The Pokémon Company recently announced and released a new trailer for the next generation of Pokémon games, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. They dropped the trailer on their official YouTube channel, so if you’d like to see it from there, you can do so by clicking this link. If you’d like to see it here though, just click the video below.
Despite being a pretty short video, there’s some notable things to talk about in here, including new Pokemon, characters, and even a release date. And as with everything I talk about, I have feelings and opinions about them. A lot of feelings and opinions. So with that being said, let’s get into what this trailer had to show.
New Professors…With an “S”
The trailer starts off by showing us some new characters as well as a closer look at the starters. The first of the new characters includes two different professors, Sada and Turo. The professor you end up with depends on which version of the game you play; Sada is tied to Pokémon Scarlet while Turo is tied to Pokémon Violet.
I really like their designs and overall concept a lot. These games are Spain-inspired, so the name Sada is derived from the Spanish word for “past,” being pasada. Turo’s is derived from the Spanish word for “future,” being futuro. These past and future themes are on display with the designs of both the professors and the legendary Pokémon of each game. Seeing that the professors and legendary Pokémon also resemble each other, it gives me an expectation that the professors in this game will play a more important role than the past professors ever did. Even without that, it’s clear right off the bat that GameFreak is doing things differently here, which I can always appreciate. I mean, it’s the first time a mainline professor isn’t named after a tree, after all.
Nemona, A Powerful Trainer
On the topic of new characters, you’ll start your journey with the help of your friend, Nemona, as a guide. The official website for the games detail her as an experienced trainer (despite not being great at throwing Poké Balls). If she’s your rival, this will be the first time you’re starting with one that has much more of a head start over you in terms of experience. Maybe you’ll start your first Trainer battle with a loss? …Definitely not.
A Closer Look At The Starter Pokémon
In-between the introduction of the professors and friend, we’re shown the new starters in the game engine. You see Sprigatito, enjoying the breeze in some flowers, Quaxly being its fabulous self in a fountain, and Fuecoco excitedly jumping in front of a fruit.
The website detailing the personalities of the Pokémon really do them justice. I felt like Quaxly looked a bit weird in the trailer, but the website explained that it always looks glossy because of a gel secreted by its feathers. Besides that, the previously established personalities of the Pokémon (before the website updated) were shown very well in the trailer, especially Fuecoco. It’s interesting to see that its head is fire energy. I can’t wait to see how these starters will evolve in the future… and I hope that Sprigatito stays on four legs. #TeamQuaxly
Three New Pokemon
We also see three new Pokémon throughout the trailer, used by Nemona, as well as a good number of returning ones. For now, let’s focus on the three new ones.
First on the list is Pawmi. It’s an Electric-type and is categorized as the Mouse Pokémon… sounds familiar for some reason. Seriously though, while it is this region’s Pikachu clone, it’s interesting that it has electricity-discharging organs in its paws. I can imagine it using them as a reverse-defibrillator, which immediately makes it my favorite Pokémon out of this batch of three.
Up next is the one that took the internet by storm, Lechonk. On top of its amazing name, it’s a Normal type and is categorized as the Hog Pokémon. It’s interesting that its eating habits caused it to generate a bug-repelling aroma, and it’s not actually fat but muscular due to how much it walks in search of high-quality foliage.
Last but not least is Smoliv, categorized as the Olive Pokémon. Interestingly, it has a dual typing of Grass and Normal. A lot of people don’t like the creepy vibe of Smoliv, but I saw it as a very fearful creature, which the website supports. It tends to run away after hitting opponents with oil from the fruit on its head, which has a very strong and bitter taste.
Now let’s talk about some of the returning Pokémon. We’ve already seen some of them when the game was first revealed, like Blissey, Meowth and Seviper (which was very interesting). This time around, we’ve seen Fletchling, Venonat, Toxapex, and Cryogonal, along with others. I can’t wait to see what other Pokemon will be returning, and I hope there’s a regional evolution for some that haven’t got much attention over the years.
Online Multiplayer, and Follow Pokémon?
Online multiplayer seems like it’ll truly be great this time around. Instead of being generally restricted to trading and battling Pokémon with other players, it seems like you’ll also be able to connect and adventure with other trainers and their Pokémon online, with four players at a time appearing together in the overworld.
During this, it was also shown that Pokémon were following the trainers as they ran. However, one of the Pokémon seemed to considerably fall behind their trainer, so I hope they get that fixed in the final product. I like the idea of following Pokémon, but if it’s anything like how it was implemented in the Pokémon Sword and Shield DLC, I’d rather it not be there at all.
The Legendary Pokémon
And now, here we are at the legendary Pokémon for the games. For Pokémon Scarlet, there’s Koraidon, and with Pokémon Violet there’s Miraidon. The previously mentioned past and future themes are on full display here with these designs.
Koraidon gives off a wild and primal look with its vivid colors, relatively bulky frame and spontaneous fur. I find the fur on its head, especially the two long strands going far behind it, very pleasing to look at. On the other hand, Miraidon gives off a sophisticated and futuristic feel with its smaller frame, sleek design and electric elements implemented in different areas of its body. The pupils in its eyes are also made of pixels, which I absolutely love. I was already set on choosing Pokémon Violet as the version to play, but Miraidon’s design convinced me even further.
That’s all the main things. Now I’d like to go over the little things I noticed in the trailer in a lightning-round sorta fashion.
Extra Features/Details
First off, the route design. The game is supposed to be completely open-world, and it definitely looks like that’s the case, so I find it interesting how they incorporated the linear routes of Pokémon games into the open world design. Up next are all the areas with red roofs that are stationed in various areas. I feel like those could function as rest stops or Pokémon Centers and Poké Marts, which is very cool. Hopefully they aren’t too frequent though.
Another thing is catching Pokémon. We don’t know much about how battling and catching Pokémon will work, but for now it appears like the three shakes before a Pokémon is caught is missing in this game. It made sense to take it out of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, given the much heavier focus and nature of catching Pokémon on that game, but if it’s a feature that’ll be removed from mainline Pokemon games to come, it’s a bit disappointing.
On the topic of catching and battling though, that HUD is just…no. Good thing is that if anything changes from footage before the release of Pokémon games, it’s the battle HUD, so I won’t go in on it too harshly, but it definitely looks bad the way it is now.
Ending things off on a good note though, I like how the trading sequence looks. This is a hard assumption based on the footage, but it looks like trading will be possible from anywhere in the overworld like battles were in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Speaking of the overworld, I like the trainer emotes and animations you can do in multiplayer. They look cute and I hope you can do much more expressive ones down the road.
Final Thoughts
And that’s it for the trailer. I didn’t expect too much from it since I was aware it’d just be a trailer. In fact, what we mostly got was exactly what I expected: some new Pokémon, some characters, and the legendaries and release date revealed. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the things I didn’t expect, like the multiplayer aspects and two different professors. Speaking of that release date, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are scheduled to release on November 18th, around the time these games usually come out. If any more new information comes out before then, you’ll be kept up to date here.
What did you think of the trailer though? Did you like what you saw? Anything in particular you weren’t so fond of? What would you like to see in the future? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
And once again, #TeamQuaxly.