It’s been 3000 years
[Update: The Pokemon Company has said that the previously announced date of May 23 was posted by mistake, and that the actual release date has yet to be revealed. Our original story follows.]
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet came out nearly six months ago, but it’s still missing some fan-favorite features. You can insert your favorite “you mean like the feature to run properly?” joke here. Performance issues aside, compatibility with the cloud service Pokemon Home was key among requests from fans. Fortunately, trainers won’t have to wait much longer.
The Pokemon Company announced that Scarlet & Violet will join the Pokemon Home family starting on May 23, at 6:00 PM EDT. This will allow players to transfer Pokemon they’ve caught from all Home-compatible games into Scarlet & Violet. Conversely, users can transfer Pokemon from Scarlet & Violet back into Legends Arceus, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, and Sword & Shield. For visual learners, the Pokemon Company released a chart showing how the games will interact with each other (featured below).
It’s nice to see backwards compatibility confirmed, especially for players who still like to play the older titles. That said, note that only creatures compatible with both games will successfully transfer. In other words, your “can I beat Sword & Shield with only a Lechonk?” dream challenge run will remain a fantasy.
Starting 5/24, get special Pokémon when you link Pokémon HOME with Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet!
You’ll be able to receive a Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly with Hidden Abilities as Mystery Gifts in the mobile device version of Pokémon HOME.#PokemonScarletViolet ❤️💜 pic.twitter.com/sL5v6mSqgT
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) May 18, 2023
Bonuses just for connecting
To sweeten the pot and entice lapsed trainers to check out the update, Scarlet & Violet players will get a nifty bonus once they connect to Pokemon Home. Upon linking their accounts, trainers will receive Fuecoco, Sprigatito, and Quaxly, each equipped with their Hidden Abilities. Frankly, the Paldean starters have way better Hidden Abilities than standard Abilities, especially if you’re into the competitive scene. Endgame players likely have these monsters trained by now, but it’s a nice gift all the same.
Additionally, Pokemon Home itself will receive some new features with this update. Chief among these is the ability for a Pokemon to relearn moves right inside the app. This raises a few questions, as a Pokemon’s moveset may vary pretty hard between games, so we’ll need to see how features like this work next week.
For hardcore fans of the series, finally seeing Home support is a huge relief. This likely won’t do much for anyone sour on Scarlet & Violet, but at least it will bring some life into the titles before their DLC packs come later this year.
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are available on Nintendo Switch.
