The Evolution of Pokémon Abilities
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Can gameplay help define a character design? I discuss how Abilities were introduced and evolved over time in Pokemon.
Thank you to @FCPlaythroughs for the gameplay footage
Learn more through the links below:
Ruby/Sapphire Interview: web.archive.or...
Pokemon World Championships 2009: • Pokemon WCS 2009 World...
Black/White Review: www.ign.com/ar...
DreamWorld Ad: • Pokémon Black & White ...
DreamWorld Gameplay: • Let's Play Pokémon Dre...
X/Y Review: www.polygon.co...
Music themes: pastebin.com/t...
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#pokemon #gamedev #stem
I really like how, in the anime, they show that Golisipod’s Emergency Exit is still an act of cowardice just with a brave face
Guess a Wimpod is still a Wimpod even after hitting the gym
I love that line entirely because its evolution is LITERALLY being the same coward but mustering up enough courage to at least not look like he's pissing his pants while swapping out cause that last attack hit harder then it thought
Nigerundayo!
@@bigpoggers6507 That and Golisopod is more of a bully, since it was a coward its whole life :D
Just a cool detail i like, it's shown to be brutal, and cocky. But when things go bad it goes "Nope". The Manga shows this really well in Guzmas second scene. Where he has his Golisopod break the MC's arm to prove a point.
@user-lp5vo6qb2i
even in the anime, Guzma has it break use Throat Chop on Primarina to stop it from singing and then brutalized it from there
The 2 frames of Plusle and Minun kissing made me take a double take
Don't you mean the fucking _thumbnail?_
THAT being the thumbnail certainly made my mind do flips.
Omg I thought I was seeing things... lol
Love wins :happy emoji:
They made the rabbits gay! (But I don’t mind)
@@HollyfromtheHollow 8:15
It's such a minor thing but I love the stylized pokemon in the videos, they're so appealing and give such a strong sense of style to the videos
such a huge lart of the appeal for me ngl along with the dude lmao
It’s a major thing
Hearken not to the altars of darkness you fools! Listen oh you lost children, Listen! that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God
That thumbnail change.... Spicy 🥵
Literally had to visit the hub
must've happened midday, I didn't notice until today.
Something’s rising, and it ain’t my special attack stat (THIS IS A JOKE)
@@zame-osomething5096 it was funny until you put the joke disclaimer
@@alternativename-18h i got opps everywhere bro they might yoink this out of context
8:15 I was, NOT expecting that lol
When I wrote the comment the thumbnail was shedinja and orgepon lol
the nortist has finally done it
Love wins
@@InsertFunnyThingHere Love wins
@@Boomya137 Love wins
@@MrMetal-xe8lg Love wins
“Somebody once told me” “Mold Breaker”
I see what you did there, you shooting star you
can you explain the joke? i'm afraid i might not be the sharpest tool in the shed..
@@generallyunimportant damn, you beat me to the joke. That's put the shape of an L on my forehead.
I legitimately don't understand the joke, please explain
@@notfunny3397 these are all lyrics from All Star by Smash Mouth, interpolated into YT comments in a cohesive way. I'm amazed you haven't heard the song, but give it a listen and you'll (maybe?) understand why the original comment was quite funny.
@@lewisblackwiththenicehair ah no I got that part.
What I don't get is how "mold breaker" ties into the lyrics. I may have missed that part in the video itself (timestamp please?)
Thanks for explaining anyway :)
Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life
Ngl that thumbnail caught me off guard /lh excited for watching a longer form video of yours though !!
Unfortunately the thumbnail is no longer plusle and minun kissing
@@jojocat8637It is for me
@@naplockblubba5369 yeah same
Strangely it's still that thumbnail for me...better screenshot it
The plusle minun thumbnail goes crazy lmfao i love it
Can't wait to see you address items in pokemon and how they will be implemented in your game.
8:14 Love wins
Abilities that don't do anything in battle feel like I'm missing out on something, but I also appreciate out of battle effects. I really do like it when abilities have both.
This channel is criminally underrated!!!! I got so excited when I saw it was a longer video!!!!
