Update (Tue 14th Jan, 2020 10:15 GMT): As a quick reminder, the Gigantamax Meowth distribution in Pokémon Sword and Shield ends on 15th January. If you've purchased the game, make sure to claim this special Pokémon via the Mystery Gift menu in-game.
Further details can be found below in our original article.
Original Article (Sun 17th Nov, 2019 02:30 GMT): To help you on your adventure in the Galar Region, there's currently a special Meowth up for grabs via the Mystery Gift option in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
This free Pokémon is an early access bonus and is available from now until 15th January next year. To obtain this limited-time pocket monster, you'll obviously need a copy of the game and access to the internet. From there, all you have to do is select the 'Get via Internet' option in the 'Mystery Gift' section of the game menu.
This isn't just any old Meowth. It's not a Galarian one, either. This is an original Kantonian one that is able to Gigantamax but can't evolve. The new move it has is G-MAX Gold Rush, which confuses all targets and earns an in-game cash bonus.
Have you claimed this special Meowth yet? Comment down below.
[source swordshield.pokemon.com]
Comments (52)
I've been using it, pretty useful for raids. I love that it can't evolve, always wanted a excuse to have a level 100 Meowth.
Nice they are keeping this going until January. Gives everyone who gets it for the holidays a chance to cash in.
@Supadav03 I believe they did the same thing with X and Y with the Early Purchase Torchick
This is by far the strangest early purchase bonus they could have come up with, and I thank them for this.
@Supadav03 they have been doing that the last 5 releases
@GAMER1984dude I don't believe they did it with sun and moon. Sun and Moon had a special event where you could get an Ash Greninja if you played the demos, but not so much an early purchase bonus.
@patbacknitro18 munchlax with snorlium z
@Eel I thought that was a pre-order bonus
@patbacknitro18 nope, it was an early purchase bonus and lasted for a while
I have both Sword and Shield, and play them on the single Switch. Is it possible to get it on both versions?
@SpiderSquid yes just use mystery gift on each file.
You could probably even create new profiles and get as many as you want.
It's neat, but honestly I find it a little pointless because you can only use what makes it special during certain battles, otherwise it is dead weight pretty quickly. Although having a Pokemon with the ability Pickup in Pokemon games is always nice for the little freebies the find.
There's the whole thing about "using your favorites not just strong Pokemon" and these games are very much extremely easy - but sending my Pokemon out to get KO'ed over and over is not how I want to treat my favorites. lol
Unfortunate that you have no influence on the nature (I know you can fix it later in the game with mints or something I believe) as I got a bad one.
@GAMER1984dude so am I just suppose to take it for granted? It still nice.
@SpiderSquid : Yes. One per save.
@Heavyarms55 : Eviolite is useful for giving unevolved Pokémon a buff if you don't like their evolution(s) (I had both Porygon2 and Porygon-Z on my team in Black 2, and my Porygon2 with Eviolite regularly handled more beatings than Porygon-Z).
The physical version has a little note in the case explaining how to do, so it was one of the first things I did. It's weird looking, but cool.
@Silly_G Eviolite is an outstanding item I am very very familiar with.
But that does not mean every unevolved Pokemon is viable with one. I mean, yeah, you could make it work in game I guess. But it's not really worth it in my book.
@Eel Meowth is best poke at!
I got that Meowth just now. 😀
Well... I named her with Kucing in Indonesian language. 😁
Can i trade away this meowth? i could not trade away the special passimian and oranguru i had in Sun.
Will it be usable in the next game?
@BlackTalon2 : Unlikely, as the Meowth is encapsulated in a Cherish Ball, which cannot be traded.
@Eel : You could do that, but in theory, even if these Meowth can be transferred to Home, Dynamax/Gigantamax is unlikely to be supported in any immediate future installments, so their potential would perhaps be wasted. And they can't be traded to other Sword/Shield save files, so one couldn't, say, hoard them (like so many spinsters) and try to cash in on their eventual rarity.
Meowth is my favorite Pokemon, so I'm really happy with this!
MILD SPOILER
What’s weird is the second npc trade is also for a Kanto Meowth.
@Eel - He cannot evolve? This is clearly worse the NatDex fiasco.
I demand my money back, and then some.
It's annoying that it doesn't have Happy Hour like past early-bird distributions. G-MAX Gold Rush only really works in gym battles…
I already know about this but this was still really helpful because I didn't know how to claim Meowth. I preordered the game from my game stop but i have had issues with claiming early access content before. My best friends favorite series is Pokemon on I have always wanted to try the games but so far i Have been pretty disappointed The combat feels like a chore due to Pokemon leveling so easily. I also am not a fan of the graphics and animations it has the animations of a NES game and I just prefer the older looks of the Pokemon they work better cartoonish.
