Pokemon ScarletandVioletwere first announced on Pokemon Day in February, and ever since The Pokemon Company has been quiet about what they actually entail. However, theJune trailer forPokemon ScarletandVioletjust released, featuring new creatures, two version-exclusive Professors, the box art Legendaries, and information about a new multiplayer feature. Many fans are excited to get their hands on the Gen 9 games, which seem to have differing themes that may be intertwined during the main narrative.
There is a strong theme of past versus future in both games, withPokemon Scarletfocusing on the old days andPokemon Violetbeing all about looking toward what the future holds. This is encompassed in many noticeable details that the June trailer showcased, but the main things to analyze are the new Professors and thebox Legendary Pokemon: Koraidon and Miraidon forScarletandViolet, respectively. Although players may not be able to expect time travel in the main story, these themes can provide an insights into wherePokemon ScarletandViolet begin to stray from one another.
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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Past Versus Future Theme Explained
An important detail about the themes ofPokemon ScarletandVioletcome with the clothes that both new Professors wear, with Professor Sada wearing a prehistoric-styled outfit and Professor Turo sporting a sci-fi bodysuit. These are the most apparent differences between thesePokemon ScarletandVioletNPCs, but it’s also worth mentioning that their names are likely derivatives of the Spanish words for both past and future. Sada might very well be an abbreviation of the word “pasada” (or more accurately “pasado”), which means past in Spanish but used in a more feminine form. On the other hand, Turo is possibly an abbreviation of the word “futuro,” the Spanish word for future.
This interpretation makes sense both on a thematic and a semantic level, especially seeing howPokemon ScarletandViolet’s yet-unnamed regionis clearly inspired by Spain and possibly Portugal. Not only that, the Legendary Pokemon Koraidon and Miraidon seem to also have been named with similar criteria in mind, considering the Japanese word for ancient is “korai” whereas the Japanese word for future is “mirai.” The aesthetics of both these Legendary Pokemon similarly seems to be that of an ancient mythological creature for Koraidon and a metal-forged futuristic beast for Miraidon.
Koraidon’s design is more similar to that of creatures like Quetzalcoatl, or the naga from eastern religions, whereas Miraidon has jet engines for legs that allow it to fly or hover, and it also has pixelated pupils. All these differences betweenPokemon ScarletandVioletcould actually become a part of the plot itself, with the main narrative arc revolving around a conflict between those who seek a lifestyle that emulates the past and those who firmly believe in scientific progress and technology. This is speculation at this point, but overall these themes could go as far back in time as the Spanish conquistador era, or as far ahead as the modern age of a fully connected world in the latter.
Pokemon ScarletandVioletrelease in late 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
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