As players explore the world of Pokemon, the Pokedex acts as their guide to all the different creatures players will encounter during their journey. It gives their types, height, weight, and location, but it also gives an interesting insight into the critters in the form of flavor text. These texts have been analyzed by fans over the years in order to understand how these Pokemon might live outside normal gameplay. In Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Game Freak should focus on making sure tons of the Pokedex entries are new and interesting.
Pokedex entries may not be the first thing that comes to players' minds when it comes to looking into new ways to improve the Pokemon games between each generation, but it's certainly something that many players enjoy during their playthrough. Even when people aren't playing the games, fans use these entries to create art and writing that bring these characters to life. When it comes to immersing players into the world of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, new Pokedex entries are almost a must.
The History of the Pokedex
The Pokedex has been a feature ever since Pokemon began in 1996, which means that it's been part of players' journeys since Red Version and Blue Version. When players caught a new creature, they'd be immediately notified that they've obtained new data for their Pokedex, and the flavor text would be front and center on their screens soon after. This made the information provided rather memorable to players, even if the text wasn't particularly interesting at first glance.
A fair deal of these data entries could be very simple and vague, such as Corsola's entry from Pokemon Silver that reads, "In a south sea nation, the people live in communities that are built on groups of these Pokemon." However, some of these Pokedex entries have surprised fans and even made them look twice after catching one of these creatures. With certain critters, some of these entries have established important connections between disparate Pokemon, such as Karrablast and Shelmet's entries. The flavor text reveals that Karrablast steals the shells of the latter creature, which leads them both to evolve.
However, starting with Pokemon X and Y, Game Freak has begun to cut its losses during development time, and some Pokemon went without new entries depending on the title. While this has changed as of recent releases, whether a fan's favorite creature got a new entry or had one reused from an older game was never made clear until players could catch the Pokemon themselves. With the way older entries in the series tried to include every critter in its lineup, this made sense as most of the development time went into making sure each Pocket Monster functioned properly.
Sword and Shield were the first main series games to limit which critters players could find, catch and even transfer over from older titles, and a notable increase in new Pokedex entries could be seen as a result. While this bodes well for Scarlet and Violet, fans won't know if they can look forward to brand-new entries to analyze and read until the game comes out. However, the information that the Pokedex provides has grown noticeably more popular with fans in recent years. If Game Freak chooses to re-use older entries for the latest game, then it would turn into a big missed opportunity.
Scarlet and Violet's Pokedex Entries
Sword and Shield were the subjects of a fair deal of controversy in regard to the removal of the National Dex, among other things. Scarlet and Violet, meanwhile, are the first main series games to come out following the series' departure from such a franchise staple. Pokemon Legends: Arceus was the most well-received Pokemon game in years, which is partially due to new features such as a limited, but much more involved Pokedex. This leaves Generation 9 with plenty of potential as to how it can address fans' Pokedex expectations next.
Many fans have theorized that Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly might be more connected to Scarlet and Violet's real-world inspiration than they seem. Players have been undecided on if Fuecoco is based on an apple or a pepper, and Quaxly has been theorized to be based on Don Quixote. There is also bound to be at least a handful of new creatures that will require flavor text that should reveal more about their particular species. The Pokedex entries found in these new games could not only answer these debates and theories, but start up new ones in their place. They could also help tie the titles even more to Spain's culture than previous entries have with previous regions.
What once was a fun way to give players some nice information about how Pokemon live and behave has now become a series staple that fans look forward to with each and every game. Players not only want to learn more about the new critters of each region, but also the ones they've known for over 25 years. After Pokemon Legends: Arceus made the Pokedex unique and special in a whole new way, Game Freak should make sure that Scarlet and Violet's entries do a great job of encompassing the wonder and intrigue that feature has given fans for years all over again.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are planned to release in late 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
