Everything from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet media demos

Howdy friends and welcome back to another juicy Victory Road email. Get out your steak knives cuz we're cutting right into all the mouth-watering news released this week

Tons of new info released from official media demos

A handful of lucky media outlets (unfortunately, not this guy) got to play through a brief demo of Scarlet and Violet this past week. The cool part was that, even though these demos were supervised by Nintendo staff, each media outlet had some different experiences.

So we've got a whole lot of new features to talk about. Thankfully, some stalwart folks like Reddit user MalsvirIxen666 and one of my favorite YouTubers, Austin John Plays, made some great compilations.

Below is the list compiled by MalsvirIxen666 which we'll take a closer look at in and add to with the discoveries reported by Austin John Plays in this excellent recap video. Let's do this.

Overworld Features

• EXP Share is always on. You also get a smaller amount of XP from auto battles with wild Pokemon using the Let's Go feature than if you actually battle them.

• Trainers no longer start battles with you. Icons over the NPCs indicate which trainers want to battle but the player has to engage them.

• It appears you have access to climbing, gliding, and running on the legendary vehicle Pokémon right out of the gates (or at least in the demo)

• Sandwiches provide a variety of buffs, from increasing shiny chances to changing which types of Pokémon (and their sizes!) you encounter in the wild. (Guess I'll have to bust out by Subway skillz)

• All towns and cities are their own map (not part of the larger open world). There is a loading screen between these areas. The Gym Battle is a separate screen but battles in the wild are the same screen.

• You can sneak up on wild Pokémon to initiate a battle which provides a small surprise bonus but you CANNOT catch Pokémon without fighting them first. You CAN throw a PokéBall at a wild Pokémon to start a battle.

• There are no random encounters from what we know at this time, however there are quite a few more Pokemon in the overworld than have been shown so far in the trailers.

• NPCs now react to weather (covering their head during rain, etc) like the player did in Legends Arceus. Potentially following Pokémon react as well, though this may have been a weird pathing glitch.

• In their playthrough, Serebii caught a shiny Skiddo (a world's first shiny for ScarVi!) and alluded to the fact that Shiny Pokémon are differentiated on the map, like in Legends Arceus).

• Items have an aura to be more visible at a distance (red for items or gold for TMs).

• Pokémon box can be accessed at any time.

• A new feature allows you to select a Pokémon to automatically heal with human-made items, not just berries.

• There is an internal game clock and weather, NOT tied to the Switch system date and time.

• Wild Pokémon families (such as Growlithe with an Arcanine) were present in the overworld.

• There are Wild Pokémon pairings, like Zangoose and Seviper on the overworld as well.

Let's Go (Auto Battling)

• Auto battling is with 1 Pokémon at a time. EXCEPT in the Team Star bases, where you can use up to 3 (you can only enter with 3 for this challenge).

• Auto battle outcomes are determined by your level, the wild Pokémon's level, and type advantage. Having an attack move is NOT required. (Finally a faster way to level up Magikarp!)

• Auto battle drops include crafting items but may also dro other items, such as an Everstone. Seems that this may be a way to get wild held items like Leftovers from Munchlax.

• The Let's Go (auto battle) feature cannot tell the difference between a regular Pokémon and a shiny Pokémon. Be careful!

Tera Pokémon and Raid Dens/Battles

• When a Pokemon Terastalizes, they keep their original same-type attack bonus (STAB) plus the new type. (for example, Flying Tera Type Pikachu gets an attack bonus for both electric and flying moves.

• Raid Dens now feature pre-written text prompts you can use to coordinate attacks.

• The AI for NPCs in Raid Dens was significantly overhauled from Sword/Shield, according to a Nintendo rep.

• You must use three attacks in a Raid Battle before you can Terastalize. In any other battle, you can do it on the first turn if you wish. Not sure if this is three per each player or three total rounds.

• All four Pokémon entered into a Raid Battle can Terastalize during the Raid (sort of like Dynamaxing in Sword/Shield). It seems they all get the most advantageous typing based on what the wild Tera Pokémon in the Raid Den is?

Quest/ Story Features

• Mela, the boss of Team Star has an unrevealed "ace" Pokémon that was apparently a tough battle. (there are hints it may be the vehicle she's standing on from the trailer).

• In addition to 8 Gym Badges, you also get 10 badges from the two other quest lines (apparently Mela, the Team Star leader, gives out some kind of badge after you beat her).

• The Path of Titans quest line features multiple Titan Pokémon that can be encountered in any order.

• Titans like Klawf can apparently escape and run to a different area as you battle them.

Misc. Features and Reveals + Character Customization

• There are still model pathing issues (at least in the demo version) like the jerky Zacian/Zamazenta movements from Sword/Shield.

• You can rotate the battle camera but player trainer cannot move as they did in Legends Arceus.

• You can relearn moves without the Move Tutor (ala the way it was in Legends).

• There are 4 uniforms to chose from based on the season. Apparently lots of accessories.

• Characters of either gender can use any hairstyle or clothing accessory. Lots of options with hair color (done at a stylist) as well as eyes, expressions and eyebrows.

Introducing Bellibolt

Remember that weird Gym Leader Iono, aka the Streamer/Vlogger (is that even a term anymore?) clip a few weeks ago? Well, here's the Pokémon, she teased. Important note, its eyes are actually the little yellow things above its mouth and the white things are the ears.

From the official description:

Bellibolt expands and contracts its elastic body to generate electricity in an organ that looks like a belly button. The huge amount of electricity generated this way is then discharged from the two bumps on either side of its head that resemble eyeballs.​ Its actual eyes are adorably small and round.

Bellibolt’s Ability, Electromorphosis, is appearing for the first time in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. Bellibolt becomes charged when hit by an attack, boosting the power of the next Electric-type move it uses.

I have...mixed emotions on this dude. As in those yellow eyes are staring into my soul and I can't handle it. Will probably pass adding this guy to my team but to each their own!

Get Genesect, Volcanion and Marshadow for SW/SH

We're all excited for ScarVi, but don't miss these awesome Mystery Gift Pokémon for Sword and Shield via participating retailers:

Genesect and Volcanion

• US: GameStop (October 16–29, 2022)

• Canada: GameStop (October 16–29, 2022)

• Australia: JB Hi-Fi (October 21 – November 18, 2022)

Marshadow

• US: Target (October 30 – November 12, 2022)

• Canada: GameStop (October 30 – November 12, 2022)

• Australia: JB Hi-Fi (October 21 –November 18, 2022)

Random encounters from across the web

• Check out this awesome "Halloween Jolteon" glitch found in Pokémon Go. This design needs to exist!

• Pokemon Ultimate Journeys: The Series is live on Netlfix! Here's the trailer.

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,Derek (my demo arrives Nov. 18 I guess) Siddoway

Question of the Week: Any features or reveals I missed from the media demos? What change do you love/hate the most?