New Gigantamaxing Feature Revealed For Pokémon Sword And Shield

Pokémon Sword and Shield‘s suite of new features is growing bigger by the day. Since the two games’ initial announcement back in February, developer Game Freak had seemingly been reticent to show more beyond Generation 8’s starter Pokémon and the pair’s Galar Region setting. That long period of secrecy and silence was finally broken last month though via a deluge of new details provided at E3, some well received, others not so much.

Similarly to Z-Moves and Mega Evolutions from past entries, Sword and Shield are introducing their own headlining addition to the Pokémon formula in the form of Dynamaxing. Promoted by Game Freak as a game-changing system, triggering Dynamax in any Pokémon will spur rapid growth in physical size as well as bolster the affected ‘Mon’s strength and attacks. Every Pokédex entry in Sword and Shield has access to the mechanic, though as of today, there’s an even more powerful version of the feature that’s only available to a select few.

Because one size-altering transformation clearly isn’t enough, Game Freak has revealed in its latest information dispatch the inclusion of Gigantamaxing. As the utterly ridiculous name suggests, Gigantamaxing functions in much the same way as its precursor except for some key differences. Unlike Dynamaxed Pokémon, those of the gigantic variety also undergo a physical appearance change. What’s more, these “rare specimens” will have exclusive access to so-called G-Moves. Did we mention it was ridiculous?

So far, just three Pokémon – Drednaw, Corviknight and newcomer Alcremie – are confirmed as having access to Gigantamaxing, though only specific specimens (those caught via Max Raid Battles) will carry the trait.