February 27th… To fans, this day is known as Pokémon Day. The anniversary of the release of the old original Pokémon Red and Green, which would later become Red and Blue. To this day, Pokémon is the highest grossing media franchise of all time, and is well deserving of a day of celebration. Indeed, the success story that is Pokémon has gone on to bring magic to the lives of millions upon millions of children and adults around the world.
Pokémaniacs rejoice at new Pokémon games
This piece was going to be a love letter to the Pokémon franchise, culminating in telling you what a ‘breath of the wild’ Pokémon Legends: Arceus was. Apparently, the Pokémon company, Nintendo and Game Freak had other plans though.
We had been prepped for some Pokémon related content to drop on Sunday. Expecting an update for Pokémon Legends: Arceus, or Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which incidentally there was. (The Legends update being ‘Daybreak’ which will include random encounters with powerful Pokémon and wardens. For more information visit) … Never in a million years did we expect to get the trailer and announcement of the new Gen 9 Pokémon games, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, as well as our first look at the next generation of Pokémon starters! See the announcement trailer:
Pokémon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet
Looking to build on the ‘evolution’ brought in by Pokémon Legends: Arceus, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are set to have a full open world, in warm tropical lands where wild Pokémon can be found anywhere. The designs of the new starters are the best in years, paying homage to the original gen 1 & 2 designs (which are also by far the best ones). Apart from the glass-shattering moment of not quite believing how we have never had a water-type duck Pokémon as a starter before, Quaxly draws massive parallels to that of Farfetche’d. Fuecoco, the fire-type starter, resembling both Charmander and Totodile. Whilst Sprigatito, the grass-type, looks like a mashup of an Eeveelution and Meowth. The designs of these new starters have been stripped back and simplistic much like the gens 1&2!
From the footage shown in the trailer and the screenshots below, the game does look to be set in a warmer, more tropical setting. The fact that the fire starter resembles a crocodile, I’m guessing the new region is based on Australia or South America. Looking at the names, I’d say maybe South America is more likely due to the Spanish/Portuguese sounding names. But this is pure guesswork. Once this flurry of games is out of the way, the summer months could snail on by as we wait for a huge number of big games to release later this year! Including the new Pokémon games, Breath of the Wild 2, Starfield and God of War: Ragnarok.
What do you think of the looks of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet? Stick or Twist? Let me know in the comments or on Social Media.
