Pokémon Sword (Japanese: ポケットモンスター ソード, Hepburn: Pocket Monsters Sword) and Pokémon Shield (Japanese: ポケットモンスター シールド, Hepburn: Pocket Monsters Shield) are the first pair of games of Generation VIII. They take place in the United Kingdom-inspired Galar region. The Starter Pokémon of the region are: Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble.
These games have paid expansion passes, where players are able to explore the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra. Physical versions, with the expansion passes, were released on November 6, 2020.[4]
Blurb
A Wild New Adventure with Pokémon!
Battle to be the Best!
Carve A Path to the Future!/Protect the World from Disaster! Band Together in New Co-op Battles!
Features
- Similar to Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon where a Rotom possesses your Pokédex, there is also a Rotom who instead possesses a phone. The phone can be attached to objects to upgrade them.
- The game is in full 3D, allowing for full character rendering, dynamic camera rotation, and dynamic shadows.
- Two new mechanics, Dynamax and Gigantamax, appear. Dynamaxing allows for Pokémon to grow to great sizes and battle other giant Pokémon; their moves also get Dynamaxed and have new attributes. Gigantamaxing is similar, but the Pokémon grows bigger and changes its appearance, too.
- Overworld roaming Pokémon return from Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. Pokémon can also be found in random encounters within the grass. Overworld Pokémon also act differently from the previous game. Certain Pokémon wander around outside of grass; some Pokémon chase after the player, and some Pokémon will run or fly away from the player.
- The Poké Ball Plus device can also work for these games; however, it won't function as a controller like it did in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!
- The player can sneak through grass to get close to the shy Pokémon that normally run away
- Overworld weather attributes reappear such as snow, rain, sun and sandstorms. They can change what Pokémon appear. For instance, Wingull appear in the rain and Snover appear in the snow. Weather conditions can also stack. For instance, during thunderstorms, the effects of Electric Terrain and rain will both be present.
- Bike returns as the Rotom Bike after their absence in Generation VII; in addition to traveling on land, it also allows the player to ride on water.
- The Galar criminal organization is Team Yell. Macro Cosmos also performs as a villainous team, similar to Pokémon Sun and Moon.
- Poké Jobs are introduced.
- Pokémon Camp, a feature similar to Pokémon-Amie and Pokémon Refresh, are introduced.
- Auto-save is an option. Players can switch off this function if they don't wish to have it on.
- The Exp. Share item is removed as Exp. Share is now automatic. All Pokémon get a bit of Experience Points after battle, even if they didn't participate.
- Tutorials can be skipped.
- The levels of wild Pokémon differ in some places; instead of the levels of Pokémon increasing as you get farther, over-leveled Pokémon can be found in early routes and areas.
- Wild Pokémon have an indicator in the form of a colored glow that tells if they have upped stats or better IVs, making it easier to find perfect Pokémon.
- You can trade away your gift Pokémon.
- Known as the Gym Challenge, Gyms that the player must battle with the goal of becoming the Champion return to the games, after being replaced by trials in Pokémon Sun and Moon and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The challenge culminates in the annual Champion Cup tournament, where the player may challenge the Champion.
- Pokémon Sword and Shield can connect with Pokémon HOME. This allows it to store and receive Pokémon from Pokémon HOME, including Pokémon from previous generations that were transferred into Pokémon HOME. However, only Pokémon in the Galar regional Pokédexes and the listed "foreign" species can be transferred to Pokémon Sword and Shield. The list of compatible foreign species is expanded in conjunction with the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield Expansion Pass releases.
- Additionally, several moves from past core releases cannot be used or learned in Sword and Shield. If a Pokémon knowing any of these moves is transferred into Sword or Shield, it will not be able to use these moves in battle; the moves' description will also recommend that these moves be forgotten.
Pokémon
Starter Pokémon
- Grookey - grass-type Pokémon which evolves into Thwackey and then into Rillaboom.
- Scorbunny - fire-type Pokémon which evolves into Raboot and then into Cinderace.
- Sobble - water-type Pokémon which evolves into Drizzile and then into Inteleon.
