Pokemon has introduced a lot of funky ways to evolve your 'mons over the years, ranging from standing in one very specific spot in a forest to get a Leafeon, or holding your system upside down to get a Malamar. They're usually pretty harmless and making the process of getting stronger Pokemon a little fun and unique in some circumstances, but I can almost guarantee there isn't a single soul out there that loves trade evolutions.
In a bid to try and get everyone to play with each other, Game Freak made it so certain Pokemon will only evolve into their strongest forms once they've been traded to another player. Gengar, Alakazam, Scizor, Steelix, Slowking and many more are all locked behind trading, and when you don't have anyone to trade with, these Pokemon are essentially inaccessible.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus came up with a rather clever way to get around this problem, as due to it being a strictly single-player game, it needed to come up with a different method of evolution due to the lack of trading. In stepped the Linking Cord, a consumable item that you could to evolve a Pokemon that would usually only evolve via trading....
