Many Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players are sharing their early game experiences, including some that are unhappy about a variety of issues, such as the graphics that they claim look like they're from the PS1. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet represent the beginning of Gen 9, and although Pokemon Sword and Shield and Pokemon Legends: Arceus showed what Nintendo Switch could do for the franchise, some players are unimpressed by the latest attempt.
Reddit user Mcflasky is among a portion of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet community that believes the games have lackluster visuals compared to other Nintendo Switch titles, sharing a clip to prove their point. Before Pokemon Sword and Shield were released, many Nintendo fans pointed to trees in the open Wild Area as evidence that Game Freak could've done better with the games, but much less was known about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet ahead of their release. While Pokemon Legends: Arceus also released with bugs like one that changed the geometry of the Alabaster Icelands, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fans are reporting an assortment of glitches as they explore the Paldean region as well.
Mcflasky's brief Pokemon Scarlet and Violet video shows the player standing near the brick wall behind the game's academy, which looks out over a river with a strange-looking waterfall flowing into it. Clouds float by Mcflasky overhead as their shadows appear near the Pokemon trainer in a somewhat pixilated manner, but the limited visuals become more apparent when nearby flowers cast their own shadow. Moving the camera around to see more buildings to the North of the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trainer, Mcflasky shows the bizarre landscape on the other side of the water that has an orange mountain turning gray on the other side of the waterfall before changing brown without any blending as it gets closer to the Pokemon town.
Comparing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet graphics to some found in PS1 games, Mcflasky stated the quality is noticeably poor in this part of the game but suggested that others parts of the game don't suffer as much. In an effort to not discourage Pokemon fans from getting Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Mcflasky claimed that the games are still good despite any technical issues encountered shortly after launch. According to Mcflasky, they expected Pokemon Scarlet and Violet to look better than the trailers upon release, but after some gameplay, they anticipate that it's even worse in action.
Although some Pokemon fans were disheartened to see the poor graphics shown off by Mcflasky, one suggested entering and exiting the nearest building to fix a rumored Pokemon Scarlet and Violet memory leak issue. As many Pokemon players are anticipating a patch to fix some bugs in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, others stated their opinions on the games being unfinished and untested.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.