As our first Galar stadium demo battle began – our on-screen character stepping into the crowded arena to a roar of cheers – the ground was quite literally shaking beneath our feet.
No, that’s not a metaphor. Thanks to the subwoofers installed in our station at Nintendo’s E3 booth, and the more realistic ambient sounds being used in Pokémon Sword and Shield, we truly experienced an entirely new level of HD rumble during our demo – making us eager to install our own impressive sound systems at home before the game's launch on November 15th.
The rumbling intensified as our opponent’s Drednaw Dynamaxed before our eyes – which, we can tell you, was much more impressive during live gameplay than we’d previously thought. From here, we were given the standard options to “fight” or switch out our Pokémon (of which we could select any of the starters, as well as Wooloo, Corviknight or Yamper). However, there was also a third, tantalizingly glowing pink option to use “Dynamax” – which we selected immediately, like an obedient Wooloo.
In the excitement of the moment, we forgot the fact that Dynamax can only be used once per battle – and will only last for three turns. Alas, we blew up the Sobble we had in play, and missed the opportunity to use it on the more interesting Yamper or Wooloo in our party. The lesson to be taken from this is to ensure you use your Dynamax power wisely in every battle. And frankly, the wisest decision is often to just create a giant electric corgi.
The lesson to be taken from this is to ensure you use your Dynamax power wisely in every battle
When you do choose to Dynamax your Pokémon, be sure to take full advantage of your power in a timely fashion, before you find yourself shrinking again – while still up against an opponent ten times your size. Not that this happened to us, honest. Just take our word for it.
If you’re lucky enough to have a Yamper in your party, you’re likely to be redeemed no matter the choices you make in battle. According to its Pokédex entry: “If the Pokémon is not holding an item, it will fetch the Poke Ball from the first failed throw of the battle.” Thank you for that, Game Freak. In addition, while this electric-type corgi may be cute, it can definitely be powerful in battle.
The entire demo itself involved working our way through the new water-type gym, which belongs to the second official gym leader to be revealed so far – Nessa. For many fans, she is an exciting addition to the Sword and Shield line-up; along with Leon and Hop, she represents broader diversity in the games, and the inclusion of more characters with darker skin than previously seen in other entries to the series.
In the gym, we were tasked with a standard switch-based puzzle system, where jets of water had to be turned on and off in order to progress – while, of course, battling a few easy-to-beat trainers along the way. However, adding Dynamax to the mix in the final battle with Nessa truly did introduce a new, more challenging element to the gameplay which we look forward to using more strategically in the full versions.
Other than this, the demo was quite limited, and showcased much of what we’ve seen in the Directs so far. Things such as menus and items were suspended for preview purposes, so exploration of the game’s inner workings was not accessible. Many of the controls were similar to the Let’s Go games, and the gameplay itself felt very similar as we moved around the gym. Although we didn’t get a chance to try out how the Poké Ball Plus will interact with the games, it’ll definitely be interesting to see how that feature plays out in the full games.
All in all, the more we see of Sword and Shield and the new features being made available, the more excited we are to get our hands on the full versions of these games – particularly to explore the vast new region and see the other new Pokémon still in store for us. November can’t come soon enough.
What do you think of the gameplay seen so far for Sword and Shield? Are you looking forward to trying Dynamax battles out for yourself? Let us know in the comments below.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 42
I, for one, think Dynamax looks like a hoot.
Become Giant ?
Cool !
I’m still reeling from the announcement that some of my Pokémon are going to get left behind this generation. Kind of turns me off to this game. Shame, too. I was otherwise super excited.
I’m excited for this one. I was never into Pokémon until my kids got into it. It’s a blast talking Pokémon with them.
@thesilverbrick it's because of the year long quarantine all pokemon must go through. There hasn't been a single case of pokemon rabies on the island and they'd like to keep it that way.
I was not too keen on dynamax when it was first revealed but it's starting to grow on me (no pun intended). They give the fights some epic/cinematic feel to it
"Has us SHAKEN." Jeez, that's appalling grammar.
I'm not feeling this dynamax gimmick. It only sounds like "Use Z moves freely for 3 turns" and we know Z moves were terrible. Mega Evolution, while Digimon-y, was way more fun
GameFreak has me wanted to skip my summer, bummer
I've seen people saying this has been confirmed to replace Mega evolution and Z-moves but I couldn't find the source for that claim. Could someone tell me where that tidbit comes from?
I liked this mechanic as soon as I saw it. Aside from the strategic uses, I just dig the spectacle of it. It's appealing in a way that Z-moves and mega-evolutions never were.
@thesilverbrick
I don't think you could complete the national dex in D/P or X/Y either. We had to wait for HG/SS and OR/AS respectively.
@Aurumonado
You could complete it in those games, but required transferring from the older entries in addition to whatever requirements there were for gaining access to the transfer function.
@ALazyUsername128
True but you couldn't transfer at launch in XY
@Aurumonado It’s not that. They’re not allowing certain Pokémon into the game at all. I don’t care if I can’t catch them all in a single game but I want to be able to at least import my entire collection post-game, and they’ve said you can’t do that with certain species anymore.
