ellis123 posted...
Same Gen, sure, but not the same game so it wasn't really "out of the box" for anyone who played during that Gen.
I still wouldn't count it though, since those forms were clearly designed
alongside
their originals while that gen was being created. It's not the same as a new evolution or form being designed separately from the originals and added later on. While Gamefreak were designing Magmar for gen 1, I strongly doubt they were thinking what its evolution would look like in gen 4. While they were designing Ampharos for gen 2, I strongly doubt they were thinking about a mega evolution coming in gen 6. But while they were designing Shaymin for gen 4, they were clearly creating both of its forms at the same time and basing them off each other at the conceptual level. Likewise with Diancie and its mega evolution in gen 6. That's the difference IMO.