Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Kubfu Could Revolutionize Pokemon Evolution

Pokemon Sword and Shield’s first expansion adds a new Legendary Pokemon that could pave the way for more creative evolutions in future games.

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A few new Pokemon are coming alongside the Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield expansion pass, and one such Pokemon is the Legendary fighting type Kubfu. While adding more Pokemon is always a good thing, Kubfu’s existence actually has some promise for the future of the game franchise as it could lead the way to more interesting and unique methods of evolution.

Depending on how Kubfu is raised, it can turn into different forms when it evolves, each with their own unique move set and design. If more evolutions happened this way, it would a lot of variety.

What is Kubfu?

Kubfu is directly tied to the story of the Isle of Armor, where the player will join up with a dojo to train and become stronger. What makes Kubfu so unique is that, unlike most Legendary Pokemon, it can evolve into the two different versions of the Pokemon Urshifu. The interesting part is, depending on how the trainer raises Kubfu in Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, that will determine what form Urshifu will take. Urshifu can evolve into one of two different forms: Single Strike Style or Rapid Strike Style. Urshifu’s Single Strike Style form is Fighting/Dark and focuses on dealing powerful single-hit attacks. On the other hand, Urshifu’s Rapid Strike Style form is Fighting/Water and excels and quick, rapid hits to take down opponents with ease.

In the most recent Nintendo Mini-Direct, Game Freak showed off the main method of evolving Kubfu in the form of the Tower of Darkness and the Tower of Waters. Players may choose only one tower to challenge, and the trainer must beat it with only Kubfu. When the tower is conquered, Kubfu will evolve based on which tower was chosen. Kubfu can only evolve once, so the choice the player makes will be what the player is stuck with for good. This idea of training a Pokemon a specific way to evolve could very well open up new options for evolution in the future, perhaps even to the point of revolutionizing the “Pokemon formula” for good.

Evolution Needs to Evolve

Evolution has gotten stale. Starters always evolve in the mid-teens and then again in the mid-30s. The regional birds all evolve at approximately the same time, as do the regional bug Pokemon. It’s the same with every generation and every region. While Sword and Shield had some wild evolution methods that were some of the most creative in the entire series, it’s time for a full-blown rework of the mechanic.

Evolution methods need to be more varied and unique, even if it means fewer Pokemon being added per generation. Training and evolving Pokemon by leveling them up is fine, but there is nothing quite like working toward an evolution for quite some time and finally discovering the method by accident. Evolving Farfetch’d in Sword and Shield is a feat worthy of an evolution, and it feels like an accomplishment when it finally happens.

That sense of accomplishment is what every evolution should feel like, and Kubfu is the perfect example of that. Players will have to work and train alongside Kubfu and take down this likely challenging task to get it to evolve. Not every evolution needs to be a trial by combat, but it should fit the theme of the Pokemon. Despite being some of the most controversial entries in the Pokemon series, Diamond and Pearl had some that fit nicely.

That generation added several location-based evolution mechanics that allowed certain Pokemon to tap into their environment to evolve – like Magenton in Mt. Coronet or Eevee near the Ice Rock. Evolving Shelmet and Karrablast are two other fantastic examples of unique and thematic evolutions. At first glance the evolution to Accelgor and Escavalier makes no sense. But closer inspection shows that when Shelmet and Karrablast are traded, Karrablast steals Shelmet’s armor, turning into Escavalier and leaving Shelmet to turn into Accelgor.

Overall, evolution mechanic need an overhaul going forward in the Pokemon franchise. While it makes sense for some Pokemon to level up by defeating others in battle, there needs to be a lot more unique evolution mechanics that fit the theme of the Pokemon that is evolving. Not every Pokemon needs to have wild and intricate evolution mechanics like Alcremie, but the introduction of Kubfu’s unique evolution means that there is a lot of room to grow going forward, and hopefully Game Freak continues to make interesting evolution mechanics in future games.

Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are available now for Nintendo Switch.

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