Poll: Pokémon Sword And Shield Are Out Today, Which Version Are You Getting?

I will be getting neither

I hope all of you enjoy the game, it's been a blast so far!

I will be waiting for the inevitable 3rd variant, or ultimate edition.

Taking a break for some dinner, but I've been enjoying it so far. It's Pokemon, in HD, on Switch. It's pretty much what I asked for.

I caught 5 new Pokemon before I even got the dex. Say what you will, that's a heck of a nice bit of variety right off the bat!

I choose Pokemon SWORD ! 😀⚔️

Steel case double one for me. Yet to decide what main one is going be

Getting both because one has SteelCase and one has Coin. So I plan to get two separate order to see what happens.

Shield for sure! Need myself that candyfloss Ponya.

I pre-order Sword on a deal but then saw all of the good version exclusive pokes are in Shield, bugger.

Pokémon Swerve for me.

Yeh, that's right, I used Swerve, and it was ****ing effective!

I have both and both are great!! ^.^

I getting neither...

That's because I already bought a Dual Pack 11 hours ago where I live!

Getting the double pack with the gold steelbook cover!

I will not be purchasing either version, and I feel the need to let NintendoLife know about it.

Neither for me but maybe in the future when they’re a whole lot cheaper.

I'll be getting Sword once the holidays are over; I only have so much money and Christmas shopping takes priority. The wait will be excruciating.

I was thinking if there were a pattern or a theme in the differences between versions... Is there any reason some people always pick the first or the second one?
I guess the first (Sword in this case) tends to sell more but that's it??
Anyway, preferred Zacian but some of the exclusives of Shield were better... Oh well... But Sword it is I think

I collected mine (Shield) and my son's (Sword) coping earlier. Can't wait until after work to play.

@Heavyarms55 Yeah I'm only an hour in but I'm loving all the new Pokemon that I've seen already! It's great that so many of them weren't announced beforehand too (shame there were leaks but I managed to avoid those)

This game is Just beautiful!
Its pokemon but in HD love the graphics love the gameplay. Great work gamefreak!

3.8 on Metacritic and all the flak they've gotten? Hard pass. Not even Death Stranding did that poorly and people made video essays on why that game was bad for 3 years.

@sikthvash what do you think the name will be?

Pokémon banner?
Pokémon breastplate?
Pokémon helmet?
Pokémon battlehorse?

@Heavyarms55 This. Judging from critic reviews overall, Sword and Shield are the best the series has to offer. If you're looking for Pokemon, but in HD, this is it.

Will wait for Sharp Sword & Durable Shield editions, bored of Pokemon series.

Shield, because I like Shields more, the legendary seems more legit than one you can deprive of his sword, cotton candy ponytas, and my offense oriented friend is gettint Sword.

@YourGoodFriendly, a 36/100 is expected given the pre-launch outrage. Even if the game turned out to be fantastic. These are day 1 user reviews, so they will be dominated by people out to punish the devs. You left out the critic reviews giving it 81/100, and you did not wait for the game to be out long enough for most people to actually play through it.

@Friendly They'll prob go with Pokemon Gauntlet - it will focus on the ghost types and will feature haunted armour =0p

@SirlyWhirly I watched someone play through it. It's a short game.

There are critics who gave Fallout 76 a score over 90/100. That game is legitimately painful to play and doesn't deserve anything higher than a 20. People's opinions aren't worth more just because they use affiliate links.

Don't make or take this personally. It's a product, not a person.

@sikthvash
Amen.

Both because I have clearly no clue on what's going on.

Urgent question: is the corgi in both?

My pre-order should arrive any minute. I choose Sword because...

I WILL CUT A PATH TO GALAR'S NEW DAWN!

sorry...

Neither, at first. I'm enjoying Luigi's Mansion 3, then some of my backlog before I pick up one of these.

I'll pick it up at a later date. Crash Team Racing has kept me busy, plus I need to play Mario & Sonic 2020 Olympics and make some Mario Maker levels.

Shield version. Seems decent, so far. Very pretty, and looks way nicer in portable mode than Let's Go did.

Swords are cooler than shields so.... I'm taking a swing of Sword

Not a Pokémon fan. The people complaining about Game Freak are probably the ones who buy Call of Duty yearly. I haven’t noticed anything in this game series since it made the jump to 3D on the 3DS.

Stopping by GameStop after my trip to the mall to pick up my double pack and Incineroar amiibo

My son wants Sword for Xmas, so I'll probably end up getting that one.

