Even thoughPokemonfans are always looking forward to the next generation of games, nobody quite expected that 2022 would be the year.Pokemon Legends: Arceusseemed like more than enough to sustain thePokemonfranchise this year, and Nintendo already has plenty of other games coming out in 2022. Nevertheless, Game Freak is hard at work onPokemon ScarletandVioletright now, with the intention of releasing these Generation 9 games before the end of the year.Pokemon ScarletandVioletdetails are limited for the moment, aside from occasional leaks, but the games likely won’t remain mysterious for long if they’ll be out before 2023.
There are plenty of details that Game Freak could spotlight first, but the Legendary Pokemon featured inScarletandVioletare bound to be a top priority. Every corePokemongame is defined by its Legendary mascot after all. While there are all kinds of interesting directions thatScarletandViolet’s Legendary mascotscould go in, ideally these mascots won’t be Fairy types. In fact, it would be best ifScarletandVioletavoided adding new Fairy-types Legendaries overall. The type has inspired some highly compellingPokemon, but it’s time for otherPokemontypes to get the Legendary spotlight.
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A Shift in Legendary Pokemon
In recent years, Game Freak has frequently given the Fairy type center stage when designing Legendary Pokemon.Pokemon XandY’s Xerneas was a Fairy type, which stood to reason, sinceXandYdebuted the type. After that,SunandMoonfeatured several Fairy types in the form of the four highly important guardian deities, andSwordandShieldfeatured the Fairy-typeZacianas one of its two mascots. On top of these, Fairy types already have two Mythical Pokemon: Diancie and Magearna. Thanks to these many representatives, Fairy has quickly become a rather common type amongPokemon’s rarest monsters, and in the process, it has kept several other types low on representation.
Ideally,Pokemon ScarletandVioletwill move away from that pattern.The Fairy type has made major contributionstoPokemongame balance, and it has led to some very charming new Pokemon, but it doesn’t need to dominate Legendary Pokemon design anymore.Pokemonhas so many interesting types that it feels wasteful to focus so heavily on one particular type when designing Legendary Pokemon.ScarletandViolet’s mascots, as well as the other Legendary and Mythical Pokemon available, ought to focus on some other types in order to introduce some variety to thePokemonlineup.
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Alternative Types for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Legendaries
Instead of emphasizing Fairy-types,Pokemon ScarletandVioletought to take a lot at some of the most under-representedPokemontypes. For instance, Bug-types don’t have a Legendary representative at all; they merely have the Mythical Pokemon Genesect, as well asa couple Ultra Beast Pokemon. Poison-type Pokemon may have Eternatus as a Legendary Pokemon, but the Generation 8 Poison/Dragon type is the only Poison-type Legendary to date. Ground, Rock, and Normal also all have only a handful of Legendary Pokemon to their names to date. It’d be great to seePokemon ScarletandVioletspotlight Bug, Poison, and their other underrepresented peers with some exciting new Legendaries.
If Game Freak really wants to introduce a new Legendary Fairy-type inScarletandViolet,then hopefully it’s at least a relatively unimportant Legendary, rather than a Pokemon that defines the game’s story or a central principle ofScarletandViolet’s region. The type has more than enough visibility at this point, andScarletandVioletwill be more unique overall if it focuses on a surprising set of types for its core Legendary Pokemon instead of reusing some familiar types. Like everyPokemongeneration before it, Generation 9 has the chance to change the franchise for the better.ScarletandVioletcan do so by diversifying the Legendary pool
Pokemon ScarletandVioletrelease in late 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
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