During a Pokémon Direct presentation today, Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, announced Pokémon Swordand Pokémon Shield, the newest additions to the main series of Pokémon role-playing video games. Developed by GAME FREAK inc., Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield will be launching late 2019 exclusively on the Nintendo Switch system.
The Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield games take place in the Galar region. Galar is an expansive region with diverse environments— an idyllic countryside, contemporary cities, thick forest, and craggy, snow-covered mountains. The people and the Pokémon who live there work together closely to develop the industries in the region. Fans will have the opportunity to visit various Gyms in the Galar region in their quest to become Champion. They will not be alone, since the newly discovered Pokémon they choose to be their first partner will be by their side.
“Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are the latest exciting adventures in the Pokémon video game journey that began twenty-three years ago on this day,” said Mr. Ishihara. “Since then, Trainers around the world have discovered new Pokémon, engaged in epic battles, and made countless memories along the way. We look forward to continuing this journey by exploring a stunning new region in the Pokémon universe when the games launch later this year on Nintendo Switch.”
The adventure begins in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield when players choose one of three new Pokémon—Grookey, Scorbunny, or Sobble. Grookey, a Grass-type Chimp Pokémon, is mischievous and full of boundless curiosity. Bursting with energy, Scorbunny, a Fire-type Rabbit Pokémon, is always running about. The stealthy Sobble, a Water-type Water Lizard Pokémon, shoots out attacks as it hides itself in water.
Source: The Pokemon Company
Looks good, I can’t wait till it comes out.
Yes I am very excited for this game
Interesting map. Seems more linear than usual.
Well it is somewhat linear in that it’s shape is long and thin but as every Pokémon game has had you following fixed routes I don’t see how it can be more linear in its structure?
I do believe they are referring to the landmass itself, as I agree with them. Compared to regions like Sinnoh and Unova, this one looks very streamlined.
It’s impossible for me to go back to a pokemon game with random encounters. Skipping.
Yeah it is a shame. Blame all the people crying about them not being in Let’s Go that are afraid of change.
Pretty sure that’s the only thing in Let’s Go that wasn’t controversial.
yes, because if you dont like a mechanic in something, thats you being afraid of change
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
This was only a short direct to introduce the new game and starters, they might reveal random encounters being gone in a longer direct later in the year. Plus, there’s E3 as well.
So don’t lose hope just yet.
Actually nevermind, I just rewatched the trailer and they are bringing back random encounters. (Don’t know how I missed it the first time lol)
But, to be fair, they would’ve gotten a lot of complaints from veteran Pokemon players if they excluded random encounters. We all know how they reacted to Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee.
Since I skipped Sun and Moon and LG Pikachu and LG Eevee, if I were to dive back into Pokemon with this gen, I’d just be getting back into what I’ve only known of the series.
Someone on Kinda FUnny pointed out there’s no follower pokemon either :(
It was probably Tim. That nerd knows way too much about Pokemon lol
Looks great to me, really liked what I saw. I’m glad they kept their word and didn’t include any of the Let’s Go features, to be completely honest. Super relieved to see them stick to the random wild encounter formula, the lack of it was a big reason why I didn’t buy the Let’s Go games. Grinding levels and training my team in the wild grass is a big part of the fun in Pokemon games to me personally, so it would have been a huge let-down for me if they had dropped that feature for good.
Really looking forward to this, it’s been a while since the last time I was excited for a new Pokemon game.
If you are a Grookey main, like this post
If you’re a Sobble main, like THIS post!
The best member of the DK crew
Nah, Sobble’s where it’s at.
Grookey is trash. 🗑️
Eh. I’m going with the fire rabbit as my first & main starter. So if anyone agrees, I guess like this post. lol What’s the worst that can happen with anotehr fire starter?
*flashbacks to all the fire starters that either were fire/fighting types in their final evolution or looked like a fighting type (Incineroar) in their final evolution*
“What’s the worst that can happen with anotehr fire starter?”
