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The TikTok, which featured a Pikachu mascot clapping hands with a Lucario mascot, used a sound that featured several uses of a not-safe-for-work word.
The TikTok was enough for Pokemon fans to mock the apparent mistake as one user noted that Pikachu has “gone rogue” following Ash’s recently-announced conclusion on the series.
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Most of us have only heard Pikachu, the lovable mascot of the all-ages multimedia franchise Pokémon, say his name when he speaks through the anime. Although, there was that time he spoke real human words to his trainer Ash Ketchum in the Pokémon: I Choose You movie, and when Ryan Reynolds gave him a new, English-speaking voice in Detective Pikachu. But most of the time, all he ever says is variations on his name. Well, today, he got to say “motherfucking,” in an officially published TikTok from the Japanese branch of The Pokémon Company. You heard it here, folks: Pikachu is a potty mouth like the rest of us.
The video, which has since been deleted from the Japanese Pokémon TikTok account, was set to an audio by user Andy Arthur Smith in which he sings an embellished version of “If You’re Happy And You Know It”. The new lyrics to the children’s song, as performed by Smith, go a little something like, “If you’re fucking happy and you motherfucking know it clap your motherfucking hands.” As a Japanese brand account, it stands to reason the people running it might not be native English speakers and didn’t know the explicit nature of the song until it was pointed out to them, and that once it was, the video was promptly removed from the account.
However, no delete button can stop the internet, which never forgets, so Pikachu singing “if you’re fucking happy and you motherfucking know it, clap your motherfucking hands” in official marketing material is still floating around social media.
All jokes aside, this isn’t the first time Pikachu has cussed in an official capacity. In the Detective Pikachu movie, the electric mouse said “hell” and “damn” in the voice of Ryan Reynolds. Sure, on a list ranking the severity of different profanity, those are much lower on the list, but perhaps when we heard Pikachu saying his name, he has always been swearing at people.
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Kenneth Shepard
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When it comes time to write these year-end lists, I usually slim them down to my top five favorite games I played because, despite what this job entails, I usually only have passionate feelings about a handful of games by the time we reach December.
But 2022 was a weird one for me, in that I feel like I played fewer games than ever. Not that any of that has anything to do with Kotaku, as I’ve only been here for about two weeks so far. But going through tumultuous times and a layoff at the last job doesn’t leave one much energy to invest time in a ton of games.
But I did experience a handful of games that really resonated with me, a few of which were old ones that got renewed in some way in 2022. So don’t yell at me when you see them on this list. It’s my list, and I’ll cry about Cyberpunk 2077 if I want to.
Getting two major Pokémon games in 2022 was a lot for some people, but being able to run around a Pokémon world with Raichu by my side is the only thing that keeps me going some days. So I was happy to indulge in an open-world Pokémon in the form of Pokémon Violet. However, I just have too many issues with this game to give it a proper spot on my list. It’s buggy, sure, but it’s also designed in such a way that it can’t keep up with its own “find your bliss” philosophy, which made entire sections of its main story annoying and disorienting to play through.
That being said, the stellar endgame has completely rewired my brain and I can’t think about Professor Turo without crying, and playing a Pokémon game in co-op with my friends is a childhood dream come true. It’s deeply flawed, but I keep looking back at screenshots of me and my friends hanging out in Paldea like an old photo album. It’s got so many great ideas, but it’s all built on top of a shaky foundation. I’m awaiting its DLC with bated breath.
I really adore the 2018 God of War reboot as an examination on the series’ previous gleeful glamorizing of gratuitous gore, and when it was at its best, God of War Ragnarök felt like it was building beautifully upon Kratos’ and Atreus’ relationship as father and son. But, man, what a messy follow-up it was.
I like large swaths of Ragnarök, and I think, had it been broken up into two games and made a trilogy, rather than Sony Santa Monica attempting to introduce and wrap up two games’ worth of story in the course of an exhaustively long game, I would’ve loved it a lot more. Its action still feels weighty and fun and getting to play as Atreus was a lovely surprise, but it feels breathless and bloated in a way the 2018 reboot didn’t. I’m always going to wonder what the conclusion to God of War’s Norse story would’ve looked like as two games instead of one, as those are the ones that would’ve likely made it onto my list.
I’m still very resistant to any narrative that Cyberpunk 2077 is “great” in 2022 after CD Projekt Red put in the work to elevate it from the technical disaster it was when it launched in 2020, but the game was still a central figure in my year, and has gone from something I played out of a work obligation two years ago to a game that’s become pretty special to me.
I played through and dissected Cyberpunk 2077 all year as part of Normandy FM, a retrospective podcast I co-host, and combing through that game in a relatively stable technical state unmasked that it’s a pretty unremarkable RPG. That being said, as a person who spent all of 2022 dealing with the realities of the capitalist gristmill that is America, both through job stuff and in the medical system, there was something freeing about existing in Night City, which felt like an oppressive, capitalist amalgamation of the cities I dreamed of living in while I was stranded in small-town Georgia.
When Cyberpunk 2077 wasn’t being insufferably cynical about people, places, and things, it was a constant interrogation of what I was willing to live for, and why I wanted the things I wanted in life. It’s a product of the same capitalist hellscape it claims to satirize, but in the margins there are things worth fighting for, even if you have to go looking for them on your own terms. I don’t boot up open-world RPGs very often, but throughout 2022 I would turn on Cyberpunk 2077 just to drive around the city and imagine the possibilities it held for me. Thankfully, I live in a city now, and no longer have to dream. But Cyberpunk 2077 was a lifeline during a time when the home it proposed felt unattainable. For that, I’ll always keep the story of V and Night City in my heart, even if I don’t think it’s a great video game.
Haven completely slipped by me in 2020, but that changed this year when The Game Bakers added an update that let you play as same-sex pairings of its main characters Yu and Kay. As a person who has written a lot about queerness in the video game industry, I was immediately drawn to Haven as a case study in a developer putting in the time and effort to make a game queer-inclusive. Getting to experience Yu and Kay’s story from the perspective of two queer men was a wonderful way to first experience the game, and made its angsty science-fiction romance all the more affecting for me as a gay man who eats that shit up.
Haven is a lovely meditation on long-term relationships, with its exploration and turn-based combat broken up by scenes of Yu and Kay just living together through the most mundane parts of being together. Where many video games thrive in the lead-up to a romantic relationship, Haven sits with what it means to already be well and established, and it leads to some of my favorite romance writing in a game. It’s full of big, oppressive science-fiction ideas, but its best moments are when two people sit together in their home and speak to each other not as spacefaring adventurers, but as two star-crossed lovers willing to find pockets of joy when they’re all they’ve got left.
The music of We Are OFK, an episodic biopic about a group of young adults drifting through the L.A. game dev grind and into a musical act, nearly topped my Spotify Wrapped this year. The band was second under Coheed and Cambria, my favorite band that released a new album this year, which speaks volumes about how catchy and contemplative Team OFK’s indie pop stylings are. These songs are interwoven between We Are OFK’s depiction of the dramatic, interpersonal relationships between a group of queer creatives just trying to figure their shit out.
We Are OFK is contentious as a video game, as its interactive elements feel insubstantial beyond choosing text messages and playing through an interactive music video at the end of each episode. But as an unapologetically queer musical drama about finding yourself and those willing to put up with your bullshit, it’s deeply relatable. The game exists as a springboard for a larger virtual band experience, and as long as they keep producing bangers like “thanks,” and “Infuriata,” I’ll follow it in whatever form OFK exists.
Look, look, I know. I know Overwatch 2 is a mess of microtransactions and free-to-play grind, but Blizzard’s sequel/reboot of its hero shooter is still such a gold standard for team-based combat that I have sunk nearly 300 hours into it since its launch in October.
