Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC Lets You Become a Pokemon, and Fans Are Ecstatic

Years ago, when Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver first let any Pokemon follow the player anywhere, fans went bananas at the idea of seeing their beloved companions walking around the world with them. But in the new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC: The Indigo Disk, Pokemon has gone one step further: not only can your Pokemon follow you, you can become a Pokemon.

In The Indigo Disk, fairly early on, you’ll be able to track down a character named Synclaire within the Terarium who, after you finish a quest for her, will teach you to use a Synchro Machine. This allows you to essentially “become” your Pokemon and run around the map controlling them and using them to autobattle. Practically, it’s a fairly useless feature – the best thing about it is the ability to control your Pokemon while they autobattle instead of having to resummon them over and over when they get out of range.

But for Pokemon lovers, Syncing is goofy in the absolute best way. And most of this can be chalked up to just how lovable and silly the Pokemon themselves can be. For instance, you can play as Tinkaton and bap everything you see with a giant hammer:

tinkatons awakening is game of the year pic.twitter.com/Uw9qx5JRAL

— santapotion (@sxperpotion) December 15, 2023

You could play as Toedscool and plap plap plap your way around the Terarium:

LOOKIT ME GOOOOOOOOOO #PokemonScarletViolet #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/WbY96oiigj

— CRAN 🦎 (@CRANTIME) December 15, 2023

My personal favorite rendition of this uses Squidward’s walking sound effects to create absolute joy:

Shiny Toedscool but with Squidward’s walk/run sound effects. Lol #PokemonScarletViolet #IndigoDisk #Spongebob #Squidward pic.twitter.com/whDtC7eljA

— JuneRoughs (@JunjunAbaja) December 14, 2023

You can fly around as literal Pokemon God Arceus:

Shiny Toedscool but with Squidward’s walk/run sound effects. Lol #PokemonScarletViolet #IndigoDisk #Spongebob #Squidward pic.twitter.com/whDtC7eljA

— JuneRoughs (@JunjunAbaja) December 14, 2023

Or recreate The Lion King on this very conveniently-shaped rock formation:

CIRCLE OF LIFE#PokemonScarletViolet #TheLionKing pic.twitter.com/Q6vIpGPJvZ

— Vida de Treinador (@VidaDeTreinador) December 15, 2023

But easily the best clips Pokemon fans are making are just from people experiencing the pure joy of running around as their favorite monster, their bestest bud, their true pal:

THIS IS THE BEST VIDEOGAME EVER AHHHHH GOTY EVERY YEAR FOREVER#PokemonScarletViolet pic.twitter.com/awSWBTBrDD

— Luke 🎄 (@FrappeFizzyy) December 15, 2023

this is the coolest shit #PokemonScarletViolet #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/yUiFiNhz8N

— Ethan ∞ (@eusine_f) December 14, 2023

bruh I’m just making a nature documentary at this moment #PokemonScarletViolet #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/EFyNlQy2qB

— BogusDumples (@BDumples) December 14, 2023

THE INDIGO DISK IS THE GREATEST POKEMON DLC OF ALL TIME!#PokemonScarletViolet pic.twitter.com/4Ghi2QkF6e

— Mazz (@MazzoraGames) December 14, 2023

If you’re just breaking into the Indigo Disk DLC, I highly recommend beeling to the center plaza area of the Terararium and talking to Synclaire to unlock this feature. You can even use it in multiplayer and put together a Pokemon party with your friends. It’s a totally ridiculous, utterly unnecessary, yet completely delightful new feature that I am here for.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet themselves are a little less delightful, as we’ve pointed out in both our review of the base games and our review of the Teal Mask DLC – which is necessary to finish before you can access the Indigo Disk. Our review of the Indigo Disk is currently in progress and will be out before the holiday, but in the meantime we’re hard at work on our wiki guides to the new expansion content if you’re already blazing through it.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].