Leaked Paldea map may reveal Pokemon Scarlet and Violet gyms

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will take place in the Paldea region, and the gen-nine map for the new area has been leaked.

For the third time in four generations, Pokemon is heading to Europe. Pokemon gen nine will be set in the Paldea region, a new area based on the countries Spain and Portugal. The most recent Pokemon Presents event revealed a number of key details about the region including how players traverse it and what Pokemon call it home.

Gen nine will include the first fully open-world games in Pokemon history, leading to several changes to established series norms. Here’s what fans can look forward to in the Paldea region of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and the map that shows what’s to come.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet map for the Paldea region

Two versions of the Paldea region map have been shown off. One came via official artwork and the other was effectively leaked in one of the Pokemon Presents trailers for Scarlet and Violet.

The official artwork is bright and vibrant, teasing a wide variety of biomes and interesting landmarks. There’s an enormous mountain that will likely be home to gym leader Grusha and an enormous, ominous storm in the middle encased within a circular mountain range. At the foot of this circular mountain range is a large settlement, most likely the player’s school of either Naranja Academy or Uva Academy.

The leaked map provides some extra context to the official artwork map. In the “World Overview” trailer, the player character from Pokemon Violet can be seen in their room. Hanging from their wall is another Paldea map with eight locations marked. These locations mostly overlap with cities and towns across the officially released map.

It’s unclear what these locations are meant to signify. That said, given the fact that there are eight locations and there are traditionally eight badges that players need to collect, it’s easy to infer that these are the eight gym locations in Paldea. 

Koraidon and Miraidon are ride Pokemon for Paldea

New legendary Pokemon Koraidon and Miraidon will help Scarlet and Violet players cross the Paldea region map. Though riding on Pokemon isn’t new, gen nine will see a unique wrinkle to the mechanic.

Instead of having a variety of pre-selected Pokemon that will help the player move through the air, over water, and up steep cliffs, all such movement will be handled by the two legendary Pokemon. The trailers show players riding on the legendaries as thought they were a motorcycle, jetski, or hang glider. 

This is quite a bit different from what has been seen in past generations. Players could ride around on Latios and Latias in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but no other legendary Pokemon has been rideable since. In each other game, a variety of rented or borrowed Pokemon were used for traversing terrain.

According to leaks, Koraidon and Miraidon will be ride partners to the player but won’t be usable in battle until much deeper in the game.