What appears to be the final trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet dropped Tuesday, a little more than a week before the games launch. It serves as an overview of Scarlet and Violet's major features and storylines, but also dropped a first look at past and future variations Donphan: Great Tusk and Iron Treads. Additional crossover content for games like Pokemon Unite were announced alongside this trailer, which ended off highlighting unique Rotom Phone cases available to those who have data from prior Switch releases.
Mainline Pokemon games were confined to handheld devices for a long time, but Game Freak poured a lot of energy into developing for the Nintendo Switch. Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! gave fans another journey through Kanto in 2018, integrating the catching mechanics of Pokemon GO. A year later came Sword and Shield, officially starting Generation 8, and then ILCA dropped Sinnoh remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in 2021. Pokemon Legends: Arceus really shook up the formula earlier this year, and fans who have kept up will receive crossover items in Scarlet and Violet. However, even more cases could be added based on system data from older entries.
Pokemon's Switch Games Have Plenty of Save Data Rewards
Rewards for playing previous entries began right away in the Switch era of Pokemon games, with Sword and Shield offering a unique Gigantamax-capable Pikachu or Eevee to players with Let's Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! on their devices. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl similarly rewarded The Pokemon Company's dedicated fans by offering one of two Mythical Pokemon: Mew for the Let's Go titles and Jirachi for Sword and Shield. The Gen 4 remakes also retroactively added the Azure Flute as a bonus for Legends: Arceus players, allowing them to catch the titular Mythical Pokemon in an event that never officially released for Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum versions.
Being the latest entry, Legends: Arceus included the most extensive sava data rewards. Pikachu and Eevee festival masks, a Shaymin-themed Kimono, and "modern" Team Galactic uniforms were introduced for those with all three prior releases. Having data for Sword and Shield as well as Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl also unlocked two unique quests around Shaymin and Darkrai.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will carry this tradition forward via the introduction of four Rotom Phone cases: a Gen 1-styled spite battle between Pikachu and Eevee, Ball Guy from the Galar region, Sinnoh's Poketch, and the Arc Phone provided to Legends: Arceus players. There's currently no word whether spin-offs will introduce further content akin to Pokemon Quest unlocking League Card cosmetics in Sword and Shield. However, even if there's nothing related to games like Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, New Pokemon Snap, or Pokemon Unite, this isn't the only data that Game Freak can utilize.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Rotom Cases Could Apply to Transferred Monster Data
Since Generation 3, one key tenet of the Pokemon franchise has been bringing Pokemon partners forward. The Nintendo DS allowed DS and Game Boy Advance titles to be plugged in at the same time, transferring monsters from Gen 3 to 4. After that, the Poke Transfer minigame brought Gen 4 Pokemon into Black, White, and their sequels. The Pokemon Bank app on 3DS let Gen 5 Pokemon appear in Kalos and Alola, and once the Switch era began that was migrated into Pokemon Home - which also allows for crossovers like Gimmighoul's Roaming Form in Pokemon GO.
Pokemon Sword and Shield made the controversial decision to restrict the series' National Pokedex, meaning some monsters remain unavailable in any mainline Switch release. But that doesn't mean fans won't potentially have data for Pokemon going back to the early 2000s on their console, even in just their Home storage. Rotom Phone cases are a relatively simple cosmetic, and it would be fun to see more of them added based on the entire franchise.
One key way this could be accomplished is mimicking the digital devices from every generation akin to the Poketch. Different versions of the PokeNav could appear based on monsters from Gen 3 or Gen 6's Hoenn region, as could skins utilizing HeartGold and SoulSilver's Pokegear or Black and White's C-Gear. A Rotom Dex skin based on Sun and Moon could even display a roulette wheel. It's unlikely this would happen given transfer services have shut down over the years, making them unfairly limited compared to a collection of Switch-exclusive cases, but the potential is there.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launch November 18, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.