‘Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’ will release on November 18

The newest main series Pokémon game, “Pokémon Scarlet & Violet,” will arrive on the Nintendo Switch on November 18, 2022.

A trailer for the game dropped this morning, revealing new details about the ninth generation of the classic franchise. Most importantly, this guy. His name is Lechonk.

Okay, fine, Lechonk may not be the most important reveal. “Pokémon Scarlet” and “Pokémon Violet” will be the first open-world RPGs in the franchise, building off the recent “Pokémon Legends: Arceus.” “Arceus” isn’t a real open-world game — you travel to base camps, then run around a large, yet boundaried area encountering over-world Pokémon. So we’ll take these “open-world” claims at face value.

In other exciting (yet not Lechonk-level) news, this will be the first Pokémon game with multiplayer functionality — up to four people can team up and explore together (unfortunately, the trailer and accompanying press release are quite vague, so… it’s not quite clear what that means just yet).

Depending on which of the two games players choose, they will encounter a different Pokémon professor; Sada in “Pokémon Scarlet” and Turo in “Pokémon Violet.” The internet likes them already.

We already knew about the three starter Pokémon for generation nine: Sprigatito, a grass cat; Fuecoco, a fire crocodile; and Quaxly, a knock-off Donald Duck. But we’re getting some key new info about these friends in their Pokédex entries, mainly, this tidbit: “Quaxly is tidy, and it especially dislikes getting its head dirty.”

Aside from Lechonk, we met two more new buddies. Smoliv, a small olive Pokémon, is delightful. According to its Pokédex description, Smoliv likes to sunbathe. Then there’s Pawmi, an electric mouse that generates electricity by rubbing its cheeks. Sounds a bit too familiar, if you know what I mean.

In “Pokémon Sword & Shield,” some fan-favorite Pokémon were initially left out of the game, sparking controversy (justice for Bulbasaur). So far in the trailers, we’ve spotted species like (deep breath) Magnemite, Lucario, Hoppip, Drifloon, Combee, Meowth, Pikachu, Larvitar, Bagon, Cyrogonal, Fletchling, Flaaffy, Chewtle, Flabébé, Venonat, Coalossal, Mareanie, Lurantis and Gengar.

Finally, the new trailer introduced us to this generation’s main, version-exclusive legendary Pokémon: Koraidon and Miraidon. But honestly, they’re nothing compared to Lechonk.