Almost every generation ofPokemonis defined by the iconic Legendary monsters on each games' box art: Ho-Oh and Lugia forPokemon GoldandSilver; Dialga and Palkia forPokemon DiamondandPearl; Xerneas and Yveltal forPokemon XandY. The only titles not part of this tradition are the originalPokemon Red,Green,Blue, andYellow, but the Kanto Region’s trio of Legendary Birds are still well known. In fact,Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are the icons for teams inPokemon GO.Pokemon SwordandShield’s upcoming Crown Tundra DLC will bring this trio back in new regional forms.
This will not be the first time Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres have shown up outside of their home games. All three were potential roaming Legendaries inPokemon PlatinumandPokemon XandY, suggesting they had a penchant for traveling the world. However, theGalar forms of the Legendary Birdsintroduced alongside the reveal ofSwordandShield’s DLC expansions are a different breed that boast new appearances, type combinations, and abilities. This changes the way many people have thought about Legendary Pokemon in the past, and opens the door for interesting possibilities.
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Until Generation 8, alternate forms for Legendary Pokemon have been interchangeable, often based on a specific item. For example, Shaymin in Generation 4 can become its Sky Forme by using a Gracidea flower, while the Forces of Nature in Generation 5 can change into their Therian Formes when exposed to the Reveal Glass. Because no official explanation has been given for how these forms of the Kanto Legendaries exist,SwordandShieldfan comics have offered joking explanationsfor their new looks.
However, the more likely explanation of these three simply being regional variants of the original monsters leads to a more interesting conversation.Pokemon SunandMoonintroduced the concept of regional variants with Alolan Forms of Pokemon like Meowth and Vulpix. They were described as evolutionary off-shoots for Pokemon brought to Alola, either due to new environmental factors or human intervention — Alolan Grimer became colorful because of what it was exposed to while solving the archipelago’s garbage problem.SwordandShieldcontinued this idea with Pokemon from more than just the Kanto Region, such as Galarian Zigzagoon and Stunfisk.
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Game Freak adding region-specific Legendaries is a logical next step, but it calls into question previous assertions that each Legendary Pokemon were the only one of their kind. Even Manaphy, the only Legendary Pokemon able to breed, produces a different monster called Phione rather than more of itself.The Crown Tundra is based on Scotland, making it a smaller and more isolated area from the rest of the world, so it makes sense that Pokemon like Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres would evolve differently under those conditions. But if multiple Legendary Birds can exist, then theoretically so can new versions of other Legendaries.
Perhaps in a future game there will be new versions of Entei, Raikou, and Suicune. They are unique to the Johto Region, and are embedded in its mythology as reincarnations of a Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon killed in a fire. However, with the precedent of Galarian Legendary Birds, who’s to say there aren’t versions based ondifferent Eeveelutions like Umbreon or Espeon. The same could be said for trios like Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit from Sinnoh; or Latios and Latias from Hoenn. It seems less likely the pattern would extend to major box art Legendaries like Zacian and Zamazenta (though Suicune technically headlinedPokemon Crystal), but the implications of the Crown Tundra DLC has at least made that a possibility to consider.
Pokemon SwordandShieldare available now on Nintendo Switch.
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