Right now, Overwatch 2 isn’t exactly what I was looking for when Blizzard announced it back in 2019, as its story content has been pushed into 2023. I (foolishly) came into Overwatch on the back of its characters and lore, so I’m still eagerly awaiting that side of the sequel. However, in its complete revamp of the original game’s format in favor of a 5v5 setup, its new modes, the heroes, and the great deal of attention given to its contextual banter writing, Overwatch feels more alive than it’s felt in years. This is damage of Blizzard’s own doing, as the company essentially put the first game on ice until Overwatch 2’s launch. But it’s comforting as a long-time player to finally see signs of life for the game after all this time, and to feel hope for its future for the first time in years.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus was everything I’d been wanting out of a Pokémon story for over a decade. After years of watching the franchise add to its mythology and world, it never really felt like many of these games were living up to the promise of the universe Game Freak had built over 25 years. Pokémon Legends: Arceus was the first time since I was a child that this setting felt as large and unknowable as it did in my youth.
Much of that came from Legends: Arceus’ use of a historical setting, rather than the modern one seen in most other Pokémon games. Taking the player back to when the Sinnoh region was known as Hisui, being present for lore-defining conflicts, and watching the universe’s gods have it out was more impactful than hearing about them through historians and seeing cave paintings and statues. It felt like a second chance for Sinnoh to feel like the significant origin point of the universe it had been described as in Diamond and Pearl.
On top of just feeling more vast, Pokémon Legends: Arceus was also the most tangible the world felt to me as a player. This was thanks to Game Freak’s shift into action-oriented mechanics like actually being able to aim and throw a Pokéball at an unsuspecting wild Pokémon, stealthing around the wilderness to avoid giant Alpha Pokémon, and being able to fluidly traverse its open areas on the backs of friendly critters. Even when Pokémon Scarlet and Violet attempted their own versions of these systems, it never felt like they quite captured Legends: Arceus’ frictionless traversal, and that’s why they felt flimsy in comparison.
Legends: Arceus solidified to me what it is I want out of Pokémon games. Some people want to capture every Pokémon in the Pokedex, some want to compete and become a respected champion. But for me, existing in this world and discovering its secrets with Raichu by my side is why Pokémon still holds my attention decades later, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the most I’ve felt captivated by this universe, probably ever. I hope it’s a blueprint for the series’ future, because I feel like, otherwise, I’m going to be chasing the highs of its best moments for years to come.
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Kenneth Shepard
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Defeating the Elite Four and the regional champion in battle is a rite of passage in most Pokémon games, and that includes Scarlet and Violet. These are supposed the most-powerful Pokémon trainers in the Paldea region, and overcoming them and their teams is the only way to become the regional champion yourself.
But what should your team look like if you’re going to take on these trainers? Before we go trainer by trainer and talk about what weaknesses you’ll need to exploit to become Paldea’s champion, let’s touch on some general tips.
Between all the trainers you’ll fight in the Paldea Pokémon League, you’ll face Pokémon whose levels range from 57 to 62. Since you’ll have already beaten all eight regional gym leaders, you’ll notice Scarlet and Violet have a sizable gap between the most powerful gym leader and the first of the Elite Four. Grusha, the Glaseado gym leader, had his Pokémon in the late 40s, and the Elite Four starts out 10 levels higher. So definitely do some training beforehand to get your team leveled up to at least the mid-50s.
Pokémon veterans will tell you that before you challenge the Elite Four, you need to stock up on healing items. These fights all happen in sequence, and you won’t be able to leave to heal your team and come back between them. However, you will have a chance to use healing items before each fight to your heart’s content. The PokéMart right outside the Pokémon League building will have plenty of Hyper Potions and Revives for you to buy. These will be helpful both between battles and during them, as it’s likely you’ll need to heal up if one of the Elite Four manages to take out some of your team.
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Over the years, I’ve seen a handful of Pokémon players who like to play with teams that double up on moves of the same type, rather than having a nice spread of attacks that lend themselves to more diverse situation. I prefer greater versatility. For example, during the main game, my Raichu had Thunderbolt (Electric), Play Rough (Fairy), Iron Tail (Steel), and Focus Blast (Fighting). Between these four moves, he could reasonably deal damage to nine out of Pokémon’s 18 creature types by himself. This is the kind of moveset I try to have with my entire team, which gives me more options for whatever situation the game throws at me.
If Raichu could use a super-effective Iron Tail on a rock/ground-type Pokémon, but would still be in danger of being one-shot by a devastating Earthquake, I could switch to my Quaquaval and use a water or fighting move without having to worry about him succumbing to the same weaknesses Raichu would. Versatility is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind when you’re building a team, because a team of six Pokémon can’t cover this many weaknesses without learning moves outside its base typing. While it’s important to keep in mind what moves your Pokémon will get a bonus for thanks to their base typing or tera typing, don’t put all your Poké eggs in one Poké basket: You’ll just limit yourself and make fights harder than they need to be.
It can feel cheesy, but you should always be saving between fights at the Elite Four. If you lose a battle, all you’ve gotta do is close the game and reopen it to start where you left off. Do this before you’re transported back to the Pokémon Center in order to circumvent the autosave (or turn it off in the options menu), and you’ll be able to just try each fight again with new knowledge. You can also use this time to change your team’s movesets around if you find yourself lacking a super-effective response to one of your opponents’ Pokémon.
Without further ado, let’s talk about the Elite Four and the champion of Paldea.
She is beauty, she is grace, but Rika’s team of ground-type Pokémon is full of a bunch of doofuses. Between Whiscash, Dugtrio, and Clodsire, half her team has big “not a thought behind those eyes” energy. But they’ve still got some hard-hitting moves and effective defenses that can take you by surprise if you’re not prepared.
Whiscash (Water/Ground), Level 57
Camerupt (Fire/Ground), Level 57
Donphan (Ground), Level 57
Dugtrio (Ground), Level 57
Clodsire (Terastalized Ground), Level 57
Dugtrio and Donphan are the most straightforward of Rika’s team, as they’re standard ground-type Pokémon weak to all of ground’s weaknesses: grass, ice, and water. Having a mix of these types of attacks will be important, however, as the other three Pokémon she uses have inherent counters to each of these types.
Rika’s Whiscash sets a precedent for how you should approach her party: You can’t just stick to one of ground’s typical weaknesses for the entire fight. As a water/ground-type Pokémon, Whiscash is only weak to grass-type moves, but it is double weakened by them, as they overpower water and ground-type Pokémon. So a grass-type move is best to start with, but be mindful of its Blizzard attack, as that will knock most grass-type Pokémon out real quick. Luckily, Whiscash is fairly slow, so if you can get a reasonably strong, risk-free attack like Energy Ball—or Meowscarada’s signature attack Flower Trick for those who chose Sprigatito as their starter—Whiscash’s double weakness to grass should do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.
Camerupt also requires a bit of forethought, as its fire/ground typing makes it more resistant to grass and ice attacks. However, water attacks will do four times as much damage against it, as both fire and ground are weakened by it. Unlike Whiscash, who could severely damage a grass-type Pokémon who weakened it, Camerupt doesn’t have a strong offensive option for the average water-type Pokémon. Its moves lean hard into its fire and ground typing, but it does have a steel-type move in Flash Cannon, which could be rough on any rock Pokémon in your roster if you decide to target its ground weakness rather than water. So the safest course of action is to use a water move like Aqua Tail or Quaquavel’s signature Aqua Step to take advantage of its lower physical defense stat.
