The past one week since the games’ launch has seen a lot of discussion around the technical state they launched in, and rightfully so, because — what happened? How did they release in SUCH an unpolished and unfinished state? How do the visuals and performance feel like a step back from Pokémon Legends, which released just ten months ago? How did a game published by Nintendo, a company legendary for its insistence on polish and quality, launch in this state?

Pokémon games have never actually been technically polished, or even competent really. Going all the way back to the original releases on the black and white Gameboy, and every release since, these titles have launched riddled with bugs, glitches, and just an overall lack of finesse and polish. Glitches have almost always been practically synonymous with Pokémon. In fact, the most famous video game glitch of all time, MissingNo, comes from Pokémon Red and Blue. People continue to discover new ways to break those 26 year old games to this day — because they simply were not technically well put together. 

This continued on — Pokémon Gold and Silver aren’t really great looking titles for the Gameboy Color, and come with glitches of their own. Ruby and Sapphire were actually the most polished Pokémon releases at the time of their release – but they are even further behind their contemporaries on the same system they released for than Red/Blue and Gold/Silver ever were. Diamond and Pearl bordered on being unplayable, coming not just with a series of glitches and bugs of their own, but also a framerate so painfully slow that EVERYTHING in the game seems to move through treacle and mud. X and Y never managed to hold a steady framerate and barely leveraged the 3D feature of the system they were on. Sword and Shield launched with a distinct lack of polish and ambition, and technically felt like 3DS games accidentally ported to the Switch. Even the series’ most “polished” entries, technically speaking — Black/White on the Nintendo DS, Sun/Moon on the 3DS, and Pokémon Legends on the Switch — didn’t look or perform to the standards of their contemporaries on their respective platforms. 

So Pokémon games have always lagged behind technically. How they look or perform has never been a factor in their appeal at all (if it was, the series would have died at the first release, rather than becoming the behemoth that it is today). But even accounting for this spotty history of technical (in)competence, Scarlet and Violet feel particularly egregious. The games LOOK bad, they RUN bad, and they have so many basic QA touches missing, they can often feel like a beta build accidentally pushed out to the public. 

A very large part of this can be attributed to the very unique circumstances surrounding this game’s development. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are full open world games — massive ones at that — developed in three years by a 200 person team, in the middle of a pandemic that wreaked havoc on game development around the world, and caused innumerable delays across the board. Even developers with existing pipelines for the games they’re making have struggled with the pandemic — for Game Freak, they were figuring out how to do a brand new style of game requiring totally new tech for the very first time in a time frame that is unrealistic for most open world games to begin with, with a team size that is tiny for the scope they were aiming for, WITH a pandemic thrown on top. They were also, during this time, totally overhauling the structure and progression of their games, designing infrastructure for totally seamless online co-op (which is still the best implementation of online co-op in an open world RPG I’ve seen, to be honest), coming up with a hundred plus new enemy types, updating another few hundred enemy types for this game, balancing their entire battle system around PvE and PvP, AND also working on other games (we’ll come back to this in a minute). It’s a frankly insane amount of things to take on with a team this small, in a time frame this tiny, for a game this size, in the middle of a pandemic. It’s almost a wonder that it didn’t come out even MORE broken. 

None of this is to excuse the state the game launched in, mind you, because ultimately this is still a full price product they chose to sell in this state while being aware of said state, but it’s to give people an understanding of why things turned out the way they did. Especially because we haven’t actually really discussed the elephant in the room — this wasn’t Game Freak’s only release this year. It wasn’t even their only BIG release this year. Just ten months before Scarlet and Violet, they launched ANOTHER open world RPG. 

Pokémon Legends: Arceus launched in January of this year, and was an even more dramatic departure from series norms than Scarlet and Violet are. Taking cues from Monster Hunter in structure and Breath of the Wild in flow and gameplay, and being a dramatic rethink of Pokémon in pretty much every regard, from narrative to gameplay (it’s even partially an action RPG! Can you imagine, a Game Freak developed Pokémon game that’s NOT purely turn based?), it was developed by a smaller, splinter team within Game Freak — effectively splitting their internal resources across not one, but TWO massive open world RPGs that represented a total rethink and overhaul of their development pipelines. So that 200 person development team I keep mentioning? It wasn’t actually that. It was even smaller. 

With Pokémon Legends, somehow, things worked out (it ended up as one of the most celebrated and acclaimed games in the series, and was a massive seller beyond Nintendo and Game Freak’s own expectations). But with resources within Game Freak being so thin to begin with, it turning out well was pretty much the death sentence for a second, even bigger open world RPG game that they planned to launch just ten months later. It was never going to work. 