I see what you did there
– Church of Sasori
Why do you always have to describe what you are thinking or doing?
Example: “stares at …”, “Flasbacks to…”
My early days of internet usage was mostly role playing crap & having fun in chat like systems with friends. Y’know, like playing pretend. So it’s stuck with me ever since. It’s my way of having a little fun on the internet.
I’m going with the monkey pokemon.
This looks awesome. I cant wait to hear people crying about how they want pokemon to cater to them hahahahha
Personally, I think I’m done with Pokemon. However I must say, good job on keeping the series going.
Digimon is all but dead, But Pokemon just keeps on ticking.
Digimon is actually going on strong. They have new anime and new games constantly. But yea pokemon is more commercially successful and more well known
Actually, Digimon is still around. Its just not that major overseas. The Cyber sleuth games are doing well enough and they not that long ago announced Digimon Survive with a world wide release for this year.
Then there was Digimon tri a few years back. (Fuck! I still haven’t watched the other episodes of that!)
Oh that’s right, the show too. Thanks Ridley.
Ok, now I need to catch up on Digimon.
If you like tactical games, look into Digimon Survive, it looks to have a very dark story.
Think of it as Digimon meets Fire Emblem.
This looks pretty good! Wish I could have learned more about it than 7 minutes!
Sun & Moon in HD, is that you!? Yeah, not impressed. Looks like GameFreak once again taking the cheaper, lazier route & sticking with the same old engine but in HD. Not surprised, though. Can’t expect GameFreak to change their ways over the course of just one year after their first home console Pokemon game. I hope these games are priced accordingly because they still look like 40 dollar games to me.
If Pokemon Let’s Go was full price, then there’s no doubt Pokemon Sword and Shield will be too unfortunately.
No shit its gonna be full price
Why wouldn’t it be?
Why are you so angry? lol
Maybe he’s angry I’m not abiding by the law of the Thought Police: you can’t have a different opinion to us as it’s against our law as you must be like us & agree with us and if you don’t, you are this or that.
Because it still looks like a 3DS game but with slightly bigger backgrounds.
Just gotta wait, they still have nearly the whole year to polish the game.
Remember how Three Houses looked at the E3 Reveal? Yeah, fucking shit.
Look at it now – less shit
I’d like to end up being wrong with my current opinion with the little information I have to go on at this moment, so we’ll see.
lol, don’t we all sometimes? :)
We will possibly get a E-3 demo gameplay of the game soon.
+Overlord Infinite Ridley
How in the hell is this “lazy”? They designed a whole new region, created new Pokemon, brought over every last Pokemon from the previous generations, and why the heck would they change the engine? Pokemon’s Gameplay is fine, you don’t need a super-good engine for a turn-based RPG. As for the price tag, it’s too early to bring that to the table, you don’t even know what else they have in store for us.
Talk about jumping the gun.
Lazy BECAUSE they are sticking with the same old engine. Their old engine isn’t built for open world or even an actual battlefield for Pokemon to fight on like in the anime where they can actually run around. If you think they are gonna have those things in the game by the end of the year & be a vast improvement on what we’ve seen in that direct, hahaha! Sorry but GameFreak has ALWAYS been AA at best. It’s gonna be the same old, same old where the opposing Pokemon are both standing on opposite sides of the battlefield throughout the battle & not once move from that single spot. Not to mention all the Pokemon are gonna be stuck to only a few animations for tons of moves. In fact, once again, GameFreak doesn’t look like it’ll be bringing back the ability to have a Pokemon following directly behind you on the field, either. You can call it “jumping the gun” but I’m calling it as I see it and what I see is laziness with the way battles & the overworld work.
I will admit they aren’t lazy when it comes to making a new region, new Pokemon, bringing old Pokemon back, making new moves, bringing old moves back, changing the animation for how moves like Thunder are done but they are being lazy with the things I mentioned. You’re welcome to disagree but I’m not changing my current opinion til I see more as the game nears it’s release. But as I said above, I don’t expect a huge change from now til then because this is GameFreak.