If Slaking ever gets the move Skill Swap to give Truant to the opponent Slaking would be broken.
@@NassiLove Do you mean that Slaking doesn't have Skill Swap but relies on it's team mates to Skill Swap?
@@leebulger7112 Yeah, it does rely on teammates, still broken but takes some turns to pull off.
@@mahiligmanood1974 But hypothetically if Slaking had Skill Swap it would be easier to pull off I imagine.
@@leebulger7112 True.
39:10 I was not expecting Pickle Beffica and Vinny to show up but man
Fantastic video as always!
even with the audio toned down a bunch you can still hear his reaction to pickle
It's quite clear why Legends Arceus removed abilities. The combat system was very different from the main games, and many effects abilities would usually apply would not apply here. They wanted to focus on the snappy Style system and dynamic turn order rather than a bunch of extra rules that may feel like they bog down the battles. Pretty simple when looking at it that way at least.
nah, the abilities being removed makes 0 sense, especially when moves like Iron Head and such were there along with Fairy type, Steel types amd Dark types, if they wanted to be ancient, remove all those types and new moves and just have Gen 1 moves
what? @@theamazingspooderman2697
I was like "huh, guess I missed that video, I don't recognize it and I've watched basically every Nortist vi- OH MY GOD NEW VIDEO!"
First the Gholdengo thumbnail, and now Plusle and Minun 💀
I am worried what else this man will do
Wait what Gholdengo thumbnail? 💀💀💀
@@warnerd8746yeah, what goldengo thumbnail?
@@warnerd8746For his “About object mons” video thumbnail, he has Gholdengo with his back turned to the camera and his rear end appears bigger
I always appreciate your walk-throughs of how things in Pokémon are designed and why
I clicked due to the thumbnail alone.
I'm just here for the comments lol
Hearken not to the altars of darkness you fools! Listen oh you lost children, Listen! that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God
I've been working on my own form of abilities called Traits. My creatures can have as many Traits as I want to give them. However, some are far more common and shared between many species and other are exclusive to a species. The common ones are more like the Categories you have and are physical attributes or adaptations to environments. An example of the latter is Aquatic; the holder will take, at most, neutral (x1) damage from Water attacks. So a creature can be Fire but not weak to Water as it wouldn't make sense for an aquatic Fire-type to be weak to its natural habitat. This trait also gives a weaker form of STAB (a 25% boost compared to the normal 50% boost) if they don't already have normal STAB. Volcan, Arctic, and Cellulose are the others for Fire, Ice, and Nature respectively.
For the more exclusive Traits, an example is Thermal Shock. Using Pokémon's terms, the holder would deal double damage with Ice attacks against targets that are afflicted with Burn and deal double damage with Fire attacks against targets that are Frozen/Frostbitten. Another more complex example is Sodium Reaction. When the holder is hit by Water skills (damage dealing or otherwise), or water in general, will cause the holder to create an explosion to damage opponents right after. The strength of the explosion is based on how strong the water was inflicted. So water from a strong Water attack would create a heavily damaging explosion but being in the rain would create a weak explosion at the end of each turn. So these exclusive Traits are much more in-depth in terms of mechanics but are heavily tied to the species.
that is an S tier thumbnail
The whiplash I got from going from Ogerpon to hearing Freddy Fazbear made me do a full-on double take.
I just refreshed the page and from a cool shedninja and orgepon and now there a minus and plusle kissing LMAO
Such hype builds up when a video takes longer to make and is released first when seeing the thumbnail of the coveted video. You did not disappoint.
this was an incredible retrospective on Pokemon Abilities!
this is the greatest thumbnail of all time
Wild thumbnail choice, i respect it
The thumbnail goes CRAZY. Good video btw
I love the little animations n0rt has been adding to his aviator in his videos
14:46 i thought he was going to make a reference to the song All Star lol
"only shooting stars break the mold" :P
He Did
Pulse & Minum going at it, it hits so hard.
Hey! I've been watching your videos for a while, your analysis of Pokemon's and other creature collector games' mechanics have inspired me to start working on my own creature collecter game too, I'm absolutely in love with how you handle your Stema designs and game design concepts, while also learning a bunch of cool STEM facts that are integrated into the designs themselves
That's it for the long comment, I love your videos and your art, keep it up!
