Implementing Ash-Greninja (Oh here we go again...)

@Zen there is a shiny sprite for it, it's on Serebii, it's just not obtainable in-game.

I suport, tho I feel that ash-greninja could be like greninja, and then at lvl 100 or somethin you can evolve it to Ash-gren or use a form changing item, somethin like a water shrikan or somethin and just make Ash gren a new form Also whats a custom sprite

TL;DR - I don't believe the main reasons against Ash-Greninja being a form change are really a major enough to make it so it should only be a CS/Costume. I mean, the inclusion of it isn't really forcing anyone to permanently own it. I personally think a form change that can be bought from the Tournament Prize Shop would be best. (I hate that I just wrote such a long thing for a frog I don't even like...)

So, I've been lurking around this thread for a while now, figured I should give my two cents. First of all, let me say, I love that Pokemon; how it looks, how it's ability is activated, its stats, its movepool, etc. So, needless to say, I would be absolutely thrilled to be able to add this beautiful critter in my farm. As has been mentioned by others, there are multiple ways it can be implemented. Let's address some: --Forme Changing Item-- I think the most obvious one, at least on surface value. Make an item (eg. a "Water Shuriken"), have it drop from boxes, add it to the Dex, maybe don't call it "Ash-Greninja" but instead "Greninja [Battle Bond Form]" or something of the sorts and Bob's your uncle, right? Well... unfortunately, no. Somebody has to draw the sprites. Thankfully an "official" (as in it exists in a core game's code) Shiny design exists, but the Albino and Melan ones yould have to be thought up. And with, on top of everything else (Holidays event, Specials' revamp, etc.), USUM having recently come out... you can probably see where the problem is. --Custom sprite-- A lot of people wouldn't get very excited over the idea of having to dex another mon (or potentially 4 rather). There is also the issue of Ash-Greninja being only non-shiny and male. Well, a CS can be fixed to be both non-shiny and male. Bonus, it has no additional dex entry. There is the problem of the distribution though. Again, there's probably a lot of stuff on the staff's hands right now, so an event would most likely be a somewhat tall order. It being sold at the Tournament Shop, like the UBs were, is a great suggetion to that. A code announced through the social media is another good one. Of cource, it's not without its problems either (although less, it's still extra work for the staff, plus it might feel a tad less satisfying to a lot of people -including yours trully- if it's not a transformation), but as far as options go, it seems to solve the problem without creating too many. Not that people that will still complain about it don't exist, but what can you do. Occupational hazards, I suppose... :'[ --Costume-- Not having used this feature myself, I can't say a lot about this, since I'm not sure how they work. Spcecificaly, I'm unclear how it avoids the problem of Specials, though I assume they have a check of sorts(?). There's also the problem of limiting it's sex to only male, but again, assuming there's a check, that seems a non-issue. A costume would also make it feel closer to a transformation too, in a way, so that's another plus in my books. -- To sum up, although personaly I would love for it to be a fully-fledged Forme, there's a bucketload of things in priority, rn. Plus, aparently there's way more people that I'd ever imagined that don't like it. That being said though, I'd definatly freak the HFIL out from excitement if at some point down the line this little fella comes our way. tl;dr: Support. However and whenever. Just 100% support.

I know I'm maybe not a fan of Ash-Greninja, nor am the thread's owner, but this idea is the best so far I've seen so allow me to bump this back up~ ;3

I feel like the "Ash Greninja being male" thing could solved by locking the forme change/evolution/whatever to males, like how female Combees and Salandit can evolve, but the males can't.

I'm bumping this thread up despite it being in the Rejected subforum. I firmly believe that the main post accurately describes how it's contradictory to not include Ash-Greninja in this game. And honestly, automatically moving further suggestions about Ash-Greninja to Rejected leaves a bad taste in my mouth. :( Emiya and several other people in this thread have presented solid arguments in favor of the inclusion of this Pokémon, while the counterarguments are, in my sincere opinion, less strong. People have also brainstormed about how Ash-Greninja could be implemented. Besides, Greninja is a #1 fan favorite Pokémon, according to a popularity poll. Greninja is also a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Adding Ash-Greninja to this game will satisfy a lot more players like me! Please take this suggestion into consideration again. And of course, feel free to come up with counterarguments. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about this!

I've discussed this with Niet and we decided that going the costume route would be the most feasible. Because of this, I'll be moving this to approved. However, please note that this won't be done immediately. Our artists do have other things to prioritize at the moment.

I would kiss you and Niet if I could. But I won't. I'm really happy! And it's totally understandable that it takes time — I really appreciate the artists' effort! I'm just really glad that it's at least approved ❤️ Edit: I would also like to ask: How will Ash-Greninja's stats be implemented with a Custom Sprite? Ash-Greninja gets a massive boost to its Attack, Special Attack and Speed stats.