Summary
It’s not unheard of for certain video games to take inspiration from others, or resemble similar or even completely different titles by complete accident. Nintendo and Sega in particular are great examples, asSonic the Hedgehoghas taken inspiration fromSuper Mariofor decades. Not many of these instances are made clear unless the developers say this is truly the case, though.Pokemon ScarletandVioletfall into the latter category.
Due to this, many fans typically assume or joke about similarities between one game to the next.Pokemon ScarletandVioletis a set of titles that has reminded fans of Mojang’s incredibly popular sandbox game,Minecraft. While comparisons and jokes aboutScarletandViolettaking notes from Minecraft have been around since theentire Paldea Pokedex was leaked, new information aboutScarletandVioletmake the comparisons even harder to ignore.
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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s “Minecraft” Pokemon
Pokemon ScarletandVioletmay be similar toMinecraftas they both encourage exploration and feature crafting mechanics, but the jokes about Generation 9 paying attention to the sandbox game doesn’t come from its gameplay. Instead, when players became aware of the Rock Salt Pokemon Nacli and its evolutions Naclstack and Garganacl, the first thing many people thought of were how the square shapes were similar to the pixelated, blocky style ofMinecraft. The shapes are inspired by rough salt crystals, but that hasn’t stopped players from calling the Nacli line “theMinecraftPokemon.”
Many of the inspirations behindPokemon’s critters are usually kept to the developers themselves outside of fun behind the scenes announcements, so it likely won’t ever be confirmed or denied thatMinecraftplayed a part in Nacli’s creation. However,ScarletandViolet’supcoming The Indigo Disk DLCfeatures a new location that certainly won’t help its case when it comes to the jokes and comparisons.
How Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Makes Use of Minecraft’s Biomes
In Blueberry Academy, the new school that trainers attend inThe Hidden Treasure of Area Zero,Pokemon ScarletandVioletplayers have the chance to explore a wide terrarium in the center of the academy that features four unique biomes. In the Pokemon Presents trailer, these areas are described as the “sub-tropical savannah biome,” “the lush coastal biome,” “the rough and rugged canyon biome,” and “the freezing polar biome.”
Every single one of these are well-known biomes that are also inMinecraft. The coastal biome is reminiscent of the plains biome,Pokemon’s savannah is echoed inMinecraft’s own savannah, the rugged canyons is similar to the sandbox game’s forests and mountains, and all of these titles feature a tundra of their own. With how common these areas are, it would be hard tofind anyMinecraftplayerwho hasn’t seen these biomes for themselves.
Of course, these areas are rather common in almost any video game, making this likely more of a coincidence than proper inspiration, but it is a rather interesting one. It doesn’t help that these similarities toMinecrafthave also appeared in the firstfully open-worldPokemongame, adding yet another commonality between two games with the same all-age audience. As a result, it will likely get a laugh out of many gamers; Game Freak may want to double down on the coincidences by having the Nacli line appear in either some, or all of Blueberry Academy’s biomes. Not much is known about this school terrarium yet, and there may be some mysteries to uncover about the areas once the game launches; all the environments are said to be artificially made, which is rather interesting in itself.
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