Pokemon Scarlet & Violet has finally been released and fans everywhere, beginners or not, have already started digging heavily into the game, featured in Paldea. The new Pokemon game has brought fans a brand-new generation onto the Switch console, making it the second-newest generation of Pokemon to appear on the console.
Scarlet & Violet have brought game mechanics and the open-world concept over from Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and honestly have improved much upon it. One of the features that Scarlet & Violet utilize that Legends: Arceus didn't is the incredible change to multiplayer. Unexpectedly, multiplayer is amazing in Nintendo's new title.
10 Best: Adventuring Together
The most wonderful and arguably the best aspect of Scarlet & Violet's multiplayer is the incredible journey throughout Paldea that multiple trainers can share together! Just like in the franchise's anime, players can group up (up to 4 people) and adventure throughout the region together, battling or catching Pokemon, finding new things, taking photos, taking on campaigns, and so much more.
The adventure experience throughout Paldea in multiplayer mode is definitely the best. Grab a friend and start out from the beginning to the end with them! Basically, players can have real-life rivals.
9 Worst: No Real-Time Battles
While adventuring through the open world that Scarlet & Violet proves to be, sometimes a player may want to initiate a quick battle with a friend they've been traveling with. Though it would have been very efficient and convenient, players aren't exactly able to initiate a battle with a friend in Paldea on the spot.
Players will have to access the Poke Portal, start a link battle, and then send that friend a link code to actually battle. It would have been a great feature for players to battle each other in real time within Paldea.
8 Best: Progressing Through The Campaigns
One of the largest concerns for the game's multiplayer was how progression and cooperation were going to fit into a Pokemon game. Fortunately, players traveling together in Paldea can actively work on their campaigns.
This means players can go after gyms in pursuit of the Victory Road Path, take on Titan Pokemon in the Path of Legends, and battle out Team Star in their respective routes. Though players can't do these things legitimately together, it still can make for a great time in pursuing these campaigns together.
7 Worst: Nothing In The Campaigns Are Co-op
Though players will be able to individually progress through the game's multiple campaigns while traveling together, players are not actually able to progress through the campaigns via co-op. As expected with gym leaders, it would make sense to be a 1V1 battle.
For other scenarios though, like battling Titan Pokemon and taking on the irritating Team Star, it would definitely make sense for players to be able to do battle together. Unfortunately, though, players can't take on those campaigns together.
6 Best: Raid Battles
Raid battles are much alike in comparison to the Dynamax raids from Pokemon Sword & Shield, and fortunately so. These raids, just like Sword & Shield, are very fun to play with friends.
Players running around Paldea with friends can easily come across a Tera Pokemon raid, and for whoever's crystal it is, that player can initiate a raid for those friends to complete. These raids allow players to obtain incredibly strong Pokemon that have very unique Tera-types that differ from their original types.
5 Worst: No Double-Battling In Paldea
When adventuring with friends in Scarlet & Violet, it would seem plausible that players could battle alongside each other when doing battle with other trainers, Pokemon, or those scenes alike. Unfortunately, players aren't able to support other friends while battling it out.
Just like fans have seen in Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee, the double-battle 2V1 feature did prove to be incredibly overpowered and made it very easy to progress through the game, but Scarlet & Violet could have acted on that as much to provide this feature.
4 Best: Picnics
Just like most recent Pokemon games, Scarlet & Violet have introduced a new mechanic in which the player can create food for themselves and their Pokemon. This time, players running around Paldea can throw a picnic, in which they will set a picnic table down and release all of their cute Pokemon outside to relax.
Luckily for those playing in multiplayer, friends can also join in on the fun and release their lead Pokemon to relax with the others. Players can also work together to make a great sandwich for themselves and their Pokemon.
3 Worst: Can't See Each Other Inside Buildings
Though this may be a small issue that may not be of thought to most players, players engaging with others through multiplayer won't actually be able to see other players when inside a building.
Oddly enough, when a player enters a building, like a Pokemon gym, another player entering inside won't be able to perceive them at all. This may break any immersion aspect that the game has within its multiplayer, and would've been a nice aspect of the game for others to engage with one another throughout the game's buildings.
2 Best: Battles And Trading
As like the rest of the Pokemon games, players can battle and trade with other players. Though no fan expected Game Freak to throw away this feature, it is fortunate that players still have access to this mechanic. In Scarlet & Violet, players can access the Poke Portal by pressing the X button and accessing it through their menu.
This allows players to choose between a variety of options for what they would like to do online. This allows players to do link trades, link battles, multi-battles, surprise trades, and a lot more.
1 Worst: Difficult To Find On The Map
At last, one of the most frustrating aspects that players will eventually find in Scarlet & Violet's multiplayer is the insane difficulty in finding other players that are in a multiplayer session on the map.
Though the game offers players a mini-map to utilize in the game's large world, players aren't able to see their friend's icons on the map, making it very difficult to locate them in an area, Not to mention the game's awful player rendering distance. Players can find other players' icons on the map app, but it won't move relative to that player.
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet is available on the Nintendo Switch.