The one-month countdown to Pokémon Sword and Shield‘s long-awaited launch starts now.
In 30 days, the Switch exclusive pair will arrive and officially commence the beginning of Generation 8 with a menagerie of new Pokémon for Trainers to catch, train and battle to their heart’s content. How many new entries Game Freak intends to update the Pokédex with is a topic still up for debate, however, as the developer has only revealed a handful of the creatures native to Sword and Shield‘s Galar region.
With multiple forms, evolutions and regional variants to account for, even the best estimates put forward by fans leave plenty of wiggle room, though that could all be about to change. As per Pokémon fansite Serebii, the studio has confirmed plans to unveil new details for the two games tomorrow, though in what format remains unclear. Usually, I’d go straight to the assumption that the information will be divulged via a trailer, but Game Freak has been unusually experimental with the reveals this time around.
Beginning with the appearance of a strange ‘glitched’ Pokémon online that ultimately turned out to be Sirfetch’d, other alternative hype-building exercises have been trialled in recent weeks, most notably via a 24-hour live stream that introduced fans to the rainbow-maned Galarian Ponyta.
Is tomorrow’s news intended to be yet another untraditional showcase? Who knows, but I’m inclined to believe that we’re in for a big reveal, largely due to the fact that Game Freak intends to hold a stream directly following the announcement. Taking into account the recent leaks sourced from Japanese magazine CoroCoro, it could well be the case that new footage of Sword and Shield‘s Wild Area will be demoed.
Whatever happens, we’ll be covering all of the developments as and when they come, so keep your eyes peeled.
Pokémon Sword and Shield are out November 15th for Nintendo Switch.
Published: Oct 15, 2019 11:10 am