Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s newbie hunter is beating down new trainers and gaining attention online

One of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s NPCs has been earning a reputation online in Japan. The trainer appears in an area accessible early in the game, luring players in with kind words before mercilessly crushing them. Numerous players have been reporting their unfortunate encounters with the seasoned trainer online.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet contains an open world where towns and fields are seamlessly connected, giving players freedom to choose their own path. After players finish up the game’s opening in Mesagoza, the first major city players will visit, they are given a great amount of freedom in how to approach the rest of their journey. However, near the city lurks a monster of a man.

The man goes by Paco, and he’s located just on the other side of a cave near Mesagoza. His appearance is normal. Almost strikingly so. And in the Japanese version, he says something along the lines of, “I want this to be an experience for young people with a future.” But just when you think he’s referring to providing experience points for players who just started their adventures, he does the unthinkable and throws out a level 56 Krookodile.

Just to reiterate, this trainer is near Mesagoza, the first major city in the game. Trainers who went straight to the city likely have a team of Pokémonin the level 10 – 15 range, and this guy comes at them with a level 56 Krookodile. What he’s doing is cruelly preying on new trainers.

To make matters worse, even the way he battles is mean spirited. Besides the high-powered attacks like Earthquake and Thrash, his Krookodile even knows Foul Play, as if his intentions weren’t clear enough. The Krookodile also has the ability Moxie which raises its attack stat when it defeats a Pokémon with a damaging move. For trainers just getting started, all they can do is watch as Krookodile chews through their team, getting stronger with each and every knockout. These trainers are helpless against Paco as he takes these new trainers and crushes their hopes and dreams into tiny, bite-sized pieces.

He also has three Pokémon, so even if you get through Krookodile, the battle isn’t over. This monster lures players in with kind words before thoroughly beating them down, and players have taken to Twitter to report on their encounters with him.

We’ve seen similar examples in Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon Legends: Arceus where players could encounter strong Pokémon in early sections of the game. But those at least telegraphed that the Pokémon were strong beforehand, so it was possible to avoid them. What this trainer does is a new level of dirty.

With that being said, the area itself gives us a hint as to why he’s there. The area has significance, and there’s a reason why the trainer is excessively strong. The developer Game Freak likely did this on purpose. Additionally, the “experience” this trainer is referring to may also be to teach players to expect the unexpected early on. On the other hand, mercilessly crushing new trainers might be a bit excessive.

At any rate, Paco is gaining notoriety, despite being a regular NPC. For players wanting to meet the famous trainer, go through the cave in the northwest part of Mesagoza.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are now available for the Nintendo Switch.

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-11-19 11:36 JST)