Legendary and Mythical Pokémon
- Zacian - fairy
- Zamazenta - fighting
- Eternatus - poison/dragon
- Kubfu - fighting
- Urshifu - fighting/dark or fighting/water
- Zarude - dark/grass
- Regieleki - electric
- Regidrago - dragon
- Glastrier - ice
- Spectrier - Ghost
- Calyrex - psychic/grass
Other new Pokémon
- Skwovet - normal
- Greedent - normal
- Rookidee -
- Corvisquire -
- Corviknight - /steel
- Blipbug - bug
- Dottler - bug/psychic
- Orbeetle - bug/psychic
- Nickit - dark
- Thievul - dark
- Gossifleur - grass
- Eldegoss - grass
- Wooloo - normal
- Dubwool - normal
- Chewtle - water
- Drednaw - water/rock
- Yamper - electric
- Boltund - electric
- Rolycoly - rock
- Carkol - rock/fire
- Coalossal - rock/fire
- Applin - grass/dragon
- Flapple - grass/dragon
- Appletun - grass/dragon
- Silicobra - ground
- Sandaconda - ground
- Cramorant - /Water
- Arrokuda - water
- Barraskewda - water
- Toxel - electric/poison
- Toxtricity - electric/poison
- Sizzlipede - fire/bug
- Centiskorch - fire/bug
- Clobbopus - fighting
- Grapploct - fighting
- Sinistea - Ghost
- Polteageist - Ghost
- Hatenna - psychic
- Hattrem - psychic
- Hatterene - psychic/fairy
- Impidimp - dark/fairy
- Morgrem - dark/fairy
- Grimmsnarl - dark/fairy
- Obstagoon - dark/normal
- Perrserker - steel
- Cursola - ghost
- Sirfetch'd - fighting
- Mr. Rime - ice/psychic
- Runerigus - ground/ghost
- Milcery - fairy
- Alcremie - fairy
- Falinks - fighting
- Pincurchin - electric
- Snom - ice/bug
- Frosmoth - ice/bug
- Stonjourner - rock
- Eiscue - ice
- Indeedee - psychic/normal
- Morpeko - electric/dark
- Cufant - steel
- Copperajah - steel
- Dracozolt - electric/dragon
- Arctozolt - electric/ice
- Dracovish - water/dragon
- Arctovish - water/ice
- Duraludon - steel/dragon
- Dreepy - dragon/ghost
- Drakloak - dragon/ghost
- Dragapult - dragon/ghost
Galarian forms
Similarly to the Alolan forms in Sun and Moon, there are Regional Variants in the Galar Region known as the Galarian forms. Galarian forms even has Regional Variants of Pokémon that is only exclusive to that type of Regional Variant, such as Galarian Meowth evolving into Perrserker.
List of Galarian forms
- Galarian Meowth - Steel
- Galarian Ponyta - Psychic
- Galarian Rapidash - Psychic/Fairy
- Galarian Slowpoke[Notes 2] - Psychic
- Galarian Slowbro[Notes 3] - Poison/Psychic
- Galarian Farfetch'd - Fighting
- Galarian Weezing - Poison/Fairy
- Galarian Mr. Mime - Ice/Psychic
- Galarian Articuno[Notes 4] - Psychic/
- Galarian Zapdos[Notes 4] - Fighting/
- Galarian Moltres[Notes 4] - Dark/
- Galarian Slowking[Notes 4] - Poison/Psychic
- Galarian Corsola - Ghost
- Galarian Zigzagoon - Dark/Normal
- Galarian Linoone - Dark/Normal
- Galarian Darumaka - Ice
- Galarian Darmanitan - Ice
- Galarian Yamask - Ground/Ghost
- Galarian Stunfisk - Ground/Steel
Version Exclusive Pokémon
Sword
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Shield
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Isle of Armor
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Shield
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Crown Tundra
Sword
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Shield
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- Wild Sawk are exclusive to Pokémon Sword, while wild Throh are exclusive to Pokémon Shield. However, there is an in-game trade in Circhester where the player can trade a Vanillish to obtain the counterpart Pokémon.
