Even though the announcement ofPokemon ScarletandVioletcame back in February, The Pokemon Company has been surprisingly silent about the Gen 9 games and what they entail. While this could be a new marketing approach following the many early reveals in thePokemon SunandMoonera, something thatPokemon SwordandShieldandPokemon Legends: Arceussuffered from in Gen 8, official information about Gen 9 is scarce. Still, many leaks and rumors started to appear online early, to the point that thewhole Paldean Pokedex has thus far been leakedwith only a few things remaining a mystery.
Just like all mainlinePokemongames,Pokemon ScarletandViolet’s startershave been a major topic of discussion among fans who were eager to know what they could evolve into. Some leaks talked about the appearance of the starters' final evolutions, but more precise leaks came for Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly’s type combinations, which seem to be similar to those ofPokemon Legends: Arceus, but swapping the second type for the Grass and Water starters. Now thatPokemon ScarletandViolet’s entire Pokedex is out in the wild, some weird trends can be highlighted about the dominance of some types over others in terms of representation.
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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Leaked Pokedex Has a Strange Type Distribution
Not allPokemongames from the main series have an overall balanced Pokedex in terms of types and types combinations, with the Gen 4 Sinnoh region being a primary example. Sinnoh is renowned to be the region with the least amount ofFire-type Pokemon availableup until the post-game section, and while that is even explained by the lore of the games, it still remains an odd choice.Pokemon ScarletandVioletwon’t apparently be lacking new Fire Pokemon, but there are strange imbalances in the way types are distributed.
According to the leaks, some Pokemon types won’t be included as much as others, with examples being Psychic, Rock, and Flying pocket monsters. Unless major changes occur during official reveals or leakers release more information about it, these three types will only have six new Pokemon each inPokemon ScarletandViolet, which is quite alarming when one realizes the size of the Paldean Pokedex is the biggest sincePokemon BlackandWhite. Ice, Bug, and Ground-type Pokemon are not far behind in terms of scarce representation in Gen 9, with them having seven new critters each.
Yet, there are some types that are seemingly going to be portrayed a lot in the upcoming Gen 9 games, such as Fighting. Arguably the most populated Pokemon type inPokemon ScarletandVioletso far, leaks claim that there will be at the very least 12 new Fighting-type critters in the region of Paldea, including a whopping three regional forms for Tauros alone. Many of these pocket monsters are actually the so-calledParadox Pokemon- creatures that shouldn’t exist, but somehow they do, and they have either ancient themes or future themes based on the versions of Gen 9 games.
There are also fourteen Grass-type Pokemon inPokemon ScarletandViolet, although three of them are the Sprigatito line and three more are the Smoliv line. Dark-type Pokemon are also extremely common, with twelve specimens, including the rumored Legendary quartet. Even more types have comparatively higher numbers, such as Normal Pokemon with thirteen species and Water-types with twelve, which poses the question of why Gen 9 is so heavily focused on some types.Pokemon ScarletandViolet’s Paradox Pokemon’s type combinationsmight provide a clue here in the form of some types working better than others to convey ancient or future themes, but this is not a solid reason to have new Pokemon types all over the place in Gen 9.
Pokemon ScarletandVioletare set to release on November 18, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.
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