February Patch for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet bringing Major Fixes

The expected patch for the Pokemon community for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has been announced to go live soon, bringing a list of many adjustments and bug fixes for features, battles and many other parts of the games.

This comes as the same patch that was announced in response to the critique of the performance of the game as well as glitches and bugs that were relatively commonly experienced by players. Although setting a new record for the fastest-selling Nintendo and Pokemon titles on the Switch to date, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet did face backlash as the Pokemon titles with the worst release-window game performance, with problems such as frequent frame-rate drops and inconsistent gameplay, alongside many visual glitches and bugs.

This patch is set to be the fix patch for these release-window performance issues and bugs. Nintendo has posted a list of adjustments and bug fixes in the new update, as well as stating that they’re also working to fix other bugs and issues not mentioned explicitly on the list.

Here is the list of what you get with the 1.2.0 patch for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet:

Feature Adjustments

These adjustments come as accessibility updates for more convenient ingame Window and options list usage. More options for arranging and adjusting your Pokemon inside boxes will make the experience somewhat better.

1. New functionality for Pokemon Boxes will enable players to add and change Pokemon nicknames, markings, and Held Items and also adjust them according to Ribbons or Marks.
2. You will also now be able to handle Pokemon movies such as reordering, relearning, using TMs, and more for the Pokemon.
3. Players can also swap Held Items with the Y Button with the Held Items View of the Boxes tab.
4. Players can select all boxes in the Party and Boxes View and Held Items view while moving Pokemon and Items.
5. The current Battle Team Pokemon will now have a different hue/look within Boxes in the Battle Team View.
6. The News Screen will come into view when you connect to the internet from the main menu, same as when connecting through the Poke Portal.

Bug Fixes

These are the main part of the fix patch, bringing visual and gameplay fixes to Tera Raid Battles, normal Battles as well as other parts of the game.

Tera Raid Battles:

1. A bug that has a Tera Pokemon’s HP gauge fluctuate unusually because of the HP improperly reflecting damage done by certain moves or certain status conditions in Tera Raid Battles will be fixed.
2. A bug that sometimes causes all Pokemon on the player’s side to faint at once, despite their HP gauges still showing some HP left in Black Crystal Tera Taid battles against Pokemon with the Mightiest Mark, will be fixed.
3. A bug preventing players from entering any input when a Tera Pokemon takes certain actions while the player is choosing the target of their move will be fixed.
4. A bug causing a communication error when someone connecting to a Tera Raid battle sees a different Poekmon displayed on their screen than what the host sees will be fixed.
5. A bug that has players end up against a Tera Raid Pokemon different from the intended Tera Raid Battle Pokemon will be fixed.
6. A bug that sometimes causes Tera Raid Battle crystals to not appear for a specific amount of time will be fixed.

Battles:

1. Type matchups will no longer appear when selecting a move or target against fainted Pokemon in Double Battles.
2. A Terastallized Zoroark disguised as another Pokemon via its illusions Ability can be identified with the Check Target Option. This will be removed as it is a bug.
3. A Terastallized Zoroark disguised as another Pokemon has Type Matchups displayed based on the Pokemon it’s disguised as rather than itself. This will be fixed.
4. Stats of a Dondozo with a Tatsugiri in its mouth will increase when Dondozo used Order Up even when the move should be negated (for example against an opponent using Protect). This will be fixed.
5. A pokemon Terastallizing after using Destiny Bond and fainting afterwards does not activate the Destiny Bond effect. This will be fixed.

Other:

1. The game suddenly closing at certain locations will be fixed. The fix may reduce the number of Pokemon and people displayed on the screen in certain towns or in the wild.
2. A new Pokemon obtained through a Link Trade that is not a part of the Paldea Pokedex is displayed as being registered. This bug will be fixed.
3. The Main character’s expressions not changing due to certain actions until the game is closed and reopened will be fixed.
4. A bug causing Communication Error right after people receive their rewards from Ranked Battles Season 1 when visiting the Ranked Battles Screen will be fixed. Players that were unable to participate in any further Ranked Battles will also get a fix for the bug.
5. If players have created several Battle Teams but do not use the team in the first slot in Ranked battles, they sometimes do not receive the Master Ribbon after winning battles in the Master Tier. This will be fixed.
6. Pokemon caught and returned in Link Trades from players sometimes defy taking orders from their new trainer, despite the message in the profile app (“Pokémon caught at Lv. XX or below will listen to your commands”). This will be fixed.
7. A bug preventing the Pokedex’s display of additional entries such as Shiny Pokemon or Pokemon through Surprise Trade from players playing in a different language when the Pokemon species was already registered will be fixed.
8. Objects such as Pokeballs giving visual errors and being displayed at unusual locations will be fixed.
9. Passersby will no longer be displayed during certain battles in towns during the main story.
10. Other select bug fixes will be implemented.

There are also a few notes shared by the developers notifying of more bug fixes and features being implemented as well which are not mentioned in the list. Below are the actual words taken from the Nintendo site:

Notes:

• We are planning further features and bug fixes not listed in these patch notes. Please check back here for full details when the update data is distributed.
• Update contents and details are subject to change.

If you’re a player that was looking for more improvements to the games’ performance and fixes for bugs and issues, update the game when the patch releases and give it a try. This update also comes as a good point for players that were considering buying the titles after their technical issues were addressed. The game offers a brand-new open-world experience that has plenty of new Pokemon new gameplay mechanics for the Pokemon video game series.

For more on Pokemon, visit the official Pokemon website. Don’t forget that Pokemon Day is also arriving in just a few days which itself might have brand new Pokemon announcements and news, maybe even related to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. We’ve covered the expectations to have for Pokemon Day 2023 in our other article, so check that if you’re interested. We’ve also made an article covering the best places to explore in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet if you’re looking for some hints and tips for jumping into the games.