Even since the early Red & Blue days, version exclusive Pokémon have been a mainstay of the series. There was a time, before the internet commenced global domination, of course, that the feature was intended as a means of promoting face-to-face trading between friends and owners of different versions but nowadays, fans often frown upon its inclusion as a nuisance more than a neat distinction.
Despite its archaic nature, however, Game Freak recently confirmed that Sword and Shield, like its predecessors, will continue on with the tradition, in turn revealing the first of likely several critters relegated to appearing in only one iteration of the Galar region. Sirfetch’d, the pure Fighting-type evolution of Gen 1 classic Farfetch’d, will be available only to owners of Pokémon Sword, though as of writing, the studio has yet to reveal its Shield counterpart.
Unsurprisingly, that lack of information has prompted a great deal of speculation among fans and ultimately given rise to an interesting theory.
We’ve known for some time now that Sword and Shield will have exclusive Gym Leaders akin to that of version-specific Pokémon. Those are the Fighting-type gym led by Bea (Sword) and the Ghost-type equivalent owned by Allister (Shield). What with Sirfetch’d being a Fighting-type, the running theory stipulates that Farfetch’d’s knightly evolution will be Bea’s signature Pokémon while Allister’s will be a yet-to-be-revealed Ghost.
Solid reasoning, to be sure, and if accurate, it means Shield owners will have a Galarian Ghost-type to call their own. Assuming Game Freak maintains parity between both games as it so often does, could it be that Galarian Gengar is next-in-line to be revealed? The mischievous spirit, alongside its Gastly and Haunter pre-evolutions, are the only ‘Mons of their kind from Generation 1, meaning if the developer wants both exclusives to be from the Gen 1 era, the trio is the only option.
With any luck, we won’t have to wait long to find out the answer. Next month, the developer is holding a 24-hour live stream for Pokémon Sword and Shield that’s sure to be packed with new reveals. Watch this space for more.
