Well, we finally got some solid information on the long-awaited next entry in the Pokémon series! It's now got a name; Pokémon Sword & Shield will be releasing this year (thank goodness) and we've got a breakdown below of the trailer from today's Pokémon Direct. Let's have a closer look at the details of the trailer...
Things kick off in a picturesque little village that looks to be your starting area from the number on the sign...
Nestled in amongst the fields and parochial little walls is the town's Pokémon stadium. The new style of Pokémon Gym, or something new?
We then zoom in on an attractive little house to meet our trainer(s), who not only gets to live in this lovely abode, but also has a pretty swish telly in their room. Kids these days...
We then cut to the female trainer outside the house looking very chic in a bobble beret and boots, and ready for a Pokémon-based adventure with her all-important backpack.
Next we get a couple of location shots showing off the best looking Pokémon environments we've seen thus far in the series. Hardly groundbreaking, but still lovely.
We then cut to our male trainer jogging into the stadium. While the wheelbarrow on the left is fairly self-explanatory, what do those symbols on the right signify?
Another couple of shots of the female trainer follow, this time skulking in the long grass. What's that!?
Not a clue who this could be:
Wild PIKACHU appeared! Our trainer throws out a Minccino who gives the Pikachu an ungentlemanly whack.
Next up the trainer catches a Wishiwashi.
Female trainer jogs up to an opponent and begins a battle:
We then cut to a montage of familiar 'mon, including Grubbin, a Flygon and Braviary battling, and a Wailmer fighting a Meowstic:
After a brief cut back to what appears to be the trainer's house with a Munchlax inside...
... we jump into a stadium battle between a Lucario and Tyranitar. Plenty of familiar faces in this new game, then.
We then get a little showcase of some of the environments we have in store, including a snowy town square, a mine and hillside with what appear to be chalk figures - clues to pick apart, no doubt:
The camera then moves around the trainers showcasing the changing locations behind them:
We then see the trainer preparing and walking out through the tunnel into the stadium:
That's it for gameplay footage - the rest was a pre-rendered clip introducing the three new starter Pokémon: Scorbunny, Sobble and Grookey.
From the brickwork of an old clock tower the camera whip pans to a little fiery critter running up the edge of a cog on the side of a building:
We see a close up of its foot leaving flaming trails with each step:
The creature then jumps into the sunlight before dropping fast and sliding along the grass for its reveal. Meet Scorbunny, the fire-type starter!
The rabbit hops away leaving burning footprints in the grass that are mysteriously extinguished...
From a nearby fountain, a camouflaged... something douses the flames.
Its 'cloak' drops and we see the face of Sobble, the newest water-type Pokémon, squirting water from its mouth:
The timid tadpole-esque creature wiggles out of the fountain and onto the grass for the money shot...
... before being scared off by a loud banging sound.
The little green body is hitting a rock with a stick but it runs away before we see its face, climbing up the nearby building until it gets to the top and we meet the monkeying grass-type Grookey!
Time for the logo reveal: Pokémon Sword and Shield! Check out those wolves!
We then find out a little more information about the lovely new region. It's called Galar and we get a good look at the different environments it offers:
We're then properly introduced to the starters by name:
And finally, the Direct rounded out with that all-important worldwide release window!
Aaaaaaand breathe. What do you think of the three new starters? How do they compare to the last seven generations? Let us know all your impressions of the region and the everything else in the comments below.
Comments 81
It'd be kinda weird if the water starter ended up being another frog. We already have 2 frog base starters and Greninja wasnt that long ago. Curious what Sobble will end up being.
Also he reminds me of the Chao from sonic
I like that Bunny. 😀
Sobble was pretty cute, but i prefer Ice Pokemons and cool looking Water Pokemons. 😏
I have to say, im really hyped about this game.
I'm so pleased with the visuals!!
@The-Chosen-one You'll be sick of hearing about it by the time it comes out.
the game looks good.
the new starters look boring.
It looks good but I'm hoping you're able to explore a lot more if they're adding bigger towns. I don't want three streets with some scenery and then they call it a "sprawling metropolis" However it seems very promising.
-it's a shame we're not having our Pokémon follow us though, I was hoping that was here to stay!
Has everyone notice there is no home console in the bedroom this time round, like in every other game?
