at least for now.

At present, Mega Energy can be collected from Special Research (for the current case of Beedrill, which had a set added at the time Mega Evolution was introduced), as well as from Mega Raids of Mega-Evolved Pokémon (for the current case of the first-generation fully evolved starters of Venusaur, Charizard (both X and Y), and Blastoise). The new Mega Raids are equivalent to Level 5 raids, but they are in their own class, as evidenced by their unique raid egg; they are otherwise no different than other raids and can be raided on site or remotely. While it has been hinted that there will be more ways to collect Mega Energy than these two isolated cases for both groups of species, at the moment these methods are the only way for them respectively (if at all, effectively). As well, it is obvious that the Mega-Evolved forms are to be added gradually.

The addition of Mega Raids have also effected other changes to raids. One of them is the simplification of raid levels or tiers: Level 2 raids are merged into Level 1 and Level 4 are merged into Level 3, with both gaining the rewards of the higher level. This makes some raids easier and yet even more rewarding. As well, the Team Contribution bonus, previously awarded to the team in the raid that dealt the most damage, is replaced with a Speed bonus that gives out more Premier Balls for a non-Mega raid and more Mega Energy for a Mega Raid. Therefore, since time is of the issue, more participating Trainers and better prepared Pokémon teams are essential to get more Mega Energy.

This system has not been without its issues, however, at least as perceived by Trainers like me. Most of the issues revolve around the non-permanence of Mega Evolutions, the effort expended for this purpose, and the worthiness of it all, with or without current conditions. There is much to discuss about these issues, but alas, one paragraph in this post is not sufficient for them all. Thus, they will require a separate post for their discussion and explanation. They are indeed very important and affect everyone, including me, and they need to be discussed.

Mega Evolution has always been something fascinating since they were first introduced in the main series Pokémon games. For those who have maintained a loyal following of the popular mobile installment of Pokémon Go, now they can (start to) get in on the fun. It may take a lot of effort, but at least some of the enjoyment is there. Whatever happens, this is still a massive Mega step that finally brings the power of a group of supreme Pokémon evolution forms to Trainers that are literally always on the go.

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