Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Announced for November 2014 Release
Today, we received some surprising news about new games in the Pokémon franchise for release later this year in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. They are widely believed to be remakes of the third generation games which nobody expected at all. We have no information on the titles outside the release date which is planned for November 2014 as a worldwide release, much like Pokémon X and Y. Also like Pokémon X and Y, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company International seem to have dropped the word “Version” from the titles of the games.
Nintendo says that, “Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire are a fresh take on Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, which launched in 2003 and were fan-favorite hits on the Game Boy Advance system. The new titles promise to take players through a dramatic story within a spectacular new world.”
With a November 2014 release, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire will not make it in time for the first Regional Championships of the VGC ’15 season in October. Like the VGC ’13 and VGC ’14 seasons, we expect to play using Pokémon X and Y at the fall regionals before switching to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire after mid-December. Keep in mind that the VGC ’15 season will be the first year we will hopefully have events on a regular basis if the current Premier Challenge pilot program pans out. It remains to be seen how long that Play! Pokémon decides is sufficient before sanctioned events switch to the new games.
About the Author
Firestorm is one of the co-founders of Nugget Bridge and the Community Manager for eSports Tournament Platform Battlefy. He has been playing Pokémon since 1999, competitively since 2007, and attending tournaments since 2010. He lives in Vancouver, Canada with a degree in Interactive Art & Technology + Communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @rushanshekar.
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I’d say that M-Sceptile could take advantage of having LR, if it gets it’s Special Movepool buffed a bit more a long with it’s Grass and Dragon moves and Hidden Power Ice, team it up with something like Gyarados as support. Then I can see Sceptile being a threat. I wonder why that ability though, don’t think there is anywhere that says anything about Sceptile being able to pull in Electricity.
As for Swampert, just add about 30 Base Speed to it and it should be good to go as a Swift Swimmer, being faster than Kingdra, it has a huge Physical Movepool as well in Waterfall, Ice Punch (as a possible Tutor move), Earthquake, Rock Slide and possibly more, a boost to it’s Attack and Defense are also going to help it out a lot… then again, scratch the first thing I said. Swampert should be fine as long as it can outpace most of the Meta in the Rain.
Very true. I suppose Sceptile’s ability makes a bit of sense if you look at it. Picks up the power from it’s tail.
With that, it kinda looks like a great anti-rain Pokemon as well since Thunder will be less likely to be spammed. Or like you said, great synergy with Gyarados, or Discharge happy teams!
Swampert with Swift Swim may bring back weather wars.
Mega Sceptile is going to be the best way of shutting down Rotom-W, at least. If it keeps it Speed, immunity to Paralysis will be insane.
I’m okay with Swift Swim on Mega Swampert, but Game Freak missed a great opportunity with Drizzle. He looks like he can just look at the clouds and intimidate the rain down. (also Gangsta Swampert makin it rain) /sick of seeing all this MegaCharY Drought Spam
Mega Sceptile can’t learn Draco Meteor, noooooo!
Yea, Sun is easily going to be a common weather still. Maybe other Megas will get Drizzle.
I honestly don’t count Ttar-MegaTtar’s Sand Stream as separate. It doesn’t restart the counter which is a shame.
Could be that the Prehistoric Groudon/Kyogre get an infinite weather ability in their new forms. Which would be insane for VGC 2015!
That would be fun. I’d love to see another VGC like the one year where they allowed two legendaries.
I can’t wait for the generation with Hidden Mega Abilities. MegaEvolve with an HA to get an alternative ability rather than just the regular.
I can’t wait to use mega swampert! I’m planning on building a rain team now that features the new mega. Also the two typing/abilities that negate t-wave spam are interesting. Will that result in a slower meta? The ha for mega evolutions also sounds like a cool idea
The new protag designs are clearly designed specifically to encourage trainer customization.
At least the “hair or hat?” debate should be over for good now.
Mega Diancie? whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Anyways, I don’t think anyone guessed Lightning Rod for Mega Sceptile, but Swift Swim was on the list of Mega Swampert abilities. As for competitive implications, Mega Swampert is more likely to be seen than Mega Sceptile due to its good typing and already great defenses, which will possibly be improved on. Heck, Normal Swampert would probably see use because it’s still pretty nice and gets an item.
Frankly I would have liked rain dish on swampert more but can’t complain. Lightning rod seems odd but if the current meta is any evidence it can be a very effective ability.
The cynical side of me thinks Politoed and Kyogre won’t be legal next season, lol.
I would have liked DrizzlePert more, but I’m still quite happy it got something Rain related. Rain is a fun play style but it doesn’t have too many options.