Clodsire is Rika’s final Pokémon, and one of her trickiest. She will use her tera orb on it to overwrite its poison/ground typing and make it simply ground, so if you were planning on using a psychic attack to exploit its poison base typing, you’ll have to adjust. On top of this, Clodsire also has Water Absorb as its ability, which negates water attacks and also heals its HP by a quarter of its health. So it’s not just a wasted turn to try and use a water attack, it’s actively beneficial to Rika’s big oaf. Clodsire’s weaknesses in this scenario are grass, water, and ice.
Normally, I would advise against using a grass-type Pokémon against it because of its base poison typing, but Clodsire doesn’t have any damaging poison moves that could weaken a grass-type Pokémon. It does have Toxic, but that will only inflict the poison status, rather than do poison damage. The biggest struggle with Rika’s Clodsire is that, if you go in expecting to use certain moves, its tera typing or ability can trip you up. But once you know its actual spread of weaknesses, it’s a bit more straightforward.
Clodsire has a bulky special defense, but its physical defense is much lower. So if you can hit it with a physical ice or water move (such as Ice Spinner, Ice Hammer, or Aqua Tail), or fall back on the Aqua Step (if you’ve got it), Clodsire should go down pretty quickly.
The second of the Elite Four is a case study in juxtaposition between trainer and Pokémon, as Poppy is probably the youngest trainer in the Paldea region, but has some hefty steel-type brawlers on her team. All that being said, fighting her team requires the same flexibility as Rika’s, as her Pokémon ebb and flow between the steel type’s strengths and weaknesses. As nice as it would be to pick your strongest fire type and set them all ablaze, Poppy’s team has a few notable counters for the types that weaken steel.
Copperajah (Steel), Level 58
Magnezone (Electric/Steel), Level 58
Bronzong (Psychic/Steel), Level 58
Corviknight (Flying/Steel), Level 58
Tinkaton (Terastalized Steel), Level 59
Poppy leads with her Copperajah, and it’s an immediate counter to fire types. It just has a simple steel typing, but with moves like High Horsepower, it can go toe-to-toe with a fire-type Pokémon with little issue. It also acts as a setup Pokémon because it has Stealth Rock, which will scatter stones around your team, dealing rock damage to any Pokémon you send out throughout the battle. This is especially bad for fire-type Pokémon, as they’re weakened by rock attacks.
You have a few options to counter this. One is to just knock Copperajah out so quickly it doesn’t have the chance to use Stealth Rock, which is best accomplished by using a powerful fire, fighting, or ground attack. Copperajah has a lot of HP and can pack a punch, but its defenses are pretty middle of the road, and it’s exceptionally slow. So if you can manage to outspeed it (fairly easy) and knock it out in one hit (challenging, but doable) you can circumvent the danger of Stealth Rock altogether.
I generally avoid teaching my Pokémon the most powerful moves in their respective typings because they often come with drawbacks to accuracy or recharge time, but if you want to be thorough here, a Fire Blast or High Jump Kick can wipe Copperajah out before it has a chance to set up. These are often overkill in typical play, but when you’re facing a match-long threat like Stealth Rock, better safe than sorry.
If you’re not so lucky to take Copperajah out quickly, having a Pokémon who can clear enemy hazards is always smart. Pokémon like Donphan, Forretress, or Coalossal can learn Rapid Spin, which will clear out the Stealth Rock without being in too much danger from Poppy’s steel Pokémon.
Magnezone is fairly straightforward, as its double weakness to ground-type moves makes it an easy one-hit knockout. Corviknight is also pretty simple, as it doesn’t have much to counter its fire and electric weaknesses.
Bronzong is a bit trickier, as it has plenty of counters for fire-type Pokémon with Rock Blast and Earthquake. It also has the Levitate ability, which makes it immune to ground-type moves most steel Pokémon would be susceptible to. As such, it’s better to focus on its psychic typing, rather than steel. A good dark-type Pokémon would be an ideal counter thanks to its immunity to Bronzong’s psychic attacks, and one that has high physical defense would be able to withstand all of its moves. Umbreon would be a good fit, as it has strong physical defense, and its base dark typing would give it immunity to Bronzong’s psychic moves, as well as strengthen its dark-type attacks like Dark Pulse or Crunch.
Poppy’s last Pokémon is its Tinkaton, which she will terastalize into a full steel-type. Even without the tera type, Tinkaton’s physical moveset packs a punch, so it’s a force to be reckoned with if you’re not careful. Luckily, its weaknesses don’t really change too much with this typing beyond adding fighting. So, if you have fire-, fighting-, or ground-type moves (which you will probably have needed to get this far in the fight), you should be good to take out Tinkaton.
I’d recommend opting for ground, as Poppy will likely exploit either of the other two with Play Rough and Stone Edge, which weaken fighting and fire, respectively. Tinkaton has a hefty special defense, so using a physical-based ground move like Earthquake is your best bet.
I can’t lie, he made such a positive impression on me as a gym leader earlier in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that I lost my mind when Larry, Pokémon’s embodiment of the Dolly Parton song “9 to 5,” showed up as a member of the Elite Four. But while his normal-type team required one strategy, his flying-type party in the Pokémon League requires another.
Tropius (Grass/Flying), Level 59
Oricorio (Electric/Flying), Level 59
Altaria (Dragon/Flying), Level 59
Staraptor (Normal/Flying), Level 59
Flamigo (Terastalized Flying), Level 60
Unlike Rika and Poppy, most of Larry’s trickiest Pokémon lead his team. While most flying-type trainers in this series can be easily handled with a good electric-type Pokémon like Raichu or Jolteon, Larry’s Tropius, Oricorio, and Altaria all require you to look for alternate weaknesses.
Tropius is a grass/flying type, which means it’s double weak to ice. Historically, I don’t typically make space for an ice-type Pokémon on my team because most water-type Pokémon can reliably learn ice moves, but Tropius is kitted out with Sunny Day and Solar Beam, which is a combo that can make short work of any water-type that dares to enter the field. So if you don’t have an ice-type Pokémon to throw out a quick Ice Beam or a water-type that’s both fast and strong enough to interrupt this setup, it might be best to opt to target one of its other weaknesses.
Luckily Tropius has many with its grass/flying typing, so we can pick from fire, flying, rock, or poison, as well. Presumably, you have a fire-type Pokémon from your fight with Poppy, so that’s a good Pokémon to lead with and get a good Flamethrower out before Tropius has a chance to set up its Solar Beam.
Oricorio’s electric/flying typing is interesting, because separately, those two elements have straightforward weaknesses to exploit. But together they limit your options because it will be immune to ground moves and relatively resistant to electric ones. Its remaining weaknesses are rock and ice, Either option is as effective, but be mindful that it also knows Icy Wind, which can be super effective on some rock-type Pokémon if they have a secondary ground affinity.
Larry’s Altaria is one of the Pokémon you’ll face that feels directly spec’d to counter its usual weaknesses. The dragon/flying Pokémon knows Moonblast (Fairy), Flamethrower (Fire), Ice Beam (Ice), and Dragon Pulse (Dragon), which is a hard counter for almost anything you can throw at it…almost.
Altaria can counter dragon and ice pretty handily, but it doesn’t have much to take out fairy Pokémon, or defend against fairy-type moves. It has pretty respectable physical and special defense, but its physical defense is a tad lower. So if you’ve got someone on your team that knows Play Rough, it’s a solid counter that exists in the gaps of Altaria’s moveset.
Then all that’s left is Starapator and a terastalized flying-type Flamigo. You can take out both of these handily with strong electric attacks. It’s best to avoid ice-type Pokémon for these last two, as both of them have fighting attacks that could do significant damage.
