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The Pokemon Gen 9 starters have been confirmed.
In a blog post following the announcement of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Nintendo showed off the games’ new starter Pokemon.
First up is Sprigatito, a “capricious, attention-seeking Grass Cat Pokemon.” It’s difficult to tell at this point, but there’s a touch of the Misdreavus to the cat’s design, and the ‘Spri’ is quite close to ‘spirit’, leading me to think this could evolve into a Grass/Ghost type, of which there are only four others in the series.
Next up is Fuecoco, a “laid-back Fire Pokémon that does things at its own pace.” The design is a little remisicent of Grass/Dragon-type Appletun, but that’s likely to be pretty coinciental.
Finally, there’s Quaxly, an “earnest and tidy Ducking Pokemon.” Given that this is a duck, a Water/Flying evolution – while hardly unique within the franchise – seems a given. The little cap that Quaxly sports does look a little like some kind of uniform, potentially that of a delivery or postal service worker.
Sprigatito and Fuecoco in particular are clearly inspired by the Spanish language, lending extra credence to quick-sprouting fan theories that the Gen 9 region will be inspired by Spain. We don’t know much about the new games just yet, but we’ve combed through the announcement for information about which Pokemon will appear in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and the suggestion that these will be truly open-world Pokemon games – much like Pokemon Legends Arceus, which gets its major Daybreak expansion later today.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are scheduled to release in late 2022.
Here’s everything announced during today’s Pokemon Day Pokemon Direct.
I’m GamesRadar’s deputy news editor, working with Ben T across our gaming news articles. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I’ve run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam’s latest indie hit.
