One player of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet found themselves engaged in an unusual, long-range battle after encountering a bizarre glitch in the Nintendo and Game Freak games. The pair of Pokemon titles are currently holding the Greninja Tera Raid event, the latest in a series of limited-time events designed to reward players with new Pokemon and items for engaging in challenging battles.
Released in November 2022, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have been met with a decidedly mixed reception by long-time fans of the monster-battling franchise. Expanding on some design choices introduced by Pokemon Legends: Arceus earlier that year, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet mark the first truly-open world games in the series’ history. While the move to an open world and the introduction of new features like an auto-battle system were welcomed by many players, numerous glitches in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet combined with a poor framerate have led to an occasionally frustrating experience for some gamers.
In a new post on the r/PokemonScarletViolet subreddit, Redditor ManicPokemontrainer shared a clip of their trainer engaged in a bizarre, long-range battle with a Gastly thanks to an unusual glitch. In the short video, the trainer is seen doing battle with a Gastly while halfway up a spiraling staircase on the outside of a tower with their Pokemon nowhere in sight. Fortunately, ManicPokemontrainer is still able to control his Pokemon despite it seemingly deciding to wait out the battle at the bottom of the stairs, leading to a hilarious conclusion to the battle when he launches a Shadow Ball attack that flies through the stairs and shoots down the spooky Ghost-type Pokemon.
Responses to the video were amused by the unusual encounter, with one Redditor joking that ManicPokemontrainer pulled off a “360 up scope” on the unsuspecting Gastly. Another commenter, impressed by the long-range elimination, quipped that the encounter probably set a new long-range attack record for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. After questioning how the trainer in the clip was able to survive having a Shadow Ball attack pass right through him on its way to the bothersome Gastly, one Redditor received a response pointing out that humans are Normal-type, so it makes sense that the trainer was immune.
Unlike the occasionally game-breaking glitches that some players have come across in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, luckily all this bug did was leave ManicPokemontrainer with an amusing clip to share with fellow Pokemon fans. And although battling Gastly on a precarious set of stairs while your Pokemon takes it easy at ground level may be a bit annoying, at least they didn’t have to deal with being jumpscared by a Ghost Pokemon.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.