With little more than a week standing between Pokémon fans and the release of Sword and Shield, the inevitable has happened.
Whether it be via retailers breaking street dates, review copies falling into the wrong hands or something else entirely, this year’s biggest Switch releases have found their way into the wild ahead of official launch. Unsurprisingly, some of those lucky few have wasted no time in leaking a large number of details concerning the Generation 8 titles. The first port of call? To reveal the entire Galar region’s Pokédex.
By now, those not concerned with spoilers will have undoubtedly scrawled through every new entry, discovering the likes of evil legendary Eternatus and the final forms of each starter Pokémon, but as we all know, not every critter from past installments is returning for the series’ latest outing.
Back in June, developer Game Freak confirmed that it wouldn’t be adding all 800+ Pokémon to the games, later clarifying that the decision was made in order to free up resources for new and innovative gameplay features. Agree or disagree: the choice has already been made and, thanks to the deluge of leaks, we now know the final roster.
See below for a handy checklist, courtesy of ResetEra:
Some rather startling omissions here, to say the least. First and foremost, Game Freak has taken the bold decision to cut all but a single starter Pokémon from previous generations. Iconic Gen 1 Fire-type Charizard (including Charmander and Charmeleon) is the only exception, a revelation that’ll assuredly reignite debates over favouritism. All of Sun & Moon‘s Ultra Beasts, as well as preexisting Legendaries, appear to have been cut too, with Mew notably the only one to survive the culling.
With such a massive chunk of characters missing, fans have flocked to social media to voice their outrage, with the Pokémon subreddit, in particular, going into total meltdown. Will the disquiet be enough to prompt a response from Game Freak? We’ll have to wait and see.
Pokémon Sword and Shield are out November 15th for Nintendo Switch.