Update: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are now available for pre-order at Amazon ahead of an expected holiday 2022 launch.
It’s Pokémon Day 2022, and The Pokémon Company is celebrating the occasion with a series of announcements on what to expect from the upcoming releases. Most excitingly is two new installments in the franchise, with Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet being officially revealed for Gen 9 alongside three new starters and tons of other information. Head below for everything announced so far.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet revealed for Pokémon Day 2022
After just releasing Pokémon Legends: Arceus back in January (hands-on review right here), the company isn’t wasting any time jumping onto what’s next in the mainline franchise. Moving onto Generation 9, we have a very first look at what to expect from the next iteration of catching them all.
Named Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, the two new games will carry on the tradition of having a pair of titles released as part of the mainline series. Serving as the first steps into Gen 9, these new games will introduce a whole new world of Pokémon this time around. The pair of titles will be developed by Game Freak.
With the first three Pokémon from the games revealed, the region’s Starters are taking center stage ahead of all the other unveils. With the usual choice of having a water, fire, and grass Pokémon to choose from, The Pokémon Company is taking quite the unique approach this time around with some of the more interesting Starters in recent memory. There’s Sprigatito the grass cat, Fuecoco the fire dinosaur, and lastly Quaxly the water type duck.
The naming for the new Starters leads me to believe that the region will be based somewhere on a Spanish-speaking area. Sprigatito specifically has a name that alludes to its grass nature, with gatito meaning little cat in Spanish. Though we’re still waiting on more information on the Gen 9 region and its name for a better idea at what to expect. We can likely guess that Spain seems like an ideal candidate, but that has yet to be confirmed as the real inspiration just yet. So stay tuned on that front.
As of now, an exact release date has yet to be shared by The Pokémon Company. Though we can expect to see Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet land sometime in late 2022. As of now, at least. That will probably put both of the release windows right around the holiday season.
Pokémon Gen 9 Starters:
- Sprigatito: The capricious, attention-seeking Grass Cat Pokémon.
- Fuecoco: The laid-back Fire Croc Pokémon that does things at its own pace.
- Quaxly: The earnest and tidy Duckling Pokémon.
The player character designs for the new unnamed region have also been announced during today’s Pokémon Day 2022 reveal. You can watch the entire showcase for yourself right here, which covers all of the announcements during today’s showcase. Though if all you care about is the Pokémon Gen 9 news, you’ll want to skip to the end of the video for a breakdown of the news.
9to5Toys’ Take:
For better or worse, Pokémon Gen 9 titles have been unveiled. I know many wouldn’t have mind waiting until 2023 for the next games to be announced, especially with all of the Pokémon fanfare as of late. But what we’ve seen from the game seems about as polished as expected from Game Freak at this point, and so hopefully both Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will be ready to deliver on the next-generation action come the holiday season.
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