How did I not see this (possibly accidental) reference to Lucario's design basis as an Egyptian god before?Lucairo's Dex entry.
How did I not see this (possibly accidental) reference to Lucario's design basis as an Egyptian god before?Lucairo's Dex entry.
A couple of devs? From what I heard, it was just Morimoto himself who slipped Mew in.All right so we all know by now that Mew was basically added at the last minute, secretly, as a joke by a couple of devs. Obviously Nintendo was okay with this or else they wouldn't have had a distribution for it, put it in a movie, had cards for it, had it in future games... etc.
Here's my question: Mewtwo was always meant to be there, though, and Mewtwo's backstory, in addition to literally requiring Mew, directly mentions the existence of Mew in the Cinnabar Island diaries. So, like, there was a Pokémon called Mew in existence, and even if it wasn't in the game, it still existed at least in theory and players would be able to come across that and gain knowledge of a Pokémon they could never obtain.
Prior to the devs adding Mew as a joke -- were there ever plans to make Mew a real Pokémon? If not, were they just going to leave it out forever despite mentioning it, and having it be a crucial part of Mewtwo's backstory, leaving players forever wondering what the hell a Mew really was?
Actually Nintendo wasn't okay with it, Nintendo had a strict policy that developers cannot touch the code of a game once the "final" build of the game had been approved for sell. Now this was for obvious reasons, this was back in the day of cartridges and if you changed/added/removed something that messed with the code there's no way to undo it. Here's an Iwata Ask where Morimoto, Iwata, and Tsunekazu Ishihara (CEO of the Pokemon Company) talked about the inclusion of Mew:All right so we all know by now that Mew was basically added at the last minute, secretly, as a joke by a couple of devs. Obviously Nintendo was okay with this or else they wouldn't have had a distribution for it, put it in a movie, had cards for it, had it in future games... etc.
Here's my question: Mewtwo was always meant to be there, though, and Mewtwo's backstory, in addition to literally requiring Mew, directly mentions the existence of Mew in the Cinnabar Island diaries. So, like, there was a Pokémon called Mew in existence, and even if it wasn't in the game, it still existed at least in theory and players would be able to come across that and gain knowledge of a Pokémon they could never obtain.
Prior to the devs adding Mew as a joke -- were there ever plans to make Mew a real Pokémon? If not, were they just going to leave it out forever despite mentioning it, and having it be a crucial part of Mewtwo's backstory, leaving players forever wondering what the hell a Mew really was?
So, yeah, Nintendo wasn't okay with it but thankfully it didn't mess with the game (*insert joke about Gen I being a buggy mess anyway*) so they let it slide, especially since its accidental discovery resulted in an increase in game sales and popularity.Iwata: So at the outset, no one could have predicted that Pokémon would end up enjoying such worldwide popularity.
Ishihara: It really was a quiet start.
Iwata: But in spite of that sluggish start, things ended up turning around significantly. What do you attribute that to?
Ishihara: I think one reason is the power of word of mouth. In 1996, people weren't writing their own Internet blogs, but word steadily spread about how much fun Pokémon was. In addition, I strongly felt that the power of the media, centred around CoroCoro Comic, served to accelerate the growth in Pokemon's popularity. Finally, there was also the small matter of Mew, the Pokémon that Morimoto-san contrived as a kind of prank...
Morimoto: Well, I'm not sure if "contrived" is exactly the right word... (laughs wryly)
Ishihara: There's no denying that Mew's existence played an extremely significant role...
Morimoto: We put Mew in right at the very end. The cartridge was really full and there wasn't room for much more on there. Then the debug features which weren't going to be included in the final version of the game were removed, creating a miniscule 300 bytes of free space. So we thought that we could slot Mew in there. What we did would be unthinkable nowadays!
Ishihara: This is in spite of being told after debug ended that you weren't to tamper with even a single bit! (laughs wryly)
Iwata: What's the point of going through all the trouble of the debug process if you're going to go and fiddle with the game afterwards...? I'd venture that this all came from Morimoto-san's mischievous nature.
Morimoto: Well, it was a prank that everyone right up to Tajiri-san was in on. But even though Mew was in there...
Iwata: ... It wasn't actually supposed to appear in the game, right?
Morimoto: Right. Unless we could think about any good opportunity to do so, the existence of Mew wouldn't have been revealed to the public. It was left in there in case it was suitable for some post-launch activity. But if there wasn't anyone among ourselves who wanted to use it, I thought it would be fine to just leave it as it was.
Iwata: Mew could very well have ended up never appearing in the game.
Morimoto: Right. But then due to an unforeseen bug, Mew ended up appearing in some players' games. It looked like we planned all of this, but that wasn't the case. So although it caused all sorts of problems to many concerned, fortunately enough it ended up having a positive effect.
