Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield

Template:Infobox Game Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are the first new pair of games of Generation VIII. They take place in the Galar Region. The Starter Pokémon that are available are Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble.

Announced during a Pokémon Direct, this game will have a paid expansion pass.

Features

Similarly 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.
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 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 & Eevee.
The player can lure wild Pokémon from grass by whistling, as well as sneaking 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.
Bikes return after their absence in Sun & Moon and Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. They can now speed up and can ride on water, unlike previous games.
The Galar criminal organization is Team Yell.
Poké Jobs are being introduced.
Pokémon Camp, a feature similar to Pokémon-Amie and Pokémon Refresh, and Partner Play is being introduced.
Auto-save is being implemented in this generation. Players can switch off this function if they don't want 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. It is unknown if this can be turned off or not.
Tutorials can be skipped now.
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 now trade away your gift Pokémon.
Known as the Gym Challenge, Gyms that the player must battle with the goal of becoming the Champion will return to the games, after being replaced by trials in Pokémon Sun and Moon, 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 Pokédex and the listed "foreign" species can be transferred to Pokémon Sword and Shield. The list of compatible foreign species is expected to expand in conjunction with the Pokémon Sword and 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 migrated 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
Calyrex - psychic/grass
Zarude - dark/grass

Other new Pokémon

Galarian forms

Similarly to the Alolan forms in Sun and Moon, they have Regional variant in the Galar Region known as the Galarian forms. Galarian forms even has evolution of some of the Regional variant of Pokémon that is only exclusive to that type of Regional variant.

List of Galarian forms

Version Exclusive Pokémon

Sword

No.	Sprite	Pokémon	type
#068		Gigantamax Machamp
#083		Galarian Farfetch'd
#273		Seedot
#274		Nuzleaf
#275		Shiftry
#303		Mawile
#338		Solrock
#550		Red-Striped Basculin
#554		Galarian Darumaka
#555		Galarian Darmanitan
#559		Scraggy
#560		Scrafty
#574		Gothita
#575		Gothorita
#576		Gothitelle
#627		Rufflet
#628		Braviary
#633		Deino
#634		Zweilous
#635		Hydreigon
#684		Swirlix
#685		Slurpuff
#766		Passimian
#776		Turtonator
#782		Jangmo-o
#783		Hakamo-o
#784		Kommo-o
#839		Gigantamax Coalossal
#841		Flapple
#841		Gigantamax Flapple
#865		Sirfetch'd
#874		Stonjourner
#888		Zacian

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Shield

No.	Sprite	Pokémon	type
#077		Galarian Ponyta
#078		Galarian Rapidash
#094		Gigantamax Gengar
#131		Gigantamax Lapras
#222		Galarian Corsola
#246		Larvitar
#247		Pupitar
#248		Tyranitar
#270		Lotad
#271		Lombre
#272		Ludicolo
#302		Sableye
#337		Lunatone
#453		Croagunk
#454		Toxicroak
#550		Blue-Striped Basculin
#577		Solosis
#578		Duosion
#579		Reuniclus
#629		Vullaby
#630		Mandibuzz
#682		Spritzee
#683		Aromatisse
#704		Goomy
#705		Sliggoo
#706		Goodra
#765		Oranguru
#780		Drampa
#842		Appletun
#842		Gigantamax Appletun
#864		Cursola
#875		Eiscue
#889		Zamazenta

Wild male Indeedee is exclusive to Pokémon Sword, while wild female Indeedee is exclusive to Pokémon Shield. However, both genders can be obtained in either game through breeding.
Wild male Meowstic is exclusive to Pokémon Sword, while wild female Meowstic is exclusive to Pokémon Shield. However, both genders can be obtained by evolving Espurr of the appropriate gender.
Wild Sawk is exclusive to Pokémon Sword, while wild Throh is exclusive to Pokémon Shield. However, there is an in-game trade on Circhester where the player can trade a Vanillish to obtain Throh^Sw/Sawk^Sh.

Trivia

This is the second pair of Pokémon core series games whose region is based on Europe, the first being Pokémon X and Y (France).
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 Monsutā" (ポケットモンスター) in the Japanese logos. Additionally, "Poketto Monsutā" 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" and "City" in the name of places.
- Not to feature a Victory Road.
- Not to feature a named mountain.
- Not to 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 released on a home console.
- Be an even numbered generation and not introduce a new evolution for Eevee
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 halted 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.

Gallery

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