The Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC could contain unexpected improvements

The next update for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet could finally provide players with a long-awaited graphical update once the Teal Mask DLC becomes available. Nintendo recently released a trailer for the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet DLC on social media, and some details in this short video suggest that the games have received some additional polish compared to the base version.

Although the ninth generation has been the best-selling mainline games in the Pokémon series so far, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have been plagued by performance issues since their launch. While The Pokémon Company later apologized and released patches to improve performance, some of the changes were met with dissatisfaction from players. An increasing number of Pokémon fans are calling on The Pokémon Company to reconsider their efforts and allow more time between game releases in the future. While The Pokémon Company has had internal discussions about their schedule, it remains to be seen what will result from these conversations. However, for now, players might be pleased to learn that their efforts to demand improvements may have borne fruit.

Despite the ongoing Seven-Star Tera Raid Battle against Mewtwo, a new YouTube trailer didn't go unnoticed by attentive Pokémon trainers. Recently, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet released a video on Nintendo's main channel to promote the DLC "The Hidden Treasure of Zone Zero." Although the video is exclusively in Japanese, smoother graphics and more stable performance were observed in some key scenes of the trailer. The scenes that showcased some additional polish included the battle against Ogrepon in "The Teal Mask" and the environmental panorama of "The Indigo Disk," featuring increased anti-aliasing and smoother Pokémon animations for returning Pokémon such as Charmander and Alolan Exeggutor.

It goes without saying that these observations should be taken with caution. All footage shown in the promotional materials of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is subject to change until the release of "The Teal Mask" on September 13th. Considering the fact that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have continued to struggle with performance issues since launch, the trailer could be a welcome change for Pokémon fans hoping for improvements. It remains to be seen whether the improvements in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will be consistently noticeable or if they will occur exclusively in the areas that trainers will visit in the "The Hidden Treasure of Zone Zero" DLC.

Although leaks about "The Teal Mask" are circulating on social media, the graphical upgrade was not mentioned among the listed information. Only time will tell if Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will release performance updates in the future as well.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are now available for Nintendo Switch. The DLC "The Teal Mask" will be released on Wednesday, September 13th.