Fans of Pokémon have pledged to retain their Scarlet and Violet beginning Pokémon in the party throughout the entirety of the game; will you join them?

Fans of Pokémon follow a time-honored custom in which they select their first Pokémon partner. Their choices include the Grass-type cat Sprigatito, the Fire-type crocodile Fuecoco, and the Water-type duckling Quaxley in the Generation 9 games Scarlet and Violet.

The Pokémon franchise is known for its “starters,” but the release of two new versions has generated a debate among fans: do you intend to maintain your starter Pokémon as a member of your party throughout the entirety of the game?

Spring-Loaded, a member of the ResetEra community, was the one who started the conversation by posting a poll on a well-known gaming forum with the following question: “In general (or in your favorite/standout entry), was your starter Pokémon in your team at the end of the game (or by the time you stopped playing)?” The majority of voters, more than 96% of them as of the time this article was written, had chosen the yes option.

In the comments, there is a strong sense of loyalty, as many people express that it seems wrong to them to rotate their starter out of the party. [Cause] [Cause] [Cause] [Cause] [Cause] [Cause] As was to be expected, a significant number of people have committed to doing the exact same thing with Scarlet and Violet.

Even the votes with negative sentiment are interesting. Once they have hatched one, one commenter by the name of the cowboy poet replaces it with a Shiny version of their Pokémon. Others point to the notorious Nuzlocke Run as the motivation behind their decision to switch out their starter. If a Pokémon in your party faints while participating in a Nuzlocke Run, you are required to remove it from the battle and replace it with a new one; this type of run is reserved for the most skilled players.

You won’t have to hang around too much longer until you can get started, regardless of whether or not you want to accept such a challenge when the next Pokémon games are released. The release date for Scarlet and Violet is this coming Friday, November 18, and it will only be available for purchase on the Nintendo Switch.

That will be available pretty soon, but there have already been leaks posted all over the internet. The final starter evolutions for the new trio are already available online, so long as you don’t mind having certain things revealed to you in advance. We also have a summary of all the leaks that have been discovered up to this point.