Pokemon Scarlet on the Switch 2 Might Just Be the Best Pokemon Game Ever Made… seriously.

Okay, I’m stacking the deck a little here. But Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, when played on the Nintendo Switch 2 with both DLCs included, might just be the best Pokemon experience made to date.

We all knew this generation had huge wasted potential due to the hardware of the OG switch. Now, with the Switch 2’s improved performance it finally feels like the game it was always meant to be. After finishing a full play-through recently, I’ve got it sitting right up there with my all-time favourite, HeartGold.

Performance and Visuals

On the Switch 2, Scarlet finally runs beautifully. The frame rate is smooth, the environments feel more alive, and for once the game isn’t fighting against its own hardware. But the real stars are the Pokemon themselves. You can see the steel glint off Steel types, Hoppip looks like a fuzzy peach, and Lucario’s fur and Feraligatr’s scales have real texture and presence.

The models have size differences and personality, and it’s genuinely satisfying to just watch them move around. The towns and building could do with a bit more uniqueness about them but that can be said for the whole series.

Pokemon Variety and Team Building

This game throws so many quality Pokemon at you that picking a final team becomes almost impossible. By the time I reached the end credits, I had nearly three full boxes of potential team members I had rotated in and out. The Dex is massive, and filling it is actually fun thanks to the steady stream of rewards for hitting milestones.

Characters and Story

This is where Scarlet surprised me the most. The base game’s storyline with Arven is actually emotional and layered. The DLC ups the ante, especially with Kieran, whose arc is one of the strongest character journeys we’ve seen in a Pokemon game.

For once, I cared about what was happening beyond just catching and battling. In the DLC battles the extra layers of dialogue and cut scenes made for extra immersive battles that almost felt like the anime.

Content Overload

(In a good way.) Scarlet is bursting with things to do. Between the base game Gym challenges, Tera raids, Titan battles, Star bases, Area Zero, filling the Dex, and the postgame Elite Four and gym rematches, there’s more content than ever before. The school tournaments are a nice touch too.

Add both DLCs on top and you’ve got dozens of hours of meaningful gameplay. Add shiny hunting and competitive breeding to that and you’ve got hundreds of hours.

Sound Design

The music and battle themes are great, and the overall sound design feels carefully done. That said, I’m definitely ready for Pokemon to start saying their names like they do in the anime. It would be a massive lift for immersion and really help bring the world to life.

The Challenge

The base game and first DLC aren’t too tough, they’re definitely not as easy as some previous games but still not too difficult. Blueberry Academy in the second DLC really steps it up with some tricky double battles and high-level teams. It also pits you against higher level tactics and some trainers even sporting weather teams. The new Elite Four is also no joke, and the Champion (no spoilers) has a seriously solid team. At a few points, I genuinely considered EV training to keep up.

Is it the best? and what can it do better?

This will sound a little bit like comparing apples and oranges but if this version of Scarlet had launched in its current state, with all the content and running this smoothly, it might not have toppled Elden Ring but it would have been a Game of the Year contender.

Still, there’s room for improvement. Here’s what the next generation of Pokemon could do to be even better:

• More PVE postgame battle content like the Battle Frontier
• Better scenery with less copy-paste terrain and more handcrafted open world design, even if smaller
• Let Pokemon say their names for added immersion
• Improved multiplayer integration

Final thoughts

Scarlet on the Switch 2 isn’t just a technical upgrade. It finally fulfills the promise of what modern Pokemon could be. If Game Freak builds on this foundation for Gen X, we might just see the greatest Pokemon game of all time. 

This isn’t technically a review, but internally I have adjusted my final score for this game from 60/100 to 88/100. I’d recommend anyone who has a Switch 2 and anyone wanting to return to Pokemon to get a Switch 2 and play this game.