Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Revealed

 

Oh my gosh! The Pokemon Company just revealed the generation nine games and they look freaking amazing! I was not expecting this. So this morning The Pokemon Company had a surprise direct which revealed a slew of Pokemon content including Legends Arceus DLC, Pokemon GO updates, etc. but the most interesting reveal was the reveal of the new mainline Pokemon games; Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. The trailer started with a live action scene of a detective exploring an abandoned building. His exploration leads him to a bedroom that looks out of time featuring trinkets and decorations one would see in an treasure hunting movie. The television in the room glows and the detective is hit with a vision of a sprawling Pokemon world.

Pokemon fans have been speculating that the new region may be based on Spain or Portugal, or a combination of the two. We see expansive landscapes with Pokemon roaming the world like in Pokemon Legends Arceus and glimpses of a couple of new mons like a towering stone pillar Pokemon. We also get a brief look at the new trainer design. It looks like Pokemon Legends Arceus was just a preview as the open world environment in Scarlet and Violet looks in the same vein as Arceus. Hopefully, we can see the catching, exploration, and battle mechanics improved here. The end shot also brought us our very first look at the new starters. We have Sprigatito, the grass cat Pokemon, Fuecoco, the fire crocodile, and Quaxly, a water duckling.

The new starters Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly

This fire Pokemon is particularly interesting because fans for decades now have been speculating that the fire starters are all based on the Japanese zodiac. Charamander is the Dragon, Cyndaquil is the Rat, Chikorita is the Chicken, Chimchar is the Monkey, Tepig is the Pig, Fennekin is the dog, Litten is the Tiger, and Scorbunny is the Rabbit. With Fuecoco he doesn't fit anywhere. The only zodiac animals left are the Ox, the Horse, the Snake and the Sheep. This breaks what many thought was a pattern unless Fuecoco's evolutions has him turning into one of those other animals which is unlikely. Still, this is an exciting moment for Pokemon fans. This marks the second time the series has had an alligator starter since Totodile back in Gold, Silver, and Crystal and this is the third crocodile line with the last one being the Sandile line in Gen 5.

We just had Pokemon Legends Arceus release in January to positive results and at the end of this year we'll be experiencing the new generation of Pokemon with Scarlet and Violet. What an amazing Pokemon Day this year. Who will you be picking as your starter and are you excited for the return of the open-world structure of Legends? Let me know in the comments below.