Discussion New UBs and the National Dex Conundrum

[Gruffling]

So the Nintendo Direct yesterday revealed two exotic new Ultra Beasts UB Burst and UB Assembly, an unprecedented move for a game to introduce actual brand new Pokemon and not be the debut of a new generation. While not even their real names are known (though at a glance I would speculate Burst to be Fire/Fairy and Assembly to be Rock/Ghost) this does raise something interesting. While there is no National Pokedex in Sun and Moon their numbers are confirmed via the TCG with Marshadow sitting comfortably at number 802 so these two new Ultra Beasts bring our running total to 804 however it will look a little strange to see them just plonked there randomly after Marshadow so is this just a sidestep of the convention a la Victini or will we see some retconning involved?

 

[HouchinsDJ]

I don't see any reason why they couldn't just edit the Pokédex and place them with the other Ultra Beasts.

 

[Gruffling]

I don't see any reason why they couldn't just edit the Pokédex and place them with the other Ultra Beasts.

While there's no National Dex in Sun and Moon to get in the way, it would create an error in the Marshadow cards. Minimal I know but it's never happened before. This is assuming that we're not getting anymore new Pokemon or else that would mess up most Gen 7 Pokemon in the TCG.

 

[Mitja]

What's the problem with adding them?

I don't see any reason why they couldn't just edit the Pokédex and place them with the other Ultra Beasts.

Why would they do that? There is no need to. (I mean, did you expect them to reorder the Nationaldex to move Giratina 2 numbers forward so it's next to Dialga and Palkia? Of course that didn't happen, and no one was bothered by it either)


Yes, it's a new move (and one I was hoping for for a long time), for them to add Pokémon in the middle of a generation (or rather to just exclude them in the initial versions), but that's all it is.

I was wondering when they'll finally realize that including the whole generation at the start is dumb, at least for mythical Pokémon for example. We knew about Volcanion as soon as XY were datamined, and then it took what, 2 years to get revealed officially? Now that they did this kind of thing once, there is no reason to include every planned Pokémon right away.

But I look at this beyond just "they can more properly keep late mythicals secret now". To me it means we are getting closer to blurring the concept of generations as a whole.

For USUM it will probably just be a few new UBs and mythicals, but they could just as easily throw in ~20 new regular Pokémon (and yes, they'd simply appear after 802, again I don't understand why lots of people see that as some kind of issue.. it's not like they rearrange the nationaldex every generation to put all the legendaries to the back either)

 

[TheRealBro..]

While there's no National Dex in Sun and Moon to get in the way, it would create an error in the Marshadow cards. Minimal I know but it's never happened before. This is assuming that we're not getting anymore new Pokemon or else that would mess up most Gen 7 Pokemon in the TCG.

There will definitely be more new Pokemon, at least more Ultra Beasts. If not, I might actually skip this game for the first time in Pokemon history (no I won't, but it would really suck). I agree that they should just include the new ones in the Sun & Moon dex instead of placing them after Marshadow. These are still Sun & Moon games so it also makes more sense than if this were a new generation. I'm guessing only new Ultra Beasts and Alolan formes.

 

[Gruffling]

Problem, no. I was disappointed with the small regional dexes of the past two gens and vehemently think there can never be too many Pokemon. I'm also very fond of the Ultra Beasts so it's a win win for me. I'm more just pointing out the anomalous change to the formula this will give gen 7's regional dex and the errors that would result if they retconned the national dex.

There was that rumour a while ago that Stars would have 20 new Pokemon, if we assume Stars was the code name for USUM and people werent just making it up (likely too) then maybe we're in for a nice little batch.

But I'm definitely expecting new Alolan forms, they're an easy add like new megas were in ORAS.

 

[Gruffling]

UB Adhesive now brings our running total to 805. I wonder how many there'll be in total. Especially with how expansive the Ultra Space is now.

 

[Kangaflora]

We will need to wait and see how many more Pokémon will be added. Either way, the new Ultra Beasts confirm that they will begin from #803 onwards due to Magearna and Marshadow having the Pokédex numbers 801 and 802 respectively.