The infuriating thing here is that Legends’ existence gave them an out right then and there — it could have been their game for 2022, and Scarlet and Violet could have been pushed into next year. Even with the near annual cadence that they insist on for some reason, they could have still met that and given Scarlet and Violet a lot more time in the oven (which they obviously clearly needed). Hell, even Legends itself could have gotten more time — rather than awkwardly launching in January, it could have been a Holiday release, getting more time to polish some of its own technical deficiencies out, all while Scarlet and Violet got a lot more time to, well, be finished. But the decision makers at Game Freak and The Pokémon Company decreed otherwise, and, well, here we are. 

People often like to criticize Game Freak as being lazy or coasting on their laurels, but that’s obviously nonsense. No developer willingly choosing to release not one but TWO open world RPGs in the span of ten months, both of which are a total departure from anything they’ve done before in scope and content, can be called lazy or coasting. They’re obviously trying. With Legends, they even succeeded. Hell, even with Scarlet and Violet, the actual core design of the games is brilliant, and they’re probably the best mainline Pokémon generation games since at least Black and White. The developers are obviously talented and ambitious people — it’s the executives and decision makers who are continually making things difficult for them. 

As for what the next step is for Game Freak and Pokémon, it’s hard to tell. Scarlet and Violet were a big success, and given the strength of their core design, they’re likely to continue to be so. Legends received the kind of prestige and acclaim Pokemon hasn’t received in a very long time. In spite of the poor decision making at Game Freak, the franchise itself is in a good spot. But they obviously can’t continue to launch games in the state they launched Scarlet and Violet — do it enough and you burn goodwill and it ends up actively damaging your brand. Something needs to change. 

The path forward for Game Freak and TPCi is clear, actually — it’s just unclear if they will actually commit to it. Game Freak needs to invest in expanding greatly. They need to be double, triple the size they are now if they will insist on pushing out open world games once every 2-3 years. That part is non negotiable. If they want to maintain their current release cadence (which I assume they will want to, because it tied into the whole Pokémon multimedia empire which is the train the IP is so big to begin with) then they need a lot more manpower. Even for experienced and more technically competent developers, open world games can take 4-5 years across thousands of developers to make — and few of those open world games have the scope that an open world Pokémon game is expected to. 

So — staffing up is essential. But they also need to overhaul their tech. It’s no longer suitable for their ambitions. They want to make these big, sweeping open world games, and that’s awesome, and they should do that, but their tech stack is absolutely and obviously not suited to that at all. Look at the state Scarlet and Violet launched in! I’m not asking for Pokémon to move to third party engines (though, to TPCi’s credit, they actually have experimented with that as well), stay with your internal tech if you want — but update that internal tech if that’s what you’re doing. Open world games are dime a dozen on the Switch, and they all almost universally look and run better than Pokemon Scarlet and Violet — so maybe leverage the tech behind some of those other games to make your own games run better. 

In terms of actual design and ambition, this series is currently better than it has ever been, with Legends being a home run and even Scarlet and Violet being great under all that jank. The designers are doing great, and nothing there needs to change. But the tech and the decision making has to. It has to — Pokémon deserves better. Not just the brand and its implicit promise, but also its fans, and even the developers who are clearly toiling away to deliver the best and most ambitious titles the series has ever seen, only to see their work get disparaged because of the poor decision making and technical debt that causes it to be released in a near broken state. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

So! If you are starting out Pokemon Scarlet or Violet, here are a few handy tips to have on, uh, hand. Whether you’re a returning veteran of the series, a first timer, or a lapsed player coming back after a long break, these should help you get your bearings as you set out in the massive world of Paldea. 

ATTACK POKEMON FROM BEHIND TO GAIN AN ADVANTAGE

Much like in Pokemon Legends, you get to encounter Pokemon in real time in the wild in the world. And much like in Legends, you get some choices in how you want to approach them to initiate combat. Try your best to approach them from behind – when they have their backs turned to you, throw your Pokeball at em, and you gain an advantage in battle via an extra turn, while the attacked Pokemon spends some time trying to get its bearings.

MOVES ARE LEARNABLE AT ANY TIME VIA THE MENU

Pokemon Legends was full of inspired changes, arguably the most underrated one being how moves worked. Your Pokemon learned new moves naturally, and you selected four to have in your active “load out” at any time. Your Pokemon never “forgot” moves. You could always go back and switch in previously learned ones when you felt were necessary in the party menu. Guess what? It works the same way here. While you will get the prompt to learn a new move when your Pokemon reaches the appropriate level, you can always go into the menu to sub in old moves (or add new ones you may have passed up on) to the active load out. It’s much more convenient this way. You can even go into settings and turn off the move learnt prompt in the middle of battles so that it works entirely like Arceus. Much recommended!

