Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Announced, Here Are The New Starters

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the next two games in the mainline Pokémon series, are coming to Nintendo Switch later this year, The Pokémon Company announced during today’s Pokémon Presents.

The reveal came at the very end of the 14-minute livestream that showcased news for a variety of different games, such as Pokémon Go. Truthfully, most people weren’t expecting anything big out of the livestream. And at first, that seemed to pan out. The introduction to the trailer saw a real-life human investigating something, which made it seem like the Presents was going to end on a trailer for something Detective Pikachu related. But it wasn’t!

Instead, something something that kind of looked like a hybrid of this year’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus and 2020’s Pokémon Sword and Shield started playing. There were large open-looking spaces, bright town squares, and plenty of lens flare. The Pokémon also seem to be a lot more responsive with additional animations for when they appear out in the wild.

Here’s how the Scarlet and Violet website describes the game:

Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets—all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series—battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them—now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.​

Who are Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s starters?

Meet Sprigatito, Fuecoco and Quaxly, which are respectively a grass-based cat, a fire-type that looks like a little dinosaur, and the water type is some kind of bird with a really nice hairdo. The names sound kind of Spanish, don’t they? Gatito is cat, translated. Scarlet and Violet’s new region, meanwhile, appears to be Mediterranean. The teaser showed costal beaches and what looks like some Spanish-influenced architecture. Fans had previously speculated that Gen 9 might be based in Italy or some part of France based on possible hints in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Many had previously been expecting new DLC to get announced for Arceus, even though it’s only been about a month since release. When Sword and Shield were released, The Pokémon Company took the next year off and gave fans two expansions instead. This year’s plan is much more ambitious. Players will effectively have gotten the Pokémon BDSP remakes, the series first open world spin-off, and an entirely new set of mainline Pokémon games in the span of a single year.

Update: 2/27/22, 11:51 a.m. ET: Added additional info from the Pokémon website.