Pokemon Legends: Arceus Introduces Yet Another Pokemon With A Messed-Up Backstory

A Pokemon game wouldn't be complete without it sticking to elements that have made the franchise a household name for more than two decades: exploring a strange new land, battling a nefarious organization that plans to use Pokemon for world domination, and of course, discovering Pokemon that have absolutely horrifying origin stories.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus has a prime example of that last point, as the ancient Sinnoh region--known as the Hisui region in this game--features a Basculin which has succumbed to the influence of its dead comrades and evolved into a much more ferocious form called Basculegion.

"Basculin in the Hisui region can evolve into this Pokémon," Nintendo's official Basculegion synopsis reads. "This evolution occurs when a Basculin is possessed by the souls of other Basculin from its school that could not withstand the harsh journey upstream. Basculegion fights together with these souls, which attack opponents as if with a will of their own. This Pokémon gains power from the souls possessing it, letting it swim on and on without tiring."

Besides having a terrific design, Basculegion's name is likely a reference to the Gospel of Mark from Christian texts, in which a man is possessed by multiple demons and takes on the collective name of Legion. It's also possible that Basculegion draws inspiration from salmon and their upstream migration that is fraught with peril, predators, and a high mortality rate.

For a less terrifying version of Basculegion, Pokemon Sun and Moon introduced Wishiwashi, a small Water-type Pokemon that could use its Schooling ability to call on its brethren to undergo a more powerful transformation. It's worth noting though that Wishiwashi comes from a Pokemon generation that includes a sentient sandcastle that abducts children, as well as a giant spider that drowns its prey in the water bubble around its head.

A demonically-possessed fish is at this point normal for Pokemon games and its menagerie which includes the zombified husk known as Parasect, the sentient tree stump Phantump that's possessed by the ghost of a dead child, and Spoink being tragically cursed to bounce for the rest of its life if it wants its heart to keep beating.

Other than introducing twisted new supernatural takes on its pocket monsters, Pokemon Legends: Arceus looks set to shake up its catch 'em all formula in several ways, as we learned during the Pokemon Presents for August. To find out just how different this game is from other entries in the Game Freak series, you can check out our story on the latest Pokemon Legends: Arceus trailer, everything that we know about the game, and our Pokemon Legends: Arceus preorder guide.