However, there are some Galarian Pokemon that would have been at home in Paldea’s environment. While it’s likely the Galarian Starters and Legendary Pokemon will eventually cross into Scarlet & Violet via 7-Star Tera Raids (like Cinderace), the following Pokemon would have been nice to see at launch.

5 Nickit & Thievul

These vulpine Pokemon are pure Dark-type that are quite distinct from the other foxlike Pokemon: Vulpix and Fennekin. Nickit could be caught as early as Route 1 in Sword/Shield with a 5% chance of appearing as a visible encounter. Once Nickit reached level 18, it would evolve into Thievul. Both Nickit and Thievul have average - meager stats with low Attack and Defense, but solid Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. However, what makes Thievul stand out is its Ability, Stakeout. This will double Thievul’s offensive stats against an opponent Pokemon that has been switched out.

Nickit and Thievul are known for being cunning Pokemon that steal food and eggs from others. Scarlet/Violet’s new Picnic feature would be ideal for the Nickit-family. From a gameplay-standpoint, Thievul and Nickit both suffer from a learnset built of mostly Physical moves, when their Special Attack greatly outweighs their Attack stat. Making some adjustments such as adding Dark Pulse to its learnset, could’ve done these Pokemon some good.

4 Clobbopus & Grapploct

Despite being based on an octopus, Clobbopus and Grapploct aren’t a Water-type, but rather a Fighting-type Pokemon. Their Attack, particularly Grapploct, is at a base stat of 118 with Speed being their weakest stat. Clobbopus will evolve into Grapploct once it learns Taunt (level 35). Alternatively, players could teach it Taunt much earlier if they had TR 37. Grapploct gains the unique, Fighting-type move Octolock, which prevents its opponent from switching out and will lower their Defense and Special Defense by one stage at the end of every turn.

These Pokemon are known for crawling on land in search of a challenge, and in Sword/Shield, they’ll confront the player character if they spot one. Since Scarlet/Violet is open world with no shortage of water, it would’ve been interesting to see Clobbopus and Grapploct swimming around in the waters of Paldea. While Grapploct’s arch-enemy, Golisopod, doesn’t appear in Paldea either, Grapploct could be a frustrating Pokemon to face in battle, or a solid addition to the team.

3 Yamper & Boltund

Scarlet/Violet has no shortage of canine Pokemon with newcomers Fidough/Dachsbun and Maschiff/Mabosstiff. However, Yamper has made quite a name of itself since its debut, particularly Professor Cerise’s Yamper in the Pokemon Journeys anime. Once it evolves into Boltund, it has amazing Speed and good Attack and Special Attack, making it a great battler if it’s well-trained.

Boltund’s stated in the Pokedex to break 50mph, so imagine seeing Boltund… bolting across the open fields of Paldea. Or even Yamper running up to the player character. While Boltund itself doesn’t appear in Scarlet/Violet, it does appear as the mascot for Capbourg, a hat store in Mesagoza, Cascarrafa, and Levincia. It’s very likely Yamper and Boltund were excluded because the developers didn’t want them to overshadow the new dog Pokemon: Greavard, Maschiff, Fidough, and their respective evolutions.

2 Blipbug, Dottler, & Orbeetle

Blipbug served as the “early Bug-type Pokemon” in Galar. It would evolve into the Bug/Psychic-type Dottler at level 10, and then Orbeetle at level 30. Orbeetle itself was capable of Gigantamaxing into a UFO. Orbeetle is one of the few Bug-types with a base stat total that breaks 500. It may not be a great Physical Attacker, but it has incredible Defense, Special Defense, and is even fast enough to move before (most of) its opponents. Orbeetle is definitely one of the few Bug-types that can be caught in its first-stage, and remains on the team well into late-game.

In Scarlet/Violet, the Scatterbug-line returns for the first time since Gen 7, and with the Fancy Pattern as a Vivillon to boot. Additionally, there’s also Tarountula, a new “early Bug-type” that evolves into Spidops. Having Blipbug in the mix would probably be overkill. There’s also the new Bug/Psychic-type, Rabsca, who evolves from Rellor via a unique evolution method. Like Yamper and Boltund, it’s likely the Blipbug-line was excluded to not outperform the Rellor-line, particularly Rabsca.

1 Milcery & Alcremie

Milcery and its evolution, Alcremie, are Fairy-type Pokemon that are rather unique to the Pokemon world. To evolve Milcery, it would need to hold a Sweet. Then, the player character would need to spin left or right for a set amount of seconds. With a total seven types of Sweets and nine different forms, Alcremie has 63 forms including its Shiny variants. Alcremie has poor Attack and Defense, but it makes a great Special Attacker and wall against Special Moves.

Alcremie and Milcery would have been a sweet addition to the Paldea dex, especially during the Path of Legends storyline. Furthermore, the ability to “spin” the player character hasn’t been removed, and players can even spin atop Koraidon/Miraidon. Alcremie has the following forms: Vanilla Cream, Ruby Cream, Salted Cream, Lemon Cream, Mint Cream, Matcha Cream, Caramel Cream, and Rainbow Cream. Each form will look different based on the sweet its holding. Just like in Galar, Alcremie would have had more than enough Dex entries in Scarlet/Violet, which may have been the reason why it was excluded this time around.

Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet are available for Nintendo Switch.

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