After months of waiting since the last Direct back in February, we finally have new information on the upcoming Pokémon games Sword and Shield. The Direct included new Pokémon, battles, characters and special moves with information down below.
NEW POKEMON
Pokémon Sword and Shield Producer, Junichi Masuda and director, Shigeru Ohmori opened the Direct announcing the new games would show humans and Pokémon working together throughout the Galar Region.
Passing the show on to James Turner, art director at Gamefreak, we learned of five new Pokémon:
Wooloo – A sheep Pokémon with the abilities ‘Run Away’ and ‘Fluffy’ (Normal type).
Gossifleur – A flower Pokémon which looks like a blooming flower (Grass).
Eldegoss – Evolves from Gossifleur which looks like cotton fluff and has seeds embedded in it. Both Gossifleur and Eldegoss have a new ability called ‘Cotton Down’ which lowers the speed of an opponents Pokémon if hit by an attack (Grass).
Dreadnaw – A snapping turtle style Pokémon with the abilities ‘Strong Jaw’ and ‘Shell Armour’ (Water/Rock).
Corviknight – A majestic raven looking bird that is a ‘taxi’ for trainers and enables them to travel to areas of the game they have previously visited. (Flying/Steel).
Two legendary Pokémon were also revealed as the game’s mascots which were: Zacian (Sword) and Zamazenta (Shield) who both have features that imitate the games title with Zacian carrying a sword in its mouth and Zamazenta having a shield body.
Wild Area and Dynamax
Masuda and Ohmori informed viewers that the ‘wild area’ of the game which is where you will be in between towns and cities will be the main area for catching Pokémon. The difference here though is that there will be different Pokémon depending on where you are in the wild area and depending on the weather. This means no two days will be the same in the game giving you plenty of opportunity to catch Pokémon. You will have control over the game camera as well so when in this area you can use it to find Pokémon and items.
In certain areas of the Wild Area you will also encounter giant Pokémon otherwise known as ‘Dynamax’ Pokémon. Kazumasa Iwao, director at Gamefreak, explained that your own Pokémon will be able to use the special move Dynamax which you can use once per battle so must be chosen wisely. Pokémon moves will be boosted when in this mode and after three turns the Pokémon will return to normal size, but this mode is key to getting through the game, especially for capturing certain Pokémon.
In the game you can connect with three other players locally or through the internet as a means of taking on the Dynamax Pokémon which sound like raids in Pokémon GO and during the battle only one person can Dynamax.
Characters and Gyms
The games will feature gyms once again which were absent in generation 7 and this time gyms will be stadiums and Pokémon battles will be held in front of a packed out crowd and filmed on TV. The gym leaders will also have Dynamax Pokémon which will prove a real challenge. One gym leader that was identified was the grass type trainer, Milo and each gym is in a special location.
We also found out that Sword and Shield’s professor is called Professor Magnolia who studies Dynamax. Her daughter, Sonia, is her assistant at the lab. The champion in the game is called Leon who is an undefeated and admirable trainer who is adored by many and his younger brother, Hop, will be you rival in game.
The games are set to release globally November 15th so stay tuned for any further updates, especially from E3 next week.
Super hyped! Coop with friends sounds awesome in particular.
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I’m hoping that it doesn’t always require four people! Internet means that will be fine but then there’s a lack of discussion for who will use the special move!
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