Summer Game Bang! - Pokémon Scarlet/Violet
It is the first of June, and that means it’s time for another Mega Dads Summer Game Bang! There’s no better way to kick off a Game Bang than with one of the hottest titles coming out this year: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet! A new trailer has dropped, giving us some insight into the newest monster-catching RPG on everyone’s wish list. Let’s take a look at the new creatures, world, and features we’ll be experiencing this November.
The new trailer gave us our first in-game look at the starting trio, Sprigatito, Quaxly, and Fuecoco. The starters look just as cute in three dimensions as they did in two, and I’m excited to pick up Fuecoco and start my adventure. Also spotted in the trailer were several returning pokémon, including Flaaffy, Larvitar, Fletchling, Chewtle, Venonat, Gengar, and Gabon. The stars of the trailer, however, are the five brand-new pokémon: the electric type Pawmi, the normal type Lechonk, the normal/grass type Smoliv, and the new legendary pokémon Koraidon and Miraidon. The new legendary pokémon haven’t had their types revealed just yet, but I’m sure Miraidon is at least half electric type.
There was some gameplay footage included in today’s reveal, with the star of the show being online co-op with up to four players. No real details were given about how the co-op will function, but players sporting the starting outfits from both versions of the game were shown playing together (take that with a grain of salt until we get some confirmation). The only catching mechanic shown was the traditional, in-battle use of pokéballs, leaving some questions about just how much of Pokémon Legends Arceus’ revolutionary gameplay will be coming to the new installment. A trainer was shown “sneaking” up on a Smoliv, and if you ask me Smoliv looks like the sort to turn tail at first sign of danger, so just maybe some of Legends Arceus’ best features may make the jump to Scarlet & Violet.
The open-style maps from Legends Arceus do seem to be returning, with a variety of environments being shown off like rocky canyons, peaceful grasslands, and an icy tundra. Unfortunately, the environments don’t look much better than those in Legends Arceus. Visuals have certainly improved a little bit, but the ground and cliff textures in particular look blurry and muddy. Some peculiar buildings in these areas caught my eye, as they seem to be outposts that serve as Pokémon Centers, Pokémarts, and possibly a hub for trading or some manner of network functionality. That last one is, admittedly, a guess on my part, but I’m pretty confident in the Pokémon Center/Mart based on the coloring.
A one-stop shop?
If I may speculate for a moment, I think Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are shaping up to be exciting entries into the main series Pokémon games. What intrigues me the most at the moment is the theme of “tradition vs modernity” that seems to be slowly showing itself. Scarlet’s legendary, Koraidon, looks to me like some manner of ancient warrior with its bright, elaborate headdress, and Violet’s Miraidon looks like something out of a sci-fi laboratory with its lighting eyebrows and what look like a pair of boosters. Even the new professors mirror this idea, with Scarlet’s Professor Sada sporting ragged fur fringe and what looks like a bone necklace and Violet’s Professor Turo sporting what I can only describe as a high-tech wetsuit. I’m interested to see what impact this theming will have on the gameplay, and if this could mean Scarlet and Violet will have bigger differences between them than previous pairs of Pokémon games.
Perhaps the single biggest piece of news, bigger than even the new pokémon, is the announcement of a November 18, 2022 release date! A lot of people, myself included, had predicted the games would release around that time based on previous game releases, but it’s nice to have confirmation. That means we’ve got around 5 months between now and release, I’m sure this isn’t the last info drop we’re going to get for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. (There’s gotta be a Pokémon Direct at least, right??) We’ll keep you up to date on all the Pokémon news right here at Mega Dads. Until then, enjoy watching people fawn over the new pokémon…not to mention the professors.
Professor Sada is literally the only thing that’s going to make me regret playing the Violet version