To Overlord Infinite Ridley, I’d like to offer a counterargument to the “laziness” thing regarding battles.
Let’s say they do build a new engine so that battles can mirror those seen in the anime, with the Pokemon running, jumping, attacking, etc. That would mean EVERY Pokemon would need extensive animations for all of those actions, and with there now being almost 1000 creatures, that would be a ton of work. Granted, some Pokemon might not need such animations (some water-types and non-terrestrial Pokemon float when on land, such as Sharpedo, so they wouldn’t need walking/running animations per se), but for the ones that have limbs, especially multiple, that requires a lot of animation and rigging. Stuff like this is part of why other games with lots of characters take a long time, like Smash Bros. Think of any fighter from that game. Now think of all the animations they have to make for that one fighter: standing/idle, walking, running, jumping, midair jumping, swimming, falling, hitstun, every manner of their attacks, Final Smashes, grabbing, being grabbed, etc… If you had to do that with almost 1000 Pokemon, it would take a ridiculous amount of time.
The other limitation is data. Games are getting bigger and bigger, and require more and more data to have every required file fit within the program. Look at Red Dead Redemption II; that game requires over 100GB of memory for the base game. I doubt anyone would be happy with a Pokemon game that needed that much storage, especially on a system that only has a 32 gig internal hard drive from the get-go. I believe a Pokemon game with a large region, deep and interconnected battle systems, and so many animations per Pokemon would not be able to be squeezed down into something that could fit on a Switch game card- let alone a downloadable file on the eShop- without there being extreme cuts elsewhere, even with Nintendo’s compression wizards giving their best efforts.
You have your own opinion and I understand that, but I thought I’d offer a realistic approach to why what you expect from Pokemon isn’t here… yet.
Thank you. An explanation as to why my opinion is a bit unfair. I concede the battlefield part. In hindsight, maybe GameFreak might be regretting the decision in making so many Pokemon over the years. lol
Perhaps, but when a new Pokemon game is made, what’s the most attention-grabbing feature besides new Pokemon? I personally can’t think of any.
Good point.
Anyway, with a better system, it could be possible to give all Pokemon their own animations for a battlefield like I described without having to redo all of them for the next entry. Of course, a new engine would DEFINITELY have to be made because I highly doubt the current engine is sufficient. And it’d take more than just GameFreak’s usual 3 year development time to pull it off.
I know some will utterly HATE this idea but streaming could streamline (I think I’m using the right term) the process & take off a huge load for the system as most of the data would be stored on a server at home base. With that, all they would need to work on from that point forward when it came to Pokemon animations is animations for the new Pokemon while migrating the rest from the previous build. Or however that kind of stuff would be done.
@OverlordInfiniteRiley don’t forget how all the pokemon still make garbled Game Boy midi chirps instead of having actual voices and saying their names.
Actually, I hate how they say their names in the anime. I prefer the animal noises they make in the games instead, so that’s one change the games DON’T need to do.
+Andrew Geczy
This is just my personal opinion but I would hate it if they removed the original cries.
I can tolerate Pikachu because it is the mascot but all the other Pokemon cries are fine, not to mention some of the anime voices are so cringey.
And, just in case you think it, no I am not a genwunner, I’ve actually never played any Pokemon games before Generation 3 and I love the modern Pokemon games.
The game looks much improved over let’s go so I’m not sure wt more your expecting. The switch does not have the power of the other two consoles. If you take a look at the environments they are pretty much as detailed as they can get on the current hardware especially considering the amount of pokemon that they have had to include within the game each with different animations. I am very happy with how it looks graphically, the only thing I wish they could change are the fixed camera angles.
