Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players plagued by hysterical glitches at launch

It’s become expected for AAA games to launch with some issues, but wacky and hysterical glitches have seemingly plagued Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players on day one.

On November 18, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet would release, taking the franchise into its 9th generation. After Pokemon Sword & Shield and Legends: Arceus suffered from some slight performance issues and lackluster graphics, players had high hopes for Paldea.

However, when reviews dropped a day earlier, that didn’t seem to be the case. With a 77% on Metacritic, many reviews criticized Pokemon Scarlet & Violet for having unforgivable gameplay issues.

When Pokemon Scarlet & Violet landed in the hands of its fans on Friday, these issues became very apparent. Hundreds of players and streamers posted clips of the hysterical game-breaking issues they encountered on day one.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet performance issues are hilarious

Some of these performance issues can be frustrating. Frame drops, load times for animations, and Pokemon popping in right on top of the player are annoyances players shouldn’t have to deal with – especially from a AAA studio.

On the other hand, some of these glitches have players rolling on the floor with laughter. Yes, it can be frustrating to clip through the ground and fall into the pit of oblivion, but it’s also quite comical.

Other players have discovered a glitch that makes Miraidon disappear while riding him, making it appear like the trainer is riding an invisible bike.

One player discovered that using the Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Photo Mode at just the right angle will send their character into the stratosphere. Luckily, there isn’t any fall damage.

One of the weirdest glitches has been seen several times, and it’s a little hard to explain. Seemingly out of nowhere, a character model will pop in with its torso jutting out of the ground. It will have its hands in the air rotating its body like it’s dancing.

And there have also been various reports of players witnessing their friends contort their limbs and torsos while performing emotes. This is particularly horrifying as the character smiles while their forearm rotates 360 degrees around their elbow.

Players are hoping that Pokemon Scarlet & Violet gets a performance patch soon, but there is a workaround to offset some of these issues for the time being. Until then, scrolling through Pokemon Twitter is a funny way to pass the time.

For more Gen 9 content, check out our guides below:

 Pre-order guide | What is Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s region? | Everything we know about Scarlet & Violet so far | What is Terastallizing? | All Paldean forms | All new characters | | How to get Marks in Scarlet & Violet | How to unlock Rotom Phone cases