Every generation of Pokémon, we get a new battle gimmick that helps to shape the competitive scene, as well as impact the game’s story. Two of the most recent gimmicks are Generation Six’s Mega Evolution and Generation Eight’s Dynamaxing. We’re going to be putting them both head to head to see which is the better one overall. Let’s get into it.
10 Dynamaxing: Everyone Can Do It
One thing that’s nice about Dynamaxing is that every single Pokémon is able to do it. It gives every single Pokémon a chance to turn the tide of battle. This is nice to see, as Mega Evolution is a very exclusive gimmick that not every single Pokémon has access to. As such, it’s nice to see a feature that includes every single Pokémon that you’d like to use. Generation Eight is working to allow more Pokémon enter the competitive scene, and Dynamax helps that effort.
9 Mega Evolution: It’s Exclusive
Mega Evolution, on the other hand, is exclusive. It’s exclusive to certain Pokémon, and certain trainers. This helps to make the entire feature feel a bit more special. It gives battles that end up utilizing the feature a bit more weight, which is always nice to see. It changes things up in a more interesting way than Dynamaxing can do, which helps to give it a bit of an edge. But it doesn’t change every single aspect of the battle.
8 Dynamaxing: It Changes Your Moves
Dynamaxing also changes up your moveset in an interesting way. Every move has a Dynamax variant to it.
This allows for some creativity, as these moves come with a secondary effect that can certainly change up the battle, and the strategy that comes with it, in a few ways. It really just fleshes things out in a unique way, something that Mega Evolution doesn’t quite match. It’s almost similar to Z-Moves in this way.
7 Mega Evolution: It Lasts The Whole Battle
Unless you’re completing a raid, Dynamaxed Pokémon only get to retain the form for three turns. After that, it’s done. That’s… kind of lame? That really makes some of the magic go away when it comes to the feature. On the other hand, Mega Evolution is something that sticks around the entire match. That really helps to make the feature feel more important than Dynamaxing. If you know that Dynamaxed Pokémon will be reverting in three turns, it’s very easy to prepare for that.
6 Dynamaxing: Its Rarity
Dynamaxing isn’t a super huge thing that happens all of the time, it happens at certain places. Namely, gyms and raid spots. Other than that, you won’t be Dynamaxing anything at all. This is pretty contrary to Mega Evolution, as that can happen just about anywhere.
This helps to add some importance to the feature. When you start to see it happening over and over, it kind of loses the impact that it once had. However, when it only happens during important moments in the story, those moments are elevated to a higher level.
5 Mega Evolution: Shines A Light On Forgotten Pokémon
Mega Evolution has the ability to shine a light on somewhat forgotten Pokémon. Forgotten mainly means in a competitive sense, as usually, it’s popular Pokémon that are getting the Mega forms. Either way though, Mega Evolution allows Pokémon that weren’t so viable to get new stats, a new ability, and a new typing. All of these things come together to form a very different Pokémon competitively, and thus, allows many Pokémon who might have not have had a competitive chance to really get involved with the metagame. With such a rigid meta, it’s nice to see outsiders get the chance to come in and shake things up every now and then. That’s exactly what Mega Evolution does.
4 Dynamaxing: Gigantamaxing
Similarly to Mega Evolution’s popular crowd, Dynamaxing has a special variant in the form of Gigantamaxing. This is reserved for special (Gen One) Pokémon who receive a new form upon Dynamaxing.
Gigantamaxing is also cool because it gives players more reason to visit raids and find these powerful Pokémon. Raids are already a very interesting part of Sword and Shield, but add in the chance to catch an exclusive Pokémon, and you’ve got quite the fun side quest on your hands.
3 Mega Evolution: The Lore Implications
Mega Evolution really changed a lot of things regarding Pokémon lore. It proved that there really is a multiverse in the Pokémon universe. Mega Evolution directly inspired the Delta Episode, the only good part of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Dynamax doesn’t really do anything interesting for the story of Sword and Shield. It doesn’t do anything on par with what Mega Evolution did, that’s for sure. A little bit of new lore is never bad, and Mega Evolution really introduced some interesting things to the series.
2 Dynamaxing: You Don’t Need A Specific Item
Mega Evolution takes away your opportunity to use an item, which makes sense, as it balances out the overpowered-ness of the feature. Still, Dynamaxing allows you to use any item that you want in tandem with it, which can help keep strategies pretty interesting and throw opponents off in a few different ways. This is nice, and helps keep the feature interesting. Truly though, does it really make Dynamaxing more interesting than Mega Evolution? You don’t even get to use the feature for more than three turns.
1 Mega Evolution: It Changed The Whole Game
Mega Evolution changed the game in Generation Six. It informed design decisions, it affected most major battles, it was revolutionary. Dynamaxing did none of those things. Dynamaxing is cool, but it is in no way on the level that Mega Evolution is on. It’s truly a shame that Mega Evolution isn’t around anymore in Sword and Shield. It was hugely impactful to both the story and the competitive scene. Hopefully, we see this come back in some form at some point soon. Knowing Game Freak, though, we’ll be waiting until we get X and Y remakes.
NEXT: Pokémon Sword & Shield: 10 Most Useful Things You Can Buy From A PokéMart, Ranked
