The announcement for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet during the Pokémon Presents event from February 2022 came as a surprise to many fans, but it was soon discovered that The Pokémon Company had been hinting at the existence of these games in earlier Pokémon titles. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will be the first Gen eration 9 Pokémon video games, with Pokémon Legends: Arceus considered as the last title of Gen 8.

The reason why the Gen 9 reveal was so surprising was that The Pokémon Company had just released a number of games in quick succession. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were developed by ILCA and released in November 2021, while Pokémon Legends: Arceus was developed by Game Freak and released in January 2022. Fans had assumed that the next projects would be DLC content for these games and that the Gen 9 titles were still a year or two away. The opposite turned out to be true, with the Gen 9 games announced first, and the other Pokémon games seemingly receiving free updates, in lieu of paid DLC.

Related: Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Should Support Hisuian Forms

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will launch in 2022, which means that they have been in development for a while. It turns out that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were in some stage of development when Pokémon Sword and Shield were being made, as there are subtle references hidden in those games. There is also a subtle reference hidden in plain sight in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

The Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Hints In The Other Pokémon Switch Games

Pokémon Scarlet Violet Hints BDSP Sword and Shield

It was first discovered by a Reddit user named DDD-HERO that there were Gen IX references hidden in the older Pokémon games on Nintendo Switch. In Pokémon Sword and Shield, there is a hotel in Circhester that features wallpaper showing oranges and grapes. These were featured heavily in the debut trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, with fruit seemingly being a big part of the setting. It was also revealed that Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl reference colors relating to scarlet and violet. There are flowers in Twinleaf Town that have a red and purple pattern, which is a change from how they originally appeared in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl when they were originally blue, yellow, and white.

There don't appear to be any hidden references to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet in the Let's Go games, suggesting that production hadn't started on Gen 9 at that point. It was likely that the developers were more focused on the upcoming Gen 8, especially considering how Pokémon Sword and Shield launched in a rough state. The Pokémon series has been including subtle references to future games for a while now, as the steady development of new games means that there is always something in production that can be referenced. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are coming soon, which means Game Freak must have spent a lot of time working on them and were able to hint at their creation in existing games.

Next: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Classic Mechanics Gen 9 Should Bring Back

Source: DDD-HERO/Reddit