A Pokémon Scarlet and Violet leaker claims to have revealed Generation 9’s Gym Leaders early in a series of alleged screenshots. After Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s release date was announced in June, Game Freak has been completely silent about the upcoming Gen 9 RPGs. Fans don’t even know the new region’s name, despite the fact that the game is releasing just later this year. However, a new leak that surfaced online in July claims to have given fans their first look at a handful of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s Gym Leaders.
Although the June trailer unveiled the new Gen 9 Pokémon Lechonk, Pawmi, and Smoliv, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the new region. Game Freak has given players very little information about the RPG’s storyline as well, outside of the introduction of the region’s friendly rival trainer Nemona, and the new version-exclusive Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Professors Sada and Turo. Pokémon fans were surprised, then, when a handful of leaked images on July 11th claimed to have revealed six of the game’s Gym Leaders.
The leaked images were originally uploaded by a now-deleted Twitter account, before being reposted by CentroLeaks. In the supposed leaked screenshots from the game, there are six pictures of what the leaker claim are Gen 9’s Gym Leaders. Before the user deactivated their profile, they claimed that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s Gym Leaders will be Bug, Grass, Water, Ice, Normal, Electric, Psychic, and Ghost Type.
While the blurry quality of the pictures would normally scream fake, many Pokémon fans believe them to be real due to the character models looking exactly like the ones shown in the second Pokémon Scarlet and Violet gameplay trailer. Several of the Gym Leaders also line up with descriptions that popular Pokémon leaker Riddler Khu had posted in June. With Riddler accurately leaking major Pokémon Legends: Arceus information in 2021, many players now speculate that the Gen 9 Gym Leader pictures could actually be legitimate.
Only time will tell whether the leaked Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Gym Leader screenshots are actually real. Since Gen 9 is launching in November and there is still a lot unknown about the upcoming RPGs, a third update could be announced soon. Compared to the release cycle of Gen 8, it’s surprising that the name of the new region and its gameplay gimmick haven’t been revealed yet. With anticipation at an all-time high, it’s likely that more Pokémon Scarlet and Violet leaks and rumors will continue to hit the internet leading up to the next official trailer.