One Pokemon Scarlet and Violet player challenged the bug-type gym leader with some incredibly over-leveled Pokemon. With the open world of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, they weren't gated by the gym leader, and ended up skipping it until later in the game.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are the first main games in the Pokemon series to have open world gameplay instead of the usual linear gameplay seen in older Pokemon games. Players do have a lot of freedom in how they choose to progress through the game because of this, but there is no level scaling, so an optimal route for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet does exist. Not all players are inclined to take that route—or similar ones—though, and that can result in some pretty heavy level discrepancies on either the player's side or the NPCs' side.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet player MrAntisOc1al ran into this situation when they finally ended up challenging the Cortondo Gym, which is the game's bug-type gym. They posted a video on the Pokemon subreddit of them challenging Cortondo Gym Leader Katy, whose team consists of a level 14 Nymble, a level 14 Tarountula, and a level 15 Teddiursa that Terastallizes into a bug-type. The video begins with Katy's opening battle sequence, and then she brings out her first Pokemon: the level 14 Nymble. MrAntisOc1al then summons their own Pokemon, which turns out to be a Garchomp named Gup. The video ends abruptly there, which adds to the comedy for people familiar with the Pokemon games.
To add more context, Garchomp is the final evolution in Gible's evolution line, and the earliest that players can evolve a Garchomp is level 48. Additionally, Garchomp is one of 10 pseudo-legendary Pokemon, which means it has a base stat total of 600, making it one of the strongest Pokemon in the game. Garchomp versus Nymble here is the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet equivalent of using a fire extinguisher to put out a candle. There's no doubt that MrAntisOc1al's Garchomp smashed through all three of Gym Leader Katy's Pokemon without even breaking a sweat.
This is something of a downside to the open world system, although it's really more of a symptom of the lack of level scaling in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Because of this, players can level up their team while adventuring around the Paldea region and then come back to smash lower level trainers and gyms just like MrAntisOc1al did. While the open world in newer Pokemon games has been mostly positively received, Game Freak should take these issues into consideration for the next generation of Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.