Not sure why people seem so critical about the visual style elsewhere. The environments look pretty stunning for a Pokemon game. Check out the atmosphere in that forest! It's actually nicer looking than I thought it would be.
The character models are pretty decent as well. A proper evolution of what we got in S/M.
The only thing I'm not thrilled with is the starters, which look... kind of samey? I do like the fire starter, though.
@TF-Warrior Game engine not final.
@Gravitron I feel like I've only sen people call the water starter another frog family, but nothing about it being an old world chameleon, even though it did camouflage, and it has those same little chameleon branch holding hook hands. Also the grass starter looks like a pre-evolution line of passimian to me. I wonder what the final evolutions are gonna look like though.
@TF-Warrior He’s got his Switch in his backpack
Calling the wolves at the top of the logo referring to my football team Wolverhampton wanderers or wolves for short LOL
Seriously I love the name of the region, though its gotta be a combination of the words gallant (or gallantry) and Valor.
@dartmonkey Should he be leaving the dock at home instead of in his backpack, I pretty sure he won't be needing that.
@TF-Warrior I take my dock with me in case I meet up with friends and wanna play some multiplayer on a tv!
Guess I’ll lean towards Grookey for now. They all seem sorta generic to me, hopefully one of their evolutions stand out. But when all else fails, I tend to default to grass.
I think the starters look to childish I mean you could've put like a bit more detail and passion into these starters. I still like these starters though. I just hope they turn into something awesome. (not to big or small) .......One thing is- where are all the new Pokemon or are they just giving us new starters- Or just waiting for more trailers to show us more Pokemon.
Donald Duck feels left out right about now 😂
"For the money shot" lol classic
Game looks gorgeous. Even better than I was expecting.
A proper step up to home consoles here. Nothing against Let’s Go. Those games looked nice and clean, but this looks a step beyond. The colors are amazing.
I just want them to reveal more Pokémon already now that we’ve seen the starters lol
@Gravitron Sobble is a lizard so it seems unlikely he will evolve into a frog!
@TF-Warrior
"Has everyone notice there is no home console in the bedroom this time round, like in every other game?"
Psst...
I stole his Nintendo Switch to get the leak of Pokemon Gen 8 information. 😆
@Anti-Matter Your jokes. Stop.
@justin233
I was joking LOL
I'm gonna pick Scorbunny because when it evolves it becomes Big Chungus
Curious to see what teardrop shape or motif that Sobble will undoubtedly take on.
It looks lovely. However it’s not for me, I have never been able to get into the Pokemon games for some reason, on paper it ticks all the boxes of things I like but the gameplay has just never grabbed me.
https://secondnexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Pokemon-Switch-Leak.png
Pretty amazing that the one fake pokemon leak got the fire bunny starter correct
Galar seems... Scottish, I suppose.
@adamatsu it would be pretty cool if he ended up being a Water Dragon. The grass starters final evo is probably the easiest to guess. I could see the bunny turning dark at some point. The old trickster rabbit trope
@ummyeahnintendo the fire starters are the easiest to guess because they follow the animals of the zodiac. All that's missing now is Snake,Horse, Goat/Sheep and Ox. Horse will be challenging because we already have Rapidash
I am tired of monkeys. X/
Also this game seems slightly less colorful compared to pokemon lets go pikachu and eevee. Kinda sad :/ i liked the way those games looked visually.
These games are a day one pick up for me. Even though deep down I was wanting a xenoblade chronicles 2 style game
@Charlie_Girl
i agree the starter pokemons didnt grab me, so ill catch a Pikachu after lol 😂
Day one pick up for me, but the visuals don’t look any better than let’s go.. also no open world it seems. Hope it’s not as linear as it looks. Not overly hyped but not let down either
@Gravitron water dragon would be very cool!!
Really don't like these designs, which worries me, as I've adored the designs of at least 2 of the Starters of every Gen so far up to now... I'll wait 'til the last evolutions to make a final decision though.
The biggest thing that I wanted to know about it was how the combat worked, but nothing was said about it. Are they using the same turn based formula as previous games or will we be able to actually control the pokemon (somewhat like pokken tournament)?
Sobble is adorable! Game looks really great so far, cant wait to see more.
@JaxonH are you for real? Do you need glasses? The graphics are lame and barely a step up from let's go.