6:42 "This clip shows a Move missing"
No, this clip is the VGC equivalent of a series of unfortunate events lol. It legitimately changed the game forever
Also, dont think your all star went unnoticed during Mold Breaker lmao, very subtly done
Theres a lot here I am really glad you mentioned! Damp and Opportunist are fantastic examples of niche effects that go under the radar due to competitive metagame focus.
I'm making my own, much less pretty video on abilities in the near future, and in particular I want to look at a few other non-competitive settings, as well as the limits of the ability system as it works now.
peak thumbnail
This video made me love Pokémon more than ever. I have watched this video over and over again and still don't get bored.
The king is back with another banger video
1 step closer to the nortist movie
It's gonna be a 2.5 hour infomercial for Stema when it gets released, aired in theaters worldwide
Hearken not to the altars of darkness you fools! Listen oh you lost children, Listen! that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God
9:56 Triple Yoda death sounds
im streaming my screen to a friend, and they saw this thumnail 10/10 liked and subscribed
Glad I screenshoted that first thumbnail, you can't hide your freak forever, Nortist
Edit: Nvm, it's in the video, he's not even hiding it
freak level: ♾️
Thank you for the video.
Now, that thumbnail certainly caught my attention.
It was quite a ride. As you learn about game mechanics and implement them, you inherently teach us about your findings. I am inspired and hope to make my own game someday.
Here before the thumbnail makes this video viral
THE THUMBNAIL?!?!
Reminds me of how SMTVV just added abilities to the SMT mainline games (Devil Survivor had something similar, so that one was the first instance in the series I saw them). I wonder if they are a thing in future titles now.
Some demons got unique abilities, some got unique abilities that require a certain partner, some got abilities specific to their race/lore (like all cats teaming up or dogs helping their partners), abilities that help you recruiting more demons or abilities that strengthen certain attacks. The last category feeling like a "idk what else, so boost attacks" in many cases.
On a first playthrough, when you still have to figure out what even is out there (and when to find it), it may not be the biggest thing to look out for, but as a series that motivates several playthroughs and has harder difficulties to choose, this is another layer of making a unique experience every time you start over.
I have set my eyes on a few combinations already, but am also looking forward to start over and try out something new.
pulsle and minun passionately making out thumbnail > Shedinja & Ogerpon thumbnail.....
35:33 bro shook me to my soul. I felt called out and like a rug was pulled out from under me. Insanely good twist
That’s certainly one of the thumbnails of all time
26:59 I never expected to see a Librarian clip of NL on here.
Well done on the video. Also I feel like mega pinser needs a more diverse move pool. Hopefully they get it in Legends ZA.
Sad the original epic thumbnail is gone but I’ll still be watching and supporting!
I was two days late what did the thumbnail look like?
this was such an interesting deep dive and i learned so much!
The new thumbnail is crazy
omg the thumbnail caught me so off guard and i love it
Here to inform future viewers that the thumbnail has changed,
the current one is of Plusle and Minun making out, with the words "Lighting Rod" on the bottom of the image.
This wasn't always the case, when I first found the video yesterday the image was half of the face of a Shedninja, and some other mon I forgot the name of.
The other half was Ogrepon
That thumbnail is wild
i truly had no idea what the hell mold breaker was until i watched this video. i would've LOVED if the game just had the popup say "mold breaker: pancham is ignoring your abilities!" or some other plain text, but instead it's "mold breaker: pancham is breaking the mold!" and like. what does THAT mean?? that doesn't help at ALL! i swear i thought it was just funky flavor text to get u to like pancham more 😭 at the time i first encountered it, i also wasn't familiar with the expression "breaking the mold" so i thought he was like. picking up some mold, like the plant kind of mold, and breaking it in half. truly baffled by that one. it only made slightly more sense once i found out what it means to break the mold, and only NOW do i actually get what was happening. i would've loved if it was slightly less obtuse
Now that’s a thumbnail
amazing analysis and I love your take! is the same way i see abilities as descriptors of how a creature interacts with its embiroment
Only some megas change the type
(Only some megas change the type)
Editing jokes aside, I've always felt that there arn't enough abilities that have noticable effects in the Overworld, so hearing that you're going into Stemma with the idea that there *should* be abilities that change up the main playthrough is genuinely the first time I've *REALLY* gotten excited for this game. Like, i was certainly interested before, but putting this much of a focus on abilities genuinely makes me actually excited for this game, because it sounds like its going to *actually* be different from mainline pokemon in a way that isn't just "is worse". (Like, there's a reason Palworld blew up; it was first creature collector in years to not just blindly copy pokemon.)
