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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet break multiple traditions from past games, with one of the most notable ones being the fact that Gen 9 is the very first fully open-world title in the franchise. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's type combinations are also another big deal, as Gen 9 breaks the mold by introducing a lot of missing type combos that past games had never featured, such as Fire and Grass, Normal and Poison, and Fairy/Fighting. Another significant change comes in the form of the Pokemon Day Care being entirely gone and replaced with a new feature that allows players to go on picnics with their companions, which can lay eggs just as they would in the iconic facility.
Even with all these major changes and inclusions, an outlier in the Paldean Pokedex is a cute little critter called Pawmi, which most trainers may be familiar with considering it was one of the first pocket monsters to be revealed after the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's starters. At first glance, Pawmi seemed like yet another so-called "Pikachu clone" that would not evolve and bring nothing revolutionary to the table, but this is very far from what Game Freak actually did with this evolution line.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Pawmi is the First Pikachu Clone to Evolve
One of the main factors that made a case for Pawmi evolving in Gen 9 was that it was the first critter to be revealed as one of Nemona's own Pokemon, and rivals throughout the series typically get early route pocket monsters that evolve as the story advances. Such is the case with Pawmi, which not evolves, but evolves twice, first into Pawmo and then into Pawmot. Although the name and the appearance of each stage don't change drastically, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have a lot in store for Pawmi, including it being the first Electric/Fighting critter in the franchise.
Because Pawmi evolves and does so twice, this fact alone makes it the very first Pikachu clone to accomplish this ever, with Pikachu being the only one that has both a pre-evolution and an evolution (which also got a regional form in Gen 7). Every other Pikachu clone didn't achieve this, making Pawmi special by default. Gen 2 came with Pichu, which was revealed to be the baby form of Pikachu, whereas every generation from Gen 3 through Gen 8 included a new critter similar to Pikachu, but with no evolutions, even if they were groundbreaking to some degree, such as Dedenne being the first Electric/Fairy critter ever.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Make Pawmot OP Thanks to the First Ever Revive Move
Another major factor that makes Pawmi special is that once it evolves into Pawmot, it learns a new, exclusive move called Revival Blessing, which is the first of its kind. Revival Blessing allows the user to revive a single allied fainted Pokemon as a Revive item would, and this is already set to become a game-changer in both competitive and Nuzlocke Pokemon runs, as both don't normally allow for Revives of any kind. This is something the franchise has never attempted before, and while healing moves exist, this is on another level.
Revival Blessing has its downside in the form of only having 1 PP, but it is a status move that cannot fail, making it not only reliable but incredibly powerful on Pawmot, which is already a rather fast pocket monster that can act before many others. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's competitive battles will be very different from Gen 8's as a result, especially considering that Terastallization also exists and that it has the potential of negating a Pokemon's main weaknesses. As such, Pawmi and its evolution break two series-long traditions, and that's great to see.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.