What Really Happens When You Stop a Pokémon From Evolving?

As a hardcore Pokémon gaming fan, I live for those exciting moments when your Pokémon begins to glow, signaling the start of an evolution. But in the heat of the action, it‘s easy to accidentally press B and halt this magical process dead in its tracks!

If this has ever happened to you, no doubt you were left wondering: now what? Did I just screw everything up? Can my Pokémon still transform into its final form?

Not to worry – I‘ve got you covered. After an interrupted evolution mishap, most trainers are left with some burning questions. As a longtime Pokémon expert, I‘m breaking down exactly what goes on behind the scenes when you stop an evolution, as well as tips for getting your Pokémon back on track to realize their full potential!

Hitting B Just Pauses Evolution…For Now

First and foremost, accidentally pressing B during an evolution does NOT prevent your Pokémon from evolving permanently. I know this shocking interruption leaves you panicking about possible long-term issues, but fortunately no lasting harm is done.

Here‘s what‘s happening mechanics-wise when you cut an evolution short:

• Any level gains from the evolution attempt are preserved
• Your Pokémon retains the form they were in pre-evolution
• The actual evolution event is paused until additional leveling up occurs

So technically, you‘ve only temporarily postponed your Pokémon‘s transformation to their next stage. With a little more grinding, you can pick up right where you left off!

Strategic Evolution Interference – Yes, It‘s a Thing!

Now, you might be wondering – if halted evolutions are so harmless, why are they even an option?

Well, even though stopping an evolution accidentally is mostly annoying, expert players sometimes do it intentionally for strategic reasons!

Evolving too early or overshooting on leveling can actually be detrimental in some cases. Specific circumstances where you might want to press B include:

• Temporarily blocking evolution to learn certain moves impossible in the next stage
• Sparing yourself from dealing with immediate stat changes or tricky new evolution conditions
• Manipulating Effort Value (EV) training for competitive battles
• Preventing sudden overleveling that could make your playthrough overly easy

So in the right scenarios, briefly postponing evolution via interruption can be leveraged as an advanced technique. But most casual players need not worry about this finesse!

Accidents vs Everstones – Know the Difference!

When an evolution gets halted, another common question is – wait, how is this different from using an Everstone?

Excellent query! Everstones and accidental B button presses might seem functionally similar, but some key differences exist:

So in summary – an Everstone enables you to consciously control your Pokémon‘s growth rather than evolving automatically, whereas accidental stops are just random unlucky input errors. No big deal, as long as you have Potions in your Bag for stress relief!

Trying Again Later: Recap of What Happens Post-Interruption

After a halted evolution ordeal, you likely just want some reassurance that your Pokémon can still progress as expected. Not to worry – the next section is all about what happens when you attempt to evolve them again later!

The key things to remember are:

• Your Pokémon keeps its new form – After having evolution interrupted, your Pokémon remains in its base stage form rather than transforming
• Level gains are retained – Any exp/stat increases from the failed trigger remain intact
• Resume evolution normally – Simply gain additional exp through battles until the next automatic evolution prompt
• Progress picks up where you left off – The entire pre-evolution process doesn‘t have to repeat!

See? No lasting harm done at all. Just a later-than-expected transformation once you level up far enough to try initiating evolution again!

Now that you understand interrupted evolutions won‘t ruin your Pokémon permanently, let‘s explore some even more complex evolutionary chains…

Who Has the Most Evolution Stages? Meet Burmy!

Eevee usually hogs the spotlight when it comes to branched evolution lines. But did you know the humble bug Burmy can progress through a whopping four possible upgrade paths?

Here‘s a quick overview of this often-overlooked Pokémon‘s impressive evolutionary options:

• Male Burmy → Mothim (100% of the time)
• Female Burmy → Wormadam (retains current cloak type post-evolution)
  • Plant Cloak
    • Bug/Grass typing
    • Enhanced defensive abilities
  • Sandy Cloak
    • Bug/Ground typing
    • Gets Sand Force ability
  • Trash Cloak
    • Bug/Steel Typing
    • Unique Wonder Guard ability

As you can see, successfully evolving your female Burmy depends heavily on careful planning around cloaks and desired type coverage! So for trainers seeking complex long-term projects, look no further than the super customizable bug.

Expanded Analysis: Charmander Evolution Power Level Fluctuations

To demonstrate evolution stages concretely, let‘s analyze how pausing evolution impacts strength over time using everyone‘s favorite lizard Charmander as an example:

As you can see, just comparing these base stats, voluntarily delaying evolution here is forfeiting up to an 74% power jump! No wonder impatient trainers are so quick to mash that A button for instant gratification.

However, by temporarily retaining his unevolved movepool and learning certain attacks earlier (such as Metal Claw), a delayed Charizard likely emerges slightly stronger long-term. Yet another example of how evolutions involve tricky tradeoffs!

Do Interrupted Evolutions Work Differently in Other Games?

So far we‘ve covered mechanics around halted evolutions primarily in the context of core series entries like Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

But do interruptions function the same way in mobile games like Pokémon GO or spinoff titles on Nintendo consoles?

After some research, I discovered evolution mechanics work mostly consistently regardless of platform. However, some minor differences exist:

• In Pokémon GO, evolution occurs all at once rather than through leveling. To retry, just fulfill the evolution conditions again.
• In Pokémon Snap, photography quality impacts whether evolution happens at all!
• The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series introduces Mega Evolution as a temporary form change.

Still, the core idea remains – interrupted evolutions just delay, rather than totally prevent, Pokémon progression. Huzzah!

Now I‘m curious – which Pokémon would you most not want to disrupt mid-transformation?

Devolution: Realistic or Pure Fantasy?

Historically, evolutions in Pokémon have mostly progressed linearly. Once a Pokémon transforms, there‘s no reverting back.

However, could Game Freak introduce mechanics for devolution in future titles? Certain lore already supports stage downgrades being possible. And hints exist suggesting old Pokémon may periodically revert to previous types and appearances.

I‘d speculate devolution has reasonable odds of entering the gameplay lexicon soon. Perhaps a new held item could trigger form reversion? Or special locations might alter Pokémon as in the Hisui region?

If undoing evolutions does get incorporated eventually, interrupted evolution failsafes would become even more valuable to hedge against drastic changes!

For now though, try not to lose too much sleep over hypothetical implementations. Stressing about speculative features is why I have more Grays than your average 25 year old…

Key Takeaways: Halting Evolutions Demystified!

We‘ve covered a ton of ground when it comes to stopped Pokémon evolutions, from mechanics overview to speculation about future titles. Let‘s recap the key need-to-know takeaways:

• Accidentally pressing B during evolution just temporarily pauses (not permanently blocks!) transformations
• With additional grinding, you can simply pick up where you left off later
• Savvy competitive players sometimes halt evolution intentionally for strategic optimization
• Using Everstones enables manual blocking of evolution entirely until they get removed
• Failproofing tricky evolution conditions eases confusion when leveling up organically
• Devolution gets rumors as a potential new feature, opening evolution revert options

Hopefully this comprehensive guide dispelled worries around botched evolution attempts! Now you can move forward feeling fully empowered take your Pokémon to their final form without other progression panic.

Let me know in the comments if you have any other evolution questions. I could talk Pokémon transformations for hours! Until next time, may your Pokémon realize their full potential at the perfect strategically optimized moment. Game on!