The final fight before the champion is against Hassel, the art teacher in Paldea’s academy. He specializes in dragon-type Pokémon, and his team includes a few ‘mons you likely won’t have seen by this point in your playthrough. So it’s good to be prepared for the twists and turns of this battle.
Noivern (Flying/Dragon), Level 60
Haxorus (Dragon), Level 60
Dragalge (Poison/Dragon), Level 60
Flapple (Grass/Dragon), Level 60
Baxcalibur (Terastalized Dragon), Level 61
Noivern leads Hassel’s team, and it’s one of the simplest in the group. It’s weak to all of dragon-type’s usual weaknesses, but its flying/dragon typing makes it twice as weak to ice-type moves. So blow a gentle, cold breeze in its direction (Ice Beam) and it should fall pretty quickly. Flapple is also pretty straightforward, as its grass/dragon typing makes it extremely susceptible to ice attacks, which it doesn’t have any real counters for.
Haxorus is also just a dragon-type, but it has a wider type coverage with its attacks. With Dragon Claw, Crunch, Iron Head, and Rock Tomb, it can reliably counter both ice and dragon Pokémon, so your best bet is to exploit the fairy-sized gap in its offensive capabilities as you did with Larry’s Altaria. Its physical defense is notably stronger than its special defense, so if you have Pokémon like Sylveon with an attack like Moonblast in your bag, you can make short work of Haxorus.
Dragalge is complicated because it can easily take down dragon and fairy Pokémon with its poison-type Sludge Bomb and dragon-type Dragon Pulse. So the safest weakness to exploit is likely psychic. You could also try ground, but do keep in mind Hassel’s Dragalge knows Hydro Pump, which can drop ground-type Pokémon in a single turn. Meanwhile, it doesn’t have any real counters for a psychic Pokémon, making it the poison/dragon-type’s biggest vulnerability.
Finally, we have Baxcalibur, Hassel’s ace and Scarlet and Violet’s pseudo-legendary. Hassel’s strategy with this Pokémon is pretty simple: Terastalize into a full dragon-type, and then use its signature move Glaive Rush until it wipes your team. If you have a fairy-type Pokémon you’ll be immune to this attack, so that will take the greatest threat off the table. But, oddly enough, Hassel’s Baxcalibur only knows two other moves, the ice-type Icicle Crash and fighting-type Brick Break. Fairy Pokémon are resistant to fighting attacks, and damaged normally by ice. So if you’ve got a fairy with decent special attack like the aforementioned Sylveon, you can carve your way through this Pokémon.
After you defeat all the members of the Elite Four, you’ll be given a complementary party heal before you face Geeta, the champion of the Paldea region.
Espathra (Psychic), Level 61
Gogoat (Grass), Level 61
Veluza (Water/Psychic), Level 61
Avalugg (Ice), Level 161
Kingambit (Dark/Steel), Level 61
Glimmora (Terastalized Rock), Level 62
As fans have noted since Scarlet and Violet launched, Geeta’s team is a bit underwhelming for a champion, even compared to the Elite Four who are supposedly under her. She doesn’t specialize in any one typing, so there’s not the same subversion and adaptation you see in the other trainer fights. No one on her team is particularly powerful like Hassel’s Baxcalibur or Poppy’s Tinkaton. The weirdest part of all of it is that Glimmora, which is treated as her signature Pokémon, is a setup Pokémon by design, but she uses it last and wastes its Toxic Debris ability. As such, the only real strategy with her is simply having Pokémon who know attacks that weaken hers.
More than half of her team has a one-type elemental affinity, with psychic-type Espathra, grass-type Gogoat, and ice-type Avalugg all starting out as such, and Glimmora becoming one by terastalizing into a rock-type.
Espathra and Gogoat are mostly lacking in hard counters to their weaknesses. A ghost, dark, or bug attack will take Espathra out, though be wary of its Dazzling Gleam if you choose to go the dark route. Gogoat has basically nothing to combat a fire, bug, or flying Pokémon. Avalugg fares a bit better—Earthquake gives it something to fight off any fire or rock Pokémon—but its remaining moves feel like they’re there to fill spaces rather than help it overcome anything you throw at it. So feel free to safely use a steel or fighting attack.
Veluza and Kingambit have dual typings, which makes them a little more complicated, but their movesets are still pretty straightforward. Veluza is a water/psychic type, but those types together don’t create any sort of interesting resistances or immunities to be aware of. It’s weak to everything those types are weak to, so a bug, ghost, grass, electric, or dark move will be super effective. Geeta also hasn’t taught it any moves that weaken its usual vulnerabilities, with the closest thing to a subversion in its kit being Ice Fang, and ice moves are fairly predictable for a water-type Pokémon to have. As such, there’s not much to worry about here.
Kingambit has one saving grace, in that the dark/steel Pokémon knows Zen Headbutt, a psychic move that would make short work of a fighting-type Pokémon who would otherwise be able to exploit its double weakness to fighting. But the Pokémon is also terribly slow, so if you can outspeed it, you have a chance to avoid the attack altogether.
Then there’s Glimmora, whose puzzling placement just really underlines how suboptimal Geeta’s team is. The rock/poison Pokémon will terastalize into a rock type, which does halve its normal double weakness to ground into just a standard one, but it is still very much weak to fighting, steel, and water. This change also opens itself up into a grass weakness it didn’t have before.
When it comes to attacking those weaknesses it has Dazzling Gleam to handle fighting-type Pokémon and Sludge Wave to handle any grass-type Pokémon without a secondary type to resist it. So the safest type to use is water, but Glimmora is also slow enough that you can probably get those attacks out fast enough to defeat it anyway.
There are hints in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s endgame that Geeta and Glimmora are tied into story elements that have yet to be explored. As such, it makes some sense that narratively Geeta would use Glimmora as her partner Pokémon and ace in battle. But the way the Pokémon is built as a setup Pokémon through its Toxic Debris ability, which lays out Toxic Spikes on the battlefield after it’s hit with a physical attack, means it doesn’t make sense for it to be utilized this way in battle. All of Geeta’s team just feels like it lacks the same forethought of the rest of the Elite Four. What an odd fight.
After you defeat Geeta, that’s the last time you can face the Elite Four in this sequential structure. This is a departure from previous games, which let you challenge the Pokémon League multiple times. However, you can still face all of these trainers in the postgame Academy Ace Tournament, where their teams will be slightly stronger and have different movesets. Geeta’s team still sucks, though!
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Kenneth Shepard
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For most players, Pokémon games are a pretty straightforward affair of attacking enemies’ weaknesses and scoring that sweet one-shot. But Pokémon can become incredibly overwhelming once you start playing competitively. What’s an IV? What’s an EV, if not the cute brown fox who can evolve into a bunch of other, more colorful and elaborate foxes?
In fact, they refer to hidden numbers and background math that competitive players like to tweak and manipulate to create the strongest versions of their favorite ‘mons. EV and IVs stand for Effort Values and Individual Values. These hidden numbers determine the final state of a Pokémon’s six stats, and understanding how they work and how to influence them can give you an upper hand in competitive battling. Let’s take a closer look.
Manipulating Effort Values is quite a time investment, as they’re entirely based on what you expose a Pokémon to as you raise them. Each Pokémon has up to 510 total EV points to distribute among all six stats, but each stat can only have 252 EVs individually.
You raise EVs by using items like vitamins and feathers, which each boost specific stats. Vitamins are the most immediately effective, as each will raise an individual stat by 10 EVs. Before Pokémon Sword and Shield, Vitamins were only effective up to a Pokémon’s first 100 EVs, but now, these items will work to max out an individual stat to the ceiling of 252. Feathers aren’t as powerful, raising an EV by only one point. Pretty straightforward so far, but influencing a Pokémon’s EVs while you train them in battle requires a little more planning.