Now Swampert gives it plenty of options. It may become like Venusaur. Really strong wall, and a bonus weather sweeper with Double Speed! It’s unpredictability will be useful in a way, since it could come in as a dedicated tank or support, or pop mega and be a dedicated sweeper, or a hybrid of both!
MegaSwampert+SapSipper Goodra pro rain combo. I wonder if Sap Sipper will redirect Grass attacks as well now since most other immunity abilities do…
LightningRod on Sceptile is going to be interesting. On top of speed control with NinjaSayo’s team, imagine essentially swapping the MegaAmpharos to Sceptile. Gives it the Spore immunity Gourgeist was going for as a bonus, and other Discharge friendly Pokemon. Makes it go from a slower team speed control, to high speed control. Trick Room still entirely optional for the rest of the team
Now I’m unsure of my starter choice slightly. MegaSwampert or MegaSceptile.
So I don’t want to be too big of a buzz kill, but some things to keep in mind:
Swampert is a Pokemon whose main strength is its bulk. Swift Swim leads me to believe it will gain points in Speed and as a starter it will probably gain in both attacks. Swift Swim won’t activate the turn it mega evolves, which is wasting a rain turn or opening up the slot you’re switching Politoed into for a double target while you get set up. Swampert is likely to be spread too think to be very effective, especially given that it will likely need to be physical to use Earthquake (which nothing typically seen on Rain but Talonflame is immune to) and thus have Intimidate/Burn issues to boot. Is it really going to be worth spending your mega slot for even on Rain when you have alternatives like Ludicolo and Kingdra that can use their items and allow you to also use Mawile/Kangaskhan/Manectric? I think Swampert needed to get slowed down and function more as an option for more defensive TR as a bulky sweeper to be viable, not this.
Sceptile has base 70 HP. Mega Pokemon to this point have never changed their base HP when they Mega Evolve. That’s literally -130 HP- before EVs, and I suspect it will need significant offensive investment to do its job. Is this really something you want to pick over Kangaskhan or Mawile? Lightning Rod gimmick teams will be fun, but I can’t imagine it being a solid competitive choice.
MEGA SCEPTILE
I kind of agree with you here but keep in mind that not normally used megas rise to the tops just because there stats say different doesn’t mean anything.
Anyway: great move TRoll freak give us another fish in the sea with swift swim, partner him up with a great drizzler and we….. Wait we only have politoed to work with? Well then are u kidding? We need more drizzle and we get stuck with something that needs to rely on drizzle kind of hard when politoed needs support!
*145-ish HP since nobody uses 0 HP IVs unless they’re sandbagging or doing something really weird. Still not great, though. For reference, this is 8 less HP than Zard has and I think 38 less than Chomp.
And yes, the whole “Why not use Kanga or Mawile?” thing is a pretty big thing. If you’re making a serious team then you should have a really good reason for using a weirder Mega. “It’s different!” doesn’t count.
Nostalgia and originality I never use kangaskhan for that reason
Depending on stats, my first impressions on any MegaSwampert usage is mainly designed as a bulky support Pokemon. With Swift Swim, you may not need to set up rain but rather rely on your opponent’s Rain. Who knows, VGC 2015 could allow Kyogre and it could have infinate Rain in its new primal form.
Or just use it for increased stats. MegaMawile may make a bigger splash if VGC 2015 disallows Kanga (PLEASE THANK YOU), so the availability for megas in the metagame may shift to make it viable as well.
I do agree that Swampert could have been much better as a slow supporting type as it has been in past generations (or bulky attacker). There was great opportunity, but we must make do with what we have. A bit underwhelming, and a bit disappointing, but in the hands of the right player could make for a decent team regardless.
There is a lot depending on the set of VGC rules surrounding it as well, or if Swampert really needs to primarily use it’s Swift Swim ability or use it as a handy bonus.
Charizard got two Megas. Maybe another Mega will get a split.
I notice that a lot of people keep saying this sort of thing so I want to address this briefly.
If a lot of people, say, don’t use Mega Kanga because using it isn’t original, then doesn’t it logically follow that the act of not using Kanga isn’t original, either? If a lot of people are doing something, which in this case would be not using Kanga, then it ceases to be original. Similarly, a lot of more casual players will certainly use Mega Sceptile and Mega Swampert. You probably won’t play them very often, but they will exist and in large numbers and are part of the reason why Smogon has had to change how it determines tiers. In this case, can you truly say that the act of using Mega Sceptile or whatever is original?
In order to separate yourself from the large number of players playing this game, just using or not using a Pokemon isn’t really enough. But, if how you’re using a Pokemon is what determines if you’re being original, then a large number of viable possibilities open up, even on Pokemon that are used a lot, because a lot of people just copy builds from the internet (which isn’t always a bad thing) or have no real idea what they’re doing (which is common too). So then suddenly, you can use any Pokemon you wish, regardless of how often they are used, and still create an original team by using the Pokemon in ways you don’t usually see or with builds specifically tailored for your team.
