Highlights

  • Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's The Indigo Disk DLC is packed with new features and returning critters, but lacks endgame options and has cut content.
  • Datamined information suggests potential future features and encounters, including unique Tera Forms and a Mochi Mayhem epilogue, but it's unclear when or if they will be released.
  • The lack of shiny Legendary Pokemon and unique Tera Forms is perplexing, as they could have been well-received additions to the game. A PkHex-like feature was unlikely to show up.

WARNING: This article may contain spoilers for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's The Indigo Disk DLC

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's The Indigo Disk just came out, and while it remains unclear at this stage whether there will be more content for Gen 9 games or not, it does pack a good chunk of new features and returning critters, as well as some never-before-seen species. This is something that all smaller-scale Pokemon releases aim to do, with The Teal Mask also including several interesting features, such as the Ogre Oustin' mini-game that can possibly award a shiny Munchlax for hard difficulty completions. The Indigo Disk is not exactly what many fans expected, seeing how Pokemon Scarlet and Violet lack endgame options for farming interesting Pokemon or materials outside of Tera Raids, but the DLC seems to have cut content as well as a still-unlocked epilogue.

Cut content in Pokemon games is not something new, as there are numerous files and relics of old releases that should have added something they didn't - be it Pokemon themselves, some new items, features, or even NPCs. In the case of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's The Indigo Disk, there were several expected things that had been rumored or even leaked months before release, but now they are nowhere to be found. On top of that, the datamined epilogue is likely months away.

every pokemon scarlet violet shiny locked special form legendary mythical
Related
All Shiny-Locked Pokemon in The Series

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet introduced a myriad of new creatures, and with Gen 9, the current list of shiny-locked Pokemon changed quite a bit.

All The Datamined or Leaked Missing and Cut Content in The Indigo Disk DLC

Every Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Currently Unavailable in The Indigo Disk

Among the datamined content in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are features and encounters that are very likely to come in the future, possibly alongside or after Pokemon Day in February 2024. On the other hand, there is data-mined information that currently seems unlikely to come to Gen 9 at all, alongside what may be scrapped content that may or may not appear in future releases. These include:

  • Multiple unique Tera Forms, with the game only currently featuring some for Ogerpon and Terapagos
  • The Mochi Mayhem Epilogue, the finale of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC, which will allegedly include 1 hour of content, battles, and the ability to catch Gen 9's Mythical Pokemon
  • Shiny Legendary Pokemon, something that was leaked by renowned sources, whereas it seems that all Legendary Pokemon available in The Indigo Disk will be shiny-locked
  • Missing items, for which were datamined two different icons - an amber jagged crystal and a stone with a purple swirl on it - that date back to the base game and were never actually included
  • A PkHex-like feature, which leaks stated would provide players to edit their Pokemon to some degree, possibly in terms of IVs or EVs or even shiny form, but there is currently no indication that it will ever see the light of day
  • Fused forms of the Legendary Beasts and Swords of Justice, as seen in Heath's books
  • A wild Meloetta encounter, which players have yet to discover how to trigger and if it's in the game at the moment

These are all interesting things that would have made The Indigo Disk a bigger release on day one, and while some of them will eventually be released, it's likely that others will fade into obscurity. It's also unclear when the Mochi Mayhem finale will be released and if it'll be available for all players or have different requirements, like some limited Mythical Pokemon distribution events in the past.

What's most perplexing is the lack of unique Tera Forms alongside shiny Legendary Pokemon, however. Tera Forms could have been very well received considering the success of Mega Evolutions and GMax forms in the past, and Gen 8 featured Dynamax Adventures where players could get all sorts of Legendary Pokemon - even in their shiny form, so it makes all the less sense for Gen 9 to make them shiny-locked. A PkHex-like feature in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would have been nice to have both to combat the market for hacked Pokemon

and make grinding more accessible across the board, but among these features, it was the least likely to show up.