Just saw your reply to the other message. Yea they aren’t going for a battle system like that. It’s not because their lazy but their keeping the traditional battle mechanics because of the deep meta that they have already established for the mainline series. Creating a whole new battle system would make it a different Pokemon game altogether and is something they do usually with spinoffs. Most of the fanbase would not appreciate that for a mainline Pokemon game although personally I feel it would be a great move. Sounds like you want something like ni no Kuni or the new yokai watch.
Nope. I’m sticking with my “they are just lazy” opinion. Or they are scared to try anything different. Which is odd since Pokemon is also a Nintendo property & Nintendo doesn’t seem to have an issue with trying something new yet GameFreak is sticking to the same old formula. These people are allowed to disagree with my opinion but I’m sticking to it all the same.
And I know the Switch isn’t as strong as PS4 & Xbox One BUT it is stronger than the n3DS yet I don’t see too big of a leap from even that system.
+Overlord Infinite Ridley
No offense but if you’re sticking with the “Lazy” opinion, that just makes you a close-minded person.
As the other 2 people on this thread have shown, there is literally no reason the current formula needs to change. You don’t see Smash Bros, Mario, Tekken, Mario Kart, and so on changing their formulas, why? Because they work and the same goes for Pokemon. All they do is merely build on what we already have.
Also, just from reading your replies, you obviously don’t know how modelling works. I actually have experience in 3D Modelling and you can’t just create a new engine and it magically creates the rigs models need. Besides, why should they fix what ain’t broken? Main Series Pokemon, at it’s roots, is a Turn-Based RPG and people love it for it, why would Gamefreak go through all that un-needed work when the current formula is still beloved by many?
Also, with your “Nintendo Switch being more powerful” argument, again, just because the system is more powerful doesn’t magically give the models the rigging they need for what you want.
Honestly, it seems to me you don’t see the difference between being lazy and expecting way too much.
This might shock you but it is possible to be lazy while still doing a lot of other work. Re-read my last paragraph in my response to you & you’ll see I mentioned how they aren’t lazy with the new stuff but are lazy with some of the old stuff. And I do know how modeling works. I know it’s not all “snap of the fingers” & it happens. I know it takes actual time, energy, & money and that’s my point. They don’t want to put forth that time, energy, & money because they want to get Pokemon games out within a short period of time, so they can make money off all of us that are so quick to buy the next Pokemon game in spite of how outdated & stuck in tradition the series is in. There were people like you decrying change for Legend of Zelda, too, yet BotW is one of the best Zelda games ever made because they broke away from what was tradition for over 15 years. But there are also plenty of people like me that want Pokemon to evolve. If you’re happy with being stuck in the early-2000s of Pokemon, that’s cool. But others aren’t. So see? I’m not as stupid as you seem to be trying to make me out to be with your “You just don’t know how 3D modeling works! You seem to think it just magically happens!”
+Overlord Infinite Ridley
I would hardly call an entire year a “short span of time”. And for the record, Zelda BOTW went back to it’s roots, not take an entirely new approach. Zelda BOTW is very much like the original Zelda which was, you guessed it, all about exploration and gameplay without much story so actually no, Zelda BOTW didn’t “break tradition”, it just went back to how it used to be. Also, I have no clue why you said I wanted this, I don’t ever recall saying Zelda needs to change it’s approach, they could have made another game like Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword and I would still have purchased it. Yes I love Zelda BOTW, I think it’s a fantastic game, but I was never on the bandwagon of people demanding that Zelda changes it’s approach. Another thing; Zelda is actually a bad comparison to Pokemon anyway, Zelda games are known for being build from scratch and considering everytime you only play as 1 character, you know as opposed to OVER 900 CREATURES, it makes it a lot easier for the developers to change the formula.
Moving back to Pokemon, what you are asking for is just downright ridiculous, Pokemon was never created to be an Action-RPG, it was created to be a series where players could catch these little critters and battle with them in a turn-based setting. It was also created to emphasize multiplayer, if they had gone down the Action RPG route, it would have drastically cut down the amount of Pokemon they would be able to include due to more time being needed for the existing Pokemon which, in turn, would make the game not suitable for the multiplayer experience they were trying to visualize. It’s called “Pocket Monsters” for a reason, it’s a game that promotes multiplayer and gives people reasons to band together, if the game only had around 20 Pokemon, the charm would die very quickly.
