Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: 10 Things To Do After You Beat The Game

Over the years, Pokemon games have been criticized for having lackluster content, especially in recent years considering the post-game. Once you're finished with the story and become champion, there usually isn't much left to do. In that regard, Scarlet and Violet seemed promising, having an open world and diverging story paths.

While not as expansive as some of the other entries in the franchise, Scarlet and Violet have a lot of things to do. Some of these are your classic Pokemon traditions, while others are unique to these games. So while these games do not reach the heights that the franchise is capable of, there are still a lot of things you can do after the story is done.

10/10 Gym Rematches

This feature has been included in many games in the series, especially the more recent entries. Fortunately, Scarlet and Violet follows this trend as you can battle the Gym Leaders at their full strength once you beat the game and return to them.

Game Freak also made the very wise choice of letting you skip the gym puzzles, which would be insufferable to do even after you've become the champion of the region. The gym leaders are decently tough the second time around, so be prepared and make sure you have your main team with you.

9/10 Academy Ace Tournament

Pokemon games sometimes have an endless battle facility which you can enter after the main game is completed. This is unfortunately missing from Scarlet and Violet, which instead have the Academy Ace Tournament. This is an elimination tournament you can attend after beating the main game organized by Director Clavell.

In this tournament, your goal is to defeat four trainers from around the region, selected from a pool of thirteen. While it doesn't hold a candle to the battle facilities of past games, the tournament is a fun way to test your team against higher level opponents. The team compositions in the tournament are decent, and the levels are high enough to provide somewhat of a challenge.

8/10 Find And Catch The Treasures Of Ruin Quartet

As with any Pokemon game, there are lots of Legendary Pokemon to encounter and secrets to unfold in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. A set of legendaries come in the form of the Ruin Quartet. These four Pokemon are very interesting Pokemon with amazing stats and incredible signature abilities, so they're definitely worth catching.

Wo-Chien, Chien-Pao, Ting-Lu and Chi-Yu are all sealed behind vaults too, for unknown reasons. That means you're going to have to collect stakes to even encounter them in the first place. Be sure to read their Pokedex entries for some sad stories about their origins too.

7/10 Complete The Pokedex

We've all done it, or have fantasized about doing it. Regardless, completing the Pokedex is a whole tradition of the franchise at this point. Luckily, Scarlet and Violet are among the best games to do so, due to the open world nature of the games.

When you can see the Pokemon roaming in the over world and not have to encounter them randomly for several times, it becomes incredibly easier to complete your Pokedex, which is great. Dexit, despite all the surrounding controversy, also makes this task easier, as you only have to collect 400 Pokemon.

6/10 Hunt Shinies

Another thing that fans have been very passionate about is finding and catching shinies. For the uninitiated, shiny Pokemon are slightly differently colored than their base form, such as the iconic red Gyarados. This is a very time-consuming task though, so beware.

Hunting shinies is a job best saved as a background activity, something you'll passively do while listening to an audio book or watching a TV series. It is so rewarding to get one though, that it feels worth the grind.

5/10 Collect All Gimmighoul Coins

Game Freak did their best to implement some open-world design philosophies from the genre. Obviously, that entails tons of collectibles. You can collect Gimmighoul coins to reach 999 coins, which allow you to evolve the Gimmighoul you've caught.

There are a few ways to collect these coins. You can catch or defeat Gimmighoul in the wild, find roaming Gimmighoul that doesn't fight, get a donation from a janitor and check sparkling spots around the world. Luckily, once you have all 999, you can infinitely evolve Gimmighoul, so it's worth getting this out of the way if you want the golden surfer dude.

4/10 Black Crystal Tera Raids

Throughout your journey through the Paldea region, you will encounter Tera Raids, in which you can find Pokemon with Tera Types that are different to their normal types. That's really useful, but you haven't fully experienced these raids until you get to the six and seven-star raids.

You can find these challenging raids by seeking out the black crystals that are crackling with energy. Be wary though, as these raids house really tough Pokemon and can make quick work of your team if you're not prepared. These raids are also Game Freaks way of introducing missing Pokemon it seems, like the Tera Dragon Charizard that's been announced.

3/10 Return To Area Zero And Catch The Cover Legendary

Koraidon and Miraidon are unique legendaries, sticking with you from the beginning and serving as your trusty steed. After you beat the game, you can finally use their Battle Form and use them in battle. However, as they're still your way of getting around, you can't put them in the PC or ridden on in their Battle Form.

Luckily, you can revisit Area Zero after beating the game, where you'll encounter a second Koraidon or Miraidon, depending on your version. You can catch it and use it just like a regular Pokemon.

2/10 Dip Your Toes Into Competitive Battling

Now that you've beaten the game, completed the Pokedex and mastered all the mechanics there are, the game is completely done, right? Well, that's where ranked battles and competitive Pokemon come into play.

While leagues more complicated than the single-player adventure, and sometimes much more frustrating, exploring the competitive side of the game is a way to enjoy the game endlessly. This might be intimidating to newcomers, but getting better at team building and predictions is extremely rewarding.

1/10 Try Nuzlocking On Another Save

If competitive Pokemon is not your cup of tea, you can always make the game more challenging on your own. The Nuzlocke Challenge is a set of self-imposed rules to make the game more exciting. Basically, any fainted Pokemon is considered dead and cannot be used, and you can only catch the first Pokemon you encounter in each area.

Scarlet and Violet being an open-world game makes these rules a bit janky, but there are tons of variants you can find online to test your battling prowess. If Pokemon starts feeling boring or repetitive at any point, Nuzlockes are a great way to spice things up.

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