After being teased with a variety of colorful snapshots of painted trees and its name confirmed, Grafaiai was finally revealed for the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet games. Derived from both graffiti and the aye-aye lemur, this new Toxic Monkey Pokemon has been confirmed to be a Poison/Normal type, the first of its kind, with its gimmick centering around using the berries of its diet to paint trees and mark territory. Grafaiai's unique design has been a welcome addition to the Gen 9 line-up as fans await the games' official release in November.
But leading up to Grafaiai's reveal, speculation was feverish over what Game Freak's teases meant. Returning to the marketing style that characterized much of Sword and Shield's Pokemon reveals, fans had believed that the paint markings actually pointed to an older Pokemon, Smeargle. Literally known as the Painter Pokemon, fans theorized that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet would introduce a regional variant for Smeargle. However, after Grafaiai's announcement, they're now rethinking how it and Smeargle might relate to one another, with hope held out for a new regional form.
A New Pokemon Rivalry
All throughout Pokemon's history, there have been Pokemon established as a duo or pair. Gen 3 is full of examples, with Plusle and Minun, Volbeat and Illumise, and even Solrock and Lunatone. Some of these pairs were even positioned as rivals, such as Seviper and Zangoose, going so far as to make certain pairs part of each game's version exclusivity. With both Smeargle and Grafaiai being Pokemon centered around painting, it's possible that Game Freak intends to create a new duo with its latest Gen 9 addition.
While retroactively making Smeargle part of a pair seems odd after two decades of no change, it's not the first time Game Freak has readjusted its Pokedex between generations. For example, between Gens 1 and 2, Pinsir was originally seen as a counterpart to Scyther, but with the reveal of the new Steel type Pokemon Scizor, Pinsir was instead paired with the new Heracross. Then, when Mega Evolutions were introduced in Gen 6, this was reinforced through Pinsir and Heracross becoming version exclusives for Pokemon X and Y and each getting Mega Mvolutions.
Though it's a greater gap between generations, Smeargle and Grafaiai could therefore be Scarlet and Violet's new retroactive duo. It's interesting that the trailer revealing Grafaiai made specific comments about how it paints to mark its territory, since in Smeargle's Pokedex entries it does exactly the same. In Grafaiai's gameplay footage, it's also shown that players will be able to see these markings on trees, meaning players will be able to identify its territory. It's possible that these Pokemon will be rivals, and could even become version exclusives to Scarlet and Violet respectively.
Hope For Paldean Smeargle
With the announcement of Grafaiai, fans who had been hoping for a Paldean Smeargle might be disappointed, but since Paldean Wooper is the only regional variant seen so far, there's still hope for further reveals. Considering these Pokemon share so much in common, not taking advantage of the opportunity presented would be a mistake on Game Freak's part. It would be unusual to not even address this, which has led to some wilder speculation that Game Freak might actually be saving the further reveal of Paldean Smeargle for a later date following the hype it has generated with Grafaiai.
Explaining the existence of a Paldean Smeargle would be easy, as it would only need to rely on its rivalry with Grafaiai to justify a different form. Then, if players will be able to see the bright, colorful markings left by Grafaiai, there could be alternative colors or markings left by Paldean Smeargle to help players find each Pokemon. Another option beyond just a new regional variant could be found with rumored Paradox Pokemon. Players could see an unstable alternate form of Smeargle that now threatens the Grafaiai population in Paldea.
Whether Game Freak is planning to do anything with Smeargle will remain to be seen, but fans are still holding onto hope regardless. It's equally likely that, though these two Pokemon share similar designs and lore, that's as far as Game Freak will go. At best, there should at least be a line or two somewhere in the games referencing Smeargle's similarity to Grafaiai, such as in Scarlet and Violet's Pokedex entries or via NPC dialogue. The door will remain optimistically open for Paldean Smeargle in the coming months before Scarlet and Violet's release, unless Game Freak confirms that Grafaiai will hold center stage alone.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are set to release on November 18, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.