Pokemon Scarlet & Violet fans argue poor graphics and performance “diminish” the series

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players have started to debate whether the current Gen’s poor performance and graphical quality hampers the series as a whole.

While Pokemon Scarlet & Violet have been massive commercial successes, like all mainline Pokemon titles, the early conversation surrounding the game was less than favorable.

At launch, many players were surprised by how poorly the game ran on Switch. On top of low frame rates and low-res textures, many experienced frequent bugs and glitches — something abnormal for the series before Gen 9.

Now, Pokemon fans and gamers have reignited the performance discussion, with the community split on whether or not Scarlet & Violet’s graphical fidelity really matters at the end of the day.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet fans argue over performance quality

The tweet that sparked the discussion came from Pokemon fan and owner of Serebii.net Joe Merrick, who said, “If you don’t like current Pokémon game graphics. Good for you. Frankly, I don’t care. Could they be better? Yes. Do graphics make a game? No. I don’t care. It’s not the be-all and end-all.”

Pokemon fans were divided over the take, with some defending Merrick’s stance while others claimed Gen 9’s problems run deeper than its surface-level graphics.

The debate came to a head when content creator ActualAero countered Merrick’s original argument. “You’re right graphics don’t make a game, but they can 100% diminish them,” they said.

“One of the biggest reasons people play RPGs and open world games is to explore the beautiful world & environments… After seeing how pretty other games can look on Nintendo Switch it’s disappointing to see such the #1 most powerful media franchise in the world put out games that look like this on the same system.”

To hammer home their point, they provided similar-looking screenshots of games like Dragon Quest 11 S, Tears of the Kingdom, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 next to Scarlet & Violet.

Finally, they noted that aside from the game’s visuals, both the main game and Teal Mask DLC had constant frame drops and performance dips.

While many agreed with Aero’s argument, some claimed Pokemon should earn some leeway based on the scope of the franchise. “The only difference is, the other companies who make open world games don’t also have a tv show, movies, card games, etc to coincide with the game, and create new ones every few years,” said one fan.

Regardless of whether or not fans think Scarlet & Violet’s graphical performance hinders the series, The Pokemon Company is a business selling consumer products at the end of the day. As such, the sales numbers will no doubt speak the loudest. For better or worse.