While it had quite a few bugs at launch, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is in a much better place in 2024. It’s not perfect, but many of the technical wrinkles have been ironed out — making it one of the best Pokémon games you can play today. However, if you’ve already invested hundreds of hours into the game, you may not have much left to explore.
That’s where mods come into play.
Though it’s not quite as easy as modding PC games, it’s possible to mod your Nintendo Switch and benefit from third-party content in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. This includes mods that fundamentally change how the game is played to smaller mods that introduce new Shinies for you to hunt. Keep in mind that modding your Switch is inherently risky — and unless you know what you’re doing, it’s best to leave it alone.
But for those brave enough to start tinkering with their handheld platform, here’s a look at the best Pokémon Scarlet and Violet mods of 2024.
How to mod Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Modding on your Nintendo Switch isn’t as easy as it is on PC, but as long as you follow a few simple steps, anyone can do it. The basics of it simply ask you to download the Trinity Mod Loader tool, download the mod(s) you want and add them to the tool, and then apply the mod to your Switch.
Be aware that mods can result in you getting banned by Nintendo, so it is recommended that you play offline while using them. Even then, you do so at your own risk.
A full tutorial, complete with all the necessary links, can be found here.
Pokémon ‘Primitive’ Randomizer
One thing people love doing with their Pokémon titles is creating challenge runs. Whether it be a Nuzlocke, or in this case a randomized run, these simple tweaks can make an old game feel new again. This mod lets you select tons of options to change how the game will play, such as whether Pokémon in the wild will have similar stats to the ones normally found there, if Pokémon will have random items, whether Legendaries and Paradox Pokémon can spawn in the overworld, give Pokémon a random ability, and tons more.
Project Sky
While we don’t know why it was named this way, Project Sky is a great mod that gives you full control over your Pokémon stats, moves, and evolutions. This includes altering a Pokémon’s base stats, EV, XP growth rate, abilities, type, held items, and more. This is great if you need to start a new game, but want to jump right back up to the end-game levels right away, or just make the game much easier or harder as a challenge. It will also be adding a trainer editor and randomizer sometime in the future.
Vulcain’s Custom Shinies
Pokémon shiny hunters are some of the most dedicated trainers out there. Hunting these rare Pokémon can be tough and time-consuming, but very rewarding for completionists. Unfortunately, not all Pokémon in the game have a shiny variant. Vulcain’s Custom Shinies mod gives you more rare mons to hunt by creating new shiny variants of those that were left out of this version. So far, the mod has created shiny versions of 67 more Pokémon for you to hunt.
Area Zero Remaster
Area Zero suffers just as much as the rest of Paldea in terms of visuals, but it hurts a bit more considering how special it is meant to be. This Area Zero Remaster can’t make the entire game look better, but can at least improve this one aspect. Highlights of this mod include adding a day/night cycle, completely new terrain textures, higher resolution, and up-scaled textures. The modder is still working on more features, too, such as up-scaling trees, adding weather, custom lighting in caves, and more.
Picnic+
Picnics are a new mechanic to Scarlet and Violet and are a fun new way to interact with your team, as well as eat some delicious sandwiches for buffs. This simple Picnic+ mod simply improves all aspects of this mechanic. It will make the buffs you get more powerful, increase your egg basket size all the way up to 50, and allow you to picnic almost anywhere you like.
No Low Poly Pokémon Models
One major complaint trainers have is in regard to the graphics. Pokémon themselves are even a letdown when you spot them in the open world at even a short distance. The No Low Poly Pokémon Models mod does exactly what it claims and makes it so Pokémon will always load in their highest level of detail no matter how far you are from them. This mod may impact performance if there are a lot of Pokémon on screen, so consider that before installing.
Faster Battles
After dozens of hours, and hundreds of battles, most trainers will get tired of how slow-paced fights can take. Past games gave options to skip unnecessary pauses and animations, but not for Scarlet and Violet. While the Faster Battles mod can’t cut everything you might want out of battles, it can drastically speed up battles. The mod gives you six options for how much you want to cut down on delays by speeding up text, with the fastest cutting text boxes almost entirely.
Pokémon Scarlet/Violet Reshade Appearance enhancer
Finally, for one more graphical upgrade that this game sorely needs, the Pokémon Scarlet/Violet Reshade Appearance enhancer is a subtle, yet appreciated improvement to the game’s looks. This mod is all about enhancing the lighting with color correction, FX fixes, corrected lighting conditions, and more. It won’t make the game look brand new, but will make it feel a bit closer to how it should.
Harder Trainers
If you steamrolled your way through Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, consider installing the Harder Trainers mod. This lets you adjust the difficulty of your battles, ensuring there’s always a good challenge around the next corner. Whether you accidentally over-leveled your party or just want to test your skills, Harder Trainers gives you plenty of customization options to augment your experience. Be sure to check it out if you’ve already beaten the game and want to up your difficulty.
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