@Rika_Yoshitake
How can you enjoy it? Didn't you get the memo? These games are crap!🧐

I panned on playing sword today, but DHL decided otherwise.
"shipping error".

I grabbed Sword.

I prefer Shield’s exclusive gym leader, and I prefer almost every Shield exclusive pokémon over the Sword exclusive ones.

Yet, I will 100% go for Sword because Sirfetch’d!

I'm not buying another Pokemon game until Game Freak gets off their lazy butts and moves the series forward, instead of rehashing the same garbage for every entry.

First new generation of pokemon games I'm not getting at launch in a while. I don't think the games look terrible, I just have way too many games in my backlog at the moment and not enough time to play through them all. The controversy over Sword and Shield doesn't help either. I'll be keeping an eye on the games and potentially ill pick then up down the road.

Anyways, hope everyone enjoys Pokemon day!

None.
Yesterday's deal on Evoland was a bargain, though. So I could say I have bought an RPG, after all!

I got both. I started Shield last night (parts of Canada are 3 hours ahead of me so i was able to switch time zones and download it a few hours before midnight). Played about an hour and I really like it so far. There's a little too much dialogue to start, but it's not unbearable.

@SirlyWhirly I've heard sun and moon has been the peak thus far.

@Mr_Muscle Honestly that's why I picked up Digimon Cyber Slueth. A more mature pokemon/SMT styled game with a more mature theme and deeper combat mechanics. Yes please!

@Friendly
Definitely Breastpaté

@Chunkboi79 Don't tempt me!

Got the double pack and both single editions so I now have all 3 tins and sold off the single editions in CEX and made back exactly what I paid for the double pack so basically got the 2 extra tins for free 👌

@progx The Call of Duty dig is way out of style, you might need to update your firmware

@Mr_Muscle Honestly, I would pick it up on Amazon right now. It's 40 bucks for the complete edition that comes with two totally different games.

@Mr_Muscle In the world of video games right now, it’s par for the course.

@Chunkboi79 I'm looking into it, definitely! Thanks for the recommendation!

Shield 🛡️🛡️🛡️ It has the cute little Galar Ponyta and the Gigantamax version of Corviknight 😊😊😊 But first I'm finishing Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth.

!Nope! Nope! Nope!

@KIRO Yes, Yamper is in both and available within 10mins

With my flooded backlog, I have to skip out getting this for now which is a 1st for me.

If I didn’t have a list to complete, I’ll pick Shield since I nearly always pick the second name of the 2 versions since 1998. The one exception is Pokémon diamond and that’s because diamond is my birthstone and I prefer time over space.

None of them for now. Maybe later if i want to play an RPG but I have many games in my list before arriving at Pokemon.

Shield because everyone I know got sword and someone got to get those versions exclusives!

Tons of people in the comments who think it's cool to hate on GameFreak without playing the game and giving constructive feedback...

@Digitamamon64,

Why?, not a big Pokemon fan I am guessing.

Canceled my Shield preorder... Going to wait since I have a large backlog and till reviews even out. Hope everyone enjoys their games though!

@johnvboy
Actually the contrary... I'm a Pokemon nerd. I own and have played every gen prior to this one. I own more merchandise than I care to admit. It doesn't sit right with me that Gamefreak publicly stated that they removed the national dex because they were upping the animations and models. It has been revealed that they are indeed using the same exact models by people digging into the code. Some new animations are admittedly badass, like scorbunny's final form, but the older moves were ripped right from the 3DS. I can't see how this is not a lie. As a consumer, I don't like being lied to. I've also heard the post game is minimal, performance isn't great and it's still pretty easy. Combine these with a bigger price tag... No thanks. The yearly cycle is definitely killing them. I feel bad for the devs. At the end of the day though, it's just a game. I've had my rant, but these people sending death threats and other stupid stuff is ridiculous.
Sorry for the wall of text, but here's your answer haha

Got sword for myself and shield for the misses, so far so good, nickit is my favorite so far

Pokemon Shield here!

Sounds like a number of people are enjoying them, so kudos, however...

I won't be getting either, for numerous reasons I've listed before(virtually none of my favorites being available, barely a post game, not enough interest in the new dynamax battles, I won't be able to enjoy raids it seems, etc.).

I mayyyy consider my original interest in Shield when the games finally get discounted(which ain't happening for a loooong while obviously), but $60 in its current state? Nawww.

I’ve always stuck with the “red” line in the series. When black and white came out I got White because that’s what was available used at the time and I hadn’t played it for years at that point. It wasn’t until Alpha Sapphire came out that I got sucked back in and have been playing every one in the series since. :: large inhale ::

Hey, you asked!

