Despite the silence on The Pokemon Company’s part about what sort of critters Gen 9 games include,Pokemon Scarlet and Violetleaks did end up seemingly revealing the entirety of the Paldean Pokedex, alongside multiple returning pocket monsters. This is one of this year’s biggest leaks in the gaming industry, asPokemonfans had access to a full list ofPokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Pokedexas early as late August, over two months before launch. While there are many interesting features to Gen 9 games, a very important detail comes from the fact that a handful of Pokemon from past generations won’t make the cut, which might be a good thing.
One of the biggest controversies in recent times forPokemongames was the Pokedex cut fromPokemon SwordandShield, which meant that only a few hundred existing critters returned to Gen 8 from past titles, compared to the usual national Pokedex including them all. Even though this is normally not good news to many players, the benefit of cutting pocket monsters from a new game’s Pokedex is that troublesome Pokemon can be temporarily removed to create a healthier environment, especially for competitive battles. InPokemon Scarlet and Violet, this could translate into not having Pokemon like Calyrex Shadow Rider or Zacian, but it’s worth noting the impact that more common creatures could have.
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Why Cutting Some Pokemon From Pokemon Scarlet and Violet May Be Good
A great example comes from Shedinja, which is probably one of the most problematic pocket monsters to add toPokemon Scarlet and Violet, the reason being that its Ability can cause all sorts of issues with Terastallization.Shedinja’s signature Ability is called Wonder Guard, and this is the only Pokemon currently available that has it, which makes it both powerful and an interesting case study forPokemongames. Wonder Guard makes Shedinja take no damage from non-supereffective moves, meaning that only moves Shedinja is naturally weak to can damage it, and of course defeat it, considering it only has 1 HP.
Not having Shedinja inPokemon Scarlet and Violetcould save players and The Pokemon Company itself a major headache, as the hypothetical combination of Shedinja usingTerastallizationto become Electric-type and holding an Air Balloon could make it immune to damage. Leakers seem to agree on the fact thatPokemon Scarlet and Violetwon’t feature Smeargle, a rather common pocket monster that proved to be extremely tricky in the past, to the point that it single-handedly got a move banned and then nerfed in competitive battles.
This move was Dark Void,Darkrai’s signature move, which had a chance to hit equal to 80% and could put to sleep both opposing Pokemon in double battles. This was particularly powerful because Darkrai’s Mythical status prevented players to use it directly, whereas Smeargle’s Sketch could copy Dark Void and learn it forever, using it in any battle to great effect with no limitations. Smeargle’s use of Sketch could have been quite troublesome inPokemon Scarlet and Violettoo, and not featuring this Pokemon is a good temporary solution.
Lastly,Incineroarproved to be an incredibly powerful asset inPokemon SwordandShield’s competitive scene due to it having Intimidate as its Hidden Ability and being able to learn the move Parting Shot, which reduces the target’s Attack stat by one stage and allows the user to switch Incineroar out.Pokemon Scarlet and Violetdon’t seem to feature past games' starters in the base game, although some could be available viaPokemon Home, according to leakers. Not featuring Incineroar in Gen 9 would be a wise choice given its current kit, which would need another major pass to prevent the Pokemon from being too disruptive.
Pokemon ScarletandVioletare set to release on November 18, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
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