Day 9: Annihilape

(BGM: A Friendly Encounter from Scarlet & Violet)

How fitting that we're talking about a Pokemon from Generation 9 on Day 9 of this marathon.

Since Scarlet & Violet are the most recent entries in the main series, they're the ones that I've had the least amount of experience with. I've only played through Scarlet once so far while most other Pokemon games I've played through way more than that, but that's only because of other things going on in my life; you know, job, writing stories, and trying to make time to play games in my always growing backlog.

Having said that I really enjoyed my time with Pokemon Scarlet, and a big reason for that is the Pokemon roster. While I wouldn't say Generation 9's Pokedex is my favorite one, there's still a lot of good to be found, especially since it continues the trend of taking previously existing Pokemon and giving them a new evolution.

Dunsparce is finally getting some respect now that it has an evolution of its very own in the form of Dudunsparce…I'm not going to pretend that coming up with Pokemon names is easy, but even then that is an awful name.

I already like Girafarig just fine, but giving him an evolution in the form of Farigiraf just makes me love it even more.

And Kingambit was the evolution I had no idea Bisharp needed, this thing is awesome, especially since you can evolve one right out of the gate, just find a Bisharp holding a Leader's Crest and defeat it (which should be easy given that there should be some Pawniard surrounding it), then repeat the process two more times.

While these three are great, there is one more that I have yet to mention. And out of all the Pokemon to receive another evolution in this generation…

Primeape is one of the last ones I expected.

(Insert Annihilape cry here)

(BGM: Team Star Boss Battle Theme)

Hold on, let me hear that cry again…

(The cry plays again, and there's a distinct 'crunching' noise in it)

I have no idea why there's a crunching noise in this beast's cry, but it sounds so awesome and it makes this already intimidating sounding cry all the more bone chilling.

Maybe it's Pokedex entry can give a clear, concrete answer

'When its anger rose beyond a critical point, this Pokémon gained power that is unfettered by the limits of its physical body.'

Holy crap!

We already know that Mankey and especially Primeape are severe rageaholics, but Primeape can actually get so angry that it literally 'snaps' and dies and evolves into this Akuma-looking monster! I'm confused, should I be amazed or horrified?

I'm amazingly horrified!

And its Pokedex entry is reflected in the way it evolves. If you have your Primeape use the move 'Rage Fist', a ghost type move that gets more powerful the more you've been hit by attacks, 20 times in battle and then level it up, that's how you get Annihilape.

Not the most annoying way to evolve a Pokemon, but it's still tedious. I still have to give it an 'A for effort' though as the game does try and tie in Annihilape's background information with the gameplay.

Enough about that let's talk about his design. Like I said before, Annihilape looks like a Street Fighter character, with his angry red eyes and long flowing hair. Again, he looks like Akuma if he was a Pokemon.

As far as his stats are concerned, they are amazing. Annihilape has a base stat total of 535, with HP and Physical Attack being its main attraction. It's also no slouch in the Special Defense or Speed Stat too. It is a very viable Pokemon made even better with it being a Fight-Ghost type rather than a plain old Fighting type. With this type combination, Annihilape resists Normal and Fighting type moves while only gaining one other weakness to Ghost types. Fighting-Ghost is a pretty good type combination all things considered.

Let me just finish this portion by saying that this thing is the reason why I lost to Eri on my first playthrough of Scarlet. Sure, her Starmobile-Revavroom might have landed the finishing blow, but her Annihilape did most of the work.

Finally let's talk about Annihilape's moves, and boy howdy did Game Freak give this thing some fun toys to play with.

Naturally, Annihilape can learn the aforementioned Rage Fist, as well as other strong moves like Close Combat, Outrage, Thrash, Stomping Tantrum, and it gets gets Shadow Punch when it evolves.

As for its other moves, it can learn the elemental punches, Shadow Claw, U-Turn, Acrobatics, Seed Bomb, Poison Jab, Earthquake, Brick Break, Stone Edge, Phantom Force, Giga Impact, Drain Punch, and while I wouldn't recommend teaching this thing any Special Attacking moves, it can even learn Overheat, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Focus Blast, and Shadow Ball.

I don't know how right I am on this, again I've only played through Scarlet & Violet once, but Annihilape must be one of the most versatile attackers in the entire game.

There's just nothing left to be said. Annihilape is just an amazing Pokemon with great stats, a creepy and badass look, and one of the best movepools in the game.

I like to think that Annihilape wasn't the evolution we needed, but the evolution we deserved. Keep being badass you big monkey.

…

I'm sorry, can I hear that cry one more time?

(Insert Annihilape's cry here)

Oh god, that crunching sends chills down my spine every time!