But one thing that I did appreciate during my little sojourn through Insurgence are the brand-new addition of... not new Pokemon per se, but rather, all of the new additions in Insurgence are variations of existing Pokemon. It's a neat expansion on the sadly-abandoned Mega Evolutions of the sixth generation and a bunch of other extra gimmicks from some secondary material -- the Delta Species that's only found in the TCG; as well as 'armored' Pokemon. I feel like it's a very, very interesting exercise in taking a look at how the existing designs could be changed and/or expanded upon, especially since the fact that regional forms seems to be Nintendo and Gamefreak's new favourite 'gimmick'.
Anyway, go play Pokemon Insurgence, it's a pretty fun game. But I'm not going to spoil anything about the story other than the fact that it basically goes for a storyline that incorporates all the legendaries from Generations I through V. Again, as usual, I will mostly just talk about the designs and creature concepts. I also want to emphasize that this being a fan-made project of passion, a lot of the designs here might not be up to Nintendo's standards... but I will not comment too much about the spriting and more about the design of the creatures themselves.
I was either going to do this or Fool's Gold, but I can't find a good website with all the entries of Fool's Gold's pokedex entries.
We'll do Armored forms and Mega Evolutions first, and the Delta species later on.
We'll do Armored forms and Mega Evolutions first, and the Delta species later on.
Going to be a bit lighter on the upload schedule this month, I think -- doing a lot of IRL stuff at the moment, and also fixing a lot of the image links and formatting in the older articles.
Armored Mewtwo & Shadow Mewtwo & Mega Shadow Mewtwo X: To be fair, none of these are actually original to Insurgence. Armored Mewtwo showed up in the first Pokemon movie, and made appearances in the manga and TCG before finally getting a proper appearance in a game in Pokemon Go. So it's less of a new design and more of a usage of something not present in the games. In-game, mechanically the 'armors' work similarly to things like Giratina or Shaymin's form changes, where you equip an item and it changes the form of the Pokemon while it's holding it. In Mewtwo's case, Armored Mewtwo gets Hubris, a fan-made special version of the existing ability Moxie. A pretty neat concept, although not one that is particularly exciting to me. I did remember that before Gigantamax was confirmed, there was a lot of hubbub about Armored Pokemon being the gimmick of Generation VIII, though.
Shadow Mewtwo and Mega Shadow Mewtwo X (hoo boy) are also actually official Nintendo designs, just ones that have only shown up in Pokken Tournament. It's treated here as basically a permanent different form, and is assigned the type Psychic/Dark. Again, it's pretty neat, and this sort of 'quasi-canon' Pokemon like Shadow Mewtwo, Shadow Lugia, Primal Dialga, Zapmolcuno and whatnot are exactly the sort of things I'd sneak into a fangame if I was making one.
Armored Tyranitar: None of the Armored Pokemon get any new pokedex entries, which is kind of a shame. There aren't a whole ton of them, too, and other than Armored Mewtwo, every other Armored form just gets a stat boost. Armored Tyranitar is pretty neat, and I actually do like the pink highlights to the armour. I appreciate that the design is clearly meant to evoke Mecha-Godzilla, but without just being a straight-up ripoff of it. (Those crystals are pretty SpaceGodzilla, though)
Armored Flygon: Evidently, like the rest of the fandom, Insurgence's creative team loves Flygon a lot and is clearly salty that it never got the mega evolution treatment in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. Armored Flygon is honestly what it says on the tin, it's Flygon with armour around its body parts. I do like that it's got an extra pair of wings to truly be a robotic dragonfly.
Mega Flygon: And here we go with Mega Flygon. It's... it's honestly basically what you expect a Mega Flygon to be. More spikes, more ridges here and there, a bunch of extra red... interestingly, Insurgence's Mega Flygon becomes a Bug/Dragon, which is thematically cool. Flygon's always a weird creature where if I didn't already memorize the typings I could believe is any combination of Bug, Dragon and Flying. It's kind of the obvious route to designing a Mega Flygon, but just like the various Charizard super-forms, it seems like the obvious route of Mega Flygon is what the fandom wants anyway.
Armored Leavanny: Not all the Armoured Pokemon are just silver-gray cyborg parts. Leavanny's armour looks more like it's made out of autumnal leaves or bark or something. Design wise Leavanny doesn't really change a whole ton, but it's honestly a pretty cool look, and it's not even too far off for a bug to have bark strapped into their body like armour.
Armored Zekrom: Zekrom kind of looks like a Yu-Gi-Oh cyborg dragon. I would try and figure out which one, but there's so many of them. I feel like the palette gets kind of a bit too cluttered (and Zekrom's already cluttered) but the fact that they limit the colour to just the pre-existing black and neon blue, and just added a bunch of white, does make it not as cluttered as it could've been. The idea is pretty neat, it's a bunch of far more futuristic iPod/Tron-aesthetic armour lashed around Zekrom. The wings look a lot less unique, but very sleek. I feel like Zekrom's own butt-turbine does lend to the cyborg-dragon aesthetic pretty well already... although I find it a bit odd that there's no Armored Reshiram. Probably something to do with how the story progresses; I remembered that the main characters are each associated with a specific legendary.
Primal Regigigas: Three 'Primal Reversions' in the vein of Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon show up in this game, too, all of them going to Sinnoh legendaries. Primal Regigigas basically swaps out the 'covered with moss' golem vibe with Regigigas being covered with three mountains -- a volcano, a rock mountain and a snow mountain. And it's got... ropes, I guess, to fit with the 'continent puller' moniker? Neat, but not my thing.
Primal Giratina: Part of me wants to call this 'cluttered' and too 'Digimon-esque', but most of me just find this centipede dragon snake demon version of Giratina to be too damn cool. It's edgy in all the right ways. While the official games make Giratina the counterparts of Dialga and Palkia, this game seems to have it in their lore that Giratina is Arceus' counterpart, giving Primal Giratina the same stats as Primal Arceus.
Primal Arceus: He gained some weight, I guess? The multi-coloured hovering little 'wings' make far more sense for an 'omnitype' Pokemon than the actual Arcreus's rings, and actually resembles how Arceus and his plates are depicted in the movie. I actually kind of believe that a 'full-power' Arceus would have those type-related plates hover around it, although apparently this Arceus has like Giratina colours running down its underside? What's up with that?
Mega Poliwrath: And we're in to the Mega Evolutions now! And Poliwrath sure is a Pokemon that could use the extra boost. Insurgence's take on Mega Poliwrath is... interesting? A lot of times it's just highlighting the features of the Pokemon's pre-existing form, which is something that I do like. I'm not quite sure why Poliwrath's arms looks like it's covered in metallic armour, but that's certainly a way to highlight Poliwrath's Fighting-typing and to draw attention to the flexing biceps, I guess. The crown is also a nice touch. Not my favourite mega, but the concept is sound.