I'll farm cash the hard way then. I can't afford the game now, even with all the good DLC shenanigans involved.
Don't really get the point of events like this. If you ever decide to start the game over it's not like you can do the event again.
Got it at once but haven't used it much and eventually stashed away, making room for leveling more species with evolution to rely on that. I haven't done raids yet anyway (which means I'm missing out on the Butterfree event -but from what I understand, it only raises the encounter odds, so nothing really missable here), and the standard Payday yields a rather modest income, to the point where I suspect I could make more cash just selling stuff I loot from the Wild Area. Moon's Munchlax was comparatively more useful in random encounters since it came equipped with a godsend move for catching low level pokemon. Still, I appreciate the giveaway itself.
Looks like I need to start Sword today. I have both, but I’ve only used Shield.
@nhSnork actually it is indeed the fastest way to grind for money. If you redo the Championship Tournament with it holding an amulet coin, you can get 99,999 per battle assuming you use all three gmax moves with it. This is especially nice if you choose to build a team and want to max your EVs out, as they removed the cap for EVs from vitamins, making Meowth money farming the fastest way to do it (one tournament, which is 3 battles, is enough to max a single Pokémon with a Macho Brace). By far that’s more time efficient than selling stuff from the wild area.
Gmax Meowth is super useful for its money farming alone!
@AlexSora89 heads up, you can still get gmax Meowth from raids, it’s just very rare. So nothing here is actually missable.
@Expa0 sure, if you start over you can’t get a FREE gmax Meowth again... but gmax Meowth can be found in the wild area like any other gmax (it’s just rare, like any of the non-boosted gmax Pokemon). So it’s not like it’s missable. This is just a nice bonus for early adopters interested in building competitive teams (the money payout with it is insane and you can buy buckets of vitamins with it).
@ShadJV From most evidence I've seen, G-max Meowth is event only. I've been playing the game since launch and have yet to see it in raids.
@DFaceG_Rebooted according to https://gameranx.com/features/id/187752/article/pokemon-sword-shield-how-to-earn-99999-cash-per-battle-meowth-money-farming-guide/ there’s three dens it can spawn at (Dusty Bowl, Giant’s Seat, Stony Wilderness). I used that guide to money farm so I assumed it was legit? There’s some gmax Pokémon I’ve yet to see and I’ve been playing since launch too, so I was chalking it up to RNG?
@Heavyarms55 And then there's me that never ever evolves my Pokemon.... They're so cute in their base form and that's the one you get interested in them with...and then they get so ugly. I mean sure, Corviknights and such I'll evolve. But don't you dare touch my Pikachu, Meowth, or Scorbunny!!
I accidentally somehow didn't skip the evolution right with Scorbunny before I got the everstone and ended up with Raboot. I was depressed for days. I at least didn't have to evolve him to Cinderace though.... And LGP Pikachu is in my party for life.
@NEStalgia All the power to you - single player is easy enough that it's totally viable to play with whatever Pokemon you like.
Anyone else unable to sign on for the second online competition?
Does anyone know if you can get it twice using the same cart but with different users? Both my kids want to get it but they are using the same cart and switch with different user accounts. Thanks!
@ShadJV oh, I certainly expect the powered-up move to rake in more money; I'm just not sure when I'll start frequenting raids with this dynagigastuff. When I do, I'll probably be further into the depths of Galar as well, so Meowth should catch up a good few levels even while benched (and that's not counting the candy factor); for now, I'd rather invest the moderate experience gain into level-evolving species.
And after selling off the first batch of stuff today, I still wouldn't easily underestimate loot either, at least for the early segments. Many of the selling prices hit four digits, at the time when you'll be lucky earning more than 300 from field trainers. And that's often the stuff you don't even have to seek far - similarly to last gen's Plaza (which probably has something to answer for in regards to how my Moon save is almost 30 hours without touching Route 3 yet), going online in the Wild Area can be a goldmine since it litters the vicinity with conspicuously charitable player ghosts. 😆
@nhSnork yeah the sellable items still pale in comparison, players have already tested to determine what grinds money fastest and it’s gmax Meowth by far. Also, it’s useless in raids - gmax Meowth’s moves multiple the money prize (and raids don’t give money). Also, you don’t get experience from raids, just candy, so Meowth won’t get experience from being on the bench during raids (nothing will).