Well, I imagine it was a bit too late to do that when word of mouth got around of being able to obtain Mew well after the games were already released, which ultimately helped boost sales of the games. What, were they going to just deny the existence of this mythical Pokemon, when they could instead make the most of it and run distributions? The Mew was probably already out of the bag at this point.When I say "okay with it" I mean they didn't disavow the existence of Mew afterward. They had distributions for it while RBY were still relevant. That must have meant they came to terms with it pretty quickly (comparatively) lol
The Mew Glitch was one of the first reliable ways to encounter Mew. And besides, there are some glitches that are exclusive to Red and Green that could end up giving you a Mew.The Mew Glitch wasn't discovered until 2003, so I dunno where people would have been finding it before that (cheat devices aside).
Think that's the best answer or just general it needs to focus to maintain the illusion but when it uses a Z-Move it goes all out so the illusion breaks.3. If Zoroark makes illusions by bending light, then Z-moves might correct these distortions as it absorbs light into the pokemon for their special move.
Probably its just a gameplay thing.For those not up to date on obscure battle mechanics, Siggu is talking about this:
Apologies for minor fowl language, it's the best quality one I could find.
While I know you didn't want to discuss the mechanical reasons I do think it's worth mentioning because it's another indirect nerf to Zoroark and illusion. I don't think it's a coding issue, as Gamefreak seemed to ragnarok-proof the generic z-moves to work for every pokemon model (including megas if you hack the game to consider them regular pokemon). So they did this deliberately for reasons I can't quite understand.
As for the in-universe explanation, I have a few theories:
1. Illusion copies a mon's name (and nickname). If using a Z-move involves calling out to Zoroark in some fashion, then saying Zoroark's true name would spoil the secret, making keeping up the illusion pointless.
Counter-point: while a dance is involved, we have no evidence that Z-moves require saying the pokemon's true name. Although that could just be because our protagonist is of the silent variety, and we're to imagine them talking.
2. Illusions break whenever Zoroark takes direct damage. Given that Z-moves are apparently exhausting enough to only use once per battle (barring Rotom re-energizing you), maybe this constitutes direct damage?
The counter-point being that illusion doesn't break for indirect damage (sandstorm, hail, spikes, etc).
Bias point being that if Mega Evolution is supposed to be fueled by scary sketchy mechanics, then I want Z-moves to be the same!
#megaevolution is still better than Z-moves
3. If Zoroark makes illusions by bending light, then Z-moves might correct these distortions as it absorbs light into the pokemon for their special move.
4. Ultra Necrozma is super pissed about Zoroark being a hard counter to him in-game, thus cursed the whole family line to break illusion when using a Z-move. The curse is so powerful it transcends into alternate timelines.
Seriously, Foul Play and illusion is the easiest way to beat him, it's really cheap.
I don't think they'd base it on the model, the only reason Zoroark would need to break it's Illusion for a Z-Move is if Zoroark had its own Z-Move which had a special animation that only the Zoroark model could do. But right now, the only Z-Moves that Zoroark has access to are the elemental Z-Moves which work with every Pokemon.Probably its just a gameplay thing.
This is what I think is happening (note that this is just a guess):
Remember this is just a guess, im not a hacker or a programmer, if anyone is better at this, does this look plausible?
- There is a variable in the code that says what model to use
- They use that variable to say what model the pokémon uses in-game, and if they can use a Z-move and other things
- Zoroark's Illusion changes that variable and his nickname, so he looks like the other pokémon
- Nintendo decided to make Zoroark's Illusion break (and, consequencialy, place back the variable on its normal state for Zoroark)
- They decided to do that because that otherwise Zoroark would be able to use exclusive Z-moves (because its based on such variable!).
I've always assumed that the distance it says is the one for the wormhole, not the world you end up in.Here's a mystery: Ultra Space is supposed to be other worlds/universes, right? So Ultra Space itself is kinda like subspace. Why is interuniversal travel being measured in lightyears (a measure of distance within a universe where the laws of physics are constant) and not some interuniversal type of measurement (since the aether between universes likely don't possess physical laws like we are used to and thus the speed of light could be different than in our world)?
But again, that poses the question: how do we know light goes at the same speed for lightyears to be a valid measurement within Ultra Space, given it clearly is not Outer Space (see Delta Episode). I mean, I know that is what they intended (distance to the wormhole rather than the universe we end up in) but Ultra Space is still an aether (with a breathable atmosphere at that) between the universes.I've always assumed that the distance it says is the one for the wormhole, not the world you end up in.
