With more than 1000 Pokemon creatures in the Pokedex, fans of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were unsurprised when a number of critters were missing from the game. Fans of the series have come to understand and accept that there may never be a main series game where all Pokemon are acquirable again. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were no exception to the rule, but with new DLC leaks, there may be a small number of Pokemon that never appeared in a Nintendo Switch game.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet marked the second main series Pokemon installment on the Nintendo Switch, following Pokemon Sword and Shield. The ninth-generation games have new DLC that will be coming out soon, including The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk. These DLC additions haven't confirmed the Pokemon that will be included, but datamining has revealed that there might be 15 Pokemon that will not appear, meaning that they may never appear in a Nintendo Switch game if Gen 5 remakes and Gen 10 are made for a new console.
The Missing Pokemon From Scarlet and Violet's DLC
After the Charizard Tera Raid event, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were missing 605 Pokemon from previous generations, with many classic starters and fan-favorite Pokemon being left out. The games did introduce new creatures as well as variants unique to the Paldea region, and the upcoming DLC for the games will bring in an additional 230 Pokemon that were missing from the base game.
While The Teal Mask and Indigo Disk DLC are not out yet, fans have been able to datamine through the content and come up with what appears to be a list of the included Pokemon. A data miner on Twitter compiled a list of what they claim to be all the confirmed returning Pokemon in the upcoming Scarlet and Violet DLC and shared the results of the data mine online.
After Pokemon fans on Twitter and Reddit tackled the list and compared the included Pokemon against the full Pokedex for the previous Nintendo Switch games, there were 15 species that stood out. These 15 Pokemon species did not appear in Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Sword and Shield, Legends Arceus, or the base games of Scarlet and Violet.
The list of missing Pokemon includes two of the Unova starter lines, meaning Snivy, Servine, Serperior, Tepig, Pignite, and Emboar, could be left out of Paldea entirely, even though the Oshawott line was included in the base games. Additionally, the gen five simians Panpour, Pansage, Pansear, and their respective evolutions are on the list of missing Pokemon. Patrat and Watchog are missing, two other gen five Pokemon. Notably, the only Pokemon on this list that is not from gen five is Furfrou, a canine Pokemon that was introduced in gen six.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet May Be The Last Pokemon Games on the Switch
If the information in this datamine turns out to be accurate and these 15 Pokemon are excluded from the Scarlet and Violet DLC, then they will be the only critters to have never appeared in a Nintendo Switch Pokemon game. While that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll never appear on the Switch, the likelihood of new Pokemon games diminishes as the Switch gets older and older and the hardware approaches its sixth birthday.
After recent Pokemon titles have disappointed fans due to low-quality graphics, glitchy performance, lag, and other issues, many fans believe that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be the final Pokemon games released for the Nintendo Switch. Since the release of the OLED Switch, rumors of a new model have been rampant, with Nintendo fans hoping for a Switch Pro or Switch 2 in the near future. Still, these rumors remain unconfirmed, and while no new Pokemon games have been announced for the Nintendo Switch, there is still a possibility that the 15 neglected species could appear in a future Pokemon game.
Whether the information included in the datamining leaks is credible remains to be seen, and fans of the suspected missing Pokemon can still hold out hope that they'll be included in the Scarlet and Violet DLC. In the meantime, fans can keep an eye out for announcements of either new Switch hardware or new Pokemon titles.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available on the Nintendo Switch. The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk are available for pre-order.
