A player has pointed out that a feature removed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would have made shiny breeding much easier. Though they are upgrades to previous titles in several ways, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have disadvantaged players through the removal of several useful features.
Within Pokemon, the storage box system is traditionally used to store all Pokemon outside the six currently in the player's party. Once clunky, requiring players to walk inside a Pokemon center, turn on a PC, and individually select a Pokemon, recent additions to the franchise have made storage boxes much more efficient. January 2022's Pokemon: Legends Arceus was particularly notable in this regard, introducing a mechanic that allowed players to mass-release Pokemon from their storage instead of releasing them one at a time. However, not only do changes in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet make shinies more difficult to see than in Pokemon: Legends Arceus, but they have also removed the ability to mass-release unwanted pocket monsters, which made breeding for shinies much more bearable.
Taking to Reddit, user throwaway98732876 brought the removal of mass-releasing to the attention of other players, remarking that it was particularly weird for such a useful feature to be absent from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. With the feature now being gone, players are once again being forced to spend their time individually releasing unwanted Pokemon when breeding for shinies. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet had a mixed reception upon release, and the absence of helpful features such as this continues to frustrate players.
Though roaming methods of shiny hunting, such as mass encounters, are still being encouraged through the ongoing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Sandwich Distribution Event, the removal of the mass-release mechanic featured in other recent titles poses a large inconvenience to players searching for shinies through breeding, with one player remarking that "I filled boxes 7-32 twice and clearing them was extremely painful both times." What could once be done in a matter of seconds is now taking many players several minutes, if not longer.
The removal of the useful mass-release mechanic in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is particularly confusing due to the game following the same open-world format as its predecessor, which introduced the mechanic and allows players to see and catch more critters than previous linear titles. Fans will remain hopeful that it will make a return in future titles and make shiny breeding for critters such as the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Starters a little less inconvenient.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.