Too bogged down with other Switch games to buy this right now. Witcher 3, Fire Emblem: Three houses, Link's Awakening, and Astral Chain. Then there's the Xbox One X and PS4 pro games. Gonna have to wait.

Sword, mostly influenced by the spotlighted wolf thing.

If anyone wants to add me up for trades, battles etc feel free to....
7382-9625-0802

Jedi Fallen Order is taking all priority this instant and its fantastic so far
Honestly well done to EA/Respawn

3 Swords and 2 Shields in my house.

I've never been torn over a game in my life, lol. The pokemaniac in me wants to dive right in. The other part of me doesn't want to be saddled with a mediocre experience, no matter my affection for Pokemon. And my affection is huge

Getting both. My kids want Sword and I want Shield. I just have to wait until Thursday to get it though since I just got my Switch Lite Pokémon edition this week and have no money left this week to get it

@Roibeard64 I wanted that one too but my wallet is not reggie for it... so got sword instead

@AstralSoul13 Oh I am not implying I know for a fact it is. There just doesn't seem to be a real consensus one way or another. Or more accurately, the barometer at which many are judging the game is all over the place. I mean, the series has always had its flaws. But is this just the usual case with this game or are there some real issues that make it hard to justify dropping $60.00. I guess what I am saying it was much easier to drop $40 or wait for a sale for the 3DS games than it is for $60.00

And the other thing is the content added versus the content cut in relation to the price. Does the content added in the game equal or justify all of the sacrifices? I've come to terms with the NDex issue. I can overlook some of the other gripes if some of the added content makes up for it. Is there a substantial postgame?

Bought them both for £45 in Nectar points as Sainsbury's double up offer is on. Then traded them at CEX for £80 cash. Nice little mark up there with £35 profit. Even collected the Gold Points.

After 'Let's Go' I have no desire to play another Pokemon game unless it gets a full on BOTW style overhaul in the future.

@playstation_king for some reason it took 5 pokeballs for me to catch that cheeky little mon.

Shield bros, unite!

I tend to make my choice on Pokémon game based on which cover legendary I like and Sheild’s legendary I liked more.

@UmbreonsPapa easiest thing to do is buy it from shopto.net for 43 and if you hate it that much sell it to CEX. They are giving 40 cash at the moment. I'm personally enjoying it.

None, I used to be a Pokemon fan, but I've grown tired of the series.

Neither for the sheer fact that these games severely disappoint me. My days as a Pokémon trainer might be over.

I'll probably go back to playing the first 5 gens again if I want my Pokémon fill. I loved each and every one of those.

@Digitamamon64 they didn't lie, because using 3DS models on Switch doesn't work without heavy modifications. Switch is not backwards compatible with 3DS. They literally rebuilt the models and animations to be mostly identical to how they were - and seeing as how they were really good for the most part, that's not a bad thing.

People "digging into the code" are drawing incorrect conclusions due to a lack of knowledge of how game development works, and spreading that ignorance.

Any actual criticism of the game itself is valid of course, but you weren't lied to.

Sword, for now, but will get Shield as well in the future.

Can't wait to get home today so I can play...more Rocket League!

No way I'm getting any of these. I'll wait for the definitive edition next year, if it has a lot of improvements.
I'm not supporting the laziness, having so many awesome games to play instead.

@Ashunera84
I'm curious then, what was the point of "Future proofing" the models if it's still significant work to do all of this?

As I occasionally style my life on The Diceman, I will throw aforementioned die, and...
1. Purchase Sword on physical
2. Complain bitterly about the game online
3. Get both, keeping them sealed for my Pokemon collection
4. Purchase Shield on digital
5. Buy Emerald for some retro fun
6. Get the Pokemon themed Lite console.

@sikthvash Pokémon Spear

i will take neither , i did no like a lot of thing of the games , i don't excuses their laziness, and the thing about the SD card just bring the final drop in the mix.

Got sword delivered at 12:30 pm and started work at 1pm until 10pm, stuck in work until then, cant wait to get home to play sword, hope its good, considering the critics in the comments section.

@Digitamamon64,

Get em and have some fun, I know they could be better but I will have some fun with it, plus with the nature of Nintendo's evergreen titles I will not lose that much when I come to sell it.

Playing Sword now. Great fun so far!

I want to play WoW

give me that sword I LOVE SWORDS!!!

I really don't get why there's so many haters, the game is fun much better than Sun and moon, the wild area alone gives you hours upon hours to work through.

