Wiglett, a suspiciously similar Pokémon to Diglett, has just been announced for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
The reveal was made during a scripted live conference call with Pokémon professors from around the world at the World Pokémon Ecological Society.
The researchers, yourself included, are shown various bits of footage of Pokémon from the Paldea region.
The call is somewhat interactive – you can give the site access to your camera and microphone if you’d like, and there’s surveys you can “participate” in to decide which part of Paldea to study next.
The footage shown captures many of the Pokémon of Paldea, including the new poisonous Wooper unique to the region.
The last biome of Paldea visited is the beach, and the researchers immediately spot an odd Pokémon chilling in the sand. It looks similar to Diglett but with a different colour scheme, leading them to speculate they’ve discovered a new regional variant. That is, until the creatures begin to emerge.
Once the Pokémon rises up out of the sand, the researchers conclude this must be a new species and thus pronounce it Wiglett. Like a worm Diglett, I guess?
The host of the research call shares some more information known about Wiglett. “Although they appeared to be the Palden form of Diglett, we’ve learned that they live and eat differently as if they are entirely different Pokémon,” her notes apparently read. According to the research already conducted on Paldea, it is “a coincidence that [Diglett and Wiglett] have similar bodies, as they both burrow in the ground and the sand”.
Reactions to Wiglett at Eurogamer have ranged from “Wiglett makes me so unhappy” to “I love it”. Personally, I think it’s great. It reminds me a bit of a periscope? I eagerly await to see the fanart that gets shared on Twitter!
If you make it to the end of the conference call, you can create a certificate to prove your participation. It’ll use the name you entered at the beginning, and you can upload a photo to go on it. You also get a membership number, which I suppose means I was the 17,678th person to either sit through the whole stream or make a certificate.
www.eurogamer.net