Mega Marowak: Mega Marowak is honestly kind of obvious, a Ground/Ghost to fit with the whole 'Haunted Tower Marowak' from the first game. Again, the design change for the Marowak body is pretty expected. Longer, spikier horns, extra bone growths... honestly, pretty keeping in-theme with Gamefreak's own Mega Evolution designs and if anything, I would say that Mega Marowak doesn't change quite enough. That dark aura and the fact that Marowak's humerus club gets turned into a bone-scythe is definitely enough to communicate the 'ghost' part of this. Mega Marowak gets the 'Parental Bond' ability that is unique to Mega Kangaskhan in the official games, which I felt Insurgence really could've communicated better. It'd be morbid, but maybe it gets a Cubone ghost? Or the ghost of its own dead Marowak mama?
Mega Eevee: I like this idea, that Eevee doesn't have to evolve to become powerful. Generation VIII would in fact do something like this with Gigantamax Eevee, right? Insurgence's Mega Eevee perhaps leans a bit too much towards making the head look like a bunny (I've always thought Eevee's best charm is that it doesn't perfectly resemble any one 'cute pet' animal), but I do like the differently-coloured eyes and the little multi-coloured orbs floating around it. Because I'm a huge fan of the Adventures manga (which features a mutant Eevee with this exact ability), I am also a huge fan with Mega Eevee's ability, where it straight up changes forms into Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon et cetera depending on the move it uses. It doesn't just change type, it straight-up transforms into whichever Eeveelution corresponds to the type. Pretty neat and fitting for the 'ultimate Eevee'.
Mega Meganium: The poor, forgotten Johto starters are no longer forgotten in this fan game! Giving non-Kanto starters mega evolutions or regional variants have been one of the most common themes I've seen in fan-made regions or games, huh? Mega Meganium is a Grass/Fairy, which suits Meganium very well. Visually, though, they probably changed Meganium's collar-flower into a far more fierce and primal looking flower that fits Venusaur's aesthetic more. Actually, between the Rafflesia-esque flower and the spinach leaves jutting out the side, it's basically a compressed Venusaur plant, isn't it? Overall, it kind of fits for a mega evolution that keeps most of the things about Meganium the same, just a bit more. Could've been more fairy-esque, I suppose.
Mega Typhlosion: Oh okay he's a real volcano now. Lots of spikes, lots of extra black fur tattoos, and more fire. I'm not quite as huge on this one compared to the other two Mega Johto starters, I feel. It sure does look like a super Typhlosion, but it's not my favourite.
Mega Feraligatr: Mega Feraligatr, on the other hand, doesn't appear to change much, but I think I like it a bit more than Mega Typhlosion. It just adds a bit more extra red spike-fins and some extra armour-like scales. It's a good change, and one that doesn't go over the top... but I kinda wished they had emphasized it a bit more. Maybe the pose? Or adding just one or two more that would really change Feraligatr's silhouette?
Mega Sudowoodo: Oh, okay, he's an old man of the woods. Mega Sudowoodo becomes a Rock/Grass Treant or something, actually becoming a real-o-woodo instead of a pseudo-woodo. He's got actual leaves growing on him and a walking stick and everything, it's a neat concept.
Mega Politoed: It's something? Politoed has been associated with Rain Dance in the anime, so I guess they went all out in making Mega Politoed like some sort of uber-rainbringer. It's just Politoed sitting on a storm cloud making a tiny cloud. It's all right.
Mega Sunflora: So there are two Mega Sunfloras, and it's a gender-dependent. Male Sunfloras become that black-and-red Grass/Fire sunburnt sunflower, while female Sunfloras become the far more green-looking one with, uh, Hartman hips for some reason. I don't much like either of these compared to the regular Sunflora if we're being honest; but I do agree that Sunflora does need the help.
Mega Girafarig: Ha ha the chain chomp tail becomes a big giant chain chomp. The black parts of Girafarig's body have also extended all the way to the base of the neck. I guess the story here is that the psychic, rear end of Girafarig got all of the mega evolution energy and became super-powerful? That's kinda cool!
Mega Steelix (Fire): An official Mega Steelix exists, but Insurgence likes Steelix so much they added in a second Steelixite. Hey, if those popular kids Mewtwo and Charizard can have two different mega evolutions, why can't Steelix? This is a pretty cool (if pretty common in fantasy) Steel/Fire form, and I really like the giant, shovel-shaped lower jaw of Steelix fitting perfectly here in this magma based form with lava veins cracking through its body and lava dripping out from his jaws. Pretty cool, and Pokemon surprisingly doesn't really have a whole ton of lava-themed Pokemon.
Mega Magcargo: ...and one of the few existing ones is Magcargo, whose shell has broken and it's became a really speedy-speedy boy... something that I could totally see them doing for Magcargo. I do like that it doesn't just revert into a Slugma-esque form, but still has a little ring of rocks around its neck and the little bursts of fire that now bursts from part of its slug-body. Of course, since it no longer has its rock shell, Mega Magcargo is a pure-Fire. That's a pretty cool concept!
Mega Donphan: That sure is an armoured Donphan. Basically they took Donphan's ridged spine armour and added a bunch of knight-esque parts to it. An interesting change to Donphan, even if I do think that they could've done a lot more to make a super-armoured Donphan.
Mega Miltank: Okay, I've never quite thought of Miltank's sphere-tipped tail as something you can emphasize for a mega evolution, but in addition to adding some extra black blotches and extending the horns, Miltank now has a giant flail tail that increases the effectiveness of repeat moves. The Whitney-Miltank-Rollout meme will not die, and I appreciate that most of all.
Mega Shiftry: It at least still kinda looks like a tengu? This one looks more like a regional variant than a strictly more powerful form of Shiftry, though. I guess he's got bigger arm-fans? Kind of indifferent about this one, to be honest.
Mega Cacturne: He becomes like a bounty hunter with a poncho, a scarf covering half his face... and a goddamn shotgun which I assume still shoots cactus needles. Cacturne's other arm becomes like two giant spikes, which is cool. I actually kind of like this one a lot, most mega Cacturnes I see tend to emphasize the creepy scarecrow aspect (which I wholeheartedly approve of) but this certainly feels pretty unique.
Mega Crawdaunt: Another one, that, like Feraligatr, is 'the same design, but a lot fiercer'. Sure, Mega Crawdaunt looks different! More spikes, an extra set of legs, spikier lobster hands, curvier star ornament, the blue part is frowning instead of smiling... but it could've done a bit more to be more recognizable as a super mode, y'know? Even swapping the pose a bit to emphasize the additions they made would've gone a lot.