The fact that it's divided into many zones, each zone has different weather every day (real life) and which pokemon are in each zone vary depending on the weather, and there's 7-8 different weather types all bringing different pokemon.

Then there's the Raid battles which there are 1-2 in each zone which reset every day. Depending on how many gym badges you have changes the star rating of the raid battles increasing the difficulty and fighting against better pokemon, at the start you will be doing 1 star raids which are mostly first evolution pokemon ranging from level 15-19.

Also each raid battle rewards you with a one use TM called a TR, of usually a strong move. For example I just did a ghastly raid and got a Shadow Ball TR, so this gives people reason to farm raids every day.

Also depending on how many badges you have, there's some pokemon you can't catch in the wild area at first, at first you can't catch pokemon over level 20 until you have the first badge, then over 30 after the second badge etc

So there's really already a tonne to do just in the wild area that makes the games worth it alone

My first 'mon since Black & White. Arriving today. Weekend planned.

I'm sitting this entry out. I'm sure it's good and I hope that it does well and everyone who's playing enjoys it, but I'm kind of jaded on the series at this point and will probably just stick with some of the older games I already have for now.

I'm going to get Pokémon Shield after the holidays. I still have to finish a few games and I'll have exams in a few weeks.

I like the Shield legendary better and I need a certain version exclusive on my team (that was leaked) really enjoying the atmosphere so far of the game

Bought them both from Sainsbury's for £45 using the double up necter points promotion, sold them to cex for £80, good profit and 2 fingers up to the whiners.

I traded in some old games and used that to order Pokemon Sword. Looking forward to playing next week 😁 time to decide between Grookey or Sobble....

I have both in my GameFly Q. So whatever they ship first.

@Friendly One doesn't need to play the game to know that Game Freak lied.

I’m getting Shield but if I don’t get it for Christmas, I will buy it myself in January. I just have to hold out until then.

Picking up sword later today. Two of my friends have shield so the choice was fairly obvious. I just need to catch three each of the version exclusives and trade!

@YourGoodFriendly Death Stranding is actually good. Idk why people review bombed it.

@Ashunera84
The main criticism though was they were supposed to be "new" models not just sun/moon copy and pasted. To me the lack of Legacy Pokemon is perplexing. Surely with an actual console version of Pokemon they have much more memory to work with so having access to the full Pokemon world should've been a given.

@Trajan But it was controversial, as though it appealed to Kojima fans and people who liked slow burning stories, it did NOT appeal to very casual action players who expected a more fast paced experience. People who bought into the hype for the sake of hype.

Because of this, I find it to be a good baseline on how controversial games should be judged, or rather, how we can expect them to be received on sites like Metacritic. A legit good game with a review bomb controversy will look like Death Stranding. Though I am 100% aware a great deal of SwSH's reviews are false, to the extent they reach, I feel they are not ALL false, and I think the game fell short in many areas.

If a game is constantly made out by toxic people to be bad for almost half a decade, and tons of people say it's bad on release, a game really has flaws if it does worse.

Shield. It was going to be Sword at first. I like the look of the sword wolf better. But that cotton candy Ponyta I’m a sucker for. It might just make up for not getting to have Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite. Maybe.

I preordered both, but technically Shield is for me and Sword is a surprise present for my SO, who really enjoyed playing Let’s Go on my console last year and has recently bought his own Switch.

I got Shield, my copy will arrive in a bit.

Lol at all the haters. Almost 3000 votes, almost 3000 sales. That's a serious flop right there

It never felt so satisfying to buy a game. Sword for me.

Got shield. Always try to get the less popular one. Loving it.

I ordered Shield, but amazon decided to send me Sword instead. Not sure which choice I should choose in the poll, lol

@sikthvash Ditto (lol) It'll probably be something called Pokémon Mace or Lance 🤣 by that time there'll hopefully be a better choice of Switch Lite designs or, even better, an updated Switch (like the Wii U was to the Wii)

....oh,and an updated OS with themes and Streetpass please😌🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾

I got both Sword and Shield but I'm waiting for the damn kids to get off the Switches so I can have a go. I could be wating awhile

I picked up Sword. Really enjoying it.

@Friendly
Pokemon Crossbow! And Applin will be the cover pokemon, with an arrow through it.

@Digitamamon64 It’s probably best that you’re stepping away then. Nobody likes to feel like they are being lied to. That being said, not everyone feels the same way. For myself, this checks all the boxes and I got it day one. Hopefully next generation improvements can be made to get fans like you back, but even if they don’t, it doesn’t diminish the passion you already put into the series.