I was actually really excited to see Illuminate and pick-up get an in-battle use, because i saw it as "closing the gap" between Overworld abilities and Battle Abilities, and was hopeful that Battle abilities would be given overworld uses in turn.
(Which could still happen with Z-A, since megas without abilities are practically non-functional, and there's more incentive to make new ability uses.)
But yeah, this reveal of this ideaology with your game's overworld design structure is genuinely the most exciting thing I've heard about it yet! Really the thing that makes me think "Yeah, this is going to be *fun* " instead of just "ooh, that sounds cool", and hope to see it have a major impact on the world building, both in the abstract/lore and the literal, actual world you are going to build.
i can't wait until you finish your game! The STEMA designs look so cute and interesting that i am having trouble picking a favorite.. Also loveed the longer video and in depth analysis.
funny you mentioned the category thing at the end i’ve always wanted pokemon to do the same thing, it would be the new HM/Ride Pokemon replacement
like, these would be innate attributes to the pokemon for use in the overworld
Umbreon: Illuminate
Stoutland: Pickup item and Surf
Rapidash: Ride-Dash and illuminate
kinda like Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee
I really like these videos cuz they make me realize that I always thought of pokemon as like a baseline! Like in many ways yes it is an archetype of the genre, but these videos make me realize that at the end of the day, pokemon is also just a bunch of choices for mechanics that made it what it is today!
Idk if im explaining myself right, but it's kinda just making me realize like WOW pokemon could be so different if they had decided to make even slight differences!
After watching this video, I've got an idea that could be used for a gimmick for Pokemon or any other "mon"like. Introducing... Ability Level-ups! (For anyone wondering, I moved this from the "if abilities changed design" episode since it's more apt here)
Here's the gist: The abilities of pokemon now have a separate level bar, which requires substantially more exp to level up. When leveling up, the ability is improved and can go from 1 to 3.
An example would be Run Away (User allows to make a guaranteed escape)
Level 1: The same as vanilla Run Away (BTW, assume the prior effects still happen in later levels)
Level 2: Same effects, but if used in a fight where fleeing isn't possible (e.g. a trainer battle), user's Speed is boosted.
Level 3: User's Speed can't be lowered.
My idea may need a lot of balancing, but if executed well, many pokemon's (or other mons) vitality in battle will increase and incentivize using initially weak pokemon for their lvl3 ability.
8:15 Plusle and Minun having a good time...😳
nothing could have prepared me for the thumbnail
Giving magma armour reduce damage taken by 1/4th to ice and water attack, along with its previous ability of anti freeze. That would help mons such as magmar.
I would make Magmar complete immune to water.
@@RyumaXtheXKing that would be too busted. Then theres no point of desolate land.
That’s a great thumbnail
I takes 6:57 for Incineroar to appear in this non-Wolfe video
The thumbnail 💀 i knew norist was getting deranged day by day after the poison video
33:22 he just casually calls them freddy fazbear 😭😭
the amount of psychic damage i took on the fact that it's been over 20 years that abilities became a thing was so high....
Robert, hearken not to the altars of darkness you fool! Listen oh you lost children, Listen! that your wisdom may be multiplied. Children of God, let the love of the Lord be your light in this dark age. Remember these words, which have been sent by God, that you may not be troubled. Let the father, the son and the Holy spirit be manifest in all that you do, for this is the glory of God
14:47 you CANNOT open a sentence like that Nort you scared me half to death 😭😭
Nice Wolfie cameo in there
>Run Away
>Ensures switching out
This man fell for it
You FOOL, this man always knew what run away did but he made it seem as if he didn’t to get YOU to comment and boost his video in the algorithm!! You have LOST!
