Pokemon Scarlet & Violet fans call out lacking regional forms in Gen 9

While Pokemon Scarlet & Violet introduced a lot of new Pokemon this Generation, fans have recently called out its strange lack of regional forms.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet introduced over 100 new Pokemon into the Pokedex, alongside nearly 300 returning monsters to fill out the games sprawling open world.

Plenty of the new Paldean Pokemon grew on players over the course of their journeys, such as Grafaiai, Flamigo, and Pawmot. At the same time, other fans were happy to raise returning favorites too.

However, while past Generations like Alola and Galar introduced dozens of regional forms for pre-existing Pokemon, Paldea introduced far fewer and fans have started discussing this strange omission in Generation 9.

Fans question Gen 9’s low regional form count

A tweet from online content creator Patterrz went viral after asking why there were “only two Pokemon with Paldean forms” in Generation 9, with many fans agreeing that it was certainly strange that there were so few Regional forms compared to previous Generations.

“One of my biggest disappointments with Scarlet & Violet. I hope if we get DLC we get more,” said Seribii webmaster Joe Merrick. “Like yeah we have Paradox and even Convergent that follow a similar concept but regional variants is one of the best ideas they’ve implemented and kept doing.”

For those who may not know, the only two true regional forms introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are Paldean Wooper and Paldean Tauros, who admittedly has two alternate forms with different typings.

Still, two—or four depending on perspective—Regional forms pales in comparison to the dozens received in both Alola and Galar. While many agreed they were disappointed with the low number, some put forth a theory as to why this might have happened.

“I mean, the convergent Pokemon are basically regional forms. And the paradoxes are kinda like regional forms if you stretch it,” noted one Twitter user. Another fan agreed and said, “I think the focal point was supposed to be [the] sheer amount of alternate forms we got instead of specifically Paldean forms.”

While technically not the same, Generation 9 did introduce Pseudo-regional forms through Pokemon like Toedscruel, Wiglett, and Great Tusk. Though some fans certainly find the lack of true regional forms disappointing it may just come down to a matter of perspective at the end of the day.