Highlights
- Pokemon Scarlet and Violet broke with tradition by making the Pokemon Professors the villains, adding a unique twist to the game.
- The game experimented with new elements like Team Star and Paradox Pokemon, making the unexpected villain reveal even more subtle and surprising.
- While the twist worked well for Scarlet and Violet, it shouldn't be repeated in future games to preserve the unique qualities of this entry.
From the moment they were revealed for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet to their endgame plot twist, the decision to break with Pokemon Professor traditions was an ambitious one that paid off, but it shouldn't become the norm. There has been a great deal of experimentation with Pokemon's tried-and-true tropes, such as Ruby and Sapphire adding not one but two Pokemon Teams or Black and White introducing the first female Pokemon Professor to the core series. So much like Ruby and Sapphire, the choice to add two Pokemon Professors wouldn't have been too unusual were it not for Scarlet and Violet going much further than just that.
Given that Scarlet and Violet had bombarded players with so many new things such as Team Star, Paradox Pokemon, and their box art Legendaries, it's possible that players were still adjusting to the Pokemon Professors being version exclusives that their shocking villainous reveal was all the more unexpected. Similar to Pokemon's recent tradition-breaking antics, the games' villains have also been reinvented time and time again to keep players guessing, which only further adds to the unique quality that Scarlet and Violet captured by making each Pokemon Professor the "big bad", and it's also why the twist shouldn't be repeated in future games.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Break From Tradition Paid Off
Right from the beginning of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, it was clear that the game's progression was going to be significantly different compared to the rest of the series. For example, the player's starter Pokemon is given to them by Director Clavell and not the Pokemon Professor, and the same goes for the Pokedex which is instead an app developed by Jacq. Though the player does eventually come across the Professor's laboratory, it is inaccessible early on with Sada and Turo only ever communicating via TVs or Rotom Phones, all of which serve as small hints that something was amiss with Scarlet and Violet's Pokemon Professors.
It's possible that breaking from so many design traditions helped Scarlet and Violet find a way to accommodate multiple independent storylines without contradicting its larger plot, but it wasn't without its risks. While the Professor's absence isn't too noticeable at the game's start, their isolation becomes much more obvious as players progress, especially throughout Arven's "Path of Legends" storyline. But as the Professor's backstory develops and more hints are dropped, particularly around the Professor's research into Area Zero, its history and expeditions, and its Paradox Pokemon, the unconventional approach earns its pay-off within Scarlet and Violet's endgame.
The Pokemon Professors' Plot Twist Can Only Be a One-Off
By the time players finally have the opportunity to meet the Pokemon Professor, they will have already completed the game's three storylines and so will be aware that Scarlet and Violet haven't yet revealed their world-ending villain per the series' norm. As a result, the journey down into Area Zero diverges from normal gameplay by pacing the player's progress and punctuating it with scripted events. When meeting the Professor face-to-face at long last then, the player has since learned that Sada or Turo isn't the real deal with the tension climbing as they're innocently led into an ominously large chamber with major boss battle vibes.
The plot twist that the real Professor is actually dead with an AI duplicate now running things is somewhat abrupt, but it does contextualize why Scarlet and Violet were so untraditional. As the Pokemon Professor is likely the last character players would expect as the game's villain, the suspicion throughout the game leading to this revelation balances the shock with its awe, and though brief it has become one of Scarlet and Violet's best moments. But this twist can't be repeated in future Pokemon generations as it would diminish Scarlet and Violet's success with new revelations becoming easier to anticipate, predict, and consequently underwhelm in comparison.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.
