Nintendo and developer Game Freak have revealed Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the next entries into the series’ main RPG franchise, and it launches late this year for Switch.
During this morning’s Pokemon Presents, a short preview closed us out with an announcement definitely not on my Pokemon stream Bingo list with a Generation 9 reveal. Scarlet and Violet look like they take cues from recent open-world iterations, like Sword, Shield, and this years’ Arceus Legends, and The Pokemon Company describes it as another evolutionary step on the series’ open-world formula.
The reveal footage also introduces Trainers to their trio of starting ‘mon options. In Generation 9, you’ll choose to journey with Sprigatito, the Grass Cat Pokemon; Fuecoco, the Fire Croc Pokemon; or Quaxly, the Duckling Pokemon. There’s key art out now, too, and they’re all precious, sweet babies, so there’ll be no griefing for now (but look at that grass angel).
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Game Freak’s next RPG will also make use of Pokemon Home, the collection and transfer service that allows Trainers to keep all of their ‘mons in one place. A note at the bottom of TPC’s official press release also confirms there will be no National Pokedex—only Pokemon obtainable in Scarlet and Violet will be transferable to the Generation 9 games.
The last mainline Pokemon RPG, Sword and Shield, launched back in 2019, and Game Freak quickly followed up with its second open-world project, Legends: Arceus, shortly after in January 2022. We’d seen that every year or two release schedule already from the studio, but man, two open-world games of this scope in one year seems awfully cramped.
