Primal Reversion
- Primal redirects here. For the Pokémon from Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, see Primal Dialga.
Primal Reversion (Japanese: ゲンシカイキ Primal Regression) is an ancient transformation affecting Pokémon that debuted in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Pokémon that have undergone Primal Reversion are distinguished by the word "Primal" in front of their species name. Primal Reversion is said to restore a Pokémon's true powers as the Pokémon absorbs the energy of nature to greatly increase its power.
Gameplay
In battle
In order to undergo Primal Reversion, a Pokémon only needs to be holding the appropriate orb. Like Mega Stones, orbs cannot be removed during battle if held by the appropriate Pokémon. Unlike Mega Evolution, however, the player does not need a Key Stone or have to manually trigger Primal Reversion; it will simply happen automatically after the Pokémon enters battle and after any entry hazards take effect, but before the activation of weather-changing Abilities.
In a Rotation Battle, the Pokémon will only undergo Primal Reversion if it is sent out in the primary position; the Primal Reversion will not activate if the Pokémon is sent out in a secondary position at the start of the battle and then rotated to the primary position. Also, unlike Mega Evolution and Ultra Burst, there is no limit to the number of times a Primal Reversion may be performed per battle.
Pokémon capable of Primal Reversion
| Pokémon | Before Primal Reversion | After Primal Reversion | Orb | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Type | Ability | Image | Type | Ability | ||
| Kyogre | 
|
Water | Drizzle | 
|
Water | Primordial Sea |  Blue Orb |
| Groudon | 
|
Ground | Drought | 
|
Ground Fire | Desolate Land |  Red Orb |
In the anime
In the main series
Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre both appeared in Mega Evolution Special III, where they had a clash with one another off the coast of Rustboro City. Alain and Steven attempted to fight the ancient Pokémon with their Mega Charizard X and Mega Metagross, but they were soon overpowered. Soon after, Mega Rayquaza appeared, battled, and eventually managed to defeat the two Primal Pokémon, causing them to return to their regular forms.
Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre also appeared in Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, where they were summoned and controlled by Hoopa Unbound along with the creation trio and Kyurem to attack Ash, Pikachu, Hoopa Confined, Shiny Rayquaza, and the Eon duo in Dahara City.
In Pokémon Generations
Primal Groudon appeared in Courtney's vision in The Vision. She imagined it attacking Maxie, Tabitha, and the rest of Team Magma, but this did not deter her from her Team's plans for long.
Primal Kyogre appeared in The Cavern. Despite Shelly's insistence not to, Archie awakened it in the Seafloor Cavern. It proceeded to cause destruction across Hoenn, eventually attacking Archie and Shelly.
In the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Animated Trailer
Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre both appeared in the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Animated Trailer.
In the manga
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
In the Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire arc, Archie and Maxie used the Red and Blue Orbs to transform Groudon and Kyogre into their Primal forms in order to help save the world from the giant meteoroid headed for the planet. After some training at the Meteor Falls, both Primal Pokémon managed to master their special moves; Precipice Blades and Origin Pulse, respectively. However, both ancient Pokémon, even when assisted by Rayquaza, completely exhausted themselves while destroying a large piece of the meteoroid falling before the main body, causing them to revert to their regular forms.
In the TCG
Primal Reversion were brought into the Trading Card Game with the release of Primal Clash (Gaia Volcano • Tidal Storm in Japan). Primal Reversion is an extension of the Mega Pokémon-EX mechanic, evolving from the long-standing Pokémon-EX. The only Primal Pokémon-EX are the Primal Kyogre-EX and Primal Groudon-EX cards from Primal Clash and Ancient Origins. Although not exclusive to the mechanic, each Primal Reversion Pokémon features a new card effect named Ancient Trait, providing an additional effect for each card. The Ancient Origins prints feature the shiny versions of the Pokémon, and replaces the original Ancient Traits with θ Max, but are otherwise identical to the Primal Clash cards.
| Related cards Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card | Type | English Expansion |
Rarity | # | Japanese Expansion |
Rarity | # |
Primal Kyogre
|
|
Primal Clash | 
|
55/160 | Tidal Storm | 
|
032/070 |
| Primal Clash | 
|
149/160 | Tidal Storm | 
|
073/070 | ||
| Primal Groudon
|
|
Primal Clash |
|
86/160 | Gaia Volcano |
|
040/070 |
| Primal Clash |
|
151/160 | Gaia Volcano |
|
074/070 | ||
In other languages
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Primal Kyogre
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Primal Groudon
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