It's going to be a big year for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Pokemon Go and Pokemon Home integration are rolling out, and the games are gradually receiving updates to fix their most pressing concerns. By the end of 2023, players could be looking at a different game with extra DLC areas to flesh out the post-game. Adding all of that to whatever content Scarlet and Violet gain from the new Pokemon anime season, it's looking like a good time to be a Pokemon fan. No one knows how the DLC episodes will unfold, but presumably, they will play out something like Pokemon Sword and Shield's own.
The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is divided into two parts, the first of which is called The Teal Mask and will come out in Fall 2023. It's set to introduce a host of new and returning Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet, as well as take players to a dramatically different locale compared to what they've experienced in the base game. The Indigo Disk, meanwhile, will release in Winter 2023, and will see players enroll in an oceanic academy and encounter the Legendary Pokemon Terapagos. While Terapagos promises to pull back the curtain on Area Zero and Terastallization’s secrets, there is a real concern that Pokemon could be prematurely limiting its options for future titles.
Scarlet and Violet Emphasize Existing Pokemon Types
Ever since Pokemon X and Y, the series' first 3D mainline entries, there have been eighteen Pokemon Types. Fifteen were introduced in the original games, with Metal and Dark entering the picture in Generation 2. The Fairy Pokemon type was one of the best-received additions to the 6th Generation titles and stood alongside Mega Evolution as an exciting shake-up for the old Pokemon formula. Mega Evolutions were quickly phased out in favor of other mechanics, but Fairy has slotted neatly into the competitive balance and added some nice dynamics to the Pokemon world.
The existence of these eighteen types, and how they interact with one another, are a core part of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Generation 9 introduced the Terastallization mechanic, giving every Pokemon in the Paldea region a Tera Type that they can shift to using a Tera Orb. The region’s culture places some emphasis on this fact, with a recurring symbol in the hub city of Mesagoza using symbols for all eighteen Types. Scarlet and Violet's second DLC episode, The Indigo Disk, will introduce the new Legendary Pokemon Terapagos, which also has these eighteen symbols on its shell. It is a celebration of Pokemon types in the same way Mega Evolution shone a spotlight on evolution as a whole, but there is an underlying problem.
Why Pokemon May Be Done Introducing New Types
The eighteen existing Pokemon types are used so heavily by the Terastallization symbols and Terapagos’ design that there isn't room for any more types. A new Pokemon type will always be a major shake-up, large enough that it’s not always necessary, but it's also not a door that should ever be fully closed. Pokemon presents a land full of varied critters, and the broadly-defined types are a way of expressing that. If the need arises or if a sufficiently good idea presents itself for an additional type, it should at least be considered.
Then again, the eighteen Pokemon types presented are probably enough, and a new type at this point would directly contradict what’s been established in Scarlet and Violet. A school of thought is that Terapagos, and its usage of every Tera type symbol, is justifiably putting a foot down on the issue of expanding Pokemon types. Huge shifts in the lore and competitive balance of Pokemon type combinations for the globally-popular franchise are not what it needs right now, and not something it should get in the foreseeable future. If The Indigo Disk’s storyline involves a definitive statement on the types that exist within Pokemon's world, then there will be no room to discuss the issue further.
How Pokemon Gen 10 and Beyond Could Add More Pokemon Types
Terapagos and the Tera type imagery is not the first time every existing Pokemon type has been recognized in one game, and those sources have evolved alongside the series. In fact, the elemental Plates used by Arceus recently received their latest update in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Said Plates were introduced years before the Fairy type was, but Plates corresponding to that, the Normal type, and Arceus itself were added to the set over time. There's no reason a future Pokemon game can't introduce a new type if Game Freak and The Pokemon Company decide it should, as changing type-relevant details apparently isn't a problem.
In addition, Terastallization is heavily tied to the Paldea region and the Generation 9 Pokemon titles. The mechanic will probably be gone by Generation 10, and at that point, it could be implied that Terapagos was simply reflecting the types available in Paldea. Considering how major gimmicks like Mega Evolution (which has been demonstrated to work anywhere like Terastallization theoretically could) have been brushed off between Generations, the Terastal phenomenon’s imagery shouldn’t hold much sway in other games.
All of this comes without even considering the fan theories that the pentagon-focused Terapagos is derived from a much larger hexagon-patterned Pokemon lying below Scarlet and Violet's Area Zero, as described by the Scarlet and Violet Books. If this notion holds any water, it will be easy to justify Terastallization as a limited view of the types within the Pokemon universe, with the larger Pokemon’s shell having plenty of space for more type symbols. Whatever the case, Terapagos’ existence does indicate that eighteen types will suffice for Scarlet and Violet, but there's no telling what future games will hold.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available for the Nintendo Switch.
