When it comes to Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, there appears to be something of a consensus forming: the latest mainline games have a solid foundation on every level, engaging gameplay, and a surprisingly moving story; they also run terribly, glitch regularly, and their looks leave a lot to be desired.
We'll cover that, for sure. But we're also going to take a look at what Scarlet & Violet bring to the table on the purely non-technical side. There's a darn good monster-catching video game here, but we've thunk up a few things that could give Paldea that extra push on its path to greatness.
8 Non-Snorlax Performance
Here's the Copperajah in the room. Pokemon Scarlet & Violet do not run well at all. It's telling that the majority of reviewers seemed to determine their scores by factoring in how much they love about the games, and then addressing how much they don't, and the bulk of that latter bit is devoted entirely to the terrible frame rate, multitude of glitches, and related hitches.
The Switch may be aging, but we've seen better from... basically every other big Nintendo franchise, not to mention other Pokemon games on Switch. Hopefully, Game Freak addresses as much of this issue as possible. In their present form, Scarlet & Violet feel like they're being held together by duct tape and a prayer. Now, on to all the secondary stuff.
7 Better Buildings
Paldea's settlements are sprawling and suitably diverse. It's all about that art style. From treehouse cafes and nifty hedge mazes, even the first two Gym Badges give you a few reasons to gape at the good town designs. It's a testament to their quality, really, that we love the looks of these places in spite of the game's middling graphics.
Even so, there just aren't enough buildings to enter in Scarlet & Violet, and most of them are really just menu screens for cafes and shops. Hey, at least it's a step up from Sword & Shield, where the art was just as good, but most towns were so much smaller. In a perfect world, Scarlet & Violet's scale gets the depth of earlier generations.
6 Complex Caves
We know not every veteran Pokemon fan misses Mount Moon, Rock Tunnel, Victory Road, and similar post-Kanto hotspots. But frankly, we do. There's a sense of achievement stepping out of these labyrinthine locales. The series has shifted further wayward of these dungeon-like mazes with each passing generation.
Imagine if the caves and forest areas in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet had even half as much complexity. Marrying that sort of approach to the open world would feel like, well, the best of both worlds.
5 Just Let Us Jump
This one's smaller, but sometimes it's the little things that get to you in life. In Scarlet & Violet, you've got to get up on your mount in order to jump over any obstacle. This makes sense for sizable gaps, of course. We're not asking to let our kid heroes leap over vast distances.
The trouble arises when places like towns often have items to grab on the other side of picket fences, knee-high bushes, and the like. Just a hop, it's all we need, and then we aren't looking odd as all get-out morphing ourselves atop Miraidon or Koraidon for the span of two seconds.
4 Mega-Unlikely Mayhem
Not everyone adored Pokemon X & Y's Mega Evolution mechanic, though a fair few fans do rate the notion higher than Z-Moves and Gigantamax, respectively. Surely, Terastallization won't steal the idea throne, either. It's not that any of these are bad, but it's simply a shame they show up one generation, only to be nixed the next.
What we dig about Megas is that, like Gigantamax but with a higher number of representative species, Pokemon transform into forms that feel appropriately 'next-level'. It was Game Freak's nifty way of bypassing the evolutionary rule of three; Mega Swampert feels like Swampert's own evolution, and so forth.
Just picturing those sixth-generation powerhouses on the Nintendo Switch is enough to get the mouth watering.
3 A Towering Good Time
Let's go down the list for old time's sake. In Pokemon Emerald, the massive (and massively impressive) Battle Frontier had a whopping seven separate facilities. There was Battle Factory, Battle Arena, Battle Pyramid, Battle Dome, Battle Pike, Battle Palace, and oh yeah, the Battle Tower.
The Battle Frontier returned in Pokemon Platinum and HeartGold & SoulSilver.And then... not so much. The Battle Tower, with numerous thematic nomenclatures like Battle Maison and Battle Tree, was still a good time, if not as complex.
As it stands, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are the first mainline generational games to lack a battling facility of any sort. More than just stellar postgame challenges, these serve as excellent training ground for testing out competitive strategies.
2 That Jerk Who Lurks
There's Blue, a brutally effective bully whose eventual fall from grace is a sight to behold. There's Silver, son of a crime boss, a thief who cares not for his Pokemon's feelings, only the win. In both cases, these jerk rivals get great arcs, culminating in the realization that life would be easier if they played nice for a change.
Props to Sword & Shield for Bede. He's up there with those first two, even if the story surrounding him isn't as captivating. But Scarlet & Violet miss a step with Nemona. Now, we enjoy Nemona, and we wouldn't want her gone, but there's still room for a Blue-like who's all thunder and insults. Until he isn't.
1 Another Crowning Achievement
Pokemon X & Y were somewhat barebones relative to what came before them. So, too, are Pokemon Sword & Shield. Simply put, there's just not as much content, especially in the postgame. But Sword & Shield got the chance to improve upon the base model with an Expansion Pass.
Scarlet & Violet, in their launch state, have more content than either of those two instances, even if they are falling apart at the technical seams. An Expansion Pass doesn't necessarily feel quite so 'necessary', per se. But what if it gave us some of the stuff we've previously mentioned? With a strong foundation in Paldea, there's plenty they can add that will feel truly special.