I'm a sad baby who is mad that my toys don't match my platonic ideals. So of course I'm buying both but angrily telling the internet it's neither.

@Pojos98 One can only hope they even care to regain the interest of fans such as myself and @Digitamamon64 back.

Pokémon used to be -the- first party game, particularly the core entries, that caught my attention if nothing else, so it's pretty saddening to see the first home console experience(which at first was a dream come true) botched pretty badly imo.

I immediately wanted Shield upon reveal and then that just went up in smoke after all the drama surrounding the games. :/

I truly hope they aren't joshing us when it comes to the potential of our favorite pokés coming back. Doesn't seem like a guarantee it'll be anytime soon judging by their s'posed logic of 'it has to fit the theme of x region'.

@sikthvash Haven't they more or less done away with that the last few years, since they have gone to yearly releases of either a new gen or a remake?

Got shield. Love it. Not in love with the graphics.

@BlackTalon2 I like that! The first legendary ghost-only Pokémon

@Lalivero
Honestly curious, but do you always let social media influence you so much? Will you really not even try the game yourself? Just trying to get into the mindset of one who judges from afar.

@rallydefault Mind me asking wth you're referring to? By "drama" I'm referring to my own personal gripes that have become confirmed over time...idk where you got social media having any kinda bearing. Then again, funny how you use the phrase 'who judges from afar'... 👀

To answer your other question though, I've already said I have no interest in trying the game outside of a discount, mainly due to the lack of pokémon I care about making the cut.

@Lalivero
Yea, the "drama" was what I assumed meant social media because, er...that's where the drama is lol

Anyway, if you're not using social media to "confirm" your "personal gripes," as you say, what are you using?

(I realize that pretty much any post on the internet will be judging from afar, so eh... got me? lol)

@rallydefault Yep, I got you on that one, ha. I've actually learned a number of things from a close friend offline who has kept some tabs on the games. Ofc I've checked things out online(I mean here I am on the soap opera as of late known as NLife xD) but, as far as that online "drama"(ie the crazy arguing by those for/against the game), I meant you implying that I use it as some sorta ultimate say on what I get/don't get.

Trust me, I have a number of random games in my collection that have hardly had a word said about them online and some that have reviewed poorly 😂, so I wouldn't really agree on the social media having a huge bearing bit. 🤷🏾‍♂️

While I am sad @ the games, I'm not of the same crowd that is calling for the games to be banned, threatening GF, justifying the extreme scores, and all that craziness, so I'd rather not be lumped with them.

@Lalivero
Makes sense, makes sense.

I don't have the energy to keep up with the social media stuff lol I pretty much saw whatever NL ran with big headlines.

I have a nephew who has always really been into Pokémon, so I get info from him. But even he is a little turned off by the new ones, so I'm really questioning if I wanna buy it. I played the first games a lot, but then hardly touched Pokémon until X/Y. So I'm not diehard, but I do like the premise and a good rpg every now and then. Stuff that turns other people off like the shared exp is actually a plus for me. I don't see an issue with the graphics, either, but that's just me.

I wish they would put a demo out for it like they did for Let's Go.

@Roronoa11Here's hoping we get those much needed updates!
I miss Streetpass - loved going away to new places and gathering loads of puzzle pieces and alike ^_^

@rallydefault They do seem kinda bare as far as landscapes(from what I've seen) but I'll admit that what's there looks very pretty. I've never been one to care about graphics as long as a game isn't 'ugly', ya know? I mean look at Ys Viii graphically...yet that is one of my favorite games on Switch to date!

And I agree about a demo. I bet even a lot of 'haters' would've downloaded that even if they had no intention on buying the actual games. 😆

@sikthvash I miss Streetpass a lot! I literally had a set route of locations in town that I would do a quick run by in my free time to collect my hits. 😆😆☠️ It was a neat lil incentive to be out and about.

I'm pretty sure I completed every single Streetpass game and puzzle, too, last I checked. Except for that frickin fish minigame where I'm peeved off I'm still missing one last rare one... >_>

Whether one gets it or not that's your choice. As to getting cheaper keep looking with the holiday coming it won't get any cheaper. They know people will look for this and they know full well not to reduce the price to maximise their profit. You think you know but sadly you don't.

@johnvboy
Eventually I might, but they'd need a decent discount. I personally can't justify spending $60 on these. Knowing Pokemon games and discounts though... I wouldn't be surprised if I never get them.