Just something to think about.
Kangaskhan is just ridiculous considering there are other megas just as powerful
Also it’s an excuse to use my starter in competitive play
That’s still not a valid excuse to completely ignore using Kangaskhan. And it’s probably not good to require an excuse of all things to put a Pokemon on a competitive team.
So mega sceptile has LIGHTNINGROD!!?
seems alright at first since it can switch in and get spatk boosts. However, you actually need to mega evolve before you do that. Lead off politoed kingdra, expect a t-wave, can’t switch in sceptile to soak it up
but wait why would you use kingdra when there is a mega swampert that can’t get twaved :3
I’m thinking Sceptile getting Lightningrod may be a precursor to the impending return of Thudurus to the format.
But if mega Kyogre/Groudon were allowed, wouldn’t that just make Mega Swampert more of a waste of a mega slot? Regular Kyogre and Mega Swampert does sound a little promising though, and could be a sign of the Kyogre’s return to VGC.
In fairness, it’s impossible to know for certain how viable or un-viable either of them will be without exact stat spreads. Whether or not move-tutors are in the game could be a big part of it too. Depending on the ruleset for next year among other things, move-tutors could be the difference between Mega Sceptile having Dragon Breath (not cute) or Dragon Pulse (cute enough) for STAB.
Meanwhile, Mega Swampert continues the tragedy of the 4x Freeze Dry weakness for Swift Swimmers alongside Kingdra and Ludicolo. If tutors are in, I’m totally expecting Freeze Dry to be a new tutor move and become a new, much bigger potential problem for rain.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES
Ohhh my gosh. This game will be everything we ever wanted.
Right, so Mega Sceptile is bad-bass, and Mega Swampert is somehow really cute while maintaining bad-bassery. LR on Megatile is kind of a letdown, but when you think of the possibilities… Well, I won’t rest until I’ve figured out how to use it well, if it’s possible. What Pokemon would most benefit from having Sceptile there to eat TWs, do you think? OH! If it can eat TWs, we’ve already got something to save us from the return of Thundurus. xD
As for the extra artwork of the legendaries… I still can’t decide which version to get.
Agreeing non-Drizzle Swampert is a letdown (maybe Feraligatr or Empoleon when they get mega forms?), but Swift Swim is pretty powerful as well for something as bulky and strong as Swampert, solves the speed issue anyways, and Water/Ground is still a strong typing.
Mega Sceptile getting Lightning Rod is…odd…especially on something that would be quad resistant to it anyways. I guess you could have some fun Discharge shenanigans though with a Rotom, and of course he should be able to outpace and KO stuff like Garchomp fine. He’s neutral to fire which is a plus given that his defenses won’t improve much probably, but a quad weakness to ice is meh.
Well with the hype for swampert getting drizzle, who do u think will get it? Lanturn, crawdawnt? What if huntail or gorybyes got it?
Pretty much summed up what I was about to say. I’m looking forward to trying out Mega-Sceptile, and mainly due to a nostalgic note, I really hope it works well enough to make an effective team from. I’ll have to try and figure out a way to make it work, but if i cant find an effective way, I’ll have to drop it. He’ll definitely need some way to take out opposing ice and fairy ‘mon on his team though.
Mega Sceptile is one of those megas that may look pretty solid on paper, and has potential to cause a lot of problems for pokemon, such as Thundurus and Rotom I’m thinking particularly, that it might be worthwhile. However, it really needs a huge boost to its laughable special movepool so that it really becomes a more appealing option. I think apart from your choice of grass move and dragon pulse (as a potential tutor move), your basically left with Hidden Power and Focus Blast as other options. The former would give it coverage but it would NEED Lightning Rod abuse to make it viable as the power of its attacks may be fairly low, whilst the latter is cringeworthy purely because of the shaky accuracy. I have spoken to a couple of people who have touted the possibility of Sceptile going physical for its mega, and while I agree its physical movepool would make for an arguably more diverse set of options, it would need a massive spike in its attack to make that a sensible option, besides the fact that Lightning Rod points towards its special attacking likelihood.
As for Mega Swampert, I’m generally liking the idea of Swift Swim on something that might be bulkier than the whole host of alternatives on offer currently. The main question is where the stat boosts get applied in my opinion. While its likely to receive some sort of speed increase, it only needs to be a modest one because you can out-speed most of the meta at base 70 under swift swim with a small EV investment, leaving the rest of the stat increases to go into offenses and defences.