What I like most about Dynamax is that it doesn't seem to have the whole animations Z-moves had. Those really cut off the flow of battles for me.
That was Yahper ability, not it's Pokédex entry...
@Heavyarms55 I found the tidbit people were talking about its on the 21 minutes of pokemon sword and shield e3 gameplay video while they dont say its gone they did say it will replace Z moves and Mega evolution.
@Illusion Nah. You just gotta make sure your Pokemon have their extra rabies vaccines, full titers, paperwork proving everything, and that you did everything following the very specific regulations that have very specific timing.
Or maybe there isn't a licensed vaccine that covers those Pokemon. That could also prevent importation.
....... thinking about it, Pokemon Rabies would be actually quite terrifying......
@Nekonokatzen I want a T rated pokemon horror game to hunt down the rabid ones. Like Pokemon Snap. With guns. 🤣
"which we (...) immediately, like an obedient Wooloo" - this phrase sums up the hype around S&S quite nicely.
@Preposterous What? I like what I see so far. I'm very excited to get my hands on it. The "Wild Areas" look great and the leaks promise other great things. Can't wait until Gamefreak reveal even more new Pokemon.
I was soo hyped for this game, but no megas and I can't transfer my old pokemon? Welp, I won't buy the game although I really hope they fix this.
They should just say that the no-non-Galar-dex thing is a commentary on Brexit.
@thesilverbrick but didn’t the original Sun and Moon do the same thing? USUM had the full Pokédex, maybe they’re doing that again?
@NandN3ds Good for you. Just don't check the like to dislike ratio on the "Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield Gameplay - Nintendo Treehouse: Live | E3 2019" on youtube.
there will still be a hefty amount of Pokemon in this game with only 12 new announced and all the old Pokemon confirmed were already at 168 and im pretty sure we will get like around 80-90 new mon this game has me hyped i need november here asap i will be spending hours in the wild area
@Preposterous I was never much into collecting Pokemon anyway. I have a few Pokemon from Alpha Sapphire and Moon but nowhere near a complete Pokedex. None of this will effect me too much so It's not a big deal to me. Most everything else looks great so far.
@ShadJV Nope, Sun and Moon allowed you to transfer everything in once the Bank opened up. The news yesterday specifically said that certain species won’t be allowed into the game at all.
@thesilverbrick I'm kind of relieved they're paring back. I've always been one that tries to catch them all. Which makes every new release that much more work and less game. I know that's my own fault, but still.
@Coffee_Drinker That's not the most clear statement. It leaves open the possibility of Mega evolution and Z-moves returning in post game or DLC content, or in future games. Which I would like. I enjoyed both features. Even if the Z-move dances were corny, I liked the idea of a one shot more powerful move. And I liked the idea of certain Pokemon breaking their natural limits and evolving further. I don't dislike Dynamax, but I don't understand the idea yet. I imagine it will be explained in game.
@XBontendo As someone who has caught them all, I’m furious they’re forcing me to ditch my collection.
@thesilverbrick I've... honestely never thought about carrying over a collection of them. I've caught/traded for a full pokedex from scratch on every release until black/white where it became way too daunting of a task. I feel like your method is way less stressful.
@XBontendo It’s especially painful because they’re all EV trained, bred for IVs, Hidden Abilities and ideal movesets, plus hand raised to level 100. And now half of them are worthless.
Yep, still pretty hyped for these. I'd be fine if we never saw Z-Moves again and they were fully replaced by Dynamax. I'd kind of like Mega Evolutions to return though.
Just looks awful to me.
A really misguided turn for the series. Bigger equals better is not really what Pokemon is about. Nor is it really what England is about, which is where Galar seems to be based on.
A bad fit all round and an unnecessary inclusion for me.
They should have focused on including all Pokemon rather than making some of them giant.
@Illusion There's an awesome "Wolfenstein 3D" mod that kind of lets you do that called "Pokéstein 3D."
Can be Try Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu migrated to Pokemon Sword and Shield using Pokeball Plus Migration.
Can you Dynamax all your Pokemons or only the ones you have captured as Dynamaxed during the raids?
@thesilverbrick 90% Pokemon are worthless already (lovability and cuteness aside), maybe not if you play competitively in UU and NU, but most don't find a home in competitive formats. It is unfortunate that they can not be brought in, but for us competitive types I am happy the meta will not be bloated with legendaries and junk.
@TreeCoder I have played my fair share of competitive Pokémon, and one of my favorite things just trying to squeeze as much potential out of NU Pokémon. And that aside, the game is clearly not designed only for the competitive types. The series is meant to appeal to everyone, and cutting out Pokémon when the series finally is making its jump to HD and on a home console is just almost too disappointing to handle. I don’t buy their balancing excuses when the game was balanced enough in generation VII with over 800 Pokémon. The problem here is they rushed the development of this game. It’s suffering because they have to annualize the series for some reason, and Let’s Go took development time and resources away from this project.
@thesilverbrick touche, I guess I am hoping that competitiveness hidden in there somewhere, always dreaming... Here's to hoping the online provides a custom tournament feature and that there are at least some raids that require lvl 100 Pokemon and strategy to complete. My biggest dream are open gyms that are held and defended by actual players with custom teams of single type Pokemon.
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