Every Pokémon you battle grants specific EV boosts when defeated, often reflective of its own base stats. The amount of EVs you’ll get per stat depends on how powerful the Pokémon you’re fighting is. For example, if your Pokémon beats a Pichu, it will add one EV point added to your creature’s Speed stat. However, if you’re fighting its fully-evolved form Raichu, that will net you three Speed EV points. If you felt so compelled, you could go beat up a bunch of unsuspecting Pichu to raise a Pokémon’s Speed EVs, but you’ll hit the stat-specific 252 limit much faster if you’re battling more powerful Pokémon.
Some Pokémon don’t dump all their EVs into a single stat like Raichu does, however. Take Butterfree, for example. It divides its three EVs into Special Attack and Special Defense. So while there are better Pokémon to fight for either individual stat, defeating Pokémon who earn you a spread of EVs is a way to raise multiple EVs at once. It’s just a matter of your goals for stat raising and how you want to spend your time.
One thing worth noting about EVs is that, because modern Pokémon games allow an entire party to gain experience after battles, EVs gained are shared through your party as they gain experience, even if they’re not on the field. So be mindful of what you’re training against and what Pokémon you have waiting in the wings to join the fight, as their EVs will be influenced by these battles even if you’re not using them directly.
Grinding EV can take some time, but you can speed up the process of raising specific EV stats by equipping Pokémon with power items that correlate with a specific stat, such as the Power Anklet that increases Speed EVs, or the Power Belt that increases Defense EVs. All of these are purchasable at Delibird Presents stores for $10,000 each.
Individual Values, known as IV, are a bit more complicated. IVs are essentially Pokémon genetics, in that these are stat boosts inherent to the specific Pokémon you have, which range from zero points to 31 points. Once unchangeable, the Pokémon series has implemented various ways to influence them over the years.
Imagine you had two level 100 Raichus and one had 31 Speed IVs and the other had zero. Even if you trained these two Raichus exactly the same way and curated the same EV build, the one that was born with 31 Speed IVs would have a Speed stat 31 points higher than the other. A lot of competitive players will breed Pokémon to try and attain optimal IVs, as parent Pokémon pass on higher IVs based on their own to their offspring.
In more recent games, Pokémon has given players the ability to “Hyper Train” their ‘mons to increase their IVs in exchange for Bottle Caps. This can be done in locations like Montenevera in Scarlet and Violet by talking to a trainer standing close to the town’s Pokémon Center. Bottle Caps can be hard to come by. You can buy them at the Delibird Presents stores around Paldea, but they’re pretty pricey at $20,000 per cap. You can also win them in high-level tera raids, but often just as a random drop. So while it might seem more immediate to be able to use Hyper Training, acquiring those Bottle Caps can take time, which is why some players opt to max out a Ditto’s IVs and use it to breed better versions of whatever Pokémon they’re trying to raise.
But no matter what a Pokémon’s EVs and IVs are, a few additional factors will determine whether or not it’s is inherently effective in certain builds compared to others.
Each Pokémon has a set of base stats inherent to its species that grow as you raise your critter, and the direction those numbers go will be determined by how its EVs and IVs pan out. Raichu’s base stats position it as a fast, special attack-driven Pokémon. It has a base speed stat of 110, and its special attack stat of 95 outshines its base physical attack, which is 85.
This helps you determine what attacks are probably most effective for it to learn. Its physical attack stat is still respectable, but at a glance, Raichu is meant to primarily be a special attacker. Understanding EVs and IVs can help you shift those scales, or at the very least make up for certain deficiencies. Raichu’s base physical defense stat is much lower than the rest, coming in at just 50, so if you wanted to help make up for that, raising its IVs through Hyper Training or fighting Pokémon that naturally raise physical defense EVs can help it bulk up a little. But those base stats can be influenced by another factor that can play into how you divvy up your EVs and IVs: Natures.
Alongside its universal base stats as a species, every individual Pokémon you come across will also come with a Nature. These appear in the status summary screens as a means to give you a sense of your Pokémon’s personality, but they also determine one increased stat and one decreased stat. As such, some players will breed multiple versions of a Pokémon in an effort to get one with the most desirable Nature and stat distribution for the build they want.
There are 25 total Natures in Pokémon games right now, and the stats they increase and decrease are as follows, courtesy of Serebii:
Hardy: No change
Lonely: Attack/Defense
Brave: Attack/Speed
Adamant: Attack/Special Attack
Naughty: Attack/Special Defense
Bold: Defense/Attack
Docile: No change
Relaxed: Defense/Speed
Impish: Defense/Speed
Lax: Defense/Special Defense
Timid: Speed/Attack
Hasty: Speed/Defense
Serious: No change
Jolly: Speed/Special Attack
Naive: Speed/Special Defense
Modest: Special Attack/Attack
Mild: Special Attack/Defense
Quiet: Special Attack/Speed
Bashful: No Change
Rash: Special Attack/Special Defense
Calm: Special Defense/Attack
Gentle: Special Defense/Defense
Sassy: Special Defense/Speed
Careful: Special Defense/Special Attack
Quirky: No Change
While Natures themselves are fixed, Sword and Shield introduced Mints, a new set of items that can change the stat distribution associated with them. For example, a Modest Mint will increase a Pokémon’s Special Attack, but reduce the Attack stat as if the Pokémon’s Nature had changed. This won’t change the actual personality it talks about in their summary (that would be brainwashing), but it will allow you to tweak their stats for any competitive schemes you might have in mind.
All of these moving parts can be a lot to keep track of, and these mechanics are really there for the sickest of competitive sickos. It can be rewarding to get a Pokémon to the competitive state you want and see them excel in battles, but it’s also a huge time investment to get your team’s numbers precisely dialed in. But if you’re curious about the world of competitive Pokémon, understanding EVs and IVs is a good metric for whether or not this side of the scene is for you. And if it’s not, you can still do cool tera raids with your friends, like the ongoing Charizard one happening in Scarlet and Violet right now.
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Kenneth Shepard
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Farming experience points has never been easier. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet introduced a “Let’s Go” function that allows your leading Pokémon to auto-battle roaming opponents in the overworld. But if you want to take your laziness a step further, there’s a passive farming hack that lets you strengthen your Pokémon while you’re doing something else. You just have to be a monster about it.
Here’s how it works. Fly over to the isolated puddle in North Province (Area Two), which you can see in the screenshot below. Since the puddle is surrounded by cliffs on all sides, you can only get there once you’ve unlocked the final form of Koraidon or Miraidon. By completing the Path of Legends quest, your motorbike Pokémon will be able to scale cliffs. So be sure to finish gathering all of the herbs from the five Titan Pokémon before attempting this trick.
Once you’re there, you should spot a ton of Golducks, Dratini, and Vaporeons. To start farming, jump straight into the pit and send out a Pokémon that’s strong against Water-types—you can do this by pressing the R button. Then use your motorbike to jump safely onto the top of the pit. Your Pokémon will stay within the confined area and battle everything that spawns in it, while you’re just chilling on a clifftop. The hack was originally discovered by NerdyNinetales on TikTok, and I was able to get it working on my own copy of the game.
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As I watched my Arboliva pulverize everything in the pit, I couldn’t help but feel slightly… guilty? Did I just turn this peaceful wildlife refuge into a death pit? These wild Pokémon don’t even get to experience the sweet release of death, as soon as they get back up from their beating, your Pokémon whallops them all over again, ad infinitum. All so that I could read a book while grinding some levels.
