Pokémon is known around the world and has been for decades now. Getting a game to its ninth generation is an accomplishment within itself, but also making the ninth generation fully open-world is amazing. This is most likely why generation nine has had what some might say the most hype for a Pokémon game yet. “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet” is the name for the newest addition to the Pokémon franchise.

When “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet” got announced back in Feb. 2022, it was not talked about much. This may have been because “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” was just released in Jan. of the same year. As people finished their playthroughs of this game, the hype around “Scarlet & Violet” began to rise. Between the leaks and the teasers, verified and unverified, this game has received the most hype that I’ve seen given to a Pokémon game. “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet” is fully open-world unlike “Pokémon Legends: Arceus” being only partial.

Through Game Freak’s consistent promo, the fanbase has created very high expectations, but not all of those expectations can be fulfilled. The Pokémon company has released many trailers over the last couple of months. They even had a new kind of teaser in the form of a “YouTube” type thing with a character asking a question about a new Pokémon, then revealing it in the next teaser that they release.

Terastallizing is a new mechanic that is being added to Pokémon, it is sort of like Mega Evolution and Dynamax as we’ve seen in past games. This new mechanic has the ability to change the Pokémon’s typing completely, but much is still unknown about what else this mechanic has the power to do.

Shiny Pokémon are a special type of Pokémon that was introduced in 1999 with the release of the second generation of Pokémon. They are a very rare form of Pokémon that are different colors from the originals. With the odds of getting a shiny Pokémon being 1/8192 in the original generation two games, this fraction fluctuated over the years to now being 1/4096. Shiny hunting has become a big part of Pokémon games, and many people spend hours looking for a single shiny. These people are what they call the shiny hunting community. 

Many opinions have formulated over these new games, especially in the shiny hunting community. The new games have a mechanic that makes shiny Pokémon shine just as bright in the overworld as they do in battle. Some people love this and think that it is a great addition to help find shinies faster. On the other hand, some people love the adrenaline rush when entering a battle not knowing if a Pokémon is shiny or not and waiting to see that sparkle until the Pokémon is fully encountered.

The new games will feature three different paths that you may choose to take. These paths have been categorized as Victory Road, Path of Legends and Starfall Street. You’ll have to play the games to find out what each of these mean and how they affect the storyline of your playthrough. So what do you think about the big changes coming to the new Pokémon games, which one will you get “Pokémon Scarlet” or “Pokémon Violet”?