I’m still sad that gale wings got nerfed…
Fr
Crippled. It was crippled.
@@enoyna1001 Fr
They could've just made it +0,5 priority so that every +1 priority move would outspeed it. the ability is practically useless now
@@danijeljovic4971 it’s not practically useless, it serves to use tailwind before anyone else can move
The thumbnail really catch me off guard I’m not gonna lie to be honest
33:44 Small mistake here: Shell Smash always lowered Def and Sp. Def by one stage only.
I've made that mistake too.
The new thumbnail 💀💀💀
i gave an interesting idea for a creature on your last video. i hope you saw it because ive been thinking about it for a while now. i love your videos and im sure i will love this one as well,thanks! :)
That's it... I'm naming my next Plusle & Minun: Slorp & Glorp
Released just on the day of my birthday! Nice!
AYO THAT THUMBNAIL
A 42 minute video about abilities? Very promising
Surprised there was no mention of hidden Grottos at the end of the gen 5 section. While they're extremely luck based, there were enough of them scattered around the game you could feasibly get at least a couple of Dream World Pokemon from them for a playthrough. It is really interesting to build teams around Pokemon with specific abilities and while weather and Terrain are the most obvious examples, they don't change up how the team functions nearly as much as other examples. A Sweeper with Swift Swim is still a sweeper, but a Shadow Tag mon on a Perish Trap team or a Serene Grace user on a paraflinch team are integral pieces to said teams that create the team's unique playstyle rather than being a variant on an existing playstyle. Its why I'd love to see more mons with access to abilities like Corrosion, Merciless, Emergency Exit and Quick Draw because all these abilities have a lot of depth to them that could make them really interesting to build around or support a pre-existing, unique strategy if they'd only be given to more Pokemon
the new thumbnail is. well
37:32 To be fair, Gen 9 got rid of *all* out-of-battle effects (except Pickup and Honey Gather), largely because the overworld spawn system wasn't compatible with things like Illuminate - theoretically you could just spawn twice as many mons, but I think they knew that their engine was unoptimized and too many entities would cause the game to lag, so they were hesitant to do that, especially if someone didn't *know* an area's spawn rate wasn't normally this high and they could de-lag their game by taking an Illumise out of their party.
So I think this was less "we need to think of competitive viability" and more "we need to make sure the ability doesn't do *literally nothing* ."
"the coughing baby catch another coughing baby." He's out of line but he's right 😆
That thumbnail…..w h y
I guess shock value is a form of engagement too….it got me here so I guess it works….
Run Away does in fact, not ensure switching out. That would make it good. It only affects wild battles sadly
Oh the new thumbnail… that click bait worked
14:47 Very subtle (possibly unintentional) reference.
6:34 i love how after he missed like 6 or more willo'wisps in a row (might've been more or less cant remember) pokemon would proceed to buff the move to have more accuracy
33:20 imho it's better to break abilities into more atomic chunks. If you aren't constained by data format or some mechanic like "you/random choose 1 of 3 abilities" it seems more digestible for me to have a list of 10 abilities than one ability with 10 times more effects
Well that’s an interesting thumbnail
Nice thumbnail, bro.)
Seeing this just makes me remember/low how the Anime portrayed abilities at times - Im sure if Pokemon was more of a grand stand game rom the get go where you could actually get/interact with non competative abilities more directly they'd probably be more common
I know this probably isn't the best place to suggest an idea for a Fakémon, but one inspired by Calculus in general would be sick. Just imagine a Fakémon whos concept embodies addition or subtraction or all the other operations depending on its form
honestly you're so righr, this concept has a lot of potential
@@amberhide04 Yeah exactly, I'm gonna try designing one myself for my own Fakémon region, cuz I think this would be sick even outside of STEMA
He did make a Calculus Mon. It's a three stage Psychic-type mushroom whose names I don't remember. They don't have an addition/subtraction gimmick, though.
Uh… that already exists.
Is no one talking about the plusle and minun in the thumbnail 💀