Mega Milotic: Mega Milotic's one whose silhouette doesn't even change, but the simple colour changes to really highlight that this is a different form. I would've thought 'shiny' rather than 'mega evolution', but hey. I do like the pretty black-bordered rainbow lower half, and the way Mega Milotic's holding it like a fan, and the slight change on the red parts of Milotic's head to also be red all the way up to the horn is another way to make Mega Milotic look distinct from regular Milotic. This one's also Water/Fairy.
Mega Jirachi: I really like regular Jirachi and don't think it really needs to be changed, but making Jirachi's 'hat' turn into a full on star-shaped helmet and adding a bunch of extra tassels on him really does make for a pretty neat mega form. Not like, super-duper ideal, but I like this one a fair bit.
Mega Chatot: Oh, hey, Chatot's head becomes a different musical tone, a semi-quaver or something. And its wings becomes a personal keyboard. Kind of a neat direction to take Chatot in. I don't love this, but it's certainly a likable one.
Mega Spiritomb: Kind of expected, if I'm being honest, if you tell me of a 'Mega Spiritomb' this is exactly the sort of thing I would expect. Just Spiritomb, but bigger and larger. I like the addition of arms and a bunch of extra green orbs, although I'm surprised they didn't just go all the way and break the seal on Spiritomb's rock prison thing. I do like that they didn't quite go over-the-top and turn it into a full humanoid form or something.
Mega Froslass: Ehhhh. It's a lot Froslassier, I suppose, with a longer body and more jointed kimono-hands and some real hair. I dunno. It's a bit too cluttered for my tastes, I feel, and loses some of the simple charm that Froslass's regular design has. Insurgence has a second Mega Froslass design we'll cover later, and that's a far superior design IMO.
Mega Zebstrika: Oh, okay, he's a zebra deer. Sure. He's also a fairy. Also... sure. I guess he's meant to be a Santa Claus reindeer, perhaps, with those extra glitter running down its back? Again... sure. Not something I particularly like, but an interesting concept to give Zebstrika.
Mega Zoroark: Hooo boy, okay, they went all in with the Japanese spooky mask thing. Mega Zoroark's face has got a fox mask, and on her legs are some extra human-face masks. And she's on all fours with the fur really puffed up... she really looks like she could be an enemy from Bleach or something, and I mean it as a compliment. I wouldn't say I like this as a Zoroark super-mode, but it's actually a pretty decent monster design in and of its own.
Mega Gothitelle: Nnnnnnope. Mega Gothitelle is Psychic/Dark and is basically the same design but with a more humanized body and I say nope to that.
Mega Reuniclus: On the other hand I can get behind this. Regular Reuniclus is great in how cool it looks as a psionic monster even though it's adorable, but if Reuniclus would actually become threatening, this Invader Zim looking motherfucker piloting a giant jelly gundam suit with claws does work. Admittedly, though, we do lose a lot of the 'cell mitosis' theme with this form, though.
Mega Cryogonal: Okay! A pretty neat Mega Cryogonal. Basically add a bunch of extra spikes and details, and voila. Honestly, I'm not complaining at all, I actually like the grumpy bearded look of this angry floating ice-face.
Mega Haxorus: Y'know, I have to applaud them for not reverting to the obvious and adding huge wings and horns. No, Haxorus remains more or less the same, it just becomes green, gains a bunch of extra armour parts and now its tail is its own personal hand-held battle axe. I still prefer regular Haxorus, but I appreciate this one.
Mega Bisharp: Oh, this one is cool. Pawniard's a pawn, Bisharp's a bishop... but Mega Bisharp becomes a knight, with its lower body turning into a horse body and he becomes a centaur with a lance and shield. Very KnightChessmon, and very much preserves everything about Bisharp without going to over-the-top.
Mega Hydreigon: Okay, so Mega Hydreigon just gets two extra heads and actual lizard legs. I actually feel like this makes Mega Hydreigon more mundane, because part of what I found so cool about Hydreigon is its silhouette and the fact that it doesn't have actual legs and just tatters of fur/flesh that looks like legs. And sure, I'm sure this form has its fans, but I dunno. It's kind of what I expected from a Mega Hydreigon, similar to Mega Flygon and Mega Spiritomb up above, but at the same time I kinda wished they had done something more unexpected. Still a cool multi-headed dragon, if nothing else.
Mega Stunfisk: HAHAHA what? Insurgence has been pretty great at keeping the Megas actually pretty sensible as a 'super form', except for Stunfisk and I absolutely love that it's Stunfisk of all things that turns into some sort of bizarre eldritch being with floating hands, a curling weird flatworm body, a Minions eye beside its regular fish and random jagged claws. I love it. It's not even a flounder anymore, it's just... a flat thing. Certainly not something I ever see Pokemon doing for Stunfisk, but still.
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With those fanmade mega evolutions out of the way, the biggest addition to Pokemon Insurgence are the Delta Species. The Delta Species are a sub-type of Pokemon from the official TCG's Holon region, added during the Delta Species expansion in an effort to bolster up some of the type imbalance in the TCG. For the most part, I remembered a significant amount of Delta Pokemon simply had Steel (sorry, Metal) added to them, as well as dragon (or dragon-esque) pokemon being assigned types like Fire or Electric. But then as the expansions went on, we get things like Fire-type Ludicolo or Psychic-type Lickitung... and the biggest failing, I feel, is that because Pokemon really does protect their IP, none of these Delta Species Pokemon actually look any different beyond the novelty of seeing, say, a Pelipper you're familiar with be surrounded by an aura of electricity.
In the region of Torren, however, we have a gigantic influx of Delta Pokemon, all with brand-new sprites that's essentially the game's equivalent to regional variants. Which is awesome! Every single design is essentially assigned a brand-new type and the design itself is a bit changed from the Pokemon design we're used to. There is, and I stress, a LOT of these Delta Pokemon. Around more or less one-third of the first five generation's worth of Pokemon got a Delta variant of sorts, and that's not counting Delta Pokemon with mega evolutions. I'm going to cherry-pick a bunch of the designs -- the starters; some of the ones I remembered seeing in-game during my Insurgence run, and a bunch of assorted favourites before going into a bit of a deeper dive in a second (and maybe third) part of this).
Delta Hoothoot line
Delta Tentacool line
Delta Tangela lineSo Delta Tangela goes from being a mass of indistinct blue vines into a spiky tumbleweed. And since tumbleweeds aren't living plants anymore, it's a pure-Ground type. Very cool, but even cooler is the sprite! Look at those haunting dead eyes on Tangela nestled within its massive bramble vines and the two pale boots jutting out of it. Tangrowth still has the creepy black eyes, but the shape of the 'face' makes it a lot less creepier than Delta Tangela. I actually like Delta Tangrowth a lot more than regular Tangrowth, I must say, though. The addition of the Fighting type in Tangrowth also makes a whole lot of sense, it gained a lot of bulk and two giant vine-arms, it's a tumbleweed that can totally clobber you.
