Pokémon Scarlet and Violet co-op could change everything

polygon.com:

On Wednesday, The Pokémon Company released a new trailer showcasing Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. Like previous titles, the game will have familiar multiplayer features like trading Pokémon and battling trainers from all over the world. But Scarlet and Violet will also have co-op play for up to four total trainers, expanding the ways you and your friends can enjoy the new region of Paldea.

Scarlet and Violetare shaking up the familiar Pokémon format, as the series’ first open-world RPG titles — and you’ll be able to play them with your friends. Just head to Union Circle and invite up to three others for cooperative play. Together you can “battle wild Pokémon,” adventure “through the open fields of the Paldea region,” and “spend time with your friends how you want to,” according to a release. You and your friends can also work together to beat Tera Pokémon in Tera Raid Battles, fighting to add Terastal Pokémon — the new gem-looking form of Pokémon, unique to the Paldea region — to your Pokédex.

It’s unclear whether Scarlet and Violet co-op is specific to regional areas, discrete events, or otherwise gated, but the trailer revealed players riding Legendary Pokémon Koraidon and Miraidon together, hanging out in a town square while showing off Pokémon, and standing outside a shop. All of this emphasizes adventure and exploration, and feels like a departure from more basic multiplayer features in prior Pokémon games. Sword and Shield Max Raid Battles, for example, pit trainers and three others (NPCs or three other players) against an enormous Dynamax or Gigantamax Pokémon. Sword and Shield also had Wild Areas, which allowed trainers to see other players, but didn’t specify whether it was happening in real-time and