Pokemon wants your attention and compliance all the time.
There’s been a tagline for the Pokemon franchise, at least here in the west, since it began “gotta catch ’em all.” Now, you’d think that, in our modern internet-connected world, catching ’em all would be easier. Perhaps if you didn’t have to play more than one game to do so, but that’s not the world we live in. Scarlet and Violet will be the only way Pokemon Go fans can catch them all.
Scarlet and Violet are the only way to catch all the Pokemon
Following the announcement of Pokemon Gimmighoul, The Pokemon Company has revealed that, in 2023, copies of Pokemon Scarlet or Violet will be able to link with Pokemon Go accounts. Presumably, you’ll be able to transfer Pokemon and items just like in previous examples. There’s an added wrinkle here, though: according to the announcement, players will only be able to catch Gimmighoul in Pokemon Go when they link the games. Basically, you can’t catch every Pokemon in Pokemon Go without Scarlet or Violet.
Obviously, this isn’t great. Nintendo Switches aren’t for everyone, and Scarlet and Violet aren’t for everyone either. The appeal of Pokemon Go is that it’s free-to-play, but enacting this kind of restriction arbitrarily limits a big part of its user base. Even if money wasn’t an issue, it’s kind of annoying to have to play a completely different game just to progress in the one you’re trying to play.
In Pokemon Go, though, completing the PokeDex isn’t as important as it is in the mainline games. It’s hard to complete the PokeDex in Pokemon Go, whether Scarlet and Violet link or not, because it’s still missing Pokemon from previous generations. Even though the link requirement is unfair, it’s not really a problem that will manifest any time soon. The link would be even more limited if Pokemon Go outlives Scarlet and Violet by a significant amount since old software would have to be used. Still, that’s a problem for the future, not right now.