CHECK YOUR POKEDEX. A LOT.

The entire point of Pokemon is to, well, catch Pokemon and register them to your Pokédex. The Pokedex pops up every time you catch a Pokemon with some nifty new animations, but those aren’t just there for show, they’re there to prompt you to actually open your Pokedex. Why would you do this, you ask? Because there are rewards and loot the Pokedex gives you if you complete certain thresholds and objectives, which can range from common but useful items to some truly rare stuff. Check the Pokedex often!

DON’T IGNORE SCHOOL AND CLASSES

You’re a student in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and while you usually play Pokemon to get away from school (or all reminders of real life), ignoring so in Scarlet and Violet isn’t recommended. The classes are quick and easy, and completing them can unlock exams and tests that will net you some EXP and items. It’s never a bad idea to drop by the school after completing a main objective.

IT IS OKAY TO RETREAT

The extent to which Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are open and non linear cannot be overstated. While Pokemon Sword/Shield and Legends Arceus both experimented with the open world format, they still kept progression through the story sequential and linear. Scarlet and Violet outright let you make a beeline for areas and objectives that may have been intended as endgame ones in a traditional Pokemon game. This means you can enter a brand new area all starry eyed and excited, and then get stomped by wild Pokemon very literally 3-4 times your party levels. So! It’s a good idea every time you enter a new area to enter some wild Pokemon encounters with the explicit intention to scope out the average levels in that area. If things feel too high for you to handle, bail. It’s okay too. You can come back later when you’re feeling better equipped. You can run from Trainer battles as well, so if you mistakenly find yourself locked in with a trainer way out of your league, bail.

JUMP

While your main character cannot jump, your ride Pokemon, which you get extremely early on in the game, can. And jumping can help you get to otherwise inaccessible areas in the world. These can include anything from rare loot to Pokemon you otherwise wouldn’t be able to encounter. Use this to your advantage!

LET’S GO

Following Pokemon are back! The much beloved feature from older Pokemon titles, where your Pokemon would follow you around in the world, returns in Scarlet and Violet, and what’s more, there are actual gameplay benefits to it. Called “Let’s Go” and initiated by pressing the R button, you can send your Pokemon out into the world at any time. It will then independently go off exploring, fighting wild Pokemon, collecting resources, garnering EXP, all while you continue to do your own thing. It even returns right to you when you initiate a battle, so there are no downsides to using this feature. In fact, there are only benefits (some Pokemon only evolve after you walk with them a certain number of steps, so this is greatly recommended).

INTERACT WITH EVERY GIMMIGHOUL YOU SEE

As you are out and about in the world, you’ll often see these little humanoid… creature… things. You can’t engage them in battle, and it might look like they are set dressing. But if you go and interact with them, you can get a Gimmighoul Coin (because these creatures are, in fact, Gimmighoul). Collect as many of these as you can! When you finally do end up catching a Gimmighoul, you’ll need 50 of these coins to be abled to evolve it.

DON’T SKIP TRAINER BATTLES

A very major change Scarlet and Violet make from previous games is that trainer battles are no longer unavoidable. You have not actively go up to a trainer you see on the field and chat them up before a battle will begin. The flip side of this is, it is actually incredibly easy to just… skip all of the, and not even realize you were doing so, especially given the size of the maps. So, keep this in mind – if you see NPCs out in the wild, go to them and talk. Engage in as many trainer battles as you can. Not only do trainer battles get you more EXP than wild Pokemon ones, as well as giving you money, but by battling a certain number of trainers in an area also lets you claim a prize from that area’s Pokemon Center for yourself. There’s no downsid.

DON’T IGNORE THE PATH OF LEGENDS

As mentioned, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet give you three main campaigns – one where you go and fight gyms to earn badges and become the champion of the Paldea region; one where you take on the mysterious Team Star and try to stop them from terrorizing trainers in the region. And lastly, a Path of Legends. The Path of Legends is exactly what it sounds like from the name, and is obviously extremely exciting to try, but there are actual benefits to it other than simple cool battles and rare Pokemon too. Every time you complete a chapter in this quest, you unlock a new ability for your ride Pokemon – from being able to swim, to being able to glide, to being able to move quicker. All of this makes traversal through Paldea that much easier – and, again, given how massive this world is, I think that can only be a good thing.