Pokemon Scarlet & Violet Hackers Are Using Ogerpon to Softlock Players

If you’re playing online battles in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, be careful because it appears as though hackers are up to no good with their Ogerpon, and are using the new Legendary Pokemon to soft-lock their opponent’s game. Once soft-locked, the victim has no choice but to close their game down, resulting in a win for the hacker.

The situation was brought to light by Anubis on Twitter on September 19, who posted a video of a hacker in action, captioned, “Beware! Malicious players can softlock your online battles by Terastallizing an Ogerpon into an impossible Tera Type.”

To cause the softlock, the offender uses hacking tools to add an impossible Tera Type to an Ogerpon. Then, on a homebrewed Nintendo Switch, they enter an online battle with the illegitimate Pokemon. Ogerpon’s Tera Type can only be Grass, Water, Fire, or Rock as it is tied to which mask it wears. So by generating an Ogerpon with a Tera Type it cannot have, the game freezes for the unsuspecting victim, leaving them no choice but to shut their game down completely and forfeit the match, resulting in a loss for them and a win for the hacker.

While softlocking may not seem that big of a deal when compared to hardlocking, which bricks your console, it does run the possibility of corrupting your save file. So, if you’re playing online battles in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, be careful and try and exit out before your game softlocks if you spot anyone using an Ogerpon, just to be on the safe side.