I won't lie to you, I'm incredibly excited for Pokémon Scarlet/Violet later this year. 2019's Pokémon Sword/Shield was a crushing disappointment, yes, but this year's excellent Pokémon Legends: Arceus has proved to me that there's life in the iconic franchise yet - if only GameFreak is willing to take more risks and shake that formula up.
Based on what we've heard so far, Scarlet/Violet is looking to do just that. The game is apparently set in a completely open world, as opposed to Sword/Shield's drab wild areas. That's an encouraging start! And if it can go even further, implementing so many of the features that made Legends: Arceus feel truly alive, then we could have something very special.
Take a look at the upcoming games below!
But for now, I have only one, very simple request of GameFreak: please, whatever you do, do not mess up the starter Pokémon by giving them rubbish final evolutions.
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It's been this way for years now. I'll choose a Pokémon like Tepig or Litten, only for them to ultimately transform into these hideous two-legged humanoid monsters. I don't know about you, but I'd like for my cute four-legged animal friend to turn into a noble beast, not a bloke in a football mascot outfit.
The starters in Scarlet/Violet look promising. Fuecoco has an adorably dumb look of awe on its little face, and Quaxly? Well, I'd sail the seven seas with my ducky friend any day of the week. I'm currently leaning towards Sprigatito, because my love of cats trumps my apathy towards Grass-type Pokémon, but the fear is there. The fear that once they hit level 36, they're going to turn into yet another example of a two-legged humanoid 'mon that gives rule 34 artists a reason to exist.
Clearly I'm not the only one who feels this way either, as you can see below.
Even beyond the four to two leg thing I do think that the vast majority of starter final evolutions in the last few games have been thoroughly naff and not at all reflective of their original forms. If I'd known Scorbunny was going to turn into a football player, I'm not sure I'd have picked it. Likewise, I'll never forgive what they did to my boy Rowlett. Picking a starter shouldn't be a dice-roll, and you certainly shouldn't be filled with regret when they turn into something a million miles removed from what they were originally!
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There are already some gorgeous fan-made efforts (see below) showing what Fuecoco, Quaxly, and Sprigatito could look like all grown up - and there's plenty of potential for them to grow into majestic beasts, rather than another group of clowns.
For now, we'll simply have to wait and see what becomes of this new group of starters. But I swear, if I'm forced to head to the Elite Four with a Sprigatito that's turned into a tennis player or something equally ridiculous, I won't be happy at all.
Topics: Pokemon
