APokemon Scarlet and Violetplayer with color blindness has taken to Reddit to voice their displeasure at the changes made to shiny hunting forPokemon’s ninth generation. User markimark1305, despite enjoying their playthrough of the game, noted that shiny hunting feels quite hopeless due to changes to the way in which shinies are revealed to the player when exploring Paldea inPokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Throughout the long history of mainlinePokemongames, the majority of players have been able to spot shiny Pokemon upon entering a battle with them due to their non-standard color palette. A distinctive shiny sound and sparkle also play when the creature is encountered, aiding visually impaired players who may be otherwise unable to identify a shiny Pokemon due to conditions such as color blindness. The franchise’s previous open-world title,Pokemon Legends: Arceus, also featured these three aforementioned factors, with players not having to engage in battle with a shiny to trigger its distinctive glimmering sound and accompanying sparkles.
RELATED:Disguised Toast Calls Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Graphics ‘Zero Effort’
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet,however, change things up, and not in a good way. Within the latest set of games, players must initiate battle with aPokemon before its shiny sound and accompanying visualsparkle play, meaning one must identify a shiny in the wild from appearance alone and then proceed to engage it in battle. What this means for some visually impaired players, such as markimark1305, is that they must meticulously examine each critter they come across on a route or risk walking straight past an extremely rare shiny – a tiresome process that ruins the otherwise enjoyable gameplay experience.
Pokemon Legends: Arceusreceived criticismfor its own lack of accessibility options, with players having to rely upon a sound cue to know when a shiny was nearby if they could not spot it in the wild, something hard of hearing players could not do. The game did not offer any alternatives, such as an option to instead vibrate the controller, which led to fans hopingPokemon Scarlet and Violetwould do better in this department. However, Generation 9 continues this frustrating trend by forcing players to enter battle to see if a Pokemon is shiny or not, a problemPokemon Legends: Arceusdid not have.
Thoughsome criticisms ofPokemon Scarlet and Violetare a bit extreme, the decision to change the underlying mechanics behind shiny encounters has had a visibly negative impact on the gameplay experience for prospective hunters with a visual impairment. With accessibility issues such as these having existed for years at this point, it is hard to tell if Game Freak will address them any time soon, or if players with visual and auditory issues will continue to get the short end of the stick.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violetare available now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
MORE:Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Varoom Line is Ironic