I wrote in my Scarlet review that Pokémon training felt too streamlined. Grinding your favorite Pokémon is supposed to be a labor of love. Instead, we let our beloved companions raise themselves with minimal supervision. We want the level 100 Meowscarada without the burden of having cared for it. If that’s you, then this method is perfect for raising competitive Pokémon. Personally, I’ll raise mine the normal way: Putting them in one-on-one cockfights.
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Sisi Jiang
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Unlike previous games in the Pokémon mainline series, Scarlet and Violet have made fan-favorite Eevee pretty tricky to catch. Only popping up in a scant few tiny areas, and with very low spawn rates, trying to evolve the octet of Eeveelutions has never been harder. But this weekend, the games’ first Tera Raid Battle Event should make catching the blighter a lot easier.
At any other time, if you want an Eevee you’ll need to head to Area 3 of the West Province, Area 2 of the South Province, or the path on the way to the Pokémon league. But this post-Thanksgiving weekend, it’s been announced that the Tera Raid Battle Event will feature an Eevee Spotlight.
Taking place from today, Friday 25th from 11 a.m. through Monday 28th at 10.59 a.m., Eevee will be much more likely to show up in Tera Raid Battles—those ones triggered by approaching the large glowing crystals that shoot vast beams of light up into the sky. Which means not only will Eevee be easier to find, but you’ll have the chance to collect a bunch of them with various Tera Types—meaning they’ll shift from Normal-type to any of 19 others.
Read More: There’s A Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Exploit That Helps You Generate Shinies
There’s one tiny caveat, but not a significant one. In order for the Raid Battle Event to trigger in your game, you’ll need to have your Switch be connected to the internet long enough to download the latest “Poké Portal News,” which should download automagically if you’re already online. And no, that has nothing to do with the paid online Switch subscription, so don’t worry about that. All free.
With a clutch of Eevee under your belt, you’ll likely want to start thinking about evolving them into their eight different forms. (All my hopes of a ninth Paldean Eevee appear to have been dashed.) Here are some handy hints for getting all eight eeveelutions:
Flareon: Give your Eevee a Fire Stone.
Glaceon: Give your Eevee an Ice Stone.
Jolteon: Give your Eevee a Thunder Stone.
Leafeon: Give your Eevee a Leaf Stone.
Vaporeon: Give your Eevee a Water Stone.
Espeon: You need your Eevee at a high friendship level, make sure it doesn’t know any Fairy moves, and then have it evolve during the day.
Umbreon: High friendship again, don’t let it learn any Fairy moves, and then have it evolve at night.
Sylveon: Once more, a high friendship level, but this time make sure it does know a Fairy move, then evolve it day or night.
Combined with Tera Types from the Tera Battles, this is going to get incredibly complicated! Good luck!
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John Walker
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While most of the world is out chasing Pikachu and other creatures in the Pokédex, electronic music fans should have their eyes on a different prize.
Last weekend, the gaming world celebrated the launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the ninth generation of the iconic Pokémon game series. There are over 400 monsters to collect and battle, but perhaps the most unique haul comes in the form of a secretive clothing item from the Daft Punk universe.
Players can equip their trainer with a robot helmet similar to the one worn by Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, and unlocking it is actually quite simple. All players have to do to access the gilded headwear is find the store in the city of Cascarrafa and spend 4,000 credits.
Check out some screenshots of the “Cool Helmet” from the game below, courtesy of Hypertext.
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Daft Punk helmet in “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.”
Nintendo/Hypertext
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are out now on Nintendo Switch. You can learn more about the games and unlock the Daft Punk helmet for yourself here.
If you still need to scratch your Pokémon itch, take a listen to VGM Essentials: Pokémon Remixed, a new remix album recently released in celebration of Scarlet and Violet.
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Nick Yopko
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Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the new monster-collecting RPGs from Game Freak, have been getting dragged since they launched on November 18 for objectively terrible technical performance that is only outshone by the immense number of glitches. (At least one bug is good: It lets you hunt for shiny Pokémon more easily). These two games clearly weren’t ready for prime time, and now some players are seeking refunds from Nintendo.
Read More: The Nintendo Switch Can’t Seem To Handle Pokémon Scarlet And Violet
Scarlet and Violet has had one janky-ass launch. Among the shortcomings are framerates that slow to a crawl, horrendous graphics pop-in, and characters and monsters clipping through each other. Even Pokéballs create some peculiar issues, such as causing the scenery to disappear or making the camera go haywire. The flaws are seemingly endless, impacting gameplay so much that Scarlet and Violet have become the worst-reviewed games in the series. Over on Reddit, buyers have been demanding refunds for their digital purchases since the games’ official launch last Friday, November 18. What’s more, many are claiming success.
“I got a refund from the eshop last night of Violet after feeling the game is not in a state I feel acceptable for a AAA release,” Redditor Hotdog_Daddy posted to r/Pokémon on November 20. “The rep actually told me that given the situation regarding the state of Pokémon S/V she would elevate my case to ensure the refund was approved. It was approved an hour later.”
“Welcome to the refund team,” came one reply. “Honestly, it sucks to have to even do this. But we are actually potentially making some decent backlash. Maybe we will get a decent patch and updates, in which case I’ll buy the game used. Until then, never will [I] buy a new Pokémon game unless it’s actually AAA tier.”
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In another post, user Jaded_Goth garnered thousands of upvotes saying, “Refunded. I will no longer be part of the problem. […] There will be a lot of people that will defend this franchise till the day they die. But could you honestly look at this game and tell me this was their best effort? The FPS and the graphics made me double check if I was accidentally playing this on a toaster. They somehow got away with removing so many great features and quality of life things like showings status animations, decisions with exp share, turning off battle animations I could go on.”
They concluded: “Since I complained about the state of this game I can no longer be part of this problem. Got my money back and am feeling much better.”
In these and a fair few other threads, various Redditors are sharing their own experiences attempting to get refunds from Nintendo. Many claim success, but some say that Nintendo customer support requires some finessing before acquiescing to a refund.
Kotaku reached out to Nintendo for comment but couldn’t independently confirm details of refunds being issued.
Read More: This Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Glitch Seems Made For Speedrun Exploitation
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is the latest entry in the series, and though it is buggy as hell, the games at least introduce some new monsters to collect. This includes a cute murderous ghost dog, an Apple Jacks-looking mascot, and a yassified peacock. Maybe future patches will make the game around them easier to enjoy. One can hope, right?
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Levi Winslow
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Playing in the NFL is tough and many players leave because of career-ending injuries or bad seasons. But after seven years in the league, Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Blake Martinez has retired mid-season for a different reason: He’s making enough money selling Pokémon cards—recently selling a very rare card for nearly $700,000—and doesn’t need the income he gets from playing anymore.
Las Vegas Raiders player Blake Martinez shocked many fans when he announced last week that he was retiring from the NFL at the relatively young age of 28. He was first drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 2016. Following four years with Green Bay, he joined the New York Giants in 2020 before suffering a torn ACL in 2021. He was released shortly after, and joined the Las Vegas Raiders where he seemed to be doing well this season. In his last game before his retirement, he racked up 11 tackles. However, selling Pokémon cards appears to be Martinez’s true passion—not to mention a pretty good source of income for him—and he’s focusing more on that now.
As reported by Dexerto, two weeks before announcing his retirement mid-season, the NFL pro sold an extremely rare and valuable Pokémon Illustrator card for a hefty sum. Last month, the card was graded a 9.5 “Gem Mint” quality rating, making it one of the best examples of this coveted card. On October 29 the card—which Martinez nicknamed “The Swirllustrator” because of two small swirl marks in the card’s artwork—was sold via Goldin auctions for a whopping $672,000.
