Over the past week, a significant amount of specific information has been leaked regarding the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet. Prior to this, much of what's been leaked has been cryptic and unclear, due to the preferences of the leaker. One subject that has a lot of confusion surrounding it has previously been referred to as "Regional Fakes" or "RFakes." Recent leaks have indicated that in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, these types of Pokemon will instead be referred to as Convergent Species.
The CentroLeaks Twitter account, which shares a variety of dubious leaks regarding the Pokemon franchise, recently collated some of the bigger leaks of the past week. That included a chart of all the "new" forms of Pokemon leaked. These include new Regional Forms, new Evolutions for older Pokemon, Ancient Forms, Future Forms, and Convergent Species. The first four are straightforward, while Convergent Species needs a bit more explanation despite how simple it is.
According to CentroLeaks, new Convergent Species will be almost visually identical to existing Pokemon. They look nearly the same, "almost like a recolor," but are otherwise "completely unrelated" to the original Pokemon and even have their own PokeDex number. With that in mind, these Convergent Species will have entirely different typings compared to their original counterpart. Whether they're similar in other regards, like temperament, personality, or behavior, is yet to be seen.
So far, only one Convergent Species has been leaked for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet so far. That Pokemon is believed to be Diglett, who will not be a Ground-type Pokemon but will instead be Water-type. It's easy to imagine a new, blue Diglett being renamed to Swimlett or something similar popping up out of the water just like Diglett does the ground. That's the general idea behind Convergent Species for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
As for why Game Freak would choose to create Convergent Species Pokemon, Pokemon fans can only guess. The obvious answer is that it's much easier to develop a "new" Pokemon using the model of an old Pokemon. That's one way that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could reach over 120 new Pokemon with such a short development cycle.
To be clear, Convergent Species have not been announced for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet yet. It's entirely possible that it's a false leak or that it's not wholly accurate. If true, though, fans can expect to hear about Convergent Species soon, as there may be a good number of the new Pokemon debuting in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet release November 18 on Switch.
Source: Twitter