Pokémon Scarlet and Violet make NPC trainers more distinct than ever before

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s variety of unique trainers has been getting a lot of attention online from fans. Especially all the different student trainers. Despite being called Students, these trainers cover a wide range of ages, with the burly, middle-aged Student trainers seemingly leaving a strong impression.

Not only are there middle-aged Students, but senior citizens who are enrolled at the academy. Each one greets and sends off the player with text that doesn’t play into their age, but with the shared joy of being a Pokémon trainer. Elderly trainers have appeared in Pokémon games before, but it’s interesting to see some categorized as Students this time around.

The official website introduces the Naranja Academy and Uva Academy by saying, “Age is not an issue in enrollment here, so a wide range of age groups—from children to adults—take the same classes, which mostly relate to Pokémon.” With that said, in the real world, high school students are mostly in their mid-teens and college students are generally in their late-teens and early-20s. Students outside that range tend to be few and far between. Therefore it’s interesting to see a game bringing out so many middle-aged and elderly students.

The other types of trainers besides Students have plenty of variety as well. Some have said that the Backpacker trainers look like the streamer penguinz0, and Japanese musician DJ Koo also alluded to looking similar to one of the Backpacker trainers. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have a great collection of trainers, including the newbie hunter (related article) loitering around an area players can reach early in the game.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet cover a wide range of body types across the different NPCs. Rather than just different skin or hair color, it feels like a collection of people with different backgrounds from around the world. What’s especially worth noting is how many people are pointing out characters and saying they resemble themselves or someone they know. It’s interesting how there’s more personality on display and that it makes players feel like there are characters they see themselves in.

But while there may be a wide variety of trainers, players have criticized the game for how limiting it is on their own clothing choices. More specifically, how players are limited to wearing the academy uniform. There are hair and face accessories, bags, gloves, socks, and shoes for sale at various stores, but the main uniform is limited to just 4 seasonal outfits. This is a point that’s also been brought up by Polygon and players who find the variation lacking compared to previous titles in the series. Maybe more options will eventually be made available through updates or DLC.

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-11-26 18:47 JST)