Pokemon evolution ranges from the boring to the ridiculous. For most Pokemon, it's boring, but there's nothing wrong with that. You get a Pokemon to a certain level, they turn into a better Pokemon – it's a very simple progression loop. Even back in the very first game though, there were other methods involved. Four Pokemon would only evolve when traded back in Red & Blue, while the evolutionary stones were also in use. In fact, two of the most famous Pokemon in Kanto, Eevee and Pikachu, both use evolutionary stones, although Pikachu will not accept it in Pokemon Yellow and will instead remain a Pikachu for all its days. Throughout all of the ups and downs though, there has remained something special about Wurmple's evolution, and we need to see more like it in the future.
Wurmple is one of the early Bug fodder Pokemon in Gen 3. They fill the role of Weedle and Caterpie, which is likely why Wurmple looks like Weedle and Caterpie mixed together and then dyed red. There isn't too much special to them on the surface, and if you're a casual player, you might not notice anything interesting at all. At level 7 they evolve into Silcoon, and then at level 10 they evolve again into Beautifly. Nothing to it. Except at level 7 they can also evolve into Cascoon, which means at level 10 they will evolve into Dustox. What Wurmple evolves into is determined by its personality, which is fixed (and therefore cannot be manipulated by the player). While you can check the personality to know for sure, knowing the result doesn't change it, so Wurmple's evolution is essentially random.
It's not entirely unique in having two evolutions. When Tyrogue was introduced as a baby Pokemon, it connected the previous unconnected Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, as well as introducing a third possibility, Hitmontop. However, in Tyrogue's case it felt a little back to front. While the Hitmon 'mon were clearly thematically related as humanoid Fighting types, and in Saffron City you must choose between the two to select as a battle prize, they were not physically related, so patching them together later feels out of place – especially with the further complication of adding in a third evolutionary option.
Applin will evolve into either Flapple or Appletun depending on which evolutionary apple it gets, but as each apple is locked to either Sword & Shield, the choice is essentially made for you. Cosmoem's final evolution is similarly version locked, without even the filgree of an apple. A couple evolve by gender. All of the other Pokemon (bar one, which we'll get to below) with branched evolutions are similar to Applin in that their evolution depends on which item you give them to interact with, although at least in those cases you have the chance to make the choice yourself.
The odd one out along with Wurmple is Toxel, who will evolve into different forms for Toxricity depending on its personality. However, these forms have purely aesthetic differences rather than anything to do with their stats. It shows that Wurmple's gimmick hasn't been forgotten, and it's enough to make Toxtricity one of my favourite Gen 8 Pokemon, but I'd like to see this random chance embraced more. Pokemon game playthroughs differ entirely based on your team, which is why I wrote a whole article on building different sorts of teams to keep things entertaining. Having a Pokemon who evolves dependent from your choices introduces a sense of random chaos that would keep you on your toes. If it happens with a starter then that's even better, because you'd be forced to embrace the chaos.
Pokemon evolutions have only gotten more convoluted and, frankly, stupid. Wurmple offers a route, if not back to basics, then back to when the gimmicks were fun and interesting and didn't rely on biking underneath a particular rock in the rain after taking damage in battle on a Wednesday after a particularly crispy piece of back while you hop on one leg and count backwards from 17 in French.
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