Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Alleged Leaks Round-Up: Trainer Customization, “Ancient” Forms Outright New Pokémon, No Fishing, And More
Ryan Pearson
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Yet more alleged leaks for the The Pokémon Company’s upcoming JRPG, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, have been rounded up and summarized by fans of the long-running monster-catching series.
Source: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022), Nintendo, The Pokémon Company
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@CentroLeaks is a Twitter account dedicated to recapping numerous sources of alleged leaks and insider knowledge on upcoming Pokémon games. These sources include social media users who have either openly spoken or sources that have reached out directly to them.
To summarize our prior coverage, the claims include final stater evolution types and heavily redacted images of them, descriptions of unrevealed Pokémon (such as one based on a coin, or evolutions and regional forms for some of these), and which ones will and won’t return.
Source: Second Trailer | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, The Official Pokémon YouTube Channel, YouTube
Two of the games’ new gimmicks also included select Pokémon having futuristic or ancient forms and “RFakes” — Pokémon with designs highly resembling existing ones but being a new species altogether. There is also a “crystalization” mechanic in battles that causes the Pokémon to deal extra damage with certain types of moves. Mega Evolution and Dynamaxing will not return.
The new region is reportedly called Paldea, Gyms may be tackled in any order (though there is no level scaling), there are three “routes” or quests to get the games’ ending, and players will also have classes, exams, and interviews.
Source: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022), Nintendo
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Several alleged screenshots of Gym Leaders were also shown — this claim was proven to be fake, however. As retweeted by @CentroLeaks, user @pkmnpants revealed the designs were based on their artwork.
“This week I’ve been uploading Pokémon Scarlet and Violet fanarts on 4chan disguising them as leaks. From the beginning I knew that no one would believe it, but I enjoyed it anyway. I hope many people liked it,” tweeted the user.
Source: pkmnpants Twitter
Part 5 of the alleged leaks returned mid-July. Therein @CentroLeaks claimed, “Tauros has a new regional form”— not counting the fake one exposed in our prior coverage — “Overworld shinies are ‘probably’ back”, “Trainer customization is more limited; all clothing options are school uniforms”, and “A new Pokémon that looks similar to Dugtrio.”
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
The trainer customization would make sense with the theory about the player being a Pokémon trainer undergoing school, not to mention the aforementioned classes and exams. The Dugtrio would also match with the leaker @Riddler_Ku’s claim — since deleted — that the Diglett and Dugtrio RFake are based on eels; possibly garden eels which poke their heads out of the sand of the ocean floor.
“The main game took like 60 hours to the leaker, though they admit they are not particularly good,” @CentroLeaks claims, noting their prior tweet omitted the world “probably” regarding overworld shinies.
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
“A child becomes one of the Elite 4”, “There’s a ‘bonding quest’ (whatever that is) that Eevee fans will enjoy”, and “There aren’t any cameos from old characters in the main story,” the account added.
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
A child being an Elite 4 member isn’t totally unfounded, as Sun and Moon had Acerola, while Sword & Shield had Gym Leader Allister as a potential battle in the Elite Four-equivalent tournament rematches. While Eevee will appear, prior alleged leaks claimed it would have no new evolution.
Contrary to prior claims, @CentroLeaks later claimed “The ancient forms are completely different Pokémon, with a different Pokédex number and name. They are not just forms.” Once again, they shared the image of the alleged new form of Amoongus.
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
Pokémon with different forms are typically registered under the same name and Pokédex number — such as differences in gender, Mega Evolution, and even Regional Forms with different types. If true, the Ancient Pokemon “form” would be a new Pokémon with a familiar design akin to RFakes.
“Both the original Pokémon and the fake/ancient versions are in the game,” read @CentroLeaks alleged, “It sounds like the ancient versions are standalone Pokémon based on the original line, they don’t evolve.” The user would then state the lack of evolution “seems to have been a mistranslation,” later claiming both ancient and future Pokémon would be unable to evolve.
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
Despite motifs of the ancient past and future, @CentroLeaks purported information read, “All Fossil Pokémon are not back, before adding “There’s no bike in this game, instead you ride Koraidon / Miraidon” — the Legendary Pokémon featured on the games’ respective covers.
“While riding you move very fast and you can still catch and battle Pokémon,” “You can also climb, swim and fly with them – There’s no fishing in this game,” @CentroLeaks claims.
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
While some spin-off titles have not featured fishing, this writer doubts if this particular activity will be entirely cut, as even Sword and Shield included dedicated fishing spots; rather than any part of a river or body of water. Further, Magikarp and Gyarados seem to be some of the more popular Pokémon, almost always guaranteed to appear in a mainline game, as much as Pikachu or newer mainstays like Lucario.
@CentroLeaks also notes “There’s a new auction house where you can buy items (not sell). You participate with other NPCs.” This could be a way to acquire rare items, though the “bidding” may be akin to what was seen in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker — where large bids can stun rival bidders for a time.
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
“Camera is still controllable in battle,” @CentroLeaks claimed — as Pokémon Legends: Arceus had allowed players to freely move the camera and themselves during battle, pointing out the “Leaker says music is 10/10.”
Regarding Pawmi’s, a Pokémon previously shown to be a bipedal rodent with thick forearms and an anime protagonist-style haircut, @CentroLeaks reveals its respective evolution to be “Electric / Fighting.”
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
While others doubted @CentroLeaks’ claims, they alleged “We have known since the beginning that the leaker has a dev build, very likely they are a tester.” This would certainly explain how the user would have access to this information and other video game leaks typically coming from such sources.
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
Elaborating on the heavily redacted images of Sprigatito and Quaxly’s final evolutions, @CentroLeaks shared more on what their designs were allegedly based on. “Quaxly’s evo: Dancer + Peacock,” “Sprigatito’s evo: Clown + Gentleman thief + Mask.”
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
While peacocks are not native to Spain, unverified sources claim Benidorm Island did used to house peacocks in its nature reserve (some calling it Peacock Island). The bird has also appeared in early Christian art, as the religion adapted tales from other religions and regions across Europe.
On the other hand, @CentroLeaks or their source may mean the final stage of Quaxly has an impressive fan-like tail, rather than being a peacock overall.
Likewise, the “gentleman thief” trope has been popular across Europe since the 1905 stories of Arsène Lupin. The thief motif would fit the alleged Grass and Dark typing it would have, but also what we’ve seen of its mask matching the the tufts of hair under the chin of the Iberian lynx, native to Spain.
Source: Iberian Lynx Encounter, Stephen Powell, YouTube
Some fan art has also incorporated musketeer elements, likely inspired from Puss in Boots from Shrek, and in turn inspired by Zorro. This is despite the fairy tale’s earliest recording hailing from Italian author Giovanni Francesco Straparola around 1550.
As for the clown element, it may mean the final stage is inspired more by the likes of pierrots, harlequins, and jesters. Older interpretations of those performers tend to be more associated with acrobatics and wit, rather than the “bumbling” circus clown we know today.
Returning to the leaks, @CentroLeaks added “This generation has a higher number of new Pokémon than most recent generations. Game Freak moved from the trend of making lots of forms (like megas, regional forms) to instead introduce two new mechanics (the ancient forms and a second new gimmick) as completely new Pokémon.” Earlier leaks had quoted 300 to 500 total Pokémon in the games.
The Pokémon Scarlet and Violet leaks are far from over, so join us again soon for more!
Source: CentroLeaks Twitter
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