As you might expect, this is going to be a bit subjective, but here’s our take on which one is better out of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. As with the vast majority of games in the series, there are two versions to choose from, so to help you along the way here’s our thoughts on the debate.
There are a few notable differences between the two versions of the ninth generation in the series. Some of them don’t have that much of an impact from our perspective, but others are pretty significant, so we’ll cover these in the details below.
AdvertisementA lot of it will come down to aesthetics and what you prefer in terms of the two styles used in the game. Overall, it’s a decision between Pokémon Scarlet which takes a lot of its inspiration from the past and Pokémon Violet, which is more futuristic in terms of its style and legendary ‘mon, Miraidon.
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Which has the better legendary Pokémon?
We’re going with the biggest point of difference to start with, because it was the first thing that swung our decision as soon as the box legendaries were revealed for Pokémon Scarlet & Diamond. For us, Miraidon is the cooler looking of the two, but more importantly, its the one that actually uses its wheels to ride around, which we prefer.
AdvertisementKoraidon, on the other hand, seems to have wheels, but doesn’t actually use them in the same way to get around. Instead, it appears to rest on the front wheel and use its legs to power it around Paldea.
Miraidon raises its legs up to rest on its wheels and uses jet boosters to fire it around the place. It’s got the same futuristic style on water too and when it’s flying it uses energy fields to create wings, while Koraidon has pre-historic wings and paddles around in water with its legs.
AdvertisementAdmittedly, you can opt to ride around on a third Pokémon called Cyclizar, which is in both Scarlet and Violet, but that sort of defeats the object for us. It’s also not clear as of yet if it will cycle around with its wheels or using its legs like Koraidon, so it might not even give you a credible alternative.
As a result, we’ve got to say that the Pokémon Violet box legendary is the better of the two, which adds a lot to our decision to favour it over Pokémon Scarlet. If that isn’t enough, it’s got pixelated eyes and a zen like pose, so we’re sold.
Don’t get us wrong, Koraidon is still pretty cool, and if it rode around on its wheels it would be a much closer choice between the two. Its got an epic mane and back bling, so it’s not without redeeming features, it’s just the whole wheels/legs business doesn’t work as well for us.
More key variations between Pokémon Scarlet & Violet?
The counter-argument to this is that the professor at the Academy is different between Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Sadly, for us, we prefer Professor Sada from Scarlet, so we’ll have to get used to Professor Turo from Violet instead.
Again, Sada has a older, prehistoric style, while Turo is more futuristic, and both are pretty cool. However, Sada has got an epic hairstyle that tips the balance in her favour for us.
It’s a similar story for the Academy uniform, which is orange and white for Scarlet, but purple and grey for violet. It’s a small point as there’s bound to be costume change options throughout the game, so doesn’t affect our call on which on is better overall.
What does, though, is the Pokémon that will be exclusive to each version of the game. The most important of these are the knights, Armarouge and Ceruledge. The first can be found in Scarlet and the latter in Violet, but we’re not that picky either way on this one.
AdvertisementArmarouge is fire/psychic type and Ceruledge is fire/ghost type, so they’re both going to be pretty effective in battle. Looking at everything that we’ve discussed above, we’re still convinced that Pokémon Violet is the better one than Scarlet, but hopefully all of the information helps you make a call too.
Pokémon Scarlet ending or Violet ending?
We don’t want to spoil any of the story, so we’ll keep the details fairly sketchy, but in general the ultimate ending for Pokémon Violet is a whole lot cooler than Scarlet. Again, it comes down to the past or future choice that we mentioned above, but if you’re looking for a very satisfying final, final fight then you can’t go wrong with Violet.
It looks amazing and the Pokémon that are involved are just a lot cooler, so it adds to our preference to the purple side of the red spectrum for the 9th gen outing. There are some good arguments for the exclusive ‘Mon on either side, so it’s a toss up before the ending, but Violet definitely gets it with the final roster.
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