- Wild male Meowstic are exclusive to Pokémon Sword, while wild female Meowstic are exclusive to Pokémon Shield. However, both genders can be obtained by evolving Espurr of the appropriate gender.
- Cosmoem will only evolve into Solgaleo in Pokémon Sword and will only evolve into Lunala in Pokémon Shield. A Cosmoem traded between games will evolve accordingly to what game version it is currently in.
- Wild male Indeedee are exclusive to Pokémon Sword, while wild female Indeedee are exclusive to Pokémon Shield. However, both genders can be obtained in either game through breeding.
Patches
Info below is retrieved from Serebii.
| Version | Release date | Size (Blocks/Bytes) | Fixes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | January 9, 2020 | Unknown |
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| 1.1.1 | March 18, 2020 | Unknown |
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| 1.2 | June 17, 2020 | Unknown |
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| 1.2.1 | July 8, 2020 | Unknown |
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| 1.3 | October 23, 2020 | Unknown |
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| 1.3.1 | December 22, 2020 | Unknown |
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| 1.3.2 | May 12, 2021 | Unknown |
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Trivia
- This is the second pair of Pokémon core series games whose region is based on Europe, with the first being Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (France).
- This is the second Pokémon core series game whose legendary mascots can be captured in the post game instead of the main game, the first one being Pokémon Black Version 2 and Pokémon White Version 2.
- Information on these mainline games was revealed on February 27, 2019, also known as Pokémon Day around the world, as it was the date that the first Pokémon games hit store shelves in 1996.
- After five generations, the Poké Ball no longer serves as the handakuten in the Po (ポ) of "Poketto Monsutaa" (ポケットモンスター) in the Japanese logos. Additionally, "Poketto Monsutaa" is written in the style of the international logos of the franchise. The top stroke in the N (ン) is replaced with the Pokémon Gym logo, however.
- These are the first main-line games to:
- Have a wide open-world sandbox area, similar to the PokéPark game series.
- Have version-exclusive Gym Leaders that use different types.
- Feature a Dark-type Gym Leader.
- Not to feature "Town", "Village" or "City" in the name of places, but are mentioned as if they do in the games at times.
- Not feature a Victory Road.
- Not feature a named mountain.
- Not feature an Elite Four.
- A similar role is fulfilled by the Champion Cup, although no new characters are introduced at that point in the game.
- Not introduce a new dual-Normal-type Pokémon with Normal as its primary type.
- Not have the regional bird Pokémon be dual-type in its first and/or second stages.
- Introduce a Baby Pokémon since Generation IV.
- Introduce a Pokémon in the Erratic experience group since Generation IV.
- Have all of the Starters final evolutions mono-type since Generation II.
- Have paid additional content.
- Be an even numbered generation and not introduce a new evolution for Eevee.
- Have all locations in the region accessible before the game's post-game story.
- The Pokémon Company and Uniqlo once held a collaborative T-shirt design contest in May 2019 to select the designs of the champions as the player characters' outfits. Unfortunately, since both the champion and another contestant's designs had violated the contest rules, Uniqlo ultimately cancelled this project with the Pokémon Company.
- This is the first pair of Pokémon core series games whose region introduced the most rival characters with five.
- Sword and Shield were originally not going to have Pokémon roaming around, and instead only intended to have random encounters. However, after noticing how the feature of roaming Pokémon in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! was positively appealing to fans, they decided to implement it into this set of games.
Gallery
English logo of Pokémon Sword
English logo of Pokémon Shield
New Starter Pokémon in Sword and Shield
Grookey in the trailer
Scorbunny in the trailer
Sobble in the trailer
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f Nintendo UK Official Website - Pokémon Sword
- ^ Nintendo US Official Website - Pokémon Sword
- ^ South Korean bundle pack with the Expansion Passes
- ^ a b United States bundle pack with the Expansion Passes
- ^ United Kingdom bundle pack with the Expansion Passes
- ^ Canadian bundle pack with the Expansion Passes
- ^ Australian bundle pack with the Expansion Passes