Besides, all this talk of 3D Modelling is a moot point anyway, as I already said, why should Pokemon go into the Action-RPG genre? We already have a ton of those on the market as is and if you want a Pokemon game that’s all about the action, play Pokken Tournament.
Gamefreak isn’t “lazy with the old stuff”, they are using common sense. Mainline Pokemon games have always been turn-based and they sell like hotcakes, if you had a formula that is proven to make you a ton of money, why the fudge would you change it? Sure, if Pokemon was dropping in sales and everyone was begging for a new take, then it would make sense to go ahead with it but it’s not, people still love Pokemon as it is, in fact I would argue that changing it to an Action-RPG would piss off more people than make people happy, especially right now due to Pokemon’s reception taking abit of a nose-dive thanks to Pokemon LG and Pokemon USUM.
Obviously there’s always going to be people like yourself that would like the series to change which is fine, it is subjective after all, but just because they don’t doesn’t mean you get to call them “lazy”, at that point you just end up looking like a spoiled brat.
BotW wasn’t a return to basics. The only basic thing that returned was the open world format. Everything else was an evolution & a break away from the tradition set by Link to the Past. If you think it’s a pure return to basics, maybe you should replay the original Legend of Zelda & then replay BotW to see the MASSIVE differences between the two.
As for the Pokemon stuff, we’ll just have to agree to disagree. You have your opinion and I have mine. Maybe one day GameFreak will evolve it’s own company & prove us both wrong. You with your “Pokemon doesn’t need to evolve” opinion & me with my “GameFreak is lazy & cheap” opinion.
+Overlord Infinite Ridley
Zelda BOTW was a return to the original, it’s just that because that game was made far later than the original, they had plenty of room to add in new things on top of the base formula like multiple weapons, side-quests, and various power ups. In fact, in a video series where the makers of Zelda BOTW were talking about the game’s development, they even used a test build for the game that was exactly like the original Zelda. Another thing as well, Zelda The Wind Waker was also another game that returned to basics, while that game did have a story, they did place a strong emphasis on exploration and gameplay so if anything, Zelda has never had a “tradition”, it’s always been trying new ways. I actually remember back when Zelda Twilight Princess came out and there was a gathering of fans that were very angry about it because “It wasn’t like Wind Waker”.
And for the record; I never said I didn’t want Pokemon to evolve, I just don’t feel it needs to evolve in the way you’re proposing. For me, they can carry on adding on to what they already have. Think about this; What is the main thing people think about when a new generation is coming? The Pokemon of course. And what’s more Gamefreak have even taken other steps in recent years to further evolve the series such as Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Forme Changes, Regional Variants, and so on. We can agree to disagree if you want but I still think it’s asinine to call them lazy.
This will look great in HD once we have it in our hands.
Of course you get the usual whiners who just want this graphically intense Pokemon game instead of a Pokemon game. I’m excited for it, ignoring the whiny cry babies who seem to only hate every new Pokemon game because its tradition at this point.
reach into barrels much?
Just another loser on the internet telling people to think the way they do & if you don’t think the way they do than you are just a crybaby, a racist, an incel, a misogynist, a homophobe, blah, blah fucking blah! Fucking Thought Police! You see these same losers defending Ghostbusters 2016, Captain Marvel, Rotten Tomatoes current bullshit. These people need to go back to Twitter with the rest of the trash.
Oh crud! I forgot to mention the bullshit that Disney is doing with Star Wars!
I’m not a very political person, but I do agree with you. A lot of the media is censoring shit just because people are “offended.” Oh no, how dare we offend someone over a fucking movie. Also, if you don’t like something, like Ghostbusters ’16 and Captain Marvel, you are automatically labeled a misogynist or sexist. It’s complete bullshit and people are eating it up and adopting the same mentality the media is feeding into their minds.
