Sorry if this isn't the right place for this discussion, but this struck me recently.
Sort of a spinoff from this bug report that was said to not be a bug:
Slowbro-G is able to mega evolve in National Dex, as mentioned because its been decided to implement the mechanic that way since it would be impossible to check in game.
But should it have implemented it that way?
Slowbro-G and Mega Slowbro are not together in any of the mainline games, but they are both present in one that's played at Worlds: Pokemon Go. But very notably that game specifically prevents Slowbro-G from mega evolving - only Slowbro-K can mega evolve.
Now, obviously, the game works a fair bit different from the mainline games, but at bare minimum it's relevant to the discussion since it maintains all the other 'X mon evolves from Y mon' interactions.
Plus, using a bit of a tangent example (using Gigantimax instead of Megas) - in Sword/Shield, Galarian Meowth can't access the Gigantimax Meowth form, it just becomes Dynamax Meowth, meaning being the right regional form matters for those sorts of effects.
Taken all together, it seems to me that in-game form changes related to regional gimmicks also care about being the right form to even do the form change. I get that removing the Mega-Slowbro-G interaction will have a pretty meaningful impact on the meta, but this seems like a change-in-mechanics for the sake of being different, rather than one that actually makes sense based on how the games handle those mechanics.
What are everybody else's thoughts on this?
Sort of a spinoff from this bug report that was said to not be a bug:
Slowbro-G is able to mega evolve in National Dex, as mentioned because its been decided to implement the mechanic that way since it would be impossible to check in game.
But should it have implemented it that way?
Slowbro-G and Mega Slowbro are not together in any of the mainline games, but they are both present in one that's played at Worlds: Pokemon Go. But very notably that game specifically prevents Slowbro-G from mega evolving - only Slowbro-K can mega evolve.
Now, obviously, the game works a fair bit different from the mainline games, but at bare minimum it's relevant to the discussion since it maintains all the other 'X mon evolves from Y mon' interactions.
Plus, using a bit of a tangent example (using Gigantimax instead of Megas) - in Sword/Shield, Galarian Meowth can't access the Gigantimax Meowth form, it just becomes Dynamax Meowth, meaning being the right regional form matters for those sorts of effects.
Taken all together, it seems to me that in-game form changes related to regional gimmicks also care about being the right form to even do the form change. I get that removing the Mega-Slowbro-G interaction will have a pretty meaningful impact on the meta, but this seems like a change-in-mechanics for the sake of being different, rather than one that actually makes sense based on how the games handle those mechanics.
What are everybody else's thoughts on this?
