It has been found that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will not feature the Pokerus virus. Many additions to the Game Freak's series were introduced in Generation 2 of the franchise. Pokemon Gold and Silver added Shiny variants of pocket monsters, two new Types, and a time system.One of the main mechanics introduced in Generation 2 was Pokerus. It is a virus that a player's Pokemon can catch and could be spread to other pocket monsters that were in the same party as those who were infected. The condition was incredibly rare, as gamers had a better chance of running into a Shiny creature than one with Pokerus. However, it now seems that the virus is no longer a part of the series as Pokemon Scarlet and Violet do not feature it.A dataminer known as Mattyoukhanna found that Pokerus is not present in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. It was discovered that no assets for the virus' status icons exist in the game and that it cannot be found on wild pocket monsters. Mattyoukhanna found that after forcibly giving a Pokemon Pokerus in the games, they will not earn double the EV stats that they would if infected, and will not spread it. This could change how more serious gamers play Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, as a tool that many of them utilized on will no longer be available.
Mattyoukhanna also found that auto battles will not grant EV's, just lessened experience points. The dataminer stated this now means that players will have to KO or capture pocket monsters normally during mass outbreaks of Pokemon in order to optimally raise EV's, or just feed them plenty of vitamins. According to Mattyoukhanna, vitamins can still be purchased at stores and will work as they always have when given to Pokemon.
The removal of Pokerus can change how players approach raising their creatures. The virus was a useful tool when used to raise a competitive team, as the double EV's Pokemon earned would make them stronger than a pocket monster that was raised without it. While Pokerus would only grant its boost to Pokemon growth for a couple of days, smart trainers learned that it would be stalled if the infected creature was placed in the PC. This let players keep the virus around and pull it out when needed. However, once a pocket monster caught Pokerus, they would keep the condition forever, but would lose its boosting effect after a few days, meaning that it could not be taken advantage of more than once.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for the Nintendo Switch.
