Official Pre-Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield Speculation & Leaks thread

[Aulos]