Yes, this is the same type of rare card that Logan Paul paid over $5 million for earlier this year and wore around his neck during Wrestlemania in April, although his was graded a 10, or perfect quality.
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Read More: The Top 12 Most Valuable Pokémon Cards In History
Still, this is a big sale, and hardly Martinez’s first time buying and selling Pokémon cards. The former NFL player is a big fan of the cards and has been collecting them for years, though in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, his love for collecting and selling was reignited. He opens old and new card packs on his Instagram and shares his finds online frequently. In fact, Martinez claims to have found the rare “Swirllustrator” during one of these pack openings. The pro player also has a collectible card business, buying and selling rare cards online.
“I have chosen to step away from this career at this time to focus on my family and future passions,” explained Martinez in his retirement post on Instagram. It appears his “passion” is using the wealth he made in the NFL to buy and sell rare Pokémon cards. And honestly, I’m happy for the guy. He’s far less likely to suffer a terrible concussion while buying rare Pikachu cards online.
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Zack Zwiezen
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The mad lads at GameFreak have done it again. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet push the series’ overall Pokédex into four figures, and the special 1,000th Pokémon turns out to be a gold coin surfing freak with a fanny pack called Gholdengo. Is it going to sell me crypto? Is it made of crypto?? I can’t wait to find out.
I first learned about the Gholdengo from IGN, who noted the coin entity’s striking resemblance to a General Mills cereal mascot but was otherwise effusive in its praise. Gholdengo, it turns out, is the evolved form of Gimmighoul, a Dungeons & Dragons-style mimic chest revealed by Nintendo earlier in the month. How that evolution takes place is the real magic. YouTuber nickcucc described it as, “Probably one of the most tedious yet rad evolutions you’ll ever experience in your entire life.”
When you defeat a Gimmighoul it drops gold coins. Once you’ve picked up 1,000, your Gimmighoul will evolve into Gholdengo on its next level up. “Its body seems to be made up of 1,000 coins,” reads the Pokédex entry. “This Pokémon gets along well with others and is quick to make friends with anybody.”
I’m sure it is quick to make friends. One moment you’re feeding Gholdengo a Bocadillo de Jamón, the next it’s talking your ear off about how you can yield farm Dengo Coin at 16 percent and you should buy the dip on that FTX token that just blew up. Web 3.0 ain’t going to make itself. Now be a good Pokémon trainer and ditch those TMs for some NFTs.
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To the extent that Gholdengo looks like a walking Ponzi scheme, it’s a lowkey testament to the series’ own unflagging durability through the decades. Pokémon is too big to fail. Scarlet and Violet’s performance issues can’t stop it from being the most pre-ordered game in franchise history. So what if the series’ 1,000th creature looks like it just got back from making DeFi TikToks at Burning Man?
At the end of the day, good or bad, millions of people, myself included, will do whatever it takes to get another shot at catching these adorable abominations and run them through a spreadsheet calculus so obtuse it would make even your H&R Block accountant weep. Even if the Pokémon in question is a literal keychain, ice cream cone, or in this case, Gholdengo. I’m going to catch so many of these goddamn things, and we’re going to hold our diamond hands until the seas rise and swallow us whole.
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Ethan Gach
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Ever since Arceus made the world in its image, Pokémon fans have had to grapple with a huge choice for every mainline game: which version to get. That quandary will remain in place for the latest games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, with many more unique features than usual, some even pertaining to the distant past or the far-flung future. We’re breaking down every difference between the two, to help you know which version to pick up.
Every generation of Nintendo’s monster-hunting RPGs splits up some of its roster of Pokémon, with a handful showing up in one game while remaining absent from the counterpart (and vice versa). This strategy makes a certain degree of sense, if somewhat cynically. Making some Pokémon available in one version but not the other certainly drives some to buy two copies of essentially the same game. Or, less cynically, it forces players to actually engage with each other and trade. But in Scarlet & Violet, there are many other core differences that might influence your decision, including whether you want things prehistorically themed, or perhaps decorated by the distant future.
Koraidon (“ride-on,” geddit?) will be the motorcycle-inspired dragon beast that comes with Scarlet. Like it’s partner Poké Miraidon, it’s described as having “powers that far surpass those of other Pokémon,” but Nintendo has deliberately kept much about them both a mystery.
Koraidon is, as you might imagine, a mostly red monster, sporting what unquestionably look like a pair of wheels. Wheels it…doesn’t use. Instead, Koraidon gallops on its legs, which raises so many evolutionary questions. It has a feathery appearance, a bit like a prehistoric bird. Rideable, this Legendary can also fly and swim, making it quite the means of transport as you explore Scarlet’s open world.
Miraidon is Violet’s far more futuristic Legendary, and as you’d expect, it’s predominantly purple. Like Koraidon, it can take three different forms (formes?), using Drive Mode, Aquatic Mode, and Glide Mode. It too has a vehicular style, also sporting (albeit more subtle) vestigial wheels. Seeming like the lovechild of Pokémon and a Transformer, it has a metallic sheen, and a pixel display for eyes.
Quite where either Legendary will appear in the game is unclear, given we’ll now be able to tackle the game’s gyms in any order—perhaps they’ll simply trigger once you’ve done whichever proves to be your eighth. Or maybe we’ll get lucky, and they’ll be introduced earlier to make movement around the large game easier.
Read More: Every Pocket Monster Confirmed In Pokémon Scarlet And Violet So Far
For Scarlet players, you’ll be guided through your times in Paldea by Professor Sada. Given the Spanish influences on Paldea, it’s no coincidence that the Spanish for “past” is “pasada”—in other translations, her name varies between other words for “past” and “ancient,” while the Japanese original is Olim, the Latin for “once upon a time.”
Sada, like her partner Professor, Turo, is involved in researching Terastal Pokémon, and the phenomena of Terastallisation. She also appears to be dressed like a scientist from The Flintstones.
Meanwhile, Violet players will be accompanied by ol’ smoothy-chops, Professor Turo. Again, the Spanish for “future” is “futuro,” and his name in the Japanese version is Futu, seemingly derived from the Latin for “future”, “futūrum.”
While Sada is dressed in cavewoman clothing, Turo is garbed in a space-age bodysuit beneath his lab coat. He too is studying the crystalline nature of Terastal Pokémon. Hmmmm, might time travel also come into this story in some way?
As you set out in the world of Pokémon Scarlet or Violet, you’ll discover that your own character’s clothing is determined by the version you bought. If you get Scarlet, you’ll be dressed in orange, but if you picked up Violet you’ll be decked out in purple. Both are uniforms for the school you’ll attend.
You can change your outfits in the game, however, once you find a shop to buy new clothes from.
Even the school you’ll attend is determined by the version you buy. Your school, where you’re taught about Pokémon, is in the largest town of Paldea, Mesagoza. However, if you get Scarlet it will have a different name, emblem and color-scheme than if you got Violet.
In Scarlet, the school is called the Naranja Academy, with an orange emblem featuring a spoked orange shape on its shield. (Naranja is, of course, Spanish for Orange.)
In Violet, you’ll instead go to the Uva Academy, where the emblem is purple, featuring some grandly displayed grapes. (And yes, Uva is Grape in Spanish.)
Funnily enough, both academies are run by the same person—Clavell—but he’ll be in orange or purple depending on the version.
And why orange and not red? Well, it’s Nintendo.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are set to reimagine other long-standing aspects of the series. Set in a region called Paldea, inspired by the IRL Iberian Peninsula, these games are fully open-world for the first time in series history. There’s four-player co-op. Gyms are back, with one leader in particular leaving many fans sexually confused. And in lieu of debatably silly features like “Mega Evolution,” some Pokémon are capable of a thing called—this is a very real word, by the way—“terastallizing,” which means they cover themselves in crystals and can change their type on the fly.
