Pokémon Scarlet And Pokémon Violet Revealed Alongside First Look At Starters, Releasing Late 2022

The next mainline Pokémon games have been revealed as Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, and they’ll be released on the Switch in “late 2022.” 

This news comes by way of today’s Pokémon Day stream. Pokémon Red and Blue were released in Japan on February 27, 1996 and these days, The Pokémon Company celebrates the yearly anniversary with a stream about all of its games, including updates and more for them. This year’s included plenty of that, but it ended with the big reveal that Generation 9 is coming this year. 

The trailer begins with a security guard at Game Freak checking something out before it transitions to footage from Scarlet and Violet. Adopting the look of Sword and Shield (although with significant graphical upgrades), this game appears to be set in a region such as Italy, or perhaps somewhere in South America based on some of the architecture. Regardless, the trailer features plenty of sweeping vistas, familiar pocket monster faces, and beautiful use of color. 

“With these new titles, the Pokémon series takes a new evolutionary step, allowing you to explore freely in a richly expressed open world,” the official page for these games reads. “Various towns blend seamlessly into the wilderness with no borders. You’ll be able to see the Pokémon of this region in the skies, in the seas, in the forests, on the streets – all over! You’ll be able to experience the true joy of the Pokémon series – battling against wild Pokémon in order to catch them – now in an open-world game that players of any age can enjoy.” 

Perhaps most exciting to fans is the big reveal of the Generation 9 starters: Grass-type cat Sprigatito, Fire-type croc Fuecoco, and Water-type duckling Quaxly. All three of them look great and we can’t wait to see what they evolve into later this year. 

Game Freak says these games will hit the Switch in Late 2022 so expect a release date to be revealed at a later time for somewhere around October or November.

For now, we have some questions: this is the first generation to use colors in the names since Black and White 2 – does that signify something? On that same note, is Scarlet and Violet a play on of Red and Blue? Is this a spiritual reboot to the series? Based on the description of this game, and how seamless and open-world in nature it seems, it wouldn’t be surprising if this is the new evolution of the mainline franchise. 

While we wait to learn more, read up on all of the other Pokémon Day announcements, such as the new Daybreak update for Pokémon Legends: Arceus or the new Shaymin Mystery Gift event happening now in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl. 

Are you excited about Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet? Let us know in the comments below!