- 7/3/2025
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Switch 2 Review - More To Chewtle On
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00:00Switch 2 version update. With the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
00:06have received a much-needed performance boost. The free update adds 4,000 visuals while docked
00:12and a rock-solid 60 frames per second for both docked and handheld play.
00:17After several hours of testing, I have found both Scarlet and Violet run and play significantly
00:22better. On the original Switch, a stormy Casaroya lake in the northwestern part of Paldia
00:28was particularly taxing. Even after a handful of updates, I dreaded going to that lake to collect
00:35items or shiny hunt. Now, on the Switch 2, it runs flawlessly regardless of where you are in the
00:41world. Additionally, the lengthy loading times have been reduced to a few seconds. Despite these
00:47improvements, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet still is not the most visually appealing Pokemon game to
00:52date. The world feels bland and barren, and character models, outside of the wonderfully
00:57detailed and expressive Pokemon, are simplistic and wooden. Despite the 4,000 resolution, there are
01:04still plenty of low-quality textures, and visual bugs can occur during battle. It is a shame given
01:10how strong the visual identity is for something like Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee, or even
01:16Pokemon Legends Arceus, which received a fair bit of criticism for its visuals as well. Though, oddly enough,
01:23the number of Pokemon that can appear on screen has increased significantly, making Paldia feel
01:28slightly more lively. This is especially good news for shiny hunting sickos like me, as it is much
01:34easier to spawn and spot a rare Pokemon. The Switch 2's horsepower also fixes a lot of issues with the
01:40menus, particularly Pokemon boxes. If you spent a lot of time organizing your Pokemon and building
01:46different battle teams, you likely know how slow it was navigating those menus, sometimes waiting
01:51seconds for a character model to load into view. With the Switch 2, flipping through your boxes is a
01:56breeze. I strongly recommend giving Scarlet and Violet another shot if the performance and visuals were a
02:02turn-off when they originally released. Underneath all the issues and the controversy, Scarlet and Violet
02:08is one of the most interesting mainline Pokemon games in years. The unconventional structure lets
02:14players explore the world with unparalleled freedom. The terrestrialization mechanics have made competitive
02:20play an absolute thrill to compete in and watch. And the Indigo Disk downloadable content might be the most
02:26challenging gauntlets Game Freak has added to a Pokemon game in years. Now, if only they would bring back the
02:32battle tower. Jake Decker. You can read our original review of the Switch version, published on November 21st,
02:392022, below. While Pokemon Legends, Arceus dipped its toes into what an open-world Pokemon game could
02:48be, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fully embrace it. This new approach to the tried-and-true Pokemon formula
02:55reinvigorates the mainline series and delivers one of the most challenging and rewarding Pokemon
03:00adventures to date. Where they really shine, however, is in non-linear progression. Scarlet and Violet make
03:07some subtle efforts to guide you to specific locations. But ultimately, how you forge your own
03:13path through the vibrant new region of Paldia is what makes it so memorable. Scarlet and Violet start
03:19off like most mainline Pokemon games. You wake up at home, meet your rival, pick one of three starters,
03:25and before long, you are exploring the world and catching a wide range of monsters. While the tutorial
03:31might still feel a bit overbearing for longtime fans, it moves at a brisk pace. Before long,
03:36Nimona, your peppy, battle-hungry rival, turns you loose, and you are free to explore a hefty chunk
03:42of the map, battle trainers at your discretion, and catch wild Pokemon. It does slow down a bit as it
03:49introduces characters and the three main questlines, but soon after that, you are free to explore
03:55Paldia in its entirety. Scarlet and Violet's strength lies in their freedom, and that freedom
04:01extends beyond its open world. At the outset, you are given three different paths to follow.
04:07The Path of Legends, which has you hunt down and defeat abnormally large Pokemon.
04:13Operation Starfall, where you deal with this generation's team rocket. And the familiar
04:17Victory Road, in which you take on eight gym leaders. Unlike previous games, there is no
04:23predetermined path through the story. Although trainers and wild Pokemon get tougher the further
04:28you get from Mesagoza, Paldia's centermost city, there is nothing outright stopping you from marching
04:34up to one of the toughest gym leaders in the game and challenging them to a battle. In fact,
04:39Pokemon Scarlet and Violet does not even tell you how tough a specific area is until you are actually
04:44there. That lack of transparency might seem odd in a level-based role-playing game, but it encouraged
04:50me to travel off the beaten path and scout out areas a traditional Pokemon game would have gated off.
04:56The lack of random encounters also fosters this type of exploration. Pokemon are crawling over
05:02every square inch of the map. Pommy, the adorable new electric-type rodent, travels in packs.
