Leaks surrounding the Legendaries in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and turning out to be rideable have circulated since late May. This idea might not seem all that innovative to the long-enduring fans of the monster-catching franchise, with fond memories of their experiences riding Mega Rayquaza beyond the Earth’s stratosphere to fight Deoxys in outer space. But there’s potentially more to this than just the depictions of the player protagonist riding a legendary Pokemon in pre-rendered cutscenes.
The idea of seeing Rideable pokemon return in Scarlet and Violet would not be far-fetched, as Legends Arceus released at the beginning of this year has shown players Game Freak’s interest in maintaining the gameplay feature. Some would argue that it has expanded upon it, with rideable Pokemons increased in numbers, each being controllable and serving different functions to the Pokemon trainers. This brings us to playable sections where rideable legendaries are involved, which to this date arguably still only consist of Latias and Latios from ORAS.
The Legendaries in Scarlet and Violet might serve to tip such balance. A leaker in the Pokemon communities has posted various cryptic puzzles on social media platforms that hint at the potential features that Scarlet and Violet might include. One of which is a collage of various Legendary Pokemon being ridden by the protagonist in different Pokemon-related mediums, which led many to speculate as to the likelihood of the concept making a return in Scarlet and Violet.
Speculations developed further in the succeeding weeks. Hints were dropped as to the likelihood of the box art Legendary having more than one form, which coincides with the recent trailer reveal that displayed a batch of new Pokemon that are native to the region of Scarlet and Violet, including both box art legendary Koraidon and Miraidon.
If the expanded galleries of rideable pokemon with individual functions are to be taken into account from the previously released Legends Arceus. It is possible to reason that Game Freak will take those developments forward into Scarlet and Violet and continue using them in the supposedly new open-world title. The question is if the box art Legendary will play a big part in Scarlet and Violet as the leaks would indicate, with them being a rideable companion that will cover all of the travel purposes that a player might have in the new mainline titles of the ninth generation of Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet are set to release on the 18th of November, exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
