Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Top 10 Generation 9 Reveals

Even with Legends: Arceus having very recently injected newfound confidence in the future of mainline Pokémon, the 9th generation of games have been announced in the form of Scarlet and Violet. It’s all coming at a fast pace, and fans will be hoping for steady improvements after the possibilities that Legends opened up.

The reveal trailer for the upcoming games already showed some promise and elements that could carry over from the franchise’s most recent release. This first trailer is most of what fans have to go on for now, but there are several big revelations for the 9th gen from Pokémon Day.

Starter Pokémon

The mainline Pokémon games have amassed great starter creatures, and the new starter trio for Scarlet and Violet looks promising already, from a design perspective. They have the potential to be one of the franchise’s most consistent starters if they capitalize off the goodwill they’ve already built with fans since the reveal.

The Grass-Type Sprigatito, Fire-Type Fuecoco, and the Water-Type Quaxly all have sweet and endearing character styling, with fans almost equally raving about each of the three. It’s a rare feat to achieve among such a massive fan base, so many will hope they keep that charming consistency and creativity in the second and third stages.

A Continuous Open-World Setting

Legends: Arceus gave the games a much-needed reinvigoration by expanding the Pokémon formula into a (semi) open-world format. The game took some tasteful cues from games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in regards to how environments are traversed and interacted with, and from Monster Hunter for how the world is broken up into separate zones, along with a central hub town.

It’s one of the features from Legends that needs to return in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but it looks like it will not only return, but expand. The games’ official site later clarified that the new region will be one large, seamless open world.

Legends: Arceus Is The Foundation Going Forward

There was plenty of speculation behind the long-awaited reveal of Legends: Arceus and more importantly, what they represent for the gaming side of the franchise. There were some worries that this was a one-off endeavor, while others thought that this would be the start of a new branching mainline series.

But given the announcement of Scarlet and Violet, it appears it could be a combination of the latter plus leaving impressions for entirely new generations. It’s more than welcome, of course, as many fans have been waiting for the day Game Freak became more ambitious with this IP, and there’s no better game to use as a foundation for the future.

Region Inspired By Spain

One of the best things about the Pokémon games’ art direction is how each region is inspired by real-world cities and countries. It’s become a tradition for the mainline series, with Kanto and Johto being inspired by their Japanese namesakes, Kalos by France, Unova by New York City, Alola by Hawaii, and so on.

With the landscape shots that the Scarlet and Violet reveal trailer showed, it appears the region is influenced by Spain. This would explain the Spanish play-on-words in Sprigatito and Feucoco’s names, and the various Spain-inspired landmarks in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Late 2022 Release Date

The release date reveal is expected, exciting, and worrisome all at once for some fans. For several years now, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company have stuck to tight worldwide releases for their games.

This has obvious pros and cons, as this means consistent content in some capacity annually, but it’s made some of their games suffer in response. The late (presumably holiday) 2022 timing for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a double-edged sword, so many fans will surely be hoping that it capitalizes off Legends: Arceus‘ success and strengths.

Modest Graphical Improvements To Environments

As great as Legends: Arceus was for revamping the series’ gameplay loop and breaking tired tropes and conventions, it notably lacked in the graphical department. The art style and the lighting were enough for most players to look past it while playing, but the environments specifically looked rough around the edges for a 2022 game — even on Nintendo Switch.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s reveal trailer shows there’s still work to be done, but there have also been some noticeable improvements made. They may be modest, but the art direction and lighting for these games look to be promising for more vibrant locations.

Modest Improvements To Pokémon Textures

Along with improvements to environmental visuals, the Pokémon models themselves have been noticeably touched up as well. They’re arguably the most important parts of these games in terms of what needs to look appealing, and the textures for the species shown in the trailer have gotten more detailed.

Legends: Arceus tried for a pseudo-cell shading art style that made the Pokémon have a shiny plastic look to them, while Scarlet and Violet make them look more realistic while maintaining a stylized anime appearance. Highlights include the scales on Seviper and the fur on Lucario, with the improved lighting adding a nice finishing touch.

Pokémon Wandering All Over The Region

Also carrying over from Legends is how physically present the Pokémon of this world will be in Scarlet and Violet. In the former, these creatures were in the central hub of Jubilife City in a limited capacity and, naturally, wandered all over the game’s five zones.

However, since the 9th generation games will have a seamless and “borderless” open world, players will be able to see Pokémon in practically every environment in the region. Should more animations and interactions be programmed into their AI, this could be a great step up for immersion.

Focusing Again On Battling

On the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet official page, it was confirmed that these games would go back to leaning on battling in gameplay. Capturing wild species will always be one of the main pillars of the mainline games, but Legends: Arceus focused on it to a particularly high degree.

Its setting and premise made a good excuse for it, as its feudal-Sinnoh region of Hisui took place at a time in history when the relationship between people and Pokémon was cautious and uncertain. With the upcoming games going back to the present, capturing vs. battling will resemble a balance similar to older main games.

More Character Customization

Since Pokémon X and Y on the Nintendo 3DS, more emphasis has been placed on player character customization. It’s been admittedly limited, with each game adding relatively moderate amounts of options. Unsurprisingly, Scarlet and Violet will have this feature return, and the default wardrobe for the protagonists will vary depending on which version fans play.

On top of this, of course, fans will hope that more unique additions will be made to the character’s appearance and wardrobe options. With Legends now under Game Freak’s belt, Scarlet and Violet could be a chance to make each fans’ character feel more personal.

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