The Pokémon Gimmick Scarlet & Violet Should Have Instead Of Terastallizing

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet should have a better regional gimmick than Terastallization, and rumors point to the best candidate. Sadly, however, it would appear that Gen 9 is locked into Terastallizing barring any groundbreaking announcement from the developer. Pokémon SV are set to release on November 18, so it shouldn’t be long before players experience Terastallization first-hand and decide for themselves whether it’s the best regional gimmick they could have had.

Ever since Gen 6, there’s been some form of regional transformation gimmick in every generation of Pokémon games. Gen 9’s gimmick is Terastallization, which will see Pokémon change their Types, gain a crystalline coating, and wear large crowns upon their heads. This is also called the Terastal Phenomenon in-game, and its cause is not known. Presumably, it will be explored and explained as the games’ story progresses. The gimmick also comes with special battles similar to Sword and Shield‘s Max Raid Battles, called Tera Raid Battles, wherein they will battle a Terastallized Pokémon four-on-one, but will not have to wait for the other Trainers to take their turns before launching their next attack.

In addition to Terastallization, there are also rumors of other alternate Pokémon forms, albeit more permanent ones – Paradox Forms and Convergent Species. These have not been confirmed yet, but they have been frequently mentioned by prominent leakers such as Centro LEAKS on Twitter, who has proven credible in the past. Also called Regional Fakes, these could change Pokémon SV and indeed the rest of the series. Paradox Forms in particular could have been a much better gimmick, and will hopefully turn out to be more than just rumors.

Paradox Forms Would Be A Better Gimmick For Pokémon SV

Some of Pokémon‘s regional gimmicks have been fan-favorites, but Terastallization has so far not enjoyed the same popularity, and it’s not hard to see why. The change is very minimal, and the over-sized crowns that the Pokémon gain look more than a little ridiculous. In addition, while changing Type mid-battle has its advantages, it’s tame compared to the extra power provided by Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, and Dynamax or Gigantamax transformations as well as the moves that come with them. Terastallizing feels very underwhelming overall when compared to past gimmicks, and doesn’t seem to fit with Scarlet and Violet‘s themes.

Instead of Terastallizing, some of the rumored new Pokémon forms for Scarlet and Violet could provide a better gimmick. Paradox Forms are rumored to be new forms of existing Pokémon, ones with their own Types, names, and Pokédex numbers. Despite their lack of confirmation, they already sound like they could have been a much better gimmick than Terastallization. Pokémon taking on new forms based on their past and future versions would work much better with Pokémon SV‘s time themes than a seemingly-unrelated crystal coating, and harken back to the most popular gimmick to date, Mega Evolution. As a temporary battle mechanic, Paradox Forms would be close enough to it to be exciting, but different enough to still be unique.

If Paradox Forms were the regional battle gimmick instead of new alternate forms of Pokémon – as they’re rumored to be at the moment – then they would also free up slots for regional variants for Pokémon that deserve them, and the rumored Convergent Species. In addition, not needing to make separate models for every Pokémon could save a great deal of file space that can go towards other features and areas of the games. Using Terastallizing instead of Paradox Forms for the regional gimmick feels like a missed opportunity for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but hopefully their other aspects make up for it.

Want more Pokémon Scarlet & Violet artciles? Chech out our essential content below…

• Everything We Know About Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s New Starters
• Pokémon That Deserve Scarlet & Violet Regional Variants In Gen 9
• All New Pokémon Shown In Scarlet & Violet’s Second Trailer
• Everything We Know About Pokémon SV’s New Legendaries
• Biggest Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Leaks & Rumors