@nhSnork basically, as you said, some loot goes up to 4 digits in sales... gmax Meowth hits 6 digits in a battle. In minutes. Super efficient. 4 digits isn’t much when a single vitamin is 10,000.
@ShadJV by "experience while benched" I meant standard encounters (which should undoubtedly feature higher level fauna down the road), but I get the point. So basically, the farming relies on trainer battles and the best recyclable bet is the local "Elite Four" analogue?
@nhSnork doesn’t work on regular trainer battles because you can’t gmax in them. And this game has no elite four analogue, you just gotta do the championship tournament to farm the money (which at least has different trainers every time).
@ShadJV
That's a relief, so I'll get the game when it's actually worth the money and get Meowth when I'll need in-game money!
@AlexSora89 I’ve actually been informed Gmax Meowth isn’t obtainable in game and my sources there were wrong? Even if that’s true though, I have my doubts that they wouldn’t bring the event around again eventually though. And ultimately all that money grinding method is good for is if you want to max out EVs with vitamins - if you’re in less of a rush, there’s a passive way to raise EVs which takes several days but you barely have to touch the game (Pokejobs), so it’s not super vital, it’s just useful if you want to throw together a team in one day (and still involves dozens of hours, I honestly prefer Pokejobs tbh).
Can also be useful for buying all the outfits but like... that isn’t as daunting, especially if you do raids.
@ShadJV
I need my basic fix for items - balls, potions, revives, repels, escape ropes, plus MTs and clothes. This alone needs a lot of moneyz.
@AlexSora89 the game will throw more than enough money at you for those basics - heck, every raid drops a bunch of sellable items to you that more than compensate that much. And there’s someone who buys a treasure each day for double (he requests the items). Besides, the Gmax Meowth method only works after you beat the game and at that point, you should have more than enough money for anything other than buying vitamins (and once again, maybe if you’re collecting ALL the clothes in the game, but that’s still pretty feasible by doing raids).
Escape ropes are irrelevant, idk if they’re even in the game and if so they’re pointless because there’s only two caves, both of which are more like tunnels (and very short), and no random encounters. Only a handful of TMs need to be bought (rather than found) and TRs are more useful anyways (which can’t be bought). Repels are similarly pointless because, once again, no random encounters. Potions and revives... maybe you’ll need if you struggle a lot? But I had a huge excess and didn’t even play strategically, and I haven’t bought a single potion or revive. You can access your PC Box anywhere anyways so worst case scenario just switch a Pokémon in. That leaves just balls and clothes. You should be fine in cash. Without even using the Meowth method, I’ve yet to every drop below 200,000 money (sometimes reaching 500,000) and I don’t intentionally farm money, I rarely even bother selling my sellable items. The game throws more money at you than a Luigi’s Mansion game. The only reason the Meowth method becomes worthwhile in vitamin farming is it costs 520,000 to max out a Pokémon’s EVs with vitamins. Pretty much the only thing you’d need massive amounts of money for (as a team would take over 3 million to max out).
@ShadJV
Oh yeah, TRs. I guess that's their name in English - the breakable discs, right? Everything was great in gens V-to-VII, why change it back?
@AlexSora89 nah, TMs are still in the game and unbreakable. TRs are entirely new and seem to sorta take the place of move tutors (eliminating the need for grinding resources for them). TRs are mostly moves a Pokémon wouldn’t usually learn in the past and include have stuff like Darkest Lariat (Incineroar’s signature move) and Pollen Puff (Ribombee’s signature move) which now can be taught to more Pokemon. There’s 100 TRs on top of the 100 TMs. And getting TRs are easy, I have literally hundreds and most have just come naturally. The two ways you get them 1) doing raids. Post game you’re likely grinding raids anyways for Pokémon with near perfect IVs and egg moves along with EXP candies (which make leveling up your competitive team take literally seconds). TRs are the best way to incentivize people help you with your raids that might be Pokemon they don’t want. You get around 3 TRs for each Raid in the same typing as the Pokémon you fought (so if you need a grass TR, just fight some grass raids). And to make it even easier, there’s 8(?) vendors in the Wild Area who sell a rotating selection of TRs using a special currency you make doing raids (this currency has only 3 uses and the biggest one you’d use it on is TRs). Getting a TR is way easier than TMs ever were and you likely end up with a surplus. I hardly mind that they’re consumable at this point, as I’ve never had to use my last TR of any one move, I have multiple of nearly every TR in the game and only have had to look for specific TRs a couple times (which didn’t take long).
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