@Anti-Matter you are not the least bit funny or insightful. STOP.
@Gzeus88
If by lame you mean my vision works correctly, then yes.
Take a look junior, either you’re blind or willfully ignorant.
note credit to Ralizah for contributing to the pics, which make it abundantly clear just how amazing this game looks and how much more detailed everything is compared to past entries
This might be Nintendo's least impressive game visually so far. It honestly just looks like an upccaled version of Sun and Moon. It's a hardpass for me.
@VHSGLITCH Dude you are constantly bashing him in the comments, at least he is actually talking about the topic. Lay off.
Lovely screen shots. This news has made my Wednesday!
I'm admittedly not completely sold on the designs of the starters, so I think their evolutionary lines will decide it for me.
I'm pretty hyped up for this game. The visuals are good in my opinion.
Can't wait to see more!
@adamatsu I feel like it's a strong possibility. There are only 2 other Water/Dragons.(Palkia and Kingdra)
Looks exactly how I thought it might look.
Very happy with this. Very happy with the basic, not over the top starters too.
Already pre-ordered
@Starburst bug off and stalk someone else, kid.
Chungus or bust
By the look of the visuals Galar has got to be based on the UK, I assume?
@Ralizah It is a hell of a lot better than Let's Go anyway, but that would not have been difficult.
@JaxonH And it's still early content. The visuals will continue to improve.
This looks amazing, broooooo
@JaxonH The visual differences really are night and day between Sword/Shield and every other main series Pokemon game.
The map of the island makes progress look super linear, bit more of a concern than the improved graphics that people don't play the game for in the first place
"hey guys we made it look way better but the gameplay still isn't fun" is way more of an xbox thing to do - hope this is much closer to let's go in gameplay than sun/moon/their upgraded counterparts
@VHSGLITCH Nah fam, im gunna tag you every time you comment something that I don't 100% agree with. Maybe you'll realize how annoying you are then.
Let's keep this comments section friendly. Take the flame wars to YouTube
I'm probably going with Sobble, but I wanna know their final typings before I make any decisions. The last few games, I've been doing mono-type runs. Sun was Water, Ultra Moon was Ghost, and Let's Go Pikachu was Poison, and I still need to play through White 2, where I'll probably do Fighting. I won't necessary use a starter (Let's Go is obviously without Pikachu), but there's a good chance I'll pick the starter with a secondary type I haven't use that there are enough wild Pokemon to build a team with.
It does look really pretty. By Pokemon standards, it definitely looks incredible, certainly the best looking Pokemon game yet. However, by any other standard it looks pretty middle-of-the-road. So many textures are quite low-quality, and the inclusion of random encounters is definitely a step back from Let's Go. Games like Dragon Quest XI and Persona 5 have definitely raised the bar for what a turn-based RPG could (and should) be in 2019. However, I'm still quite interested, and I'm looking forward to seeing more gameplay/trailers. I'm more interested in Sword/Shield than I was in the Let's Go games at the very least!
@Gravitron I mean sobble is clearly a chameleon so....
I love the presentation! I already preordered my copy and going to name my scorbunny V-mon! This is going to be soo good!
@JaxonH
Sword/Shield is definitely using the same engine and character animations as Sun/Moon, but the increase in detail and effects between this and Sun/Moon running on Citra is pretty stark.
Things can obviously be improved as Sword/Shield far from the best-looking Switch game out there, but the artstyle really makes up for some of the technical shortcomings IMO.
@westman98
I actually dont think the animations are the same. Look at the trainers walking down the steps. It looks so fluid and natural. Dont remember that in the 3DS games.
Also, the video shows the trainer crouching and slowly sneaking through the grass, also something I dont recall from 3DS. Even the running animation looks better.
Not sure about the engine, but I dont think engines matter all that much as long as it's a good one. Capcom made Monster Hunter World in MT Framework, the same engine they made all the 3DS Monster Hunter entries, Dragons Dogma and a number of other games.
@hirokun I kept seeing it referenced as tadpole-like so I went straight to frog. I see that its a chameleon now. I'm saying it turns into some sweet looking chameleon dragon thing. Water Dragon is a very rare typing it would make sense.
@JaxonH
These are the same BATTLE animations as before, clearly. Some old animations are still the same like the trainer battle exclamation mark and trainer walking.
