Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Breaking down the Official Second Trailer

The second official trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet dropped today and…wow. Just wow. It looks really good, you guys. Like, I haven’t seen anything in this that I don’t like so far and I’m a nitpicky son-of-a-gun.

I’m gonna let you take 3ish minutes so you can watch this and then I’m going to break down everything I spot.

:10

We see a Poke Kiosk. Imagine, every time you need to restock items or heal your Pokemon you can just run up to these instead of going into a building and talking to separate NPCs. I’m sure there will still be actual Pokecenters but man, as a quality of life feature this is stellar.

:18

We get introduced to the two new professors. You get a different one depending on which game you’re playing. On the left, you have Professor Sada. On the right, you have Professor Turo. While they both seem to dress like they’re from different time periods (something I’ve noticed seems to set both games apart in certain regards) they do have one thing in common, they’re both absolute smoke shows. A lot of Pokemon fans woke up this morning and questioned their sexuality in some regards today.

:30

We get introduced to a character named Nemona, who I’m guessing is a rival. She asks if you’re the trainer of the new starters and challenges you to your first Pokemon battle using something that looks like if a jelly bean wished to become a horse, named Pawmi. Pawmi is this generation’s Pikachu-like mascot Pokemon.

:47

The man in every Pokemon game who’s always amazed by science, and, in turn, the newest features in a game, drops something huge. You can play with other people. Not just like the Wild Area in Sword and Shield where you can see the after images of other players teleporting about but actually play in a party of four.

This is already huge as the official website has already announced that this game is going to be entirely open world and you can visit the cities and gyms in any order that you’d like, so being able to freely hang out and adventure with friends is something I can’t wait for, now I just need friends.

:54

While showing off the partying, we also see something I’ve seen people asking for forEVER. Hair texture beyond standard European hair! Finally. I’ve known many people that always felt underrepresented because every time a video game tries to do black hair it’s like cornrows, afro, done. This is awesome. You can see it really well in this picture as she tries to capture the newest plant-type Pokemon, Smoliv.

1:20

We also get to meet another new Pokemon, a little pig named Lechonk. This normal type Pokemon, along with Smoliv, shows that not only has Nintendo actually been listening, but they picked up some memes and internet slang along the way as we now have Smol and Chonk in the same reveal.

1:38

A character engages in a trade, following along with Pokemon Legends Arceus in creating trade animations that look so much cooler than they need to be.

1:50

There’s a montage of a player character running through various biomes. You got your desert, woods, all that. But watch when he runs through a tundra. The character puts his arms up to block the wind. I really love little touches like that that make you feel more in the world and affected by it.

2:07

And, of course, what would a new Pokemon game be without legendaries. I have to say, this is the first time since Ruby and Sapphire I’ve seen new legendaries I fell in love with instantly.

We get to meet Koridon and Miraidon. While they both have a remarkably similar shape, remember what I said before about past and future-looking outfits with the professors? It’s here too.

Koridon looks like a dinosaur with the modern realization of feathers and beautiful plumage. Whereas Miraidon looks like someone in the future tried to create a robotic version of it only with a jet pack instead of legs, lightning from the face, and adorable eyes made out a bunch of LEDs in a grid.

And before you think I’m pulling this who past/future thing out of my backside, I need y’all to understand that Miraidon, the one that looks like it’s from the future, has Mirai in its name which is a Japanese girl’s name that means “future”. So eat that.

Anyways, I can’t believe I’m even more hyped for this now. A completely open world, awesome looking new Pokemon, a real multiplayer aspect to the game, a potential time-traveling storyline, and two legendaries that look amazing?  My heart can’t take it but hopefully, it’ll make it until November 18th which is when Pokemon Scarlet and Violet finally drops on Nintendo Switch.