POKEMON SCARLET and POKEMON VIOLET Will Launch Gen IX Later This Year

During a pre-recorded Pokémon Presents yesterday, The Pokémon Company announced the titles for the next generation of Pokémon titles. There were announcements about currently released games that you can watch in the full presentation below, but who cares when new games were announced? We don’t know a whole lot about these new games, but I’ll do my best to sum up what we do.

First, the games will be called Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet with different outfits for the main character depending on which game you are playing. Also, the press release states that in these games, they’ve taken “a new evolutionary step” which will allow “[t]rainers can explore an open world where various towns with no borders blend seamlessly into the wilderness. Pokémon can be seen everywhere in this wide-open world—in the skies, in the sea, and on the streets.” Based on that it looks like they’re making it even more like an open world than what we’ve seen with the Wild Area in Sword and Shield or Legends: Arceus by making it all persistent while adding in more of that wild feeling with more Pokémon actually seen in the world like in Legends: Arceus.

In addition, the big news was the reveal of the three new starters. There’s the grass cat Sprigatito, the fire croc Fuecoco, and the water duckling Quaxly. I’m saving final judgments for when their evolutions are revealed, but so far Quaxly is my favorite. Also, how did we get a fire crocodile? That’s not one of the animals in the Zodiac! We’re still missing a horse, snake, goat/sheep, and ox/cow. That was definitely a surprise to me.

• Sprigatito

  • Category: Grass Cat Pokémon

  • Height: 1′4″

  • Weight: 9 lbs.

  • Type: Grass

  • Ability: Overgrow

  • The capricious, attention-seeking Grass Cat Pokémon.

• Fuecoco

  • Category: Fire Croc Pokémon

  • Height: 1′4″

  • Weight: 21.6 lbs.

  • Type: Fire

  • Ability: Blaze

  • The laid-back Fire Croc Pokémon that does things at its own pace.

• Quaxly

  • Category: Duckling Pokémon

  • Height: 1′8″

  • Weight: 13.4 lbs.

  • Type: Water

  • Ability: Torrent

  • The earnest and tidy Duckling Pokémon.

We don’t know anything about the new region, but it does give me Central America vibes. It’s also interesting to me that we do see Hisuian Zoroark in the trailer. That was a big surprise. Are you excited for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet? The games will release in late 2022 which makes sense since they typically like to launch games in November for the holiday season. Which starter is your favorite right now?