Updated: 11/18/2022, 11:15 a.m. ET: Well, Scarlet and Violet are now upon us. If you’re venturing out into the Paldea region, we wish you happy hunting. If you’re still on the fence about which version to buy or whether you even want to take the plunge into the latest Pokémon adventure, you should know that, although the gameplay fundamentals seem more than sound, Nintendo’s five-year-old hybrid console sure seems to be struggling with the game on a technical level.
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Ari Notis and John Walker
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Fantasy medieval game Blacktail, Krakow-based studio The Parasight’s debut, lets you play as folktale witch Baba Yaga in her bow-and-arrow-carrying youth. You command her fate, if she’s a good witch or a bad witch, depending on how you navigate the magical, dangerous forest she roams.
“When living memories of her past return as foul, walking spirits,” Blacktail’s website says. “Yaga is faced with no other option than to hunt them down in hopes of unraveling her own mystery.”
I’m excited by Blacktail’s premise—I’m a former little kid with vivid imagined memories of Baba Yaga’s gnarled hands and battered cabin in the woods. Though, I am a little annoyed that Yaga’s voice actress sounds British despite the character growing up isolated from everyone except, like, early Belarusians. I’m hoping the game’s story is so mythic and compelling that I’m distracted by the Anglo-Saxon intrusion.
Release date: December 15
Compatible with: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5
What 2022 game release are you most looking forward to? Or are you keeping your sights set squarely on next year?
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Ashley Bardhan
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Sadly, it appears Nintendo is now just utterly helpless to leaks. So many first-party games from the last couple of years has found its way online—either being streamed, or even ripped and playable on PC—a week or more ahead of its release. Joining them, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has already seen a huge number of leaks in the last few days, but right now as I write, the entire game is being livestreamed to an audience of over a thousand.
Nintendo has been dashing about trying to put out fires all week, as more and more information about Scarlet and Violet has appeared online, including spoilers for how the trio of new starters will evolve. Thanks to the need to ship physical copies to stores (both online and brick-n-mortar) ahead of release, ne’er-do-wells within are getting hold of the game in advance, then grabbing for a moment of internet fame with spoilers. But now things have gotten a whole lot worse, with an hours-long stream of someone playing the entire game.
Look, it’s up to you, and you can obviously go watch it on Trovo (Tencent’s eerily familiar version of Twitch), but I really wouldn’t. I’ve had it on to verify this story, and already seen a starter’s later evolution that I really didn’t want to know, and seen a whole swathe of new (but officially unrevealed) Pokémon. Those are all surprises I’ll no longer get when my copy arrives on the 18th.
Read More: Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Leak Shows New Monsters, Including A Starter Evolution
Honestly, seeing how Quaxly—or Sergeant Duck to give him his proper name—evolves, I’ve been put off the starter I’d planned to play with. That sucks. And yeah, I can confirm those previous leaks based on some tiny Pokédex pixel images are accurate.
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Almost 12 hours into this stream, whoever the deeply unpleasantly named “reeeetardkun” might be must surely be beginning to tire. But not before pretty much every secret from the game has found its way out there. I’m not reporting them here, although god knows it’s going to be hard for all of us to avoid all manner of secrets over the next seven days.
It’s worth noting I also saw the game completely bugging out on the stream, where every location became just a white screen but for pop-up information. Quitting and reloading fixed it, but yeah, that doesn’t bode enormously well. However, Nintendo has made it known the game is getting a 1GB day one patch, so maybe such issues will be removed by launch?
Presumably Trovo is being used for this, because Nintendo would have contacts at Twitch to get this shut down hours ago. With 11 hours of the game out there now, managing to stamp this one out will be pretty futile. And, you know, perspective, it’s a video game: It’s very bad for Nintendo, but we just need to look away. And as much as I’d love to get an idea of lots of new Pokémon, I’d rather have some surprises in a week’s time.
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John Walker
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On an average day, my friends might ask me how my job is going. I’ll smile, tell them “It’s going great,” and then launch into a story about one of the most fucked up things they’ve ever heard of. And now I get to give the recap to you.
Spooky season is upon us, but the chronically online gamers at Kotaku know that terrifying shit is happening in our space all the time. It’s not just the games that are occasionally horrifying—it’s also how the industry grinds humans into dust, how giant corporations are increasingly looking to put the screws to the average consumer, and how abuse of power comes as no surprise.
Some of the spookiest gaming news stories this year are sad. Some of them are funny. Others will make you want to pull your hair out over the general state of the world. But hey, me too! Let’s be scared and [some other unidentifiable emotion] together!
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Sisi Jiang
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Press Release
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updated: Sep 22, 2022
NASHVILLE, Tenn., September 9, 2022 (Newswire.com)
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The Card Shop Live interactive shopping app launches in app stores nationwide, becoming a premier mobile and web marketplace for buying, trading, and selling trading cards, memorabilia, and collectibles. Created to attract serious collectors as well as new hobbyists, the Card Shop Live platform brings enthusiasts together to discover, chat and purchase easily from the palm of your hand, 24/7. Today, users have access to live streaming shopping, live breaks, interviews, exclusive events, and auctions, giving people another way to browse, sell and buy in an environment that is often found offline.
“Trust, quality, and community have been our top priorities when designing and launching this new live streaming marketplace,” said Mike Gioseffi, President of Card Shop Live. “I have been collecting for 25 years, and I wanted to ensure a fun and safe way for people to expand their collections, so we have heavily focused our seller vetting and curation process to make sure our community has the best shopping experience.”
Founded by Mike Gioseffi, co-host of the podcast Sports Cards Nonsense on The Ringer, and five other sports and culture enthusiasts, Card Shop Live completed a funding round, which secured $1.5M and was led by SGC in April 2022. This round of financing will further enable the company to refine its technology, grow its relationships with trusted partners and vetted sellers, and create new tools to support its growing community as they reimagine the shopping experience.
“The health and well-being of the trading card industry means everything to us at SGC,” said Peter Steinberg, Chief Executive Officer of SGC. “After speaking to Mike about his vision for Card Shop Live, our team was convinced that a platform like this, grounded in trust, quality, and community, was not only on brand with SGC’s vision for the future but also something that the card collecting community badly needed. We are thrilled to be a part of something that will contribute to the greater good of growing the hobby in a fun and, most importantly, safe manner.”
Card Shop Live’s community-first approach has led them to integrate features, including chat, direct messaging, and user forums on products that provide a more interactive and transparent shopping experience.
Currently, there is a curated selection of vetted sellers with shops that offer live breaks, auctions, and exclusive events for trading cards and comics. Soon they will be expanding their TCG selection of sellers and additional hobby shops.
“It’s an exciting time to launch Card Shop Live because more people are really expanding their collections, finding new hobbies they are excited about, or becoming first-time collectors,” said Tamara Laine, Chief Marketing Officer of Card Shop Live. “We are sure our app will become a trusted resource for collectors from all over the world and the most engaging way to shop in the future.”
Built by some of the most trusted names in collecting, including Mike Gioseffi. With investors including SGC, the most trusted name in sports card grading, Card Shop Live is currently the only spot for participating in Panini blockchain sports card breaks, with the Panini blockchain integrated into the app.
About Card Shop Live
– Sellers on the site are extensively vetted
– Buy and sell cards and memorabilia with other collectors in real-time
– NFT breaks and auctions
Press Contact:
Card Shop Live
Max Egenolf
mje@thecardshop.live
Source: Card Shop Live
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