Wait, what’s wrong with Captain Marvel?
Brie Larson’s comments, Rotten Tomatoes bullshit with pulling the “not interested” option in the “Want to See/Not Interested” poll (sure they pulled it from ALL movies but it feels a little suspect that they pulled it around the same time Captain Marvel’s “Want to See/Not Interested” poll showed up), and the in your face marketing of the female lead. Yeah, we get it! It’s the first female led Marvel film! I didn’t see Wonder Woman beating people over the head with “Look! It’s a woman!”
+Overlord Infinite Ridley
I actually love how someone criticizes you for your narrow-minded comment and yet your response turns into a massive rant about Political Correctness. For the record, I actually agree with you, PC Culture is horrible and does ruin a lot of good franchises but that has absolutely nothing to do with this. Hell, Chris didn’t even tell you how to think and yet here you claiming it so, that’s actually something an NPC would do.
Thought Police come in all forms. From PC Culture people to corporate shills shooting down negative opinions with terms like “crybabies.” He may not have done it directly but the overused term of crybaby in regards to people having a negative opinion says otherwise. If I’m mistaken & he’s referring to the people using hateful terms & not people like me with a few legitimate criticisms, I’ll gladly take back my “he’s just another loser Thought Cop” on the internet.
Your point?.
It’s time for the shield hero to rise once again!
Ah, a The Rising of the Shield Hero reference which is that thing some SJWs are flipping their shit over.
well the starters are at least tolerable.
oh well, i’ll just go back to alpha sapphire, soul-silver, yellow and blue version for my pkmn action.
graphically it looks great, to bad its ONLY for Switch.
And if Sword & Shield don’t measure up, I can always stick with Ultra Sun on my n3DS. :D
don’t measure up to my expectations, I can*
Yeah its more suitable if you ask me.
I know Nintendo Switch doesn’t have a mic but this game better have a voice chat feature from X and Y.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYLGdzZ5XkA
I wouldn’t hold my breath, dude.
Oh
Disappointing region layout. Whatever happened to Pokémon games letting you explore?
Hopefully the town we live in will be somewhere in the center of the region & we can actually choose which way we want to go & the levels of wild Pokemon & Pokemon trainers will rise & fall depending on which path you take first, creating a semi-open world. I guess I could forgive the corridor design of the overall world outside of towns (not by much) if this ends up being the case.
As cool as that would be, judging by the Galar region map, there’s a town at the very bottom that has buildings similar to the player’s house in the trailer.
I mean, even if it is the starting town, I’m sure there would be plenty of places to explore along the way. They wouldn’t just make the player literally travel in a straight line with little to no exploration, right? ……………….r-right?
Depends on how much time, money, & energy they spent developing the overworld & not just the snazzy little backgrounds that are out of reach of being explored. (I swear. If the layout of the world is horrible, I’m gonna be even LOUDER with my “GameFreak is cheap & lazy” opinion.)
It’s about time. Finally, a traditional Pokemon game in HD. I have to say I really was expecting more in terms of visuals. But, it still looks pretty. Nothing too new and crazy. It looks like, well, another Pokemon game.
I didn’t get to play Let’s Go. But, that’s fine because this suits me more. Haven’t been with these games since Omega Ruby, which was great too. It was a nice break I had, but I’ll be glad to return with either of these.
did you try out the game?
Grunty here and I’m all for cheer, once you battle online you will fear.
I’ll get shield with the grass starter unless further details change my mind.
Maaaybe I’ll get back into Pokemon again with this one. I felt burned out before I finished Pokemon Y so I skipped Sun/Moon, Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, and LG Pikachu and LG Eevee, and I’m retired from Pokemon GO for personal reasons, but it might be time to become a trainer again with Sword/Shield.
If anything, I’ll get the grass starter this time since I almost always got the water starter in every other game (the exception was Chimchar in gen 4).