05:08Psyducks will saunter through fields, occasionally taking a dip in a nearby stream, and peaches can
05:13often be found napping under shady trees. Scarlet and Violet also shake up breeding for the first time
05:20since it was introduced in gold and silver. Although breeding the perfect Pokemon can still be a time
05:25sink, both games have done away with Pokemon daycares entirely. Now, if you set up a picnic
05:31with two compatible Pokemon in your party, they will leave multiple eggs in a basket. Unhygienic,
05:37yes, but this saves a ton of time. Eggs collected during a picnic will automatically populate in your
05:43boxes, meaning you do not have to frequently reorganize your party to make room for a new egg.
05:48Within 15 minutes of idle time in a picnic, I had over a dozen eggs that were automatically
05:54transferred into my Pokemon box, a much easier and more efficient method than riding a bike around
06:00a daycare and waiting for eggs to appear. The streamlined breeding process also means it might
06:06be easier to grind for shiny Pokemon. While I have not figured out how to maximize my shiny odds yet,
06:12it seems like the overall process could be far less painful than in the past.
06:15It is hard to discuss the competitive scene without touching on battling. Terastalizing
06:21will certainly shake things up, but it is difficult to say exactly how at this stage.
06:26In theory, a competitive team could cover far more weaknesses thanks to this mechanic.
06:31With six Pokemon to a team and potentially three different types per Pokemon,
06:35each Pokemon's two standard types and a third different Terra type, you could represent all 18
06:41types in one party. My hope is it will result in a far more diverse lineup of viable competitive
06:47Pokemon and new inventive strategies, since typing is such an important part of the team building
06:53process. As excited as I am to test out these strategies, Scarlet and Violet lack a battle tower.
06:59There are some exciting post-game challenges, but the absence of a proper battle tower makes it very
07:04difficult to experiment with different teams and test out new strategies in a low-stakes competitive
07:09environment. The omission of the battle tower is likely due to Scarlet and Violet's expanded suite
07:15of online features. The big addition to Scarlet and Violet is cooperative play. You and up to three
07:21friends can explore Paldia together. You can battle trainers, catch wild Pokemon, and complete story
07:27quests while your pals are on the other side of the map. If one player starts up a Terra Raid battle,
07:33every other player in the session is notified and can join with the touch of a button.
07:36It is a welcome addition, but it feels superficial. You cannot walk up to another player and interact
07:43with them to initiate a trade or battle. Instead, you need to open up the Poke Portal menu and start
07:48a trade from there. You also cannot catch Pokemon from the other version, even if you join their game.
07:55It seems that cooperative play also opens the floodgates for bugs and glitches. My experience,
08:00apart from a few connection issues, has been smooth sailing, but that could change the more I play over
08:05the coming weeks. It is nice seeing your friends run around in your world, but it does not add a
08:11whole lot to the experience. Fortunately, the multiplayer features from Sword and Shield return,
08:16and they are better implemented here. From the menu, you can connect to the servers and access
08:21battling, trading, mystery gifts, and surprise trades with a few button presses. Pokemon games and
08:28Nintendo still have a ways to go to match the online experience of its competition,
08:32but the process is painless. The level of freedom found in Scarlet and Violet comes at a significant
08:38cost, though, particularly in their presentation. These games look rough. There is a moment early
08:44on where you follow your rival to the top of a lighthouse. Whether intentional or not, it feels like
08:50it is supposed to be that moment in every open-world game where you can appreciate the vast expanse of
08:55the world before you. Unfortunately, the muddy visuals undercut the moment. Mesagoza looks like
09:02a collection of off-white shapes in the distance. The trees look more like green blobs than trees.
09:07And the rotating pokeball above the Pokemon center moves at only a few frames per second.
09:12While the Pokemon and key characters are well rendered, not much else is. Textures are missing.
09:18Objects in the distance are pixelated and jittery. Pokemon and non-player characters are constantly
09:23popping in and out due to poor draw distances, and battles on uneven terrain will frequently cause
09:28the camera to clip through the ground. Between Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Bayonetta 3, the switch
09:34has really shown its age this year. But Pokemon Scarlet and Violet feel as though they are being crushed
09:40by the hardware. Pokemon Legends. Arceus had its fair share of visual shortcomings, but not to this
09:47extent. Whether you play handheld or docked, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are difficult on the eyes.
