The lack of a National Pokédex in Pokémon Sword and Shield remains a point of contention among fans of the series.
For the first time in its 20-year plus history, the mainline RPG titles will be ditching the system – which has traditionally allowed Trainers to catch, trade and transfer every ‘Mon in existence onto a single title – in order to make way for new ideas. Developer Game Freak has repeatedly reiterated the increasing difficulty of adding over 800+ Pokémon to each new Generation, having ultimately decided to cut the feature loose with this year’s Switch exclusives.
To say the blowback to its announcement has been overwhelmingly negative would be an understatement, but even despite the controversy, Sword and Shield certainly aren’t going to leave Pokéfans wanting for choice when forming their new squads next month.
In fact, according to recent speculation, the Galar region will be home to more than 500 Pokémon at launch, more than half the known species.
The ballpark figure comes from the unlikely source of a paperback National Dex published during the Sun and Moon era. As Reddit user Slusho55 notes, the encyclopedia has a total of 772 pages. By comparison, the official Galar Dex is said to have 448 pages in total; 61% of the former’s total page count. Taking that data at face value means that Sword and Shield would have around 500 critters at minimum, though there are several variables to consider.
Without access to the Galar Dex, it’s unclear how many Pokémon are featured on each individual page. If, like its National counterpart, two or three are presented on each, then the correlation lines up well. If not, then, well, then the theory loses weight. Not until Pokémon Sword and Shield arrive on November 15th will concrete figures be available but for now, at least, Galar certainly appears to be a region bustling with wildlife old and new.