Who knows, perhaps the Ultra Suit has some device that tells you the distance you covered.But again, that poses the question: how do we know light goes at the same speed for lightyears to be a valid measurement within Ultra Space, given it clearly is not Outer Space (see Delta Episode). I mean, I know that is what they intended (distance to the wormhole rather than the universe we end up in) but Ultra Space is still an aether (with a breathable atmosphere at that) between the universes.
I suppose that might be the case.Who knows, perhaps the Ultra Suit has some device that tells you the distance you covered.
While I can't answer the first question, the second question has an answerHere's a mystery: Ultra Space is supposed to be other worlds/universes, right? So Ultra Space itself is kinda like subspace. Why is interuniversal travel being measured in lightyears (a measure of distance within a universe where the laws of physics are constant) and not some interuniversal type of measurement (since the aether between universes likely don't possess physical laws like we are used to and thus the speed of light could be different than in our world)?
And as a related note: Because the Ultra Wormholes are just different universes (given UBs are regularly referred to as Pokemon from different universes), why don't the Pokemon there have a chance at Hidden Abilities or (warning: wishlist maybe) a Delta Species deal where it is a different type due to different Darwin evolutionary laws?
Hidden Abilities are done as extremely rare abilities - you have to either lure them out in a group (hordes and SOS battles) or go hunting for them in their own territory (Hidden Grottos and search via DexNav). Odds are that you’re simply not arriving in a place where the Hidden Ability Pokémon hide, and there’s no group for them to hang out with.I suppose that might be the case.
To which I'll reiterate this then: These are other universes, so why the inability to get Hidden Abilities?
Well, I was more referring to the normal Pokemon like Magcargo, Swellow, etc that we find in the Wilds, rather than the Ultra Beasts themselves.While I can't answer the first question, the second question has an answer
I remember somewhere, its explicitly stated that the ability Beast Boost is just the Beast reacting to the the atmosphere or something like that. If that's the case, then the reason the UBs can't have hidden abilities that we can see is obvious. Of course, that begs the questions why don't our pokemon have beast boost in Ultra Space, for which I don't actually have answer.
Actually scratch that, I have an answer to the first question
View attachment 103752
But parallel universes have variables changed, and thus the Hidden Abilities could be the normal ability in said universe, even if it is the Hidden in our world. Not saying it should be the HA all the time, just have that chance.Hidden Abilities are done as extremely rare abilities - you have to either lure them out in a group (hordes and SOS battles) or go hunting for them in their own territory (Hidden Grottos and search via DexNav). Odds are that you’re simply not arriving in a place where the Hidden Ability Pokémon hide, and there’s no group for them to hang out with.
Also because these are pretty much mostly similar parallel universes, much like the other world you get cosmog in, there’s no reason that just because they’re another world they should have their hidden abilities.
Maybe we're cutting through a fourth (or maybe even further) spacial dimension? A spacial dimensional we're unable to comprehend or interact with fully, but Ultra Space is sort of like a gravity well which bends all the spacial dimensions together. This sometimes results in tears, the Ultra Wormholes, allowing for something from one dimension to travel through Ultra Space and potentially then through another dimension tear. The measurements is done in "lightyears" because its still measurable by our normal means of measuring length, but due to the massive bending of the spacial dimensions it doesn't feel like we've traveled that far and we also might be measuring along the fourth or further spacial dimension which explains why it's even being used despite use being in another dimension.Here's a mystery: Ultra Space is supposed to be other worlds/universes, right? So Ultra Space itself is kinda like subspace. Why is interuniversal travel being measured in lightyears (a measure of distance within a universe where the laws of physics are constant) and not some interuniversal type of measurement (since the aether between universes likely don't possess physical laws like we are used to and thus the speed of light could be different than in our world)?
For the non-Ultra Beast Pokemon, it could just be the dimension we're encountering them in is a dimension parallel to our own thus not resulting in any drastic changes to them like different Abilities or typings (though that would have been neat, at the very least have them have their Hidden Abilities though I guess we get Shiny Pokemon). Yes, we've traveled hundreds of lightyears, but it's along an alien dimension to us. Could be traveling along the fourth/additional dimension of any given spot actually retains that spot's environmental traits, the difference being is the amount of something that can occupy that space is now almost infinite from a three dimensional point of view (which would go along with Merritt's theory, the spot in Ultra Space we're in probably correlates with just a normal wild spot in our dimension thus no Hidden Ability BUT a greater chance of finding a Shiny).And as a related note: Because the Ultra Wormholes are just different universes (given UBs are regularly referred to as Pokemon from different universes), why don't the Pokemon there have a chance at Hidden Abilities or (warning: wishlist maybe) a Delta Species deal where it is a different type due to different Darwin evolutionary laws?