In the 26 years since Pokémon was first released, you could say that it’s gained a lot of fans around the world. Naturally, because motorcycles also have a lot of fans around the world, there are undoubtedly plenty of people who enjoy both things. While pedal-powered bicycles have been a part of Poké-canon since the beginning, traditional motorcycles haven’t been—until now.
On November 18, 2022, Nintendo is set to release the two newest games in the franchise worldwide—Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet—on the Switch. As has become customary, a pair of Legendary Pokémon (differentiated from normal Pokémon by both their rarity and their comparatively expansive powers) will adorn the box art for these games. They’re new to the franchise, their names are Koraidon and Miraidon—oh, and they apparently transform into motorbikes.
While the fact of their existence was first hinted at back in February, 2022, Nintendo didn’t reveal more details about who they are and how they’ll figure into the new games until August. In a teaser video to get fans excited about the upcoming game, we learned that these two Legendaries will be available to help your character ride across the newest region in the Poké-universe, Paldea.
Gallery: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Motorbike Monsters - Koraidon and Miraidon
That’s important, because these two new games mark another first in the franchise: They’re both open-world roleplaying games (RPGs). With so much space to explore, having a wheeled form of transportation to help you get around—and one that isn’t person-powered—seems like it could come in very useful.
As the official August 2022 Pokémon Presents video about the game makes clear, Koraidon and Miraidon don’t only move your character along the ground. Instead, these Pokébikes can apparently also convey you across the water, fly, or even climb up steep vertical cliff-faces. (Name an adventure bike that can do all that. We’ll wait.)
If you watch any of the pre-release footage, you’ll note that Koraidon and Miraidon have different styling from one another, and also function slightly differently. While it isn’t clear yet whether this is the case, there are time-travel theories about this newest generation of games in the franchise—which could also explain the general character design differences between Scarlet and Violet.
The clues aren’t hard to see. Koraidon is the mascot for Scarlet, and this new Legendary’s name relates to looking at the past. Miraidon, meanwhile, looks toward the future—and is the mascot for Violet. Eagle-eyed viewers have noted that Koraidon uses its legs more than its wheels, even causing some folks to wonder why it even has those awkwardly-placed wheels in the first place. Meanwhile, Miraidon rolls smoothly on Syd Mead-esque wheels and seems to be propelled by some kind of built-in jet propulsion, whether on land, sea, or sky.
It’s not hard to extrapolate those two temporal beings to the history of motorcycling—and, after all, the Pokémon franchise is largely built around the concept of evolution. Different factors can affect how your Pokémon evolve—and back at the beginning of motorcycling, some bikes were pretty ungainly things. By contrast, Koraidon seems downright functional, even if it’s not completely comfortable with relying heavily on its wheels just yet.
