>>49742727Another thought on that and maybe evidence is this: Gen 1 was just dropped on us. We knew little going in. Gens 2-5 had a lot of teased mons and early reveals, but we also went in "blind." They wouldn't even tell us if Blaziken was a starter or not for almost an entire year! We had leaks from the anime and whatnot but as Gens 2 and 3 prove the anime doesn't lock in a Pokemon's type or lore (Snubbull appeared in the anime around the same time it was in the "legendary" part of the dex in beta GS, Lugia was created for the anime and had to be rushed into the games...)
Gen 6 though we had a lot of early reveals. And Gen 7 they told us pretty much everything moves in advance. Gen 8 they tried to hide shit but we had leaks months to a year prior that matched the game. My point? As the games got more "complex" they needed to have stuff planned well in advance. They could have happily cut a Shuckle Evo a few months before launch in 2000, but in 2016 they couldn't change a damn thing about their game bc marketing dictated they reveal everything to drum up hype. I don't think we'll really be seeing many beta mons for the new gens anymore, because I bet there aren't as many that make it to the game development phase these days. And that's what makes Pokemon like Wartortle's original Evo or Plux so special. They can't exist anymore. There won't be anything like them again!
