Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will soon hit the stores after a rather dry reveal season, which was only made spicier by the many leaks and rumors that surfaced online over the months. One of the most prominent leakers in the Pokemon community is called Riddler Khu, and they revealed that Gen 9 games will have a total of 103 critters at launch, with some more Pokemon coming further down the line via DLC. The full Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pokedex was leaked as early as August, whereas official sources have been even quieter than in the past, with only a handful of trailers going live.
Less than one month from launch, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet only revealed 19 Pokemon, which is even fewer than the Gen 8 era, back when over 20 critters had been revealed almost two months from the games' release date. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's alleged type distribution across the board is not the greatest, as it seems there will be eleven new species of Dark-type critters compared to only three species for Rock monsters, for example. According to the leaks, there will be very few Ground Pokemon as well, but the strangest detail about this is that there will only be one completely new Ground-type, and it's a Legendary.
Why Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Regional Fakes Are Not Entirely New Species
One of the first critters to be officially revealed for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet was Paldean Wooper, which is a regional form of the popular Johtonian Water-type axolotl, this time a Ground and Poison hybrid. Though leakers refrained from confirming the type combination, the name, and even the general appearance of Paldean Wooper's evolution, it is believed to be a new creature that does look a bit like Quagsire and the two different forms of Wooper. As such, although it's still exciting to see what The Pokemon Company has in store for the fans, this pocket monster is not going to be an entirely different Ground-type species.
Based on the leaks surrounding Gen 9 games, there will also be another partially new species of Ground Pokemon that is theoretically similar to Wiglett, which is a so-called "Regional Fake" of the renowned Kantonian Diglett. In this case, the new Ground-type critters are going to be based on Tentacool and Tentacruel, and they are allegedly going to look like mushrooms while having Grass as their secondary type. Again, they will have new names, similarly to how Diglett and Wiglett differ from one another, but these Pokemon Scarlet and Violet creatures will be inspired by existing ones.
Why Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's New Ground-Type Being a Legendary is Bad
Continuing this strange trend are two more pocket monsters from Gen 9, which are supposedly version-exclusive critters that share Ground as one of their two types. These are part of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Paradox Pokemon, which are creatures meant to be a new spin on existing species from past generations while also being part of Gen 9's overarching story. Two of these Pokemon are seemingly different versions of Donphan, and even though they will be different from Johtonian Donphan, they are once more not completely new.
The very last Ground-type Pokemon to be featured in Gen 9 is one from the group of critters that form Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Legendary quartet besides Koraidon and Miraidon. These Pokemon will be never-before-seen creatures that are meant to represent creatures from Chinese folklore, and thus the Ground-type one will be the only truly new species of its type in all of Generation 9. With over 100 new critters, having only a single new Ground Pokemon is a bit disappointing. It's even worse when one considers it's a Legendary, meaning it will be available quote late in the games.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release on November 18, exclusively for Nintendo Switch.