A player used artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the evolution lines of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet starters. The highly anticipated Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games will come out on November 18, and will introduce the franchise's ninth generation of Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be set in the new Paldea region, where players will be given a choice to follow one of three paths that have different story goals: Victory Road, Starfall Street, and Path of Legends. Nintendo has also been releasing a series of trailers to showcase various aspects of the game, including how players can use legendary Pokemon to travel around and its co-op mode. It also introduced fans to the three adorable starters: Fire-type Fuecoco, Grass-type Sprigatito, and Water-type Quaxly.
With a few weeks left until the games' launch, Nintendo has yet to show the full evolution lines of the new Pokemon. So, Pokemon fan iambaney decided to use Stable Diffusion, an AI tool, to predict what Fuecoco, Sprigatito, and Quaxly would possibly look like once they evolve, and shared it on Reddit. The resulting images showed the Scarlet and Violet starters in three evolutionary forms—a standard amount for all Pokemon starters.
Many fans thought the AI-generated images seemed accurate as they thought they looked kind of similar to previous Pokemon generations' evolution lines. Some had mixed emotions about the AI's prediction that Sprigatito would potentially become a biped in its final form. Others said Fuecoco's last evolution, which looked like a steel dragon, was more Digimon than Pokemon.
Eagle-eyed users also pointed out how the AI-generated Pokemon images weren't perfect, like Fuecoco's third evolution having bad teeth and the fact that Quaxly's second evolution was missing an arm. One user explained that these types of flaws are common with these types of images. Many artists on social media have stated that one way to spot AI art is to look at the hands, which are often disfigured. While tools like Stable Diffusion are fascinating to use, AI in general has been a hot topic in the art scene as it allegedly steals from original works.
Of course, Pokemon players should not take these AI images, as well as other Pokemon Scarlet andViolet fan art going around the internet, with a grain of salt. It would still be best to wait for Nintendo's official announcement on the evolution lines for all the Gen 9 Pokemons.
Pokemon Scarlet andViolet release on November 18, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
