Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players call out “lazy” Legendary battle animations

Chris Studley
Pokemon battle in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

New monsters might be compatible with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet since the Home update, but not everyone is happy with the move animations.

The launch of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet proved to be hugely successful from a sales perspective, but that didn’t stop fans of the franchise from criticizing a number of aspects of the titles, including poor performance and low-quality battle animations.

The integration of Pokemon Home gave way to a series of new Pokemon that are now playable in Scarlet and Violet.

But just a few days after the addition of Home compatibility to Scarlet and Violet, the debate surrounding the quality of the titles has been re-ignited.

Re-used move animations surface yet again in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

In a now-viral post on the Pokemon subreddit, user TheRealPdGaming posted a video highlighting two “signature move” animations from legendary Pokemon Kyogre and Regidrago, both of which were recently made available in Scarlet and Violet recently thanks to the integration of Pokemon Home.

Kyogre’s Water-type Origin Pulse and Regidrago’s Dragon Energy are two different moves — yet both have the exact same animation in Scarlet and Violet.

Commenters on the post expressed frustration with how Regidrago’s Dragon Energy animation from Sword and Shield was not ported into Scarlet and Violet, as one user wrote in all caps, “THEY ALREADY HAD A GOOD ANIMATION FOR [Regidrago’s] DRAGONS ENERGY IN GEN 8 WHY NOT JUST COPY THAT ONE???”

Another Redditor frustratedly noted the lack of apparent quality control in Scarlet and Violet, writing: “How do we keep going backwards? How? I just want a good, polished, well made non lazy Pokemon game man. It sucks being a Pokemon fan.”

As mentioned earlier, this is not the first time Pokemon players have expressed unhappiness over the reduced quality of move animations in battles.

In December 2022, another viral video on Twitter showcased a cut-down Pyro Ball animation for Galar region favorite Cinderace. Not to mention, the launch of the title was marred thanks to an array of visual glitches.

About The Author

Chris is a gaming writer for Dexerto who has covered the sports and gaming scenes for over five years. This has led him to become an expert on many sports games, inclduing Madden, NBA 2K, EA Sports FC and more. You can contact Chris at chris.studley@dexerto.com.