Considering the trend established in past Generations, I believe that I have a firm idea of what the new battle gimmick will be inPokémon’s Gen 10 games. Every new Generation since Gen 6 has introduced a signature transformational gimmick to the franchise, beginning with Mega Evolution, and this trend seems set to continue into future games. But while Gen 10 has yet to be officially announced, it is already clear what its core new battle mechanic will entail.
Speculation is rife overPokémon’s Gen 10 potential features, as the likelihood of the games being released for the Switch 2 opens up a new world of improvements for the franchise. Of course, it must be acknowledged that some details regardingthe nextPokémongames’ setting have leaked, but there will doubtlessly still be plenty of surprises in store for people. On the other hand, the observable patterns in past Generations do also provide some clues about the direction of these new games.
Pokémon’s Gen 10 Battle Gimmick Will Probably Focus On Abilities
A Gimmick That Alters Abilities Follows On Logically From Past Generations
Looking back on past Generations, it is immediately clear that each has focused on a different aspect of a Pokémon’s design and capabilities, providing players with a temporary power-up that introduces new strategic elements. Evolution, Moves, size (and form), and Typing have all been manipulated by one such battle gimmick in successive Generations. With that in mind, there are very few aspects of a Pokémon that have yet to be altered in this way. And to me,the most prominent and likely of these to be the focus of Gen 10 is a Pokémon’s Ability.
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It is fair to say that the right Ability can be the difference between a Pokémon being competitively viable or utterly helpless against a prepared opponent. There are manyPokémon that rely on their Abilitiesto battle effectively, and members of most species can have one of two regular abilities or a Hidden Ability. This alone offers a significant degree of variation in a Pokémon’s capabilities, but a battle gimmick revolving around the feature naturally needs to go one step further. I believe that this is not only possible, but also has an incredible amount of strategic potential.
The most likely function of the next battle gimmick would be to replace a given Pokémon’s normal Abilitywith one that offers a far greater advantage, at least situationally. Of course, to distinguish such Abilities from the effects of other gimmicks like Terastallization, they could still provide specific, conditional effects rather than generic increases to power. This approach would encourage a new degree of strategic thinking in players, pushing them to examine how these new Abilities could be combined with Moves and other factors for the best results.
An Ability Gimmick Would Resemble Previous Mechanics
Past Transformational Mechanics Share Common Features
It is also possible to make logical assumptions about how this new gimmick will function, again based on the examples set byPokémon’s past battle gimmicks. It seems reasonable to me to assume that only one of a player’s Pokémon will be able to use a super-charged Ability in any given battle. The effects of this new Ability may also be subject to a turn restriction like Dynamaxing, although this is less certain given that Mega Evolution and Terastallization aren’t so limited. Similarly, it may be possible to change which extra Ability a Pokémon has access to, like Z-Moves.
Similarly,a new Ability gimmick would likely need to be directly triggered by the player, although it may also have a prerequisite like a held item. All of the transformative battle gimmicks seen so far have arguably been natural phenomena to some extent, although some do canonically require the intervention of a Trainer and even man-made devices to trigger reliably. However,I think that it would be interesting for an ability-changing mechanic to be much more artificialin contrast to these. For example, perhaps the new region’s Pokémon Professor will be somebody who experiments with altering Abilities.
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There will also almost certainly be a visual indicator of this gimmick being in effect, although the exact form of this could be almost anything. I think it could be interesting to see a Pokémon enveloped in a visible aura, perhaps one that is color-coded to reflect the specific Ability being used. Alternatively, if the games lean strongly into lore that frames the mechanic as being artificial, then the Pokémon in question could even be depicted with a headset or other augmentation of some kind to justify its new, unnatural Ability.
Certain Pokémon Could Enjoy Exclusive Abilities
Unique Pokémon Abilities Would Offer Extra Options For Using Fan-Favorites
Of course, it is important to note that some past gimmicks have given specialized applications of their general mechanics to specific Pokémon. For example, in addition to the regular Type-based Z-Crystals, there are also those intended for specific Pokémon like Pikanium Z, which upgrades a Pikachu’s Volt Tackle into Catastropika, or Snorlium Z, which turns a Snorlax’s Giga impact into Pulverizing Pancake. As a result,I would not be surprised if an Ability-changing gimmick similarly included both a standard Ability for each Type and more specialized versionsintended for a specific species.
In addition to those found through regular gameplay, it would be easy to distribute Pokémon with unique versions of an Ability-changing mechanic whether it is an attribute of the Pokémon itself or the result of a Held Item.
Such specialized Abilities would be able to dive further into the identity and abilities of a specific Pokémon, and may be intended to work in tandem with their Signature Moves or otherwise invoke iconic lore. Of course, the additional development required practically guarantees thatthis would be limited to only a few Pokémon. Some of these may be significant new Pokémon, such as the evolved forms ofGen 10’s Starter Pokémon, but most would likely be established fan-favorite species like Pikachu, Eevee, and Charizard.
There is every chance thatGen 10 could bePokémon’s best Generation yet, and I think an Ability-manipulating feature would be a perfect fit for the new games. This battle gimmick would follow the pattern established in previous Generations and carries the potential for countless new strategies to be employed. As a result, new Abilities like this could easily have an incredible effect on the competitive battling scene as well. Although it is ultimately only speculation at present, I am sure that an Ability-based battle gimmick would suit thePokémonfranchise perfectly.
