Pokemon Legends: Z-A’s Mega Dragonite Takes a Long-Standing…

After an entire year going by without a mainline Pokemon title, fans luckily don't have much longer to wait before Pokemon Legends: Z-A launches in October. In it, players will explore Lumiose City from Pokemon X and Y as it undergoes an urban redevelopment plan to encourage the coexistence between people and Pokemon. Exploring the city and battling trainers by night, Pokemon Legends: Z-A seems to be doing a great job at capturing the Generation 6 nostalgia while bringing back what many fans loved about Legends: Arceus at the same time.

It is undeniable that one of the biggest things fans are excited about regarding Pokemon Legends: Z-A is the return of Mega Evolution. It served as one of the series' first generational gimmicks, and after its use in Gen 7, it vanished. Now that it's set to come back, many Pokemon fans have been discussing its impact on competitive play, as well as the chance of new Mega Evolutions. After plenty of speculation, Mega Dragonite has been revealed as Legends: Z-A's first new Mega, and its reception by fans is divisive because of how it tackles an evolutionary issue with its entire line.

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By Eric Warner

How Pokemon Legends: Z-A's Mega Dragonite Misses Its Mark

Mega Dragonite Answers a Common Design Criticism With Dragonite

For as long as the Dragonite evolutionary line has been around, many players have commented how Dragonite's position as the final evolved form takes the entire line's eastern dragon theme in a different direction. If one doesn't know what's meant to come next when evolving Dragonite, they could easily be surprised by how the cute and majestic Dragonair is replaced with a big cartoony dragon. Dragonite is certainly an appealing critter on its own, but the two preceding it capture the hearts of fans in a different way than the yellow dragon does on its own.

Leaks ahead of the Pokemon Presents that revealed Mega Dragonite certainly managed to describe the form quite well. Wings on Dragonite's head, feathers in the place of supposed extra wings, and a ball at the end of its tail. Fans who paid attention to the leaks had something a bit more cohesive with Dragonair in mind, with the leakers who pointed out the Dragonair-like features that even the Presents itself had to make a mention of.

Some pictured Dragonair's blue color scheme returning, others thought adjusting the wings on Dragonite's back to be a bit more majestic might help bridge the gap. While the wings on Dragonite's head and the ball on its tail certainly tie it closer to its previous evolution, it feels as if it's for the sake of having these features rather than truly tying them all together.

How Mega Dragonite Ignores What Made Dragonair So Interesting

These "Dragonair-like features" as the Presents advertises, are placed on Mega Dragonite in a way that doesn't completely mirror how it is on Dragonair itself. The wings are on Mega Dragonite's head in a way that goes against the way they were done on the entire Dragonite evolutionary line. The feathers feel arbitrarily placed. The same can be said about Mega Dragonite's pearly tail, which may have gone over better if it used Dragonair's two or even used three to emphasize some progression.

The way that these features aren't used in the same way as Dratini or Dragonair makes it seem like these finishes were added without thinking as to why fans might have wanted them back on Dragonite in the first place. It comes off as awkward due to missing the point, or it even manages to highlight the evolutionary line's issues by repeating them in a whole new way. At the very least, among Megas like Mega Mewtwo Y and Mega Scizor, Mega Dragonite is one of the more refreshing options out there. Players are already certain that Mega Dragonite will sit as one of the stronger Mega Evolutions they can choose from, and thankfully there are only a few more months to bide time with until fans can find out how powerful it is for themselves.

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