09:53Fortunately, Scarlet and Violet run pretty well. Do not expect a buttery 60 frames per second,
09:59but during my time with the games, I have not experienced any slowdowns or significant dips
10:04to the frame rate. Of course, a game like Pokemon does not demand rock-solid performance,
10:10but it is comforting to see that. Despite all of the visual rough patches, performance holds up
10:15decently. While undercooked presentation and visual issues hold the games back, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
10:22are still the best mainline Pokemon games in years. They build off Pokemon Legends, Arceus's open-ended
10:28design, in some thoughtful and surprising ways, and retain that same level of depth that the
10:33mainline series is known for. While Pokemon Legends Arceus dipped its toes in what an open-world
10:39Pokemon game could be, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fully embrace it. This new approach to the tried-and-true
10:45Pokemon formula reinvigorates the mainline series and delivers one of the most challenging and
10:50rewarding Pokemon adventures to date.
10:59Where they really shine, however, is in non-linear progression. Scarlet and Violet make some subtle
11:05efforts to guide you to specific locations, but ultimately, how you forge your own path through
11:10the vibrant new region of Paldea is what makes it so memorable. Scarlet and Violet starts off
11:15like most mainline Pokemon games. You wake up at home, meet your rival, pick one of three starters,
11:21and before long you're exploring the world and catching a wide range of monsters. While the tutorial
11:26might still feel a bit overbearing for longtime fans, it moves at a brisk pace. Before long,
11:32Nimona, your peppy battle-hungry rival, turns you loose and you're free to explore a hefty chunk of the
11:38map, battle trainers at your discretion, and catch wild Pokemon. It does slow down a bit as it
11:43introduces characters and the three main questlines, but soon after that, you are free to explore
11:48Paldea in its entirety. Scarlet and Violet's strength lies in their freedom, and that freedom
11:54extends beyond its open world. At the outset, you are given three different paths to follow. The Path
12:00of Legends, which has you hunt down and defeat abnormally large Pokemon, Operation Starfall, where you deal
12:05with this generation's Team Rocket, and the familiar Victory Road, in which you take on eight gym leaders.
12:11Unlike previous games, there is no predetermined path through the story. Although trainers and
12:16wild Pokemon get tougher the further you get from Mesa Goza, Paldea's centermost city, there's nothing
12:22outright stopping you from marching up to one of the toughest gym leaders in the game and challenging
12:26them to a battle. In fact, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet doesn't even tell you how tough a specific area
12:32is until you're actually there. That lack of transparency may seem odd in a level-based RPG,
12:38but it encouraged me to travel off the beaten path and scout out areas a traditional Pokemon
12:44game would have gated off. The lack of random encounters also fosters this type of exploration.
12:49Pokemon are crawling over every square inch of the map. Pommy, the adorable new electric-type
12:55rodent, travels in packs. Psyducks will saunter through fields, occasionally taking a dip in a nearby
13:01stream, and Pichus can often be found napping under shady trees. Like in Arceus, I often found myself
13:08chasing new Pokemon I spotted off in the distance until I ended up in an area I wasn't quite ready for.
13:14Occasionally, these spontaneous adventures would end with a team wipe, but sometimes I'd walk away with a
13:21powerful new Pokemon to join my roster. In many ways, it feels like Game Freak has finally taken the
13:26training wheels off of Pokemon. Throughout my adventure, I felt like I was constantly punching
13:32above my weight against Gym Leaders, Titan Pokemon, and Team Star Bosses. In most cases,
13:37my Pokemon were lower levels than the competition, which forced me to think beyond the familiar
13:42rock-paper-scissors type matchups. Nature's abilities and held items, things I rarely considered
13:49during a Pokemon game's main story would often give me enough of an edge to narrowly beat a trainer I
13:55would have otherwise lost to. Terastalizing adds another wrinkle to the challenge. Most key trainers
14:01you go toe-to-toe with will terastalize their final Pokemon, which can alter a Pokemon's typing.
14:07Every Pokemon in the Paldea region has a Terra type, along with its standard type or types. However,
14:13some Pokemon you come across will have a Terra type different from their standard type.
14:18For example, the Grass type Gym Leader Brassius uses the Rock type Pokemon Pseudowoodoo, but his
14:23Pseudowoodoo has the Grass Terra type. Once this Pseudowoodoo terastalizes, the water or grass type
14:29attacks you'd usually use against a Pseudowoodoo won't be very effective. Most Gym Leaders use
14:35terastalizing to cover their weaknesses, making the final push a tad more difficult if you aren't
14:40prepared or underleveled. Of course, you don't have to play Scarlet and Violet the same way I did.
