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remember how other generations introduce pokemon that tie into the new mechanics?
gen 2 has pineco in headbutt trees, new eeveelutions that involve friendship and day/night cycle, a bunch of babies for breeding
gen 3 has a bunch of pokemon with signature abilities that define their playstyle, also a lot of pairs meant for doubles, and feebas which evolves via contest stats
gen 4 has a bee pokemon found through honey trees, spiritomb with the underground, new location-based evolutions
gen 5 has darmanitan with a whole form exclusive to its hidden ability, deerling that changes with the seasons, a bunch of pokemon exclusive to phenomena
gen 7 has mareanie, which is exclusive to SOS encounters. and though the day/night cycle isn't new, it is given a lot of focus, so fittingly we get rockruff who evolves differently depending on the time of day.
this design philosophy makes both the new pokemon and the new mechanics more memorable, and helps the games stand apart from each other even though they are 90% the same.
you ever notice how gen 6 doesn't have this? it has sylveon, which needs affection to evolve, and that's it. inkay also uses the 3DS microscope but that's exclusive to it so i don't count it. that's probably why people hardly remember the new mons, that and the fuckhuge dex.