Delta Aipom line
Delta Wailmer line
Delta MaractusChanged from a maracas-waving desert cactus into a pure-Steel robot on a single wheel, I'm genuinely not sure just what about Delta Maractus really makes it stick out to me out of so many other Delta monsters. It's a very wild jump, going from 'cactus' to 'robot', but I just really like the pretty fun look of this futuristic robot on one wheel, and she even keeps regular Maractus's musical theme. Only instead of two maracas-arms, Delta Maractus is apparently a full band with its gears and motors; probably making dubsteb music.
Delta Litwick lineCUTE! The Litwick line has always been my favourite thanks to its goth candle ghost aesthetic, but Delta Litwick is Fire/Fairy, and I really genuinely felt like in an alternate world where Chandelure debuted one generation earlier, this fantasy design straight out of Disney's Beauty and the Beast could definitely have been an actual Fire/Fairy design. I do really like how all of the major anatomy and silhouette of all three members of the line is similar to their canon counterparts, but they are just so much more bright and fancy, like they're part of a fairy-tale castle. And, of course, in an inverse of the cute-but-actually-malicious regular Litwick line, the Delta Litwick line instead uses its flames to guide people, purge nightmares from children and use their magic flames to cure its trainer's body. A very fun little twist on the Litwick line's design!
Delta Amaura lineA cutie! Delta Amaura goes from being an amargasaurus into a Grass/Water plesiosaur with a cute little tropical island attached to its back. I also love that Delta Aurorus's aurora-themed frills gets turned to resemble some sort of chunky seaweed, and I like that a fair bit.
And... that's about it for Insurgence's mega evolutions, and a little teaser of some of the Delta Pokemon. It's a fun little romp, and next up we'll cover at least some of the Delta Species in this game!
Armored Mewtwo & Shadow Mewtwo & Mega Shadow Mewtwo X: To be fair, none of these are actually original to Insurgence. Armored Mewtwo showed up in the first Pokemon movie, and made appearances in the manga and TCG before finally getting a proper appearance in a game in Pokemon Go. So it's less of a new design and more of a usage of something not present in the games. In-game, mechanically the 'armors' work similarly to things like Giratina or Shaymin's form changes, where you equip an item and it changes the form of the Pokemon while it's holding it. In Mewtwo's case, Armored Mewtwo gets Hubris, a fan-made special version of the existing ability Moxie. A pretty neat concept, although not one that is particularly exciting to me. I did remember that before Gigantamax was confirmed, there was a lot of hubbub about Armored Pokemon being the gimmick of Generation VIII, though.
Shadow Mewtwo and Mega Shadow Mewtwo X (hoo boy) are also actually official Nintendo designs, just ones that have only shown up in Pokken Tournament. It's treated here as basically a permanent different form, and is assigned the type Psychic/Dark. Again, it's pretty neat, and this sort of 'quasi-canon' Pokemon like Shadow Mewtwo, Shadow Lugia, Primal Dialga, Zapmolcuno and whatnot are exactly the sort of things I'd sneak into a fangame if I was making one.
Armored Tyranitar: None of the Armored Pokemon get any new pokedex entries, which is kind of a shame. There aren't a whole ton of them, too, and other than Armored Mewtwo, every other Armored form just gets a stat boost. Armored Tyranitar is pretty neat, and I actually do like the pink highlights to the armour. I appreciate that the design is clearly meant to evoke Mecha-Godzilla, but without just being a straight-up ripoff of it. (Those crystals are pretty SpaceGodzilla, though)
Armored Flygon: Evidently, like the rest of the fandom, Insurgence's creative team loves Flygon a lot and is clearly salty that it never got the mega evolution treatment in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. Armored Flygon is honestly what it says on the tin, it's Flygon with armour around its body parts. I do like that it's got an extra pair of wings to truly be a robotic dragonfly.
Mega Flygon: And here we go with Mega Flygon. It's... it's honestly basically what you expect a Mega Flygon to be. More spikes, more ridges here and there, a bunch of extra red... interestingly, Insurgence's Mega Flygon becomes a Bug/Dragon, which is thematically cool. Flygon's always a weird creature where if I didn't already memorize the typings I could believe is any combination of Bug, Dragon and Flying. It's kind of the obvious route to designing a Mega Flygon, but just like the various Charizard super-forms, it seems like the obvious route of Mega Flygon is what the fandom wants anyway.
Armored Leavanny: Not all the Armoured Pokemon are just silver-gray cyborg parts. Leavanny's armour looks more like it's made out of autumnal leaves or bark or something. Design wise Leavanny doesn't really change a whole ton, but it's honestly a pretty cool look, and it's not even too far off for a bug to have bark strapped into their body like armour.
Armored Zekrom: Zekrom kind of looks like a Yu-Gi-Oh cyborg dragon. I would try and figure out which one, but there's so many of them. I feel like the palette gets kind of a bit too cluttered (and Zekrom's already cluttered) but the fact that they limit the colour to just the pre-existing black and neon blue, and just added a bunch of white, does make it not as cluttered as it could've been. The idea is pretty neat, it's a bunch of far more futuristic iPod/Tron-aesthetic armour lashed around Zekrom. The wings look a lot less unique, but very sleek. I feel like Zekrom's own butt-turbine does lend to the cyborg-dragon aesthetic pretty well already... although I find it a bit odd that there's no Armored Reshiram. Probably something to do with how the story progresses; I remembered that the main characters are each associated with a specific legendary.
Primal Regigigas: Three 'Primal Reversions' in the vein of Primal Kyogre and Primal Groudon show up in this game, too, all of them going to Sinnoh legendaries. Primal Regigigas basically swaps out the 'covered with moss' golem vibe with Regigigas being covered with three mountains -- a volcano, a rock mountain and a snow mountain. And it's got... ropes, I guess, to fit with the 'continent puller' moniker? Neat, but not my thing.
Primal Giratina: Part of me wants to call this 'cluttered' and too 'Digimon-esque', but most of me just find this centipede dragon snake demon version of Giratina to be too damn cool. It's edgy in all the right ways. While the official games make Giratina the counterparts of Dialga and Palkia, this game seems to have it in their lore that Giratina is Arceus' counterpart, giving Primal Giratina the same stats as Primal Arceus.
Primal Arceus: He gained some weight, I guess? The multi-coloured hovering little 'wings' make far more sense for an 'omnitype' Pokemon than the actual Arcreus's rings, and actually resembles how Arceus and his plates are depicted in the movie. I actually kind of believe that a 'full-power' Arceus would have those type-related plates hover around it, although apparently this Arceus has like Giratina colours running down its underside? What's up with that?
