Everyone's Getting Funny Bugs In 'Scarlet and Violet' Except For Me: Here's What's Going On With 'Pokemon's' Rocky Launch

As the credits rolled on my playthrough of Pokémon Violet, I couldn't help but feel a bittersweet tinge of sadness thinking about what could have been.

I very much enjoyed the game. The open-world concept fits incredibly well with Pokémon, and Scarlet and Violet's core gameplay loop of exploring Paldea's numerous biomes to discover strong Pokémon, secret treasures and mysterious sidequest materials proved addicting. The game's three quests were each compelling to complete in their own right, and the way they converged in the final act made for arguably the most emotionally satisfying conclusion to a Pokémon game ever.

Yet, as we've come to know over the past five days, the game's successes are hardly why Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the talk of social media. Instead, players are largely talking about the buggy state the games are in.

In the past five days, players have reported character models breaking, Pokémon disappearing, Pokémon and characters growing to monstrous sizes, characters falling through walls into infinite abysses, Pokémon flying to infinite heights and even a music bug that causes the introduction of the Elite Four theme to play on loop during the game's climactic battles.

That bittersweet twinge of sadness I felt during the credits of Scarlet and Violet was because I knew that, with more time in the oven than The Pokémon Company's strict three-year release cycle allows, Scarlet and Violet could have been masterpieces. It was also because none of the hilarious bugs that have been racking up likes, retweets and updoots on social media happened to me.

To be clear, I'm not saying that everyone is overstating the sorry state of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet for clout. It was obvious to me from hour one to hour 30 that the game is subjectively held together by scotch tape and Elmer's glue. My playthrough was plagued by considerable lag, particularly in water areas, massive framerate drops in populated areas, floors disappearing during Pokémon battles where the Pokémon were at different elevations, wild Pokémon disappearing into mountainsides and an odd bug where many rooms just had half a Pokéball embedded in the center of the floor for no apparent reason.

All of it was frustrating, but none of it was hilarious enough to "go viral." To use Pokémon parlance, it's as though each new, unique game-breaking bug posted on social media was like the discovery of a shiny Pokémon, and I made it through the whole game never encountering one.

Pokémon Scarlet/Violet are phenomenal games to me because what makes them good is so GOOD and what makes them bad is so FUNNY

— jacob alpharad (@Alpharad) November 21, 2022

I feel a little left out of the party, instead getting all of the frustration Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has to offer, but none of the unintentional laughs. If the game itself beneath the layers and layers of proverbial dookie wasn't addictively fun, I may be compelled to join the scores of players seeking a refund for the questionable state of Scarlet and Violet.

Holt shit.I know Pokemon SV runs like trash, but I didn't think it would lead to Nintendo accepting refunds. pic.twitter.com/JUaZHBKvHO

— #XENOBLADE3SWEEP (@SpadesEnder) November 22, 2022

As it stands, however, I have a post-game quest to fulfill, a Pokédex to complete and a competitive team to craft, all of which I'll happily do despite the game's many frustrating technical shortcomings. This means there are many hours of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet in my future, giving me hope that I may yet notch a viral clip for social media.

Should it happen, it would be some small consolation for the frustrations of Scarlet and Violet, but I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I would gladly trade thousands of retweets for a Pokémon game that functions properly.