Nintendo has revealed the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release date. The next mainline entries in the long-running Pokemon series will arrive for Nintendo Switch this November, bringing a host of new creatures to catch and regions to explore.
What is the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release date?
It won't be too long until you can get your hands on the next installment of the Pokemon franchise. The Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release date is November 18th, and you can pre-order the game digitally right now on the eShop if you want to. Nintendo announced the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release date alongside a brand new trailer, which also shows off some of the adorable new creature designs in the game. You can take a look at that trailer right here (but if you like any Pokemon more than Sprigatito, we're no longer friends).
The trailer shows off the as-yet-unnamed region in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which Nintendo says will be a fully-explorable open world with no seams or borders, building on some of the changes made by Pokemon Legends: Arceus. There are verdant fields, dark caves, and chilly snowfields to explore, each with its own Pokemon species to catch. It looks like not too much has changed on the battling front; you'll still be getting the turn-based combat for which the Pokemon series is known, but in an open-world setting. Two new professors were also announced: Professor Sada and Professor Turo. As pointed out by Centro Pokemon, this is a play on the Spanish words for "past" (pasada) and "future" (future). You'll meet a different professor depending on which game you pick up.
Which Pokemon species will be in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet?
We also got a look at some new Pokemon species, including a rather adorable-looking little mouse, a disgruntled pig, and a befuddled-looking plant (same, little plant, same). These 'mons are called Pawmi (Electric), Lechonk (Normal), and Smoliv (Grass/Normal), respectively. I already adore Lechonk. Nibel also revealed the names of the rather impressive-looking and distinctly draconic new legendary Pokemon shown off in the trailer. Scarlet's Legendary is Koraidon, while Violet's is Miraidon. These names further reinforce the professors' past-and-future theming; "mirai" in Japanese means "future", while "korai" means "ancient". The trailer also showed off some returning Pokemon from previous games, building on what was shown in the first reveal. Here are all the Pokemon species appearing from past games that appeared in the newest trailer:
- Pikachu
- Fletchling
- Flaaffy
- Chewtle
- Larvitar
- Bagon
- Venonat
- Toxapex
- Cryogonal
- Gengar
- Coalossal
- Lurantis
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are scheduled to arrive on Nintendo Switch on November 18th. If you want to see where the Pokemon franchise is at right now and check out some of the design decisions that appear to have influenced the new games, you can also grab Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which we'd recommend you do. We'll bring you more on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet as soon as we get it, so watch this space for more info.