Earlier today Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct focusing on the upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield and we learned a few new things about the next generation of Pokemon. First off, Pokemon Sword and Shield will launch globally on November 15th, two weeks before Thanksgiving, so don't be too surprised if this ends up going on sale on Black Friday. That wasn't the only thing we learned in the fifteen minute video.
If you've played Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee/Let's Go Pikachu, you'll be familiar with how you can walk around and see Pokemon out in the wild instead of in random encounters. That seems to be how encounters will work in Sword and Shield, but capturing Pokemon will be the traditional way of battling them and throwing a Pokeball at them as opposed to just throwing ball after ball like in Pokemon GO. We're also introduced to a few new Pokemon in the Galar region including Wooloo (a cute fluffy sheep), Gossifleur (the flowering Pokemon), Dreadnaw (the Bite Pokemon), and Corviknight (the Raven Pokemon). We also get our first glimpse at two new legendary Pokemon:
Routes seem to be a thing of the past and now we have Wild Areas between cities. Different Pokemon can appear depending on the current conditions of the day or night. Another new feature is Dynamxing. Dynamaxing Pokemon are giant Pokemon that have increased strength and can be used once in battle, but will revert back to it's normal size after three turns. You can connect with up to three other players in Wild Areas and four players can challenge Dynamax Pokemon in Max Raids. The raid Pokemon will keep its size throughout the entire battle, but only one of those trainers can Dynamax their Pokemon in that battle. Defeating the Dynamax Pokemon will give you the opportunity to capture it and some Pokemon can only be caught in Dynamax Raid Battles.
Check out today's Nintendo Direct to check out some of the new features and Pokemon for yourself.
