I’ve recently gone on a bit of a Pokémon kick. I bought a new Switch back in December last year, and back in June, I decided to go through some of the games and play them for the first time.
The three games I played were Let’s Go (Pikachu), Scarlet, and Arceus. I’m not counting Let’s Go into this comparison, as it’s an older title and it’s technically a remaster.
I’m going to break these down into 5 sections and rank the winner of each. The one with the most scores wins. Please bear in mind that these are my own opinions.
Story
Scarlet focuses on coming across the main Pokémon pretty early on, as it takes your sandwich. If you’re on Violet, it’ll be Miraidon, and for Scarlet, it’s Koraidon. The story centres around traditional means: you go to school, go out on a treasure hunt, take down these fake Team Rocket bases, get the badges, and fight Titan Pokémon. It’s decent, but it’s nothing memorable.
Arceus has a much more interesting premise. It’s set well before what we know today in the Pokémon world. Pokémon are more hostile in the environment, battling is uncommon, and being a trainer is seen as a huge feat compared to how common it is in the current day. It’s an interesting take on the lore that works well. We’ve seen so much of what Pokémon looks like normally, but never what it was like before. Arceus does a fantastic job of exploring that timeline and that world. I especially loved the moment you were outcast from the village and blamed for the rift in the sky. It felt brutal to an extent, throwing a kid to the wolves effectively, but it does make sense in a way because of how much is unknown at that point. Arceus is the clear victor here; it’s not even close.
Winner: Arceus
Pokémon Variety
Arceus has 242 in the Pokédex, Scarlet/Violet has 400 in the base game alone (not counting the DLC). Personally, I’m a sucker for Gen 1 Pokémon as that’s what I grew up with back in the late 90s. There are more of them in Scarlet, which is boosted even further by the DLC. In a sense, Arceus may feel a lot less demanding and perhaps easier to fill out the Pokédex, but I feel like Scarlet/Violet blows Arceus out of the water when it comes to the different types of Pokémon due to the sheer difference in numbers.
Winner: Scarlet/Violet
Gameplay
Both games are completely different in how they play for the most part. Scarlet/Violet follows the traditional means. This means when capturing Pokémon, it’s in a different menu, and the battling is the same as it always has been, which is a good thing, of course. Scarlet/Violet added Tera forms in battles, similar to the mega evolutions seen in previous games, but in all honesty, it was trash. The crystallised effect with the same hat on their head got boring very quickly.
Arceus shines for me here. It was experimented with and tried something different, and it pulled off. I mean, as much as I liked the Arceus gameplay, I still do like the traditional gameplay. Arceus, though, felt better because everything was instant. If there were multiple Pokémon close together, you could sling Pokéballs like they’re nothing and hope to catch a Pokémon. You didn’t have to go into an entirely different menu to battle; everything was there, and then, it worked. The battling isn’t as good as it is in Scarlet/Violet, but I still found it good. I didn’t truly get away with the agile/strong style moves. I felt like it didn’t add much value, but overall, since Arceus was instant, catching Pokémon felt better, and even the HM abilities felt cleaner. It’s Arceus here.
Winner: Arceus
Content
I rate games on how much there is to do, not only filling out the Pokédex, which I know is some people’s main goals. Even on that front, Scarlet/Violet has the bigger grind simply because there’s more to catch. Arceus got boring after the main story was completed; there wasn’t a lot to do. The areas felt similar, and it was a struggle to find areas you hadn’t already explored.
Scarlet/Violet shone as one of the best here when it comes to content in the entire Pokémon series. You had raids which handsomely rewarded you, the 8 gyms (which you repeat after finishing the main game), the Elite Four, the main story, the bases, the Titan Pokémon, and more. Scarlet/Violet had so much to do, even after beating the main story, and was further enhanced with the DLC. I put more hours into Scarlet/Violet in a single playthrough than I’ve ever done with any other Pokémon game because there was so much to do. For that reason alone, Scarlet/Violet takes the cake here.
Winner: Scarlet/Violet
Entertainment
This is purely my own opinion, and what game hooked me more. It was a tough call as both games did exactly that; however, Scarlet/Violet had more, and it felt more traditional, which is what I’m used to due to growing up with the original Red/Blue/Yellow games on the Game Boy. I loved both experiences, and they felt different. I’m glad I got to play through them both relatively quickly them but if I could choose one of them to play from the beginning, I’d choose Scarlet/Violet. I understand Arceus has an amazing fanbase who love the game, I do as well, but I think I’ll always prefer traditional.
Winner: Scarlet/Violet
