The new Synchro Machine mechanic, introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: The Indigo Disk, has brought a new dimension of fooling around to Pokémon. Not all Pokémon synch the same, though, and some make better Synchro Machine partners than others. Let’s go over some of our favorites.
The best options for Synchro Machine users in The Indigo Disk
The best Synchro Machine Pokémon can swim, fly, or run exceptionally fast. A Pokémon that can fly or swim glides when moving off of a cliff, letting you traverse more environments with them. However, a Pokémon that can run fast can often outrun faster flying or swimming Pokémon.
The Synchro Machine is an optional feature from The Indigo Disk, unlocked by talking with Synclaire in the center of the Terarium. This feature allows you to take control of your Pokémon, with a surprising range. But the ability to jump is removed, so you’re stuck moving forward and praying. And blowing up a little beach ball with ZR.
If you’re actually wanting to traverse the environment, there are a handful of Pokémon to consider. Just know that no Pokémon will out-maneuver Koraidon and Miraidon. This is not a revolutionary form of travel or anything. It’s mostly for fun, and there are no events or BBQs that require you to use it. From our testing, no Pokémon has any fun gimmicks while Synchro’d, so speed and size are all that matter.
Fastest Synchro Pokémon
These Pokémon are surprisingly fast while you Synch with them, making them actively useful for traversing the environment. Fliers tend to be the best choice all-around, as they can traverse the land much easier than walking Pokémon while also being able to move above the water.
- Zebstrika moves absurdly fast across the environment. With an easy catching requirement, you can move about as quickly as when you’re on bike-back. Espathra, the Psychic ostrich from the base game, is also extremely quick, though its bulkier size can make it tricky to maneuver through the winding caves of The Indigo Disk.
- Walking Wake is fast on both land and water, usually letting it keep up with your bike-riding self in a footrace—without boosting, that is.
- Kilowattrel is one of the faster fliers in Scarlet and Violet and keeps its dominance while Synchro’d. Most of the other fliers from The Indigo Disk, like Mandibuzz, are a bit too slow to be reliable taxis.
- Empoleon is an impressive swimmer, though is a bit slow to run across the land. This speed is still a bit slower than a bike-riding Trainer’s swimming speed but can keep up for a little while. Quaquaval is faster on land, but slower in the water. Inteleon is the best of both worlds, fast both in the water and on land.
There are several Pokémon in these speed categories, but these are the ones that were consistently the fastest while being small enough to easily maneuver through terrain. Of them, we recommend Kilowattrel the most, as the ability to fly allows it to glide over chasms. And the ability to be fast while gliding—and being so small—is surprisingly rare, making its speed more notable than any other Synchro Pokémon.
Best legendary Synchro Pokémon
Legendaries have impressive speed as well, though their large size makes them hard to maneuver in most cases. But there are a few notable ones that change the dynamic a bit.
- Latios and Latias are both ridiculously fast and small, especially compared to other legendaries. This makes the pair the best Synchro Pokémon in general, though their land speed still pales slightly when compared to Espathra.
- Rayquaza is also quite quick, though it suffers a lot from being so big. It’ll get stuck on terrain easier than the Psychic Flying twins, though it can easily keep up with your bike.
- Origin Forme Palkia and Dialga each float very slightly above the ground. Their massive size makes them almost impossible to maneuver—Palkia gets stuck on the archways into Central Plaza, for instance. However, their floating and size let you “climb” specific cliffs across the Terarium.
- Lugia is very slow but benefits quite a lot from how high above the ground it flies. This can let it scale cliffs that few other Pokémon can, including the likes of Rayquaza.
Of these options, Latios, Latias, and Rayquaza are likely the best for their fast flight, though Palkia and Dialga have great speed.
Funniest Synchro Pokémon
The Synchro mechanic is mostly for fun. But that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from showing off your Pokémon’s funny movements. Here are some of the funniest Pokémon to Synchro with in The Indigo Plateau.
- Joltik has hops while Synchro’d. A lot of hops. You’ll be tired just watching him.
- Gimmighoul doesn’t quite reach the same heights as Joltik, but it certainly has to hop around just like one. And boy, does it look ready to tip over at any moment.
- Slakoth and Slaking are both trying their very best while moving around in Synchro Machine mode. At least, they’re certainly flailing like they’re trying their hardest.
- Ludicolo’s joyful presence doesn’t leave while you Synchro with them. You’ll be in the mood for music and dancing within moments. And that swim animation is beautiful, too.
- Spiritomb looks like a horrifying mixture of spirits, which is why it’s very funny to watch it drag its tomb around like it weighs a million pounds.
- Cramorant might need to slow down—it looks like it’s going to suffocate. It’s also one of the few birds that don’t start to fly when you Synchro Machine with them, instead waddling around like a fool.
- Appleton is toddling around like the little dope it is. It’s absolutely precious to witness and serves as a great way to win the Cutest Pokémon competition.
There are plenty of other Pokémon with awesome walking animations, such as Chimchar, but it’s best to experiment with some of your favorites. You’ll find great walking, swimming, flying, sleeping, and attacking animations just by using the Synchro Machine that’d otherwise be hard to notice during a picnic.
Synchro Machine game ideas
The Synchro Machine has no in-game reasons to use it, making it feel undercooked. However, there are a few things you can do alongside your friends to make it feel like you and your Pokémon have something to do with your Machine. These include:
- Races: Racing with another Pokémon is the most simple way to use the Synchro Machine. Simply choose your favorite Pokémon, choose a start and endpoint, and start flying. Our favorite racetrack is along the outside of the Coastal Biome of the Terarium. While this requires Flying or Swimming Pokémon, Flying Pokémon largely ignore the wild Pokémon in the water, making it a race not tripped up by random stops. On the other hand, racing from the entrance of the Terarium to the Central Plaza is an all-terrain race that requires both knowledge of the landscape and the ability to quickly dodge wild Pokémon. Sadly, you can’t use the Synchro Machine outside of the Terarium, which limits the number of places you can turn into a racetrack.
- Football: By pressing ZR, your Synchro Pokémon will inflate a little Marill Balloon right in front of them. This ball clips with Pokémon, letting you bounce it around while Synced. Your friends can play with it too. Choose a goal, which is usually one of the rest areas dotted across the Savanna, Polar, or Canyon Biomes. Then, choose a team to be on offense and a team on defense. Defensive teams can make use of larger but slower Pokémon, like Lugia, to defend the goal. But some, like Dondozo, can make goalkeeping too easy.
- Hunting Challenges: Look, we’re all grinding away for BP right now, so it can benefit you to have some fun with it. Some quests keep track of things like items picked up or Pokémon defeated in auto-battle, two things you can do while using the Synchro Machine. You can turn this into a little game with friends, using your Latias to race down and K.O. as many Pokémon as possible before your friend does. Keep in mind that your Synced Pokémon can’t do things like catch or take pictures of wild Pokémon, so this isn’t a foolproof way to gamify the BBQ system.
Until we get any information about expansions to the Synchro Machine, making our own games is the only way to have fun with this quite unique mechanic. Hopefully, we can get some BBQ or optional side-even,t which can have us use our favorite Pokémon to race or maneuver an environment.
And maybe give us a jump button, GameFreak. Let my ostrich jump.
