10 Pokémon That NEED Evolutions

A fair few Pokémon here have faded away into the background against the near thousand strong roster the game boasts these days, but Sandslash is definitely not one of those. It’s popularity is perhaps a little inflated by the Gen I nostalgia, but nonetheless it remains a big favourite among swathes of trainers.

However, there’s something a little bit missing with its design. It feels more comparable to Watortle, Grovyle or Monferno than it does Blastoise, Sceptile or Infernape: it’s a middle stage Pokémon through and through. Sandshrew is adorable, and Sandslash straddles the gap between cute and tough, but then there’s no pay off.

The Alolan version tried to rectify this, with the icicle spines much bigger and more threatening than the sharp scales of the original version, but that only compounds the issue; it was clearly chosen for an Alolan evolution because of its popularity. The best reward it can be given for such longevity is to finally get that third stage evo it deserves.

It’s more likely that Mega Sandslash is as close as it will get, but for all Megas are cool, they don’t really compare to a completely new creature.