It’s been a bit of a better week for Pokemon fans as the first patch for Scarlet & Violet rolls out. Many of us didn’t expect to see the launch issues acknowledged so soon, so the update came as a very welcome surprise. Other areas of the Pokemon world aren’t running as smoothly, however. As it becomes clear that Terastallising is even more powerful than we expected, the competitive community is faced with the prospect of banning the gimmick entirely. All of that and more features in our Pokemon news round-up. 
Nintendo Announces Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Patch, Apologises For Performance
This week, Nintendo unexpectedly acknowledged Scarlet & Violet’s performance issues and announced a patch. This contradicts claims made by its support team, who were saying that they had received no complaints of bugs in the new Pokemon releases. The patch was rolled out December 1, and came with an apology for the state of the game at launch. It remains to be seen if this addresses issues with frame rate drops, and character model bugs.
Competitive Pokemon Community Considering “Nuclear Option” Of Banning Terastallising
Terastallising is too OP, according to the competitive Pokemon community. As our features editor Ben Sledge reported this week, the gimmick might have to be banned from the professional scene entirely, a much bigger move than simply banning certain Pokemon. “I’m hoping we can find a way to restrict Tera to more balanced levels,” said competitive play council member Finchinator. “But there’s also a chance we have to subscribe to the nuclear option when it’s all said and done.”
Pokemon Fan Makes Scarlet & Violet Cutscenes Less Awkward With Voice Acting
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players were disappointed to see that the cutscenes still don’t have any voice acting after this was a common complaint with Legends: Arceus earlier in the year. In aid of this, a fan put together a compilation of what the game would be like with fully voiced characters, showing how much personality would be injected into scenes that can sometimes feel awkward with their silence.
Pokemon Players Have Been Kissing Meowscarada In Scarlet & Violet
They did it - they found a way to kiss Pokemon. Pokemon fans are smooching Meowscarada on picnic dates, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. It was discovered this week that when the Grass starter fully evolves, interacting with it on picnics makes it look like you’re going in for a smooch. This is a dream come true for a certain group of the fanbase. It’s possible that this can be pulled off with other ‘mon of similar stature, but frankly, I don’t want to know.
Mod Makes Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Run At 60 FPS
A modder got Pokemon Scarlet & Violet running at 60 FPS, far from the 30 FPS cap on Nintendo Switch. This was pulled off with an emulated version of the game played on PC, showing what the game could look like if it was as silky smooth as other new releases. Unfortunately, the mod isn’t available to the public. But you also shouldn’t even be thinking of playing it on PC! Very bad! So try not to get too jealous of the results, yeah?