Mega Poliwrath: And we're in to the Mega Evolutions now! And Poliwrath sure is a Pokemon that could use the extra boost. Insurgence's take on Mega Poliwrath is... interesting? A lot of times it's just highlighting the features of the Pokemon's pre-existing form, which is something that I do like. I'm not quite sure why Poliwrath's arms looks like it's covered in metallic armour, but that's certainly a way to highlight Poliwrath's Fighting-typing and to draw attention to the flexing biceps, I guess. The crown is also a nice touch. Not my favourite mega, but the concept is sound.
Mega Marowak: Mega Marowak is honestly kind of obvious, a Ground/Ghost to fit with the whole 'Haunted Tower Marowak' from the first game. Again, the design change for the Marowak body is pretty expected. Longer, spikier horns, extra bone growths... honestly, pretty keeping in-theme with Gamefreak's own Mega Evolution designs and if anything, I would say that Mega Marowak doesn't change quite enough. That dark aura and the fact that Marowak's humerus club gets turned into a bone-scythe is definitely enough to communicate the 'ghost' part of this. Mega Marowak gets the 'Parental Bond' ability that is unique to Mega Kangaskhan in the official games, which I felt Insurgence really could've communicated better. It'd be morbid, but maybe it gets a Cubone ghost? Or the ghost of its own dead Marowak mama?
Mega Eevee: I like this idea, that Eevee doesn't have to evolve to become powerful. Generation VIII would in fact do something like this with Gigantamax Eevee, right? Insurgence's Mega Eevee perhaps leans a bit too much towards making the head look like a bunny (I've always thought Eevee's best charm is that it doesn't perfectly resemble any one 'cute pet' animal), but I do like the differently-coloured eyes and the little multi-coloured orbs floating around it. Because I'm a huge fan of the Adventures manga (which features a mutant Eevee with this exact ability), I am also a huge fan with Mega Eevee's ability, where it straight up changes forms into Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon et cetera depending on the move it uses. It doesn't just change type, it straight-up transforms into whichever Eeveelution corresponds to the type. Pretty neat and fitting for the 'ultimate Eevee'.
Mega Meganium: The poor, forgotten Johto starters are no longer forgotten in this fan game! Giving non-Kanto starters mega evolutions or regional variants have been one of the most common themes I've seen in fan-made regions or games, huh? Mega Meganium is a Grass/Fairy, which suits Meganium very well. Visually, though, they probably changed Meganium's collar-flower into a far more fierce and primal looking flower that fits Venusaur's aesthetic more. Actually, between the Rafflesia-esque flower and the spinach leaves jutting out the side, it's basically a compressed Venusaur plant, isn't it? Overall, it kind of fits for a mega evolution that keeps most of the things about Meganium the same, just a bit more. Could've been more fairy-esque, I suppose.
Mega Typhlosion: Oh okay he's a real volcano now. Lots of spikes, lots of extra black fur tattoos, and more fire. I'm not quite as huge on this one compared to the other two Mega Johto starters, I feel. It sure does look like a super Typhlosion, but it's not my favourite.
Mega Feraligatr: Mega Feraligatr, on the other hand, doesn't appear to change much, but I think I like it a bit more than Mega Typhlosion. It just adds a bit more extra red spike-fins and some extra armour-like scales. It's a good change, and one that doesn't go over the top... but I kinda wished they had emphasized it a bit more. Maybe the pose? Or adding just one or two more that would really change Feraligatr's silhouette?
Mega Sudowoodo: Oh, okay, he's an old man of the woods. Mega Sudowoodo becomes a Rock/Grass Treant or something, actually becoming a real-o-woodo instead of a pseudo-woodo. He's got actual leaves growing on him and a walking stick and everything, it's a neat concept.
Mega Politoed: It's something? Politoed has been associated with Rain Dance in the anime, so I guess they went all out in making Mega Politoed like some sort of uber-rainbringer. It's just Politoed sitting on a storm cloud making a tiny cloud. It's all right.
Mega Sunflora: So there are two Mega Sunfloras, and it's a gender-dependent. Male Sunfloras become that black-and-red Grass/Fire sunburnt sunflower, while female Sunfloras become the far more green-looking one with, uh, Hartman hips for some reason. I don't much like either of these compared to the regular Sunflora if we're being honest; but I do agree that Sunflora does need the help.
Mega Girafarig: Ha ha the chain chomp tail becomes a big giant chain chomp. The black parts of Girafarig's body have also extended all the way to the base of the neck. I guess the story here is that the psychic, rear end of Girafarig got all of the mega evolution energy and became super-powerful? That's kinda cool!
Mega Steelix (Fire): An official Mega Steelix exists, but Insurgence likes Steelix so much they added in a second Steelixite. Hey, if those popular kids Mewtwo and Charizard can have two different mega evolutions, why can't Steelix? This is a pretty cool (if pretty common in fantasy) Steel/Fire form, and I really like the giant, shovel-shaped lower jaw of Steelix fitting perfectly here in this magma based form with lava veins cracking through its body and lava dripping out from his jaws. Pretty cool, and Pokemon surprisingly doesn't really have a whole ton of lava-themed Pokemon.
Mega Magcargo: ...and one of the few existing ones is Magcargo, whose shell has broken and it's became a really speedy-speedy boy... something that I could totally see them doing for Magcargo. I do like that it doesn't just revert into a Slugma-esque form, but still has a little ring of rocks around its neck and the little bursts of fire that now bursts from part of its slug-body. Of course, since it no longer has its rock shell, Mega Magcargo is a pure-Fire. That's a pretty cool concept!
Mega Donphan: That sure is an armoured Donphan. Basically they took Donphan's ridged spine armour and added a bunch of knight-esque parts to it. An interesting change to Donphan, even if I do think that they could've done a lot more to make a super-armoured Donphan.
Mega Miltank: Okay, I've never quite thought of Miltank's sphere-tipped tail as something you can emphasize for a mega evolution, but in addition to adding some extra black blotches and extending the horns, Miltank now has a giant flail tail that increases the effectiveness of repeat moves. The Whitney-Miltank-Rollout meme will not die, and I appreciate that most of all.
Mega Shiftry: It at least still kinda looks like a tengu? This one looks more like a regional variant than a strictly more powerful form of Shiftry, though. I guess he's got bigger arm-fans? Kind of indifferent about this one, to be honest.
Mega Cacturne: He becomes like a bounty hunter with a poncho, a scarf covering half his face... and a goddamn shotgun which I assume still shoots cactus needles. Cacturne's other arm becomes like two giant spikes, which is cool. I actually kind of like this one a lot, most mega Cacturnes I see tend to emphasize the creepy scarecrow aspect (which I wholeheartedly approve of) but this certainly feels pretty unique.
Mega Crawdaunt: Another one, that, like Feraligatr, is 'the same design, but a lot fiercer'. Sure, Mega Crawdaunt looks different! More spikes, an extra set of legs, spikier lobster hands, curvier star ornament, the blue part is frowning instead of smiling... but it could've done a bit more to be more recognizable as a super mode, y'know? Even swapping the pose a bit to emphasize the additions they made would've gone a lot.
