As the hype train continues to roll, we’ve got a brand new trailer for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. The ninth generation of Pokémon is proving to be one of the most exciting ever, as the development team takes cues from the positive reception to Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ open-ended gameplay style. This trailer reaffirmed the idea that the Paldea region will be far less restrictive than previous regions, and you’ll have the freedom to do things in whatever order you want.
We’ll talk you through the biggest reveals, and what they could mean for the game as a whole when they launch on Nintendo Switch this November.
New Pokémon - Klawf, Armarouge, and Ceruledge
Starting with the most important part of Pokémon, the Pokémon, we had three new reveals in this trailer.
First up is Klawf. Known as “The Ambush Pokémon” this pure Rock-type looks ancient with a carefully constructed body, and detached eyes that can look in almost any direction. It comes with a brand new ability known as Anger Shell. When it sinks below half HP, the Pokémon’s defence will be lowered, but its attack and speed will be raised, making it very powerful.
Next up is the first of two version exclusive counterparts. Armarouge is a humanoid Pokémon wearing a bright yellow suit of armour and flames coming out of its head. Dubbed “The Fire Warrior” Pokémon, this is a Fire/Psychic type that is headstrong and has a signature move called Armor Canon which will damage and lower the defence of a target.
The second version exclusive and final new Pokémon for this trailer is Ceruledge, a Fire/Ghost type classified as “The Fire Blades Pokémon”. It too has a signature move called Bitter Blade that heals 50% of the damage it inflicts.
Auto-battles allow multiple Pokémon to battle at once
In a brand new style of battle, you can give your Pokémon the “Let’s Go!” command, at which point they will leap out and battle a target Pokémon on their own, without the need for your commands. You can stay and aid your partner, or you can wander off and collect nearby items. It was also showcased that, in the case of multiple opponents, you can bring out multiple team members at once to fight side by side.
Team Star challenges you in Starfall Street
A team of rebellious students from the game’s main school, Team Star are the evil team for this game, and they’re a bunch of racers. They have camps scattered around the Paldea region and when you attempt to enter they’ll attack you with waves of Pokémon that you must fend off, ideally in the new auto-battles. Break past the grunts and you’ll be faced with the boss for the section, who will be riding an incredible-looking Starmobile which you must defeat.
In this trailer, the first boss was revealed and Mela is in charge of the Schedar Squad (aka the Fire Crew). Her Starmobile is a massive truck with flame decals, disco balls and more speakers than you could ever need.
Titan Pokémon are the new bosses
In the treasure hunting questline, you’ll be exploring vast open areas, and occasionally coming across these new Titan Pokémon. They seem to function like a cross between Sun & Moon’s Totem Pokémon, and Sword & Shield’s Max Raid Pokémon. This will be a giant and significantly more powerful version of a Pokémon that you’ll need to defeat to progress the questline.
Geeta - Pokémon League Chairwoman
Among the new characters we were introduced to was Geeta, who is described as the Pokémon League Chairwoman and “among the region’s champions”. Whether this means she is the Pokémon champion in the traditional sense, or there are multiple champions in Paldea is as yet unclear.
We also got to meet the Grass-type Gym Leader, Brassius, who you will battle after completing his Sunflora-themed Gym puzzle. His team consisted of Smoliv and Sudowoodo, the latter of which he uses Terastalization on to power up. This seems like a relatively early-game team, but previous trailers said players can take on the Gyms in whatever order they please. It remains to be seen if there is an intended order, or whether each Gym Leader’s team will scale based on how many levels you have when you face them.
If you want to see every little detail included in this trailer, then you can view it on the official Pokémon YouTube channel.
Written by Ryan Woodrow on behalf of GLHF.
