A feature of the 3-dimensional Pokemon games is that players can now be chased down by aggressive Pokemon in the wild. In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Game Freak put some power back in the players' hands by introducing stealth mechanics so that players could sneak up on Pokemon. However, Pokemon Legends: Arceus also added alpha Pokemon.
Alpha Pokemon are a new type of Pokemon that are the largest members of their respective species. They are also identifiable by their glowing red eyes and their aggressive nature; when a player enters an alpha's line of sight, the alpha will relentlessly chase them down. Though there are methods for catching alphas in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, they can still be formidable opponents.
One player found out the dangers of alpha Pokemon while peacefully riding their Wyrdeer through the wild. As a clip of the encounter shows, Reddit user dia_ise was venturing through some trees when an alpha Clefable suddenly appeared to their left; this particular Clefable was massive, looking as though it had eaten plenty of moonstones used to evolve Clefairy in Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
Though it was unclear what attack the Clefable used, it managed to knock dia_ise off of their mount. It looked as though dia_ise was confused at first, but after turning to see a massive pink blob with red eyes sprinting towards them, they quickly realized they were in deep trouble. Reddit users were both terrified and impressed by the alpha, pointing out its calculated movement and speed. One Reddit user compared the movement to an NFL linebacker, while another pointed out the Clefable predicted dia_ise's movement before they had even recovered from the attack. The attack also left others wondering how such a monster could have evolved from Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Cleffa, which is a much cuter Pokemon.
Along with its open world features and changes to how players can hunt and catch Pokemon, alpha Pokemon were an incredible addition to the game. Not only is encountering alphas a unique experience due to their heightened power and aggressive nature, but they are also larger and rarer than other Pokemon. Due to how rare some of them can be, such as Pokemon Legends Arceus' alpha Rufflet, their inclusion has actually changed shiny hunting due to alphas being able to spawn in shiny forms.
Along with other benefits that alpha Pokemon bring, dia_ise's clip captures the funniest benefit: Pokemon that will catch the player instead of being caught themselves. Alphas can be absolutely terror-inducing in the wild, and as such clips of players being chased down by them are a byproduct of alpha's creation. However, alphas are just one of many changes made by the game, so for those that wish to learn more, they can jump in to the Hisuian wilds and get chased around by other scary Pokemon.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is available now for the Nintendo Switch.