Ever since Pokemon Scarlet and Violet were announced in February, many fans have been wondering what the two games would have to offer in terms of features and new pocket monsters. Some of these questions have been answered via trailers and alleged leaks, with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's third trailer confirming the Terastallization battle gimmick for Gen 9 and the name of the region being Paldea. There are 11 new Gen 9 Pokemon that have been revealed thus far, and while they are great additions to the franchise, there are very few available considering the games are three months away from launch.
A more pressing issue comes from the fact that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet pre-orders started a while ago, despite The Pokemon Company not revealing much about what each title's version differences are. As it stands, fans are only aware of three notable differences between Gen 9 games: the box Legendaries, Larvitar and Bagon are respectively available in Scarlet and Violet versions, and the same being true for Stonjourner and Eiscue. This is unfortunate for those who are waiting for more information to drop before committing to a specific version, which is something The Pokemon Company should address sooner rather than later.
Why Scarlet and Violet Players Can't Make an Informed Decision Yet
The fact that not all version differences are clearly listed before allowing fans to pre-order can be annoying, but this is especially true when the differences are rumored to be particularly big this generation. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are said to feature so-called Paradox Pokemon - pocket monsters that have traveled through time and appear as past or future versions of existing critters.
Because Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have a strong past versus future theme, this wouldn't necessarily come as a surprise, but the fact that this potentially well-kept secret could result in multiple version-exclusive monsters might put a wrench in pre-order plans. Purchasing a copy of either Pokemon Scarlet or Violet beforehand only to find out that one's favorite Pokemon gets a new form unique to the other game is far from ideal.
This also applies to version-exclusive new Pokemon, which has been a constant trend in mainline Pokemon games for the longest time, and there is no reason to believe that Gen 9 will be any different. Because of this, committing now to purchasing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is doable, but fans are nowhere near being able to make a well-informed decision about which version to pick. At the rate Gen 9 information has been revealed so far, it's unlikely that The Pokemon Company will address these doubts for another month or two, which would be dreadfully close to the launch window of the games.
Even though Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's co-op makes version-exclusives more interesting to a degree, considering the official Gen 9 website states that players can visit their friends' worlds and explore them, this shouldn't be an excuse to keep things under wraps. It's still unclear whether players will be able to also catch Pokemon in the opposite versions when playing with friends, and even if that does come true, it still means in most cases it will come at the extra cost of a Nintendo Online subscription. This could easily be corrected by revealing all the version differences before launch, but it remains an unlikely scenario.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launch on November 18, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
