Scarlet and Violet players want Pikachu’s scrapped final evolution to return as Paradox Pokémon

With Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming DLC, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, confirmed to bring in new Paradox Pokémon like Raging Bolt and Iron Crown, fans are hoping to see Pikachu’s scrapped final evolution make its debut as a past Paradox form.

In a Sept. 4 Reddit thread, Scarlet and Violet players believe they’ve found the perfect Paradox Pokémon—Gorochu, who was intended to be Pikachu’s final evolution after Raichu in the Gen I games, according to Game Freak developers. This unfortunately didn’t end up happening due to a lack of data space, ultimately cutting Gorochu from the game and later replacing it with Pikachu’s pre-evolution, Pichu.

Seeing how the electric rodent’s evolutionary line already has three stages with Pichu, Pikachu, and Raichu, Gorochu won’t work as Raichu’s evolution anymore unless Game Freak were to introduce a fourth evolutionary stage to the games. That being said, the introduction of Gen IX’s Paradox Pokémon has once again opened the door for Gorochu to become a reality.

Related: All new Paradox Pokémon in the Scarlet and Violet DLC

This especially works with the Scarlet-exclusive Paradox Pokémon, given how developers described Gorochu’s design with fangs and horns. Most of the Paradox Pokémon from Scarlet have those more primal and vicious features like Great Tusk and Brute Bonnet, so Gorochu would fit right in. The popular speculative artwork by Foxeaf only helps prove that point.

In a world where Gorochu enters Scarlet and Violet through the DLC as a Paradox Pokémon, some changes would have to be made, though. For example, its name would have to be changed to two words to follow the trend of Roaring Moon, Flutter Mane, Scream Tail, and the rest of the Paradox gang. Fans suggested the names “Scorching Bolt” or “Scorching Strike” with an Electric/Fire typing.

Interestingly enough, Game Freak has had chances in previous generations to add Gorochu into the games as either a Mega Evolution, a regional form, or even a branched evolution for Pikachu. We did get Alolan Raichu in Gen VII, but that design is way too adorable to have Gorochu’s fangs and horns. 

Related: Scarlet and Violet’s new DLC Pokémon have big VGC potential—but here’s the problem

Still, there’s hope that we’ll eventually get Gorochu in some shape or form, whether it’s as a Paradox Pokémon in the DLC or a new form introduced in a future generation. After all, Game Freak may or may not have already canonized a fanmade Pokémon design with Palafin’s Hero Form oddly resembling the infamous “Ballio,” a fanmade Popplio evolution.

The developers could always do something similar with Gorochu’s speculative fanart. You never know.