Mega Milotic: Mega Milotic's one whose silhouette doesn't even change, but the simple colour changes to really highlight that this is a different form. I would've thought 'shiny' rather than 'mega evolution', but hey. I do like the pretty black-bordered rainbow lower half, and the way Mega Milotic's holding it like a fan, and the slight change on the red parts of Milotic's head to also be red all the way up to the horn is another way to make Mega Milotic look distinct from regular Milotic. This one's also Water/Fairy.
Mega Jirachi: I really like regular Jirachi and don't think it really needs to be changed, but making Jirachi's 'hat' turn into a full on star-shaped helmet and adding a bunch of extra tassels on him really does make for a pretty neat mega form. Not like, super-duper ideal, but I like this one a fair bit.
Mega Chatot: Oh, hey, Chatot's head becomes a different musical tone, a semi-quaver or something. And its wings becomes a personal keyboard. Kind of a neat direction to take Chatot in. I don't love this, but it's certainly a likable one.
Mega Spiritomb: Kind of expected, if I'm being honest, if you tell me of a 'Mega Spiritomb' this is exactly the sort of thing I would expect. Just Spiritomb, but bigger and larger. I like the addition of arms and a bunch of extra green orbs, although I'm surprised they didn't just go all the way and break the seal on Spiritomb's rock prison thing. I do like that they didn't quite go over-the-top and turn it into a full humanoid form or something.
Mega Froslass: Ehhhh. It's a lot Froslassier, I suppose, with a longer body and more jointed kimono-hands and some real hair. I dunno. It's a bit too cluttered for my tastes, I feel, and loses some of the simple charm that Froslass's regular design has. Insurgence has a second Mega Froslass design we'll cover later, and that's a far superior design IMO.
Mega Zebstrika: Oh, okay, he's a zebra deer. Sure. He's also a fairy. Also... sure. I guess he's meant to be a Santa Claus reindeer, perhaps, with those extra glitter running down its back? Again... sure. Not something I particularly like, but an interesting concept to give Zebstrika.
Mega Zoroark: Hooo boy, okay, they went all in with the Japanese spooky mask thing. Mega Zoroark's face has got a fox mask, and on her legs are some extra human-face masks. And she's on all fours with the fur really puffed up... she really looks like she could be an enemy from Bleach or something, and I mean it as a compliment. I wouldn't say I like this as a Zoroark super-mode, but it's actually a pretty decent monster design in and of its own.
Mega Gothitelle: Nnnnnnope. Mega Gothitelle is Psychic/Dark and is basically the same design but with a more humanized body and I say nope to that.
Mega Reuniclus: On the other hand I can get behind this. Regular Reuniclus is great in how cool it looks as a psionic monster even though it's adorable, but if Reuniclus would actually become threatening, this Invader Zim looking motherfucker piloting a giant jelly gundam suit with claws does work. Admittedly, though, we do lose a lot of the 'cell mitosis' theme with this form, though.
Mega Cryogonal: Okay! A pretty neat Mega Cryogonal. Basically add a bunch of extra spikes and details, and voila. Honestly, I'm not complaining at all, I actually like the grumpy bearded look of this angry floating ice-face.
Mega Haxorus: Y'know, I have to applaud them for not reverting to the obvious and adding huge wings and horns. No, Haxorus remains more or less the same, it just becomes green, gains a bunch of extra armour parts and now its tail is its own personal hand-held battle axe. I still prefer regular Haxorus, but I appreciate this one.
Mega Bisharp: Oh, this one is cool. Pawniard's a pawn, Bisharp's a bishop... but Mega Bisharp becomes a knight, with its lower body turning into a horse body and he becomes a centaur with a lance and shield. Very KnightChessmon, and very much preserves everything about Bisharp without going to over-the-top.
Mega Hydreigon: Okay, so Mega Hydreigon just gets two extra heads and actual lizard legs. I actually feel like this makes Mega Hydreigon more mundane, because part of what I found so cool about Hydreigon is its silhouette and the fact that it doesn't have actual legs and just tatters of fur/flesh that looks like legs. And sure, I'm sure this form has its fans, but I dunno. It's kind of what I expected from a Mega Hydreigon, similar to Mega Flygon and Mega Spiritomb up above, but at the same time I kinda wished they had done something more unexpected. Still a cool multi-headed dragon, if nothing else.
Mega Stunfisk: HAHAHA what? Insurgence has been pretty great at keeping the Megas actually pretty sensible as a 'super form', except for Stunfisk and I absolutely love that it's Stunfisk of all things that turns into some sort of bizarre eldritch being with floating hands, a curling weird flatworm body, a Minions eye beside its regular fish and random jagged claws. I love it. It's not even a flounder anymore, it's just... a flat thing. Certainly not something I ever see Pokemon doing for Stunfisk, but still.
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In the region of Torren, however, we have a gigantic influx of Delta Pokemon, all with brand-new sprites that's essentially the game's equivalent to regional variants. Which is awesome! Every single design is essentially assigned a brand-new type and the design itself is a bit changed from the Pokemon design we're used to. There is, and I stress, a LOT of these Delta Pokemon. Around more or less one-third of the first five generation's worth of Pokemon got a Delta variant of sorts, and that's not counting Delta Pokemon with mega evolutions. I'm going to cherry-pick a bunch of the designs -- the starters; some of the ones I remembered seeing in-game during my Insurgence run, and a bunch of assorted favourites before going into a bit of a deeper dive in a second (and maybe third) part of this).
Delta Charmander line
So here's an example of some of the Delta Pokemon. The starters for this game are delta versions of the Kanto starters, and... note that the general quality of the spriting does change a bit between some of the older designs and some of the ones added later on in Insurgence's development, but we're going to talk more about the general concept of these mutated/regional-variant creatures more than anything. Also, more importantly compared to the Megas, the Deltas actually have pokedex entries! The entire Delta Charmander line is Dragon/Ghost, and that's basically the idea of the Delta Species. They don't share any typing with their original inspiration, but keep the general silhouette and basic look of the species intact. I feel like that's such an interesting way to design variant Pokemon while also keeping them pretty similar to their original inspiration. That makes for a far, far more interesting thing compared to the Megas, because with the Megas it's like "how can we improve on the design and make a super-mode while still making it resemble its base form?"
For the Charmander line, making it part-Dragon is kind of obvious, but the Ghost part? Dracoliches are cool, but I feel like in these sprites, the Mega Charmeleon and Mega Charizard sprites are the ones where the designs start to really be cool. The dragon skull and the somewhat black-bleached bones are great, but I feel like my favourite feature has to be the front part of their torso and abdomen, where it's clearly inspired by a ribcage, but it also sort of opens sideways like a demonic mouth. Charizard's belly has a weird purple eye inside. I also do like the skeletal wings on Delta Charizard and the fact that it actually changed the design of its head-horns.
