Make sure you periodically check out the Pokédex in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

It’s a little more useful this time around

The Pokédex is one of the most consistent features of the Pokémon franchise. After all, if you’re gonna catch ‘em all, you need a way to keep track of what you catch, right? Until now, the Pokédex in mainline games has looked and functioned nearly the same. This is somewhat true of Scarlet & Violet, but there are neat flourishes that make this Pokédex stick out.

Fill out your Pokémon library

First is the presentation. The Pokédex to this point has featured the monsters you’ve seen and caught in a standard list. In Scarlet & Violet, the Pokédex imitates a bookshelf and lists monsters you’ve caught as book spines. Pokémon you’ve only seen will be grayed out, while Pokémon you’ve caught feature a green line atop them.

There are even some entries for Pokémon you’ve never seen before, so use these to get tips on finding new monsters.

Speaking of, finding where to catch a specific Pokémon has received an overhaul too. The Pokédex typically lists the routes where monsters appear, but Scarlet & Violet show the entire map on a grid. The old system worked well, but given the open world structure of the new games, this was necessary.

I do like the immediacy of the layout here, since I like knowing specifically where a Pokémon should show up.

Collect images of your new Pokémon

The other major addition to the Pokédex is an action shot of every Pokémon you catch. These are creative inclusions to the Pokédex that instill a bit of variety into each entry. In fact, just checking out all the different images adds extra incentive to try and catch them all! Given the bookshelf aesthetic of the new Pokédex, I really like this feature. It feels like you’re collecting an assortment of creatures rather than checking names off a list.

If you liked the old-style Pokédex entries that show the Pokemon’s model and give some fun facts, don’t worry. That’s in here too, so you’ll be able to discover which Pokemon are hotter than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t like the action shots included in the Pokedex, consider taking some selfies of your own.

The Pokédex in Scarlet & Violet is the same as it has always been at its core, but I hope we can see more additions to the layout like this as the franchise evolves. If Scarlet & Violet receive DLC in the same way that Sword & Shield did, then expect the Pokédex to be expanded even further.