14:45You can seek out challenges you are appropriately leveled for and stick to safer areas while you
14:50train. This approach is still far more compelling than the traditional Pokemon structure because
14:55there are plenty of areas to explore, a wide variety of Pokemon to catch, and a handful of
15:00main objectives to complete wherever you choose to go. And even when I was underleveled for some of the
15:06tougher points of interest, I rarely felt like my only option was to grind out levels by repeatedly
15:11battling wild Pokemon. Grinding is far less tedious than it used to be thanks to the Let's Go mechanic.
15:17This allows the first Pokemon on your party to auto-battle wild Pokemon. Auto-battling doesn't
15:23net you as much experience as a standard battle, but because auto-battles are decided within a few
15:28seconds, you can battle a high volume of Pokemon in a short amount of time. Auto-battling also ties
15:34into TM crafting. Unlike in previous games, once you find or receive a TM, you can craft copies of
15:40it at Pokemon centers. When you knock out a wild Pokemon, it drops crafting materials,
15:45and you can earn those crafting materials far more efficiently by auto-battling. However,
15:51while auto-battles make TM crafting much easier than it would be otherwise, I'd much prefer an option
15:56to buy the ones I want. All TMs require components from specific Pokemon, meaning that you have to make an
16:01effort to track down that Pokemon and battle it a few times. The good news is that you can swap out
16:07your Pokemon's moves at any time. If you accidentally replace the move, you can go into the Pokemon
16:12summary menu and relearn it. This is also true for TMs. If you use a TM on a Pokemon, that move will
16:18always be available in its movepool. It's a small change, but a welcome one that makes it much easier
16:24to experiment with movesets on the fly. It's hard to discuss the competitive scene without touching on
16:29battling. Terastalizing will certainly shake things up, but it's difficult to say exactly how at this
16:35stage. In theory, a competitive team could cover far more weaknesses thanks to this mechanic. With
16:416 Pokemon to a team, and potentially 3 different types per Pokemon, each Pokemon's standard 2 types,
16:47and a third different Terra type, you could represent all 18 types in one party. My hope is it will result
16:54in a far more diverse lineup of viable competitive Pokemon and new inventive strategies since typing
17:01is such an important part of the team building process. As excited as I am to test out these
17:06strategies, Scarlet and Violet lack a Battle Tower. There are some exciting post-game challenges,
17:11but the absence of a proper Battle Tower makes it very difficult to experiment with different teams
17:17and test out new strategies in a low stakes competitive environment. The omission of the Battle Tower
17:22is likely due to Scarlet and Violet's expanded suite of online features. Unfortunately, as of now,
17:28the servers aren't live yet, so I haven't been able to test online battles, cooperative play, link
17:33trades, and surprise trades. Of these, I am most curious to see what co-op adds to the package. Could
17:39you potentially play through the entire game with a few friends, or is it limited to basic exploration?
17:44If co-op manages to capture the same sense of freedom as the single player, it could be a fantastic
17:49way to play these games. The level of freedom found in Scarlet and Violet comes at a significant cost,
17:55though, particularly in their presentation. These games look rough. There's a moment early on where
18:02you follow your rival to the top of a lighthouse. Whether intentional or not, it feels like it's
18:06supposed to be that moment in every open world game where you can appreciate the vast expanse of
18:11the world before you. Unfortunately, the muddy visuals undercut the moment. Mesa Goza looks like
18:17a collection of off-white shapes in the distance. The trees look more like green blobs than trees,
18:23and the rotating pokeball above the pokemon center moves at only a few frames per second.
18:28While the pokemon and key characters are well rendered, not much else is. Textures are missing,
18:34objects in the distance are pixelated and jittery, pokemon and npcs are constantly popping in and out
18:39due to poor draw distances, and battles on uneven terrain will frequently cause the camera to clip
18:45through the ground. Between Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Bayonetta 3, the Switch has really shown its
18:51age this year, but Pokemon Scarlet and Violet feel as though they are being crushed by the hardware.
18:56Pokemon Legends Arceus had its fair share of visual shortcomings, but not to this extent.
19:02Whether you play handheld or docked, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are difficult on the eyes.
19:07Fortunately, Scarlet and Violet run pretty well. Don't expect a buttery 60 frames per second,
19:12but during my time with the games, I haven't experienced any slowdowns or significant dips
19:17to the framerate. Of course, a game like Pokemon doesn't demand rock solid performance, but it is
19:22comforting to see that despite all of the visual rough patches, performance holds up decently.
19:28While undercooked presentation and visuals hold the game back,
19:31Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are still the best mainline Pokemon games in years. They build off
19:36Pokemon Legends Arceus' open-ended design in some thoughtful and surprising ways,
19:42and retain that same level of depth that the mainline series is known for.
Recommended
9:36
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