For the Charmander line, making it part-Dragon is kind of obvious, but the Ghost part? Dracoliches are cool, but I feel like in these sprites, the Mega Charmeleon and Mega Charizard sprites are the ones where the designs start to really be cool. The dragon skull and the somewhat black-bleached bones are great, but I feel like my favourite feature has to be the front part of their torso and abdomen, where it's clearly inspired by a ribcage, but it also sort of opens sideways like a demonic mouth. Charizard's belly has a weird purple eye inside. I also do like the skeletal wings on Delta Charizard and the fact that it actually changed the design of its head-horns.
A spooky dracolich-style undead skeletal dragon is kind of an obvious alternate-form for Charizard, but I won't deny how cool this is (and how this absolutely would never fly in official Pokemon). The Mega is pretty interesting, we get a somewhat wyvern-style body with only floating Haunter-style limbs, but for this design I do feel like it kinda makes sense a lot due to the whole 'ghost' vibe. Slightly cluttered for my liking, but that's admittedly not too far off from actual official Megas.
Delta Bulbasaur line
So there are apparently two sprite-sets for Delta Bulbasaur, showcasing its male and female form. If I'm not wrong, I believe the male sprite came first before it was revised to have the cuter-looking female one, and then they decided to keep the old sprite set anyway and turn it into a gender difference? The species is now Psychic/Fairy, and... admittedly the male one doesn't particularly look too psychic-y. Instead of a giant flower, Delta Bulbasaur's evolutions have giant purple crystals instead, which are apparently psychic crystals.
So there are apparently two sprite-sets for Delta Bulbasaur, showcasing its male and female form. If I'm not wrong, I believe the male sprite came first before it was revised to have the cuter-looking female one, and then they decided to keep the old sprite set anyway and turn it into a gender difference? The species is now Psychic/Fairy, and... admittedly the male one doesn't particularly look too psychic-y. Instead of a giant flower, Delta Bulbasaur's evolutions have giant purple crystals instead, which are apparently psychic crystals.
I'm honestly not sure which version I like better. I like both Bulbasaur equally -- the pink-and-green and pink-and-blue palettes are both very pleasing, but the final forms... I dunno. Normally I would've gravitated towards the more monstrous male form (the more organic-looking third eye is cooler in male Delta Venusaur for sure), but I do admit that the female one does deliver the 'fairy' aspect of things a lot more clearly even if I'm not 100% sure what's going on with the clouds. Both are pretty pleasing in their own way, although I will note that Female Delta Venusaur plays the role of a Psychic/Fairy creature more readily than the male one, which still feels like a Grass-type monster.
Delta Squirtle line
The Delta Squirtle line, meanwhile, are meant to be ninjas. Which... I don't particluarly see until we get to the final form, and even then I kinda find that it looks kind of like Bowser. Delta Squirtle's line is Dark/Fighting, which is kind of the expected typing you would give a ninja-themed Pokemon. What I do appreciate a lot, however, is how this fixes one of my personal pet peeves with the real Squirtle line, where Wartortle gets a bushy tail that just disappears when it evolves. Here Blastoise keeps the bushy tail and it even gets a lot more curled.
I do like the idea that Delta Blastoise's cannons have been modified to shoot giant ninja trap spikes. I'm not a huge fan of Delta Blastoise's weird hair-and-headband deal, but it's still pretty cool. Mega Delta Blastoise's got a pretty cool mask going on. Not my favourite Delta designs of the three starters, but not a bad one at all. A pretty interesting take for sure!
Delta Pawniard line
Delta Pawniard is Fighting/Flying? And... I'm not sure if it's supposed to still be a chess creature or not. It looks like an anime superhero if nothing else, with a scarf and winged helmet and everything, and the Mega Evolution (which is a counterpart to the Mega version of regular Bisharp that also shows up in the game) still goes for the Knight theme. I do like that Mega Delta Bisharp has a completely featureless and maybe-masked face. I kinda think that it's probably meant to be the 'heroic' counterpart to the Dark-type regular Pawniard and Bisharp, but I'm just kind of not sure. Keep in mind that these are some of the first Deltas to be added in the game, and I feel the Insurgence creators didn't settle into a comfortable aesthetic until later on.
Delta Ralts line
Ralts goes from Psychic/Fairy to... Electric/Ice? Okay, that's kind of an interesting mix, and one that, I think, is inspired on the very kickass colour palette they gave the line. The electric part is kind of subtle (other than on Gallade) and most of the icy part is in the little light-blue horns, and for the most part I feel that Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoir doesn't really change a whole ton. I do like how the dex incorporates Kirlia's whole dancer routine as a way for her to basically charge up the electricity powers, while the ice powers is just kind of a side-effect from her dancing, whereas Gardevoir's guardian-angel thing gets translated to Delta Gardevoir freezing everything around her to absolute zero... other than her trainer, which she keeps warm.
Not the biggest fan of Mega-Delta Gardevoir there, though she kinda looks like she could fit right at home in a Steven Universe scene. Gallade, I feel, gets the biggest glow-up out of the designs here. I've gone on record saying that I don't really think the most of regular Gallade's design and especially Mega Gallade, but this fan-made design gives him the electric parts and a bunch of cool Tron-esque lightsaber blades that, while a bit of an 'expected' trope similar to Delta Charizard above... is still hella cool and Delta Gallade is actually something I genuinely find to be pretty damn awesome. The entire line having a very pleasing colour palette also helps out.
Delta Koffing line
And here we go jumping back and forth between some of the Delta designs I find to be pretty cool. This isn't a 'best of' or 'my top favourites' thing because I need some material to work for the part 2 of this review series, but here we go with some examples of some of my favourite Delta designs. Delta Koffing becomes Electric/Flying instead of Poison-type, and it basically goes from being a smoke cloud into what's basically the drum of the Japanese thunder deities Raijin and Fujin, with those swirling patterns replacing Koffing's regular skull-and-crossbones bit. The smoke puffs gets changed to thunderclouds, too, which is neat. It gets even more evident with Delta Weezing, who straight-up has a drum instead of a second head. It's this sort of 'same design, different concept' that I really adore from Insurgence's deltas. Hell, they even worked in Koffing's explosiveness into this Delta variant, noting that its discharge of electricity is basically something that happens when it gets hit like a drum.
Delta Turtwig line
Oh, cute! Delta Turtwig goes from being a turtle with a bonsai garden that grows on its back into a sea turtle with an island on its back! A perfect twist since both are tropes from mythology involving turtles and things on their backs. Delta Turtwig and Grotle might look just a mite too mundane, but they're still very pleasing designs. And Delta Torterra has a full-on tropical island with an X-marks-the-spot pirate treasure on its little personal island. That's cute.
