We all love Gym Leaders, but the standard Pokemon Gym format is the biggest thing holding the series back. It looked like Game Freak was finally ready to shake things up when Sun & Moon traded gyms for island challenges, but Sword & Shield went straight back to the standard format of fighting Gym Leaders and collecting badges. Earlier this year, Pokemon Legends: Arceus completely removed gyms and replaced them with Noble Pokemon boss fights, but it’s clear from the trailers that Scarlet & Violet will have some sort of traditional gym system. It’s time to reinvent the way Pokemon Gyms work, and the best way to do that is to give each gym a second type.
I think I speak for everyone when I saw that we never have to see another Flying-type Gym full of Bird Keepers with Level 10 Pidgeys. We’ve seen every possible theme for a Pokemon Gym that repeats ad nauseum, and while Game Freak still manages to create new fan-favorite Gym Leaders every now and then, the gyms themselves have stalled. The introduction of dual-type gyms would not only help keep things interesting, it would open the door to new themes, better world building, and more dynamic difficulty levels.
Game Freak will never make Pokemon games difficult, but dual-type gyms would provide a unique opportunity to scale the difficulty through the game in a more interesting way than simply leveling up the leader’s Pokemon. Early gyms can have Dual types with a wide range of weaknesses so that players can overcome them more easily. A Bug/Grass or Rock/Ground gym would be great for the first challenge, as both combos share major weaknesses and have relatively few resistances. Other dual types such as Grass/Dark, Ice/Rock and Psychic/Grass are considered the weakest and good options for early Gyms.
Later on, dual-types can be a real problem for unprepared players. Combos like Water/Electric, Flying/Steel and Poison/Dark are considered some of the hardest dual-types to overcome, as one of their types can negate the weaknesses of the other. Gyms with difficult dual types would encourage players to find counters, or force them to level too much if they don’t want to adapt. Dual-type gyms can add some complexity to the Pokemon games without making them too difficult. Just having both types in one gym, even if the Pokemon aren’t necessarily dual-type, would make them more challenging.
Dual types would also create opportunities for unique themes for the gyms themselves. Many combinations of types have a stronger identity than categories of one type, and it would be nice to see Game Freak play with the personality of those two types, both in the gym design and through the gym leader. A Water/Poison Gym could also serve as the city’s waste management center. While navigating pipes and manholes in this underground gym, players must solve puzzles by turning water faucets on and off. A Grass/Ghost gym can be an open-air gym themed on a haunted forest maze. An Electric/Steel gym could take place on a high-speed train that runs between cities. There are as many possibilities as there are type combinations, and you only need one or two actual dual-type Pokemon that match the theme for it to work.
I like it when Pokemon Gyms are connected to the cities they’re built in, rather than standing out as a bizarre tourist attraction. Originally built into the base of a volcano, the Cinnabar Gym is the perfect example but is largely underused. Dual-type gyms would open up Pokemon for more opportunities to work out the cities and avoid the tired tropics that the series has lazily followed for so long. Dual-type gyms are the refreshment that the Pokemon series needs, and there really aren’t any downsides to resizing in this light-yet-powerful way.
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