Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Ghost Tera Type Is a Callback to Original Pokemon Games

Pokemon fans noticed a familiar face during yesterday's surprise trailer. During the Closing Ceremonies at the Pokemon World Championships, The Pokemon Company revealed a new trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet that debuted the Pokemon Cyclizar along with a handful of new Pokemon moves and held items. The trailer also showed off a Ghost Tera Type Tyranitar to reflect some of the new battle mechanic's useful abilities, with the Tyranitar unaffected by a Fighting-type move that would usually do quadruple damage thanks to its temporarily transformation into a Ghost-type Pokemon. However, the Tyranitar (and presumably all Ghost Tera Type Pokemon) also showed off a cool callback to the original Pokemon games. 

Below is a closeup of the large crystal crown that appears over Tyranitar's head after it Terastallizes. The large ghost is a reference to the ghost of a Marowak who haunted the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town in Pokemon Red and Blue. The ghost took on a form similar to the Terastal Crystal until players retrieved a Silph Scope that ultimately showed its "true form" and allowed the player to help the Marowak find peace (by battling and defeating it) and send it off to the afterlife. 

The new Terastal mechanic will temporarily transform a Pokemon into a crystallized form, which gives a boost to any attack that's the same as its Tera Type. Most Pokemon will have a Tera Type that matches one of its normal types (i.e., most Pikachu will have an Electric Tera Type.) However, certain Pokemon will have a special Tera Type, such as the Tyranitar seen above or a Flying Tera Type Pikachu. Not only will a Pokemon adopt the strengths and weaknesses of its single Tera Type, any moves associated with its Tera Type will also be significantly stronger. Yesterday, The Pokemon Company revealed the move Tera Blast, which will automatically switch its type to match a Pokemon's Tera Type when that Pokemon Terastallizes. 

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will be released on November 18th.