The crouching and sneaking is exactly the same as Ruby Shaphire Gen 3 remake on the 3DS.
@Benexcelsior
I don’t doubt some are the same, but things looked a lot more stiff and rigid in the previous games. They may have walked and they may have crouched but it didn’t seem to be this smooth and natural looking.
That said, what matters is that they look good. Which... they do. So whether they’re the same or not is, kind of irrelevant. It just means they did a fantastic job animating in previous games.
I am so freaking excited for this! Love the cell shaded graphics! Loved Sun/Moon gameplay but always hated that low resolution screen, so this is so nice to see.
Yeah..... this is nowhere near "just updated Sun/Moon" graphics or similar nonsense people are saying. It's a shame people have to lie to downplay games they don't like.
The male trainer design is, as is tradition at this point, totally bland. But the female design is pleasantly cute. Though I really hope they bring back the ability to change outfits and please not just reskins of the same clothing.
I like the new starter designs but am holding back on my choice because the last 2 gens I really loved the Fire type base forms for hated their final forms. On the reverse in gen 7 I didn't like the base water type, but liked its final. And we all know that gen 6 only had one starter type, the king: Greninja!
I love the look of the region, like a mix of the UK with some German spice. Lots of industrial looking buildings mixed with those beautiful wheat fields!
Graphically it isn't terribly impressive, but I have no issues with it either. It looks good enough. A little bummed Pokemon don't follow you anymore, but let's face it, that would be another 800+ models for them to make. It is probably just not practical.
Yoshi preordered, Animal Crossing coming and now this: It is a good time to be a Nintendo fan! I tried to pre order at the store, but they told me to come back in a few days. This is definitely a pre order day one pick up.
@Mykillvee they may have not revealed that yet, but I’d bet my life it’s still turn based battles
@Ralizah I think you basically pointed out why people think the graphics suck yourself .
'The environments look pretty stunning for a Pokemon game'. -
The graphics look pretty decent for a Pokémon game'. This. If this was not a Pokémon game, the graphics would be considered poor. Only because the graphics of previous Pokémon games were quite blend and boring (even comparing ultra sun and moon with what other 3d games on the 3ds could do), do we feel that what we saw with sword and shield were good. As most people have pointed out, this looks like a HD engine of ultra sun and moon, which might have been acceptable for the WiiU, but is a bit let down for the Switch.
'It's actually nicer looking than I thought it would be.' - to be honest, this shows that your expectations of the game's graphics were quite low to think like that.
'The character models are pretty decent as well. A proper evolution of what we got in S/M.' - You said it man. They only look decent. And an evolution of S/M, an evolution of a handheld non-HD game. While I would agree with you that their models look decent, their faces look extremely plastic and lifeless.
Given the quality of the graphics of the many other 3D open world games available on the switch, it would be hard pressed to be impressed or even satisfied by what we saw.
But whatever, I'm still going to buy the game and Game Freak knows that millions are still are despite our complaints.
@ap0001 I agree about the map. Looks about as linear as it can get. Ugh.....
@JaxonH
wow tnx for sharing these pictures, made me love this Gem even more.
It looks like random battles are making a return, which I always found to be a drag. Too bad.
@Gravitron I’m really hoping they go full-on axolotl to be honest.
The fact the location is based on Britain makes it so much more interesting to me. And I like how they've got beyond just the obvious stuff like Big Ben, they've got stuff based on the ancient hillside drawings.
If I have to pick a starter, not knowing its evolutions, I'd pick Scorbunny. Which fits in with my overall trend towards the fire starter for most generations. The only two exceptions being Rowlet and Totodile.
That being said, this is one of those generations where I don't feel strongly about any of the starters. I'm hoping they redeem themselves with their evolutions.
The starter that appeals most to me is the water type, Sobble. I was so amazed by Froakie and it’s evolutions in X and Y, so maybe that’s why I think Sobble looks so promising. I’m kind of hoping that it will have a cool second type eventually.
Scorbunny looks like it might evolve into something that’s fire and fight. I really hope that isn’t the case. That’s been done enough to fire starters right now.
@JaxonH amazing is an overstatement. The graphics are not much of a step up and its hilarious some folk are trying to suggest the game looks amazing.
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