I realise that so far in this series it probably seems as though I dislike Scarlet and Violet, and that, in general, I have nothing positive to say about those games. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. While I am dubious of the insane release schedule for new Pokémon games, and the subsequent detriment that was caused due to the overambitious goal of creating the first fully open world Pokémon game, there are many redeeming qualities about the games themselves. Let’s start with the basics. I really love a lot of the characters introduced in these games. Standout characters for me are Nemona, Arven, Clavell, Hassel, and Larry, but there are plenty of other characters that I love as well. I could probably write an entire article for each character, just gushing about how much I like them, but I’ll settle for just doing a single article on them all together and just hit the highlights.

The dates for Pokémon Sleep's second ever Good Sleep Day event have now been confirmed. The event will run from Thursday September 28th through to Saturday September 30th. These events are planned to be held in Pokémon Sleep once every lunar month, starting the day before the full moon, and ending the day after. Though no official confirmation has yet been given, it is presumed that this Good Sleep Day event will follow the exact same format as the previous event.

Rivals return this week in Pokémon Masters EX, with a rerun of the Revel in Rivalry Story Event, together with a Poké Fair scout featuring Bede, the focal character of this event. Also launching today is a new Flying-Type Gear event. These events and scout will all run through until October 5th, at 10:59pm (PDT).

Niantic has announced details regarding the next Pokémon GO Hatch Day, which features the Polka Dot Pokémon, Azurill. During this event, which will be held on September 30th, from 2:00pm to 5:00pm local time, Azurill will hatch more frequently from 2 km eggs, and Trainers will have an increased chance of hatching Shiny Azurill.

Niantic has announced details regarding the upcoming Out to Play event, coming to Pokémon GO from September 27th, at 10:00am to Monday, October 2nd, at 8:00pm local time. Shiny Hisuian Growlithe will be making its Pokémon GO debut as part of this event.

Buckle up, folks, because it’s about time for me to address the elephant in the room. In my previous article, I concluded that, given the limited development time, going for the open world gimmick was a detriment, and only ended up contributing to eating up a lot of dev time unnecessarily. So now let’s talk about the release schedule for new core series Pokémon games in more detail, as well as why I feel the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was completely botched as a result of madcap deadlines and an overly zealous release schedule.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Live this week received an update to Version 1.8.0 ahead of the digital release of the Scarlet & Violet - 151 expansion this Thursday. This latest update was intended to update several animations and visuals, along with fixing bugs with select cards, as well as the persistent error where empty collection pop-up windows would appear after matches. Unfortunately, this update appears to have introduced several bugs of its own, with numerous players finding themselves stuck on "Loading data from server 7/40", and unable to actually load the game.

The latest Pasio Special Stadium event has now launched in Pokémon Masters EX. The game's developers have also issues a notice regarding current iOS compatibility issues.

The version-exclusive Paradox Pokémon, Slither Wing and Iron Moth will be making their first appearance in a 5-star Tera Raid Battle event in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet this weekend, starting September 22nd at midnight (UTC), and running through until September 24th at 11:59pm (UTC). Slither Wing will appear exclusively for players with Pokémon Scarlet, while Iron Moth will be appearing exclusively in Pokémon Violet. Slither Wing and Iron Moth will both be able to be encountered in a wide array of Tera Types, including rare Tera Types for both species.

As announced earlier this week, Argenta & Skarmory are making their Pokémon Masters EX debut as a playable sync pair today in a limited-time Argenta Poké Fair Scout, which runs alongside the Tower Tycoon & Hall Matron Story Event which began two days ago. This scout will continue through to October 5th, at 10:59pm (PDT).

Palmer is making his Pokémon Masters EX debut today in a new Poké Fair Scout, together with his partner Regigigas. Alongside this scout, Palmer is taking center stage in a brand new Story Event, Tower Tycoon and Hall Matron. Argenta, who also features in this event, will debut in their own scout in two days time.

Pokémon Café ReMix's latest one-minute cooking event, Our Baker Greedent, is giving players the opportunity to get recruit Greedent in their Baker outfit to their staff! Drakloak is now also available through Special Delivery in Pelipper Delivery.

The developers of Pokémon Sleep have given players a list of features and issues that are currently receiving development attention, acknowledging several new bugs and issues that they hope to resolve in coming updates. Another a free gift bundle of handy in-game items is also being distributed to early adopters.

In the previous article, I discussed my initial reaction to the whole “open world” gimmick in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. While I understood the developers hopes of bringing a bit of fresh air into what many considered to be a stale franchise, I had plenty of concerns concerns with Pokémon trying to hop aboard this particular train. Now, it's time to talk about how that open world actually ended up in practice.

The Long Speedrun Summit (LSS) are hosting their 2023 speedrunning marathon from September 15th to September 24th. Amongst other non-Pokémon titles, Pokémon Platinum, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, and PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure will feature as part of the event, in which runners each attempt to complete a game, or an objective within the game, as quickly as possible. The event can be watched from their official Twitch channel.

Pokémon Masters EX's latest High Score Event, Electric-Type Masters, is launching today alongside two new Scouts featuring Electric-type Sync Pairs. Both the event and these scouts will run through to September 26th, at 10:59pm (PDT). The official Pokémon Masters EX account on X (formerly Twitter) has also confirmed Palmer will be making their debut later this week in their own Poké Fair Scout.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet received an update to Version 2.0.1 today alongside the release of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 1: The Teal Mask. This update makes a significant number of changes, including for players who have not yet purchased the DLC, with the addition of new Pokémon, a selection of new quality of life features, some adjustments to other game features, and the implementation of some minor bug fixes.

Niantic has released details on this year's Psychic Spectacular event, that was first announced at the end of July. An annual event in Pokémon GO, the Psychic Spectacular will this year run from September 20th, at 10:00am to September 24th, at 8:00pm local time. Shiny Solosis will be making its Pokémon GO debut as part of this event.

A brand new Egg Event is making its debut today in Pokémon Masters EX, showcasing Pokémon from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Paldea region. A pair of Costume Scouts, featuring a selection of Sync Pairs associated with past Costume Events, are also now live as part of the continuing celebrations of the game's 4 Year Anniversary. Both the event and these scouts are available now, and will run through until September 25th, at 10:59pm (PDT).

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have been out for almost nine months now, and, with the imminent release of the first DLC, I figured it was about time for a bit of reflection on the base games themselves.