Pokemon Legends: Arceus - Daybreak's Munchlax May Point to Bigger Developments

gamerant.com:

Many fans of Game Freak's creature-collecting RPG franchise are looking forward to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the series' Generation 9 debut announced on Pokemon Day 2022. These games appear to be based on Spain and the wider Iberian Peninsula, offering a completely open-world environment to explore. However, it's impossible to ignore that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's changing world structure is just the next step after Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which released this January.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus was a big success both financially and critically, and much of this can be attributed to the ways it shook up the Pokemon formula. Legends: Arceus is more about catching and researching Pokemon than it is battling, and being set hundreds of years in the past opens up worldbuilding as players meet character ancestors across Hisui's five open areas. The game's free Daybreak update offers more interesting ideas around Mai's Munchlax that Game Freak should explore before Scarlet and Violet suck up all the franchise's oxygen.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Should Revisit Past Evolutionary Lines like Legends: Arceus Did

A huge part of Pokemon Generation 4's identity was the introduction of new evolutions and pre-evolutions for existing monster. For example, Diamond and Pearl introduced Electivire and Magmortar as evolutions for Electabuzz and Magmar, who previously received Elekid and Magby as «babies» in Generation 2. Munchlax is the Normal-type pre-evolution of popular Generation 1 monster Snorlax, and it was actually the first Gen 4 Pokemon unveiled to the public. It was also used heavily in Gen 3 spin-off games to promote Diamond and Pearl, for instance appearing alongside Bonsly in Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness.

Given this early acclaim