Delta Hoothoot line
Honestly, this is a regional variant that I could totally see happening in official Nintendo. If not with Hoothoot, then with Rowlet. Snowy owls are always a pretty cool animal, and it's a very easy design change to turn Hoothoot from a regular forest owl to a snow-themed owl and turning it into an Ice/Flying Pokemon. Changing the horns into being made out of ice is an obvious one, but still, a pretty simple-yet-awesome delta variant.
Delta Drifloon line
Okay, so Drifloon and Drifblim becomes a hot-air-balloon! That's kinda cute, and a very natural swerving of the concept of a sentient ghost balloon. Delta Drifloon is Fire/Flying but apparently still shares its regular counterpart's more mysterious behaviour, and is noted to be created by 'passionate spirits'. I personally think that Delta Drifblim actually having strings leading to a little basket feels like it's not quite 'organic' enough, so to speak, but the concept's still pretty fun.
Delta Tentacool line
Wait, what? Delta Tentacool and Tentacruel becomes a Grass/Poison toxic mushroom-and-vine monster that lives in swamps? What an awesome idea, and the concept that the Delta Tentacool being based on a mushroom allowing for the similar shape with regular Tentacool's helmeted head shape is a great one. Some great spriting artwork with the melting 'orbs' and the sides of the 'cap' on Tentacruel's sprite, too, and I really love adapting the jellyfish tentacles into a swarm of vines. Really do like the far more complex-looking Delta Tentacool silhouette, and the idea that this is no longer a jellyfish monster but a plant-fungus abomination that just resembles a jellyfish is an amazing one. Honestly, easily one of my straight-up favourite Deltas from this fan-game.
Delta Tangela lineSo Delta Tangela goes from being a mass of indistinct blue vines into a spiky tumbleweed. And since tumbleweeds aren't living plants anymore, it's a pure-Ground type. Very cool, but even cooler is the sprite! Look at those haunting dead eyes on Tangela nestled within its massive bramble vines and the two pale boots jutting out of it. Tangrowth still has the creepy black eyes, but the shape of the 'face' makes it a lot less creepier than Delta Tangela. I actually like Delta Tangrowth a lot more than regular Tangrowth, I must say, though. The addition of the Fighting type in Tangrowth also makes a whole lot of sense, it gained a lot of bulk and two giant vine-arms, it's a tumbleweed that can totally clobber you.
Delta Aipom line
A far more drastic departure but one that is clearly still inspired by the original are the Delta Aipoms. Now being typed as Normal/Ghost, Delta Aipom is reimagined as a ghostly monkey that's regular Aipom without the distinctive cheeky smile and the head being disconnected from the body... and the tail-arm being changed into a giant spectral arm. Ambipom, meanwhile, takes it a bit further and has it be suspended by the two giant spectral arms. Delta Ambipom is such a fucking cool silhouette, and the general look of those giant ghost-hands is just pretty damn cool.
Most of all, I had to look up an official artwork of Aipom and Ambipom to realize that they really didn't change the face design all that much (other than, y'know, detached head) but just changing the mouth into a single line makes a world of difference in making this ghost monkey so much more creepier. And just like Delta Charmander, I very much appreciate them still making it at least somewhat believable as a Pokemon instead of going over-the-top as an 'edgy dead ghost monster'.
Delta Wailmer line
Regular Wailmer and Wailord were always inspired by parade balloons and blimps, sort of... but never really had any part of its lore or behaviour be inspired by it other than its body shape and the weight. Not so for Delta Wailmer and Wailord, who are Ice/Flying creatures. Both Delta Wailmer and Delta Wailord fly in the sky, and they're also ice-types, hence the icy spikes jutting down from its lower body. It's like, some sort of floating cloud dropping icicles, huh?
Delta MaractusChanged from a maracas-waving desert cactus into a pure-Steel robot on a single wheel, I'm genuinely not sure just what about Delta Maractus really makes it stick out to me out of so many other Delta monsters. It's a very wild jump, going from 'cactus' to 'robot', but I just really like the pretty fun look of this futuristic robot on one wheel, and she even keeps regular Maractus's musical theme. Only instead of two maracas-arms, Delta Maractus is apparently a full band with its gears and motors; probably making dubsteb music.
Delta Snorunt line
Not the biggest fan of Delta Snorunt. It's a cute little volcano, but I don't like it a whole ton. Turning Glalie and Froslass into fire monsters, though... very awesome. Delta Glalie is Fire/Rock and it has swapped its ice armour for lava armour. Really love how it's dripping lava in its regular form, and Mega Glalie's ridiculous giant-mouth gimmick gets turned into Mega-Delta Glalie vomiting lava into a pool, which is hilarious. Delta Froslass isn't lava-based (and is pure-Fire), but just changing the shape of the kimono, having extra horns and having a head that trails off into fire makes Delta Froslass look really graceful, changing a fair bit while also keeping the general silhouette and most of the details in regular Froslass. I'm not 100% in love with Mega-Delta Froslass, but it's still kind of a neat design on its own. I certainly prefer it to the Mega regular Froslass in this fan-game for sure. Overall, I think the line's kind of a winner.
Delta Litwick lineCUTE! The Litwick line has always been my favourite thanks to its goth candle ghost aesthetic, but Delta Litwick is Fire/Fairy, and I really genuinely felt like in an alternate world where Chandelure debuted one generation earlier, this fantasy design straight out of Disney's Beauty and the Beast could definitely have been an actual Fire/Fairy design. I do really like how all of the major anatomy and silhouette of all three members of the line is similar to their canon counterparts, but they are just so much more bright and fancy, like they're part of a fairy-tale castle. And, of course, in an inverse of the cute-but-actually-malicious regular Litwick line, the Delta Litwick line instead uses its flames to guide people, purge nightmares from children and use their magic flames to cure its trainer's body. A very fun little twist on the Litwick line's design!
Delta Amaura lineA cutie! Delta Amaura goes from being an amargasaurus into a Grass/Water plesiosaur with a cute little tropical island attached to its back. I also love that Delta Aurorus's aurora-themed frills gets turned to resemble some sort of chunky seaweed, and I like that a fair bit.
Delta Pidgey line
Another cool alternate form, the Delta Pidgey line gets reimagined as a cockatrice, complete with the ability to petrify foes. Delta PIdgey's line is imagined as a Dark/Dragon creature, and I do really like just how much of the regular Pidgey line's anatomy they kept around while also using different colours (the brown/black/orange combo is great here) to highlight that this is not your average Pidgeotto. And, being a cockatrice, of course it has a snake tail. The Delta Pidgeot does admittedly look a bit too much like a chicken with its shorter plumage, but since cockatrices are explicitly chicken-snake dragons, that's certainly intended. And then we get Mega Delta Pidgeot, which does look pretty badass with that massive snake tail even if the design arguably doesn't change a whole ton. A fun variant!
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