It seems official: Pokérus is gone. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were just released on Thursday, but players have discovered a rare fictional illness not found in the new games.
Pokérus was first introduced in the Gen 2 Pokémon games. The state is essentially a virus; it infects any Pokémon near the infected Pokémon in your party, even though both remain in the Poké Balls.
Pokérus Disappearance Discovered by Twitter Users and Dataminer @mattyoukhana_who discovered that the game’s code had no sign of Pokérus.
Pokérus no longer appears in Scarlet & Violet! No content for Pokérus status symbols exists in the game, and it cannot be found on wild Pokémon.
After experimenting with Pokérus level forced Pokémon, they still get the regular EV output (not x2) and the Pokérus doesn’t spread. pic.twitter.com/DIklfjbQHS
– Matt (@mattyoukhana_) November 18, 2022
While the virus certainly sounds bad, the Pokérus is actually completely beneficial. The state, represented by a small icon, doubles the number of EVs the infected Pokémon gets after the battle, making training super easy.
All you have to do is place your Pokémon around the infected and crash! Within a few hours, all your Pokémon will have status.
With Scarlet and Violet, Pokérus is no more. The icon indicates the infection is gone and there isn’t any content for it in the game. In fact, the status can’t even be found on wild Pokémon.
So for those of you trying to get EVs quickly and easily, hoping to get Pokérus won’t be a good strategy.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had a rough start, with many players have gameplay problems on Nintendo Switch. According to IGN’s Rebekah Valentine in her ongoing review: there really is no point in [Pokémon Scarlet & Violet] I will say where they run well. Frame rates are dropping, Pokémon are breaking through walls, and character models are popping up inside and out.
For our full review of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, follow everything on IGN.
Carson Burton is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @carsonburton.
