Past And Future

Ooooh, we do love a good Pokémon rumour, especially when there's so much evidence to go on our board of crazy theories. The latest Pokémon Scarlet & Violet trailer just dropped, and it seems to confirm that Scarlet and Violet will somehow be tied to the past and the future, so let's dive in to all the proof...

The logos

Logos

An easy one to start with: The Scarlet and Violet typefaces imply that Scarlet is old-timey (that lovely serif font seems to reference an Art Nouveau-era past, which is a big deal in Spanish art and architecture) and Violet is futuristic (sans-serif, simplistic, something you might see on Star Trek). But that doesn't tell us much, so let's dive further in...

The professors

The new professors, Sada and Turo, are dressed in quite obvious references to the past and future. Sada is basically dressed like a cavewoman, with tooth-like accessories and torn fabric, which is an odd counterpart to the Art Nouveau font. Turo, on the other hand, is dressed like he just came back from a Tron convention.

The legendaries

We just got a look at the new box legendaries for Scarlet and Violet: Koraidon, for Scarlet, and Miraidon, for Violet. The past/future theming is quite obvious here, as both seem to be themed around motorbikes, planes, or cars for some reason.

Koraidon looks like a feathered dinosaur, and much more like a typical Pokémon design than Miraidon, who appears to be made out of leftover Tesla parts. Even Miraidon's eyes are futuristic, being made of LEDs, with smooth, shiny textures all over its body, and lightning coming out everywhere.

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The names

Ah, Pokémon has always been about puns and subtle references in the names of Pokémon and its characters — and Scarlet and Violet are no different.

Professors Sada and Turo are both subtle(ish) references to the Spanish words for past and future, pasada and futuro. Very good work, localisation team.

Miraidon and Koraidon take their inspiration instead from Japanese — korai means ancient, and mirai means future.

Other hints

Ruins

There are plenty of ruins in the environment, plus plenty of old buildings — just like the area's Spanish inspiration. And, as it's a Pokémon game, there are also new, futuristic buildings, like Pokémon Centers and whatever this is:

What

What does it all mean? Well, that's less clear. It looks as though the games will be pretty much the same in most other ways, although the idea of time travel and the possibility that the two games will somehow be set in a past and future version of PokéSpain are not totally out of the question. It's a cool dichotomy to explore, and it's surprising that Pokémon — the series that loves dichotomies more than any other — hasn't really explored it before!

Did you notice any more past/future references? Tell us in the comments!