With only a few months left until the highly-anticipated release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, The Pokemon Company has been giving fans plenty of reasons to get excited about the franchise's next generation. Earlier this week, the Pokemon developer announced a "Pokemon Presents" broadcast with the presentation set to bring even more news about the new games. Alongside new characters and new Pokemon, the stream revealed a fan-favorite feature from Pokemon Sword and Shield would be returning.
The release of Pokemon Sword and Shield brought with it a new way for players to capture and battle Pokemon with their friends in the form of Max Raids. Players could team up in parties with other people or AIs to duke it out with the eighth generation's "Dynamax" Pokemon. While Dynamax and Gigantamax were confirmed to not be returning in Pokemon's next generation, many fans hoped the new games would feature similar co-op content. Now, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have officially revealed new co-op raid battles for the games' new "Terastal" Pokemon.
Alongside Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's new "Terastal" gimmick featuring crystallized Pokemon, The Pokemon Company also revealed that raid battles will return in Scarlet and Violet. Similar to Max Raid dens, players will be able to find Tera raids scattered throughout the game world with the chance to catch rare and powerful Pokemon. Players will be able to join up with three fellow trainers to take on Tera Raid Battles, with raids said to often contain Pokemon with rarer Tera types.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Tera Raids also feature a major departure from Pokemon's standard turn-based gameplay. Players in Tera Raids will no longer be restricted by waiting for their allies to take their turns, instead being able to "attack and heal on their own timing." Scarlet and Violet would be the first main-series Pokemon games to adopt a more real-time based combat system, albeit in a limited fashion. However, Scarlet and Violet would not be the first to experiment with changing Pokemon's combat formula with Legends: Arceus experimenting with the Style system.
The Pokemon Scarlet and Violet reveals came as part of a presentation packed with updates about Pokemon's ongoing titles. Pokemon GO gave more information about the finale of 2022's Pokemon GO Fest with players able to obtain the mythical Pokemon Shaymin. Pokemon Unite also revealed more of its first anniversary celebration with a wacky new "all Pikachu" game mode, as well as new Pokemon set to join Unite. Tera Raids will serve as another reason for Pokemon fans to get excited about Scarlet and Violet's release later this year.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is scheduled to release on November 18th for the Nintendo Switch.