The one thing that troubles me about the upcoming Pokemon Sun and Moon games is that in all the trailers we’ve seen and all the stuff that’s been leaked onto the Internet, we haven’t seen any new Mega Evolutions appear. More and more this makes me think that there aren’t going to be any more new Mega Evolutions showing up in Sun and Moon, which means that this feature series is going to have a pretty limited run. Fortunately, there are still plenty of Mega Evolutions left to cover.
This is Mega Factor!
For this week’s post, I’m going to be talking about one of the classic Starter Pokemon from Generation One. Presenting the heavily armed turtle known as Blastoise.
The Blastoise evolution line was considered the medium setting in the original Pokemon games. Choosing that Pokemon’s base form as the starter meant an advantage against the first gym but no real advantage against the second one. I think I’ve only ever used Blastoise maybe five or six times when playing the original Pokemon Red and Blue versions (and every time when playing Pokemon Yellow). Blastoise really isn’t a bad Pokemon, though in the end I’ll always prefer Charizard. Actually, Blastoise is the Pokemon that got me intrigued in the Pokemon franchise to begin with. It’s overall design made me at least curious about the anime series. If there’s any Pokemon that’s truly of a Mega Evolution, Blastoise is indeed one of those Pokemon.
Normal Evolution: In practically every game, players have to start out with this Pokemon’s base form, Squirtle. I know today that Squirtle’s name is a combination of the words, squirt and turtle, but at the time I first found out about this Pokemon I thought Squirtle’s name was supposed to be a combination of squirrel and turtle because of its tail. At level sixteen; Squirtle evolves into Wartortle, gaining small ears and a much cooler-looking tail. A turtle with ears is a little bit odd, but so is a turtle with a squirrel-like tail. Finally at level sixteen, Wartortle evolves into Blastoise and gains those cool retractable cannons.
Mega Evolution: After going through the Mega Evolution process, the armaments on Blastoise’s body are greatly increased. Its normal retractable cannons get replaced with what is basically a tank barrel, and it gains a pair of smaller retractable cannons on its wrists, each with its own turtle shell. Basically, Mega Blastoise is packing heat. In addition to the cooler design, Blastoise’s Mega Evolution also gives a stat boost to every stat except for speed and HP, with its special attack stat getting the largest boost. After Mega Evolution, Blastoise’s ability changes to one called Mega Launcher; an ability that gives a major power boost to moves like Dark Pulse, Dragon Pulse, and one other attack that I’m about to get into.
Way of the Aura: To make the most out of Mega Blastoise’s new Mega Launcher ability, the game designers saw fit to give the Blastoise line access to the former signature move of Lucario, Aura Sphere. Like Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse, Aura Sphere also gains a major power boost from Mega Launcher. Of course the only way for Blastoise to learn Aura Sphere is through breeding a female member of the evolution line with a shrimp Pokemon from X and Y known as Clawitzer. Breeding with Clawitzer is also a good way for Blastoise to get Dragon Pulse as an egg move as well. Of course the major difficulty is getting a female Blastoise with the male Clawitzer in question, which is easier said than done since female Blastoise are really hard to come by.
That pretty much does it for this week’s post. Next week I’ll be covering a Pokemon whose Mega Evolution turns it into something of a contradiction. So until next time, stay tuned.
