The announcement of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet during today's Pokemon Presents took the Internet by the storm. While Generation 9 games were rumored to come this year, the counterargument of Pokemon Legends: Arceus releasing a month ago was valid. Yet, Game Freak has apparently been operating with multiple teams, meaning it can still have Generation 9 games in the holiday season of 2022. During today's presentation, Nintendo also revealed the three starters for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: a cute Grass-type cat with a leafy tail, a lively Fire-type crocodile with apple (or pepper) features, and an adorable Water-type duck with a blue hat.
Starters are among the most sought-after Pokemon in any game because they are often unique, and they are also the very first friends that players meet on their journey. While many choose their starter based on the Pokemon's looks and themes, others care about the critter's typing the most, especially if a second type is added to the Grass/Fire/Water base when the Pokemon evolves. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are likely not going to be any different considering they will also be the very first fully open-world titles in the series, and choosing the right starter could make all the difference when version-exclusive Pokemon exist.
Past Starter Pokemon and Type Trifectas
It's going to be awhile for players to finally learn what the starters will look like when they evolve, and it's possible that the final evolutions will not be revealed until after the games are released. As such, what Pokemon fans can only speculate about the starters, their possible evolutions, and their type combination - which are often a telling factor in how good a specific Pokemon can be in competitive battles. An example comes from Pokemon Legends: Arceus' Hisuian Decidueye, which has strong moves that would make it good on paper, but its Grass/Fighting-type combination makes it four-times weak to Flying, a very popular type and common typing.
A good way to predict the type combinations for the starters in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is to look at the history of mainline Pokemon games and what their starters turned into. One of the staples of modern games is to have starters that have type combinations fitting one another in some way, with one example coming from Pokemon X and Y. Gen 6 had a near-perfect trifecta in the form of Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja; Grass/Fighting, Fire/Psychic, and Water/Dark respectively, making each critter effective against one starter and weak against the other.
There are games where the starters had no particular type combination or at all, such as Pokemon Black and White and Pokemon Red and Blue. Pokemon Sword and Shield also featured starter Pokemon that kept their base type and didn't add another to the mix, making them balanced in the rock-paper-scissors format that Pokemon games usually have. However, Grass, Fire, and Water-type starters are a perfect trifecta because each of them is weak to one and resists the other, which is very rare in other types.
With the way Pokemon types work as of Generation 8, the only other perfect trifecta is made of Flying, Fighting, and Rock. Flying is weak to Rock and is strong against Fighting, while also resisting the latter; the same applies to Fighting and Rock, each having a weakness, a strength, and a resistance to one of the other types. As such, it's hard to feature a completely perfect trifecta with starters because it would mean to have to distribute Flying, Fighting, and Rock between the base types for their evolutions. It is feasible, but it can't be done every single time, and the results become predictable.
What Types Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Starters Could Be
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are clearly inspired by Spain, and possibly Portugal as well, seen in the starters' own names. The Grass starter is called Sprigatito, which could be made of the words "gatito" (little cat) and "espiritu" (spirit). Because Generation 7 already featured a Grass/Ghost-type Pokemon (and Ghost is close to "spirit"), it's possible that Sprigatito will evolve into a Grass/Fairy Pokemon, which has never been done for a starter - though there have been several Grass/Fairy-type Pokemon since Generation 6.
Fire-type starters have had Fighting as their secondary type three times so far, and having yet another one would probably not please fans. Fuecoco is made of the words "fuego" (fire) and "coco" (likely an abbreviation of "cocodrilo" - crocodile, but it could also be a reference to coconuts). With the plant-like face and little hair on its head, many fans are starting theories where the Pokemon could actually Fire/Grass. While a Fire/Grass starter Pokemon would be cool to see, adding Grass to a Fire-type starter would break the trifecta, making it good both against the Grass starter and the Water one. However, if Sprigatito is indeed going to be a Grass/Fairy Pokemon, then Fuecoco could very well be the first Fire/Steel starter, or even Fire/Poison to retain its strength against Fairy and Grass Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Quaxly doesn't have immediate meanings with its name as the other starters, and being a duck it would be natural to make it Water/Flying. However, Water/Flying Pokemon are rather common, and it wouldn't really fit the potential typings of the other two thus far. If Sprigatito evolves into a Grass/Fairy Pokemon and Fuecoco evolves into a Fire/Steel Pokemon, it would be a natural fit for Quaxly to evolve into a Water/Fighting-type Pokemon, of which only three exist - with Pokemon Sword and Shield's Urshifu being one of them. No other starter Pokemon has ever been a Water/Fighting-type.
With Pokemon designs and their types there can be plenty of combinations, but Game Freak also tends to avoid any unused type combination for starters because the novelty could influence player choice. These predictions may not be perfectly accurate at this stage, but the type combinations listed above are a near-perfect trifecta, with Fairy not resisting Fighting moves being the only thing that doesn't make it work. Using this set, the starters could also feel new to a certain degree.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are set to release for Switch in late 2022.