Pokémon Legends: Arceus

Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Also known as: Pokémon LEGENDS アルセウス (JP), Légendes Pokémon: Arceus (FR), Pokémon-Legenden: Arceus (DE), Leggende Pokémon: Arceus (IT), Pokémon LEGENDS 아르세우스 (KR), Leyendas Pokémon: Arceus (ES), 寶可夢傳說 阿爾宙斯 (CN) Developer: Game Freak Publishers: The Pokémon Company (JP), Nintendo (INT) Platform: Nintendo Switch Released internationally: January 28, 2022 This game has unused code. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused abilities. This game has unused text. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prerelease article

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To do: Shiny-locked Pokémon. Document The PC prototype build from the 2024 Game Freak leak.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus kicks off a new spinoff series by sending players back in time to the Hisui region (a.k.a. Sinnoh before it was called Sinnoh). It makes changes to nearly every mechanic or aspect of the Pokémon formula, creating a more open-ended experience than any prior game in the series.

Additionally, you can evolve Pokémon that previously only evolved through trading with a certain item, making it finally possible to complete the Pokédex by yourself! (If you have save files from the last two games, that is.)

It's also notable for being one of the few modern Pokémon games with voice acting (even if it's just grunts and yells from the player character).

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Prerelease Info

Unused Pokémon Data

Unused Abilities

All the returning Pokémon in the game have their Abilities programmed in, despite them almost never coming into play. Moreover, despite Abilities not existing in this game, the new Pokémon were each given new Abilities internally, almost certainly for future-proofing compatibility with Pokémon HOME.

Pokémon	Regular Ability 1	Regular Ability 2	Hidden Ability
Hisuian Growlithe	Intimidate	Flash Fire	Justified
Hisuian Arcanine	Intimidate	Flash Fire	Justified
Hisuian Voltorb	Soundproof	Static	Aftermath
Hisuian Electrode	Soundproof	Static	Aftermath
Hisuian Typhlosion	Blaze		Flash Fire
Hisuian Qwilfish	Poison Point	Swift Swim	Intimidate
Hisuian Sneasel	Inner Focus	Keen Eye	Poison Touch
Dialga Origin form	Pressure		Telepathy
Palkia Origin form	Pressure		Telepathy
Hisuian Samurott	Torrent		Shell Armor
Hisuian Lilligant	Chlorophyll	Hustle	Leaf Guard
White Stripe Basculin	Rattled	Adaptability	Mold Breaker
Hisuian Zorua	Illusion
Hisuian Zoroark	Illusion
Hisuian Braviary	Keen Eye	Sheer Force	Defiant
Hisuian Sliggoo	Sap Sipper	Overcoat	Gooey
Hisuian Goodra	Sap Sipper	Overcoat	Gooey
Hisuian Avalugg	Strong Jaw	Ice Body	Sturdy
Hisuian Decidueye	Overgrow		Long Reach
Wyrdeer	Intimidate	Frisk	Sap Sipper
Kleavor	Swarm	Sheer Force	Steadfast
Ursaluna	Guts	Bulletproof	Unnerve
Basculegion	Rattled	Adaptability	Mold Breaker
Sneasler	Pressure		Poison Touch
Overqwil	Poison Point	Swift Swim	Intimidate
Enamorus Incarnate form	Healer		Contrary
Enamorus Therian form	Overcoat

Interestingly, many of the hidden abilities for these Pokémon were changed in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet.

(Source: Smogon)

Leftover Pokémon slots

Every Pokémon that is not featured in the game has allocated slots that are never used. These also include learnsets that are seemingly copied from Pokémon Sword and Shield, though curiously Pokémon that weren't in those games also have learnsets featuring moves from said games.

Unobtainable Shiny Pokémon

To do: Add an image of Shiny Enamorus' model.

Any Pokémon in Legends which is labeled as a static encounter or gift in-game is Shiny-locked. The overwhelming majority of these can be found Shiny in previous games, and their Shiny forms can be seen if transferred from said previous games to Legends via Pokémon HOME, but they cannot be both Shiny and native to Hisui.

• Enamorus - While Shiny Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus can all be transferred via HOME, Enamorus, being newly introduced in Legends, does not share this luxury. As of writing, Shiny Enamorus is totally unobtainable through any means.

Noble Pokémon

To do: Pictures. Find out if they have unused Shiny variants.

While these Pokémon are encountered in required boss fights throughout the story, they have functioning Pokémon data and can be added to the party with cheats or hacks.

Capturing the Noble Pokémon reveals that they have unique height and statistics that go completely unseen otherwise.

Pokémon	Height	Weight
Kleavor	5'11"ft / 1.80m	195.9lbs / 88.86kg
Hisuian Lilligant	3'7"ft / 1.10m	35.9lbs / 16.27kg
Hisuian Arcanine	6'3"ft / 1.90m	341.2lbs / 154.76kg
Hisuian Electrode	3'11"ft / 1.20m	146.6lbs / 66.50kg
Hisuian Avalugg	6'7"ft / 2.00m	1,111.6lbs / 504.21kg

Mega Pokémon

Slots exist for Mega Pokémon, despite being (mostly) stubbed out of Sword and Shield and Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Why these are included is currently a mystery, but it's possible that they had initially planned to bring them back.

(Source: mattyoukhana)

Cries

This page or section needs more audio. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough audio. Please fix this.

(Source: mattyoukhana)

Unused Graphics

To do: There might be more.

Placeholder Type Graphic

To do: Replace this Twitter-compressed image with a proper rip, and which file(s) has this texture.

A checkermark with text saying "atr_rock_01" on the brown squares and "atr_grass_01" on the cyan squares. Likely a terrain floor collision test texture.

(Source: DeepGameResearch)

Badly Poisoned Icon

An icon indicating a badly poisoned Pokémon. Bad poison is not a mechanic in Legends: Arceus.

(Source: Bulbapedia)

Unused Present-Day Room

To do: There might be more.

Likely meant to be the player's room in the present day. Only the floor and walls have collision, suggesting that this may have been part of a deleted cutscene before the player character is sent into the past.

Oddities

To do: Detail the unreleased Pioneer ribbon that gets attached to Pokémon who prepare for a photo at the gallery.

Internal Pokémon IDs

Each Pokémon has an internal ID number seen in various files related to Game Freak-developed Pokémon games for the 3DS and Switch.

Wyrdeer, Kleavor, Sneasler, Enamorus, Overqwil, Basculegion, and Ursaluna occupy IDs 1001-1007. In Sword and Shield, the highest Pokémon ID number is 990, which belongs to Regidrago. IDs 991-1000 are unoccupied; in Pokémon HOME, these Pokémon are numbered 899 through 905, while Wo-Chien through Koraidom fill numbers 1001-1007.

Mountain Gale

Mountain Gale (the signature move of Hisuian Avalugg) is coded to have a chance of flinching the opponent, although flinching is not used in Legends Arceus. This appeared to be future-proofing; in Scarlet and Violet, Mountain Gale has a 30% chance to cause the opposing Pokemon to flinch.

Revisional Differences

To do: See if details about the fixes in v1.0.1 can be documented.

v1.0.1

A small patch released January 26, 2022. Contains unspecified improvements.

v1.0.2

Released February 9, 2022.

• Fixed a bug that caused Cherrim to be uncatchable when changing into its Sunshine Form during battle.
• Fixed issues relating to being able to catch the same Pokémon twice and main missions not triggering progression in certain cases.
• Localization and script changes.
• Introduced a sequence break that allows one to encounter and catch Cresselia before talking to Melli, rendering the mission "The Plate of Moonview Arena" unable to be completed.

v1.1.0 ("Daybreak")

Released February 27, 2022, and introduced the following:

• More requests/missions are added to the postgame, relating to a new phenomenon of heavily-increased rates of mass outbreaks.
• Adds the Eternal Battle Reverie, a mode where you can test your mettle against incredibly powerful Pokémon in battle.
• New battle scenarios added to the Training Grounds, including allowing you to battle the wardens you meet along your journey.
• After completing certain missions, the Photography Studio will now allow you to invite related characters to the Studio to take photographs with them.
• Ginter from the Ginkgo Guild will now give you the option of three items to potentially buy from him, instead of just one.
• A higher-difficulty balloon-popping challenge was added to the Coronet Highlands.
• A new "Special Berry Harvest" can now be selected at the farm, to grow berries that were originally not obtainable through farming.
• A bug was fixed where under certain conditions the weather could become stuck in one state.
• The bug preventing the mission “The Plate of Moonview Arena” from being able to be completed has been fixed. If you already caught Cresselia before talking to Melli, you can now progress by obtaining the quest from Melli and talking to him a second time, which will complete the quest.

v1.1.1

Released March 17, 2022.

• Fixed a bug where under certain conditions the Shiny Charm would be unobtainable even if the requirements were met. As part of the fix, players who encountered this issue and meet the requirements can obtain the Shiny Charm by speaking to Professor Laventon inside Galaxy Hall.