Today’s latest, and presumably final prior to release, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet trailer is mostly a recap of what the games have to offer when they release on the 18th November, but we did get one last tease at some new Pokémon with a pair of version exclusive past and future themed monsters with a striking resemblance to Donphan.

These two new Pokémon forms are just some of the mysterious creatures that fill up the Scarlet Book and the Violet Book – expedition records written “long, long ago” and now carried by Arven. This expedition is said to have traversed an uncharted area of the Paldea Region and the books now contain photographs and sketches of the Pokémon they encountered – all seemingly rare forms of existing Pokémon. Two of these Pokémon are known by the nicknames Great Tusk and Iron Treads – appearing in Scarlet and Violet respectively – and their past and future stylings bear as much a striking resemblance to Koraidon and Miraidonas they do to Donphan.

The Scarlet Book describes how this savage monster attacked the expedition team with its large body and tusks, mortally wounding one of the explorers.

It is said in the Violet Book that when this monster curls its body and rolls to attack, it leaves a trail gouged into the ground, as if it had scorched the earth.

It’s expected that these mysterious Pokémon and the Scarlet Book and Violet Book will form part of the postgame, rather than being part of the Path of Legends in the main story.

Tera Raid Events

Meanwhile, the first raid events after release have been announced. The first of these will be an Eevee Spotlight event, running from the 25th to the 27th November. During this weekend, Eevee with various Tera Types will appear more frequently in Tera Raid battles. Much like Sword & Shield’s rotating Wild Area news and raid den updates, Scarlet & Violet’s Poké Portal News will bring with it more Tera Raid events. These will automatically update while connected to the Internet, but can be manually updated via Mystery Gift as well.

A special Black Crystal Tera Raid event will also take place throughout December. These black Tera Raid events feature much stronger Pokémon than normal Tera Raids and are only available for limited times. As well as catching stronger, rarer Pokémon, however, defeating these Raids will also net much greater rewards.

The first of these events will take place on the 2nd to the 4th December, and then again on the 16th to the 18th December, and will feature Charizard with a Dragon Tera Type.

As well as having a set Ability and moves, this Charizard will also have a special mark conferring the title of ‘the Unrivaled’. Screenshots also suggest that it will be Level 100.

Charizard is not normally available within Scarlet & Violet, so this event will be the only way to get one in the games for now.

Black Crystal Tera Raids will only be available within your own game after completing the main story and “certain postgame events”. You will, however, still be able to join other players in these Raid Battles at any point in the game by either being part of their multiplayer group or using a Link Code.

Pokémon HOME connection coming in 2023

As briefly touched upon over the weekend with Gimmighoul’s reveal, the connection between Pokémon Scarlet & Violet and Pokémon HOME will come at some point after launch in early 2023.

This will allow transfer of any Pokémon from Scarlet & Violet into HOME and select Pokémon from HOME into Scarlet & Violet. That will include Hisui Pokémon such as Hisuian Zorua, Zoroark and Kleavor.

An update to the Battle Data feature in Pokémon HOME will also allow players to see information about Trainer rankings, frequently used Pokémon, online Competitions and more in the app. Data on what moves, abilities and held items will also be aggregated.

Rotom Phone Case Bonus

Players with save data from Pokémon Legends Arceus, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, Sword & Shield or Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee will be able to redeem a unique phone case design for their in-game Rotom phone.

After reaching Mesagoza City, a woman in the central plaza will offer you the cases relevant to the save data you have on your system. It should take approximately 2 hours of play time to get to this point.

Pokémon Unite Crossover

From the 18th November to the 1st February, Pokémon Unite will be holding a special in-game event to commemorate the release of Scarlet & Violet. Players will be able to receive Scarlet & Violet themed Trainer fashion items, stickers for their Unite snapshots and more.

Meanwhile, from the 1st January, players of the Nintendo Switch version of Pokémon Unite with save data from Scarlet or Violet will be able to receive a Trainer fashion item that matches the Paldean uniforms seen in the new games.

Day One Patch

Finally, a day one patch has been confirmed, bringing the release version up to 1.0.1. The specific contents of this patch are not detailed, but it will be necessary to be able to play online. This will allow you access to online Tera Raid battles, the Tera Raid events and to link up with other players to either explore the Paldea Region or to battle and trade with them.

Ranked online battles will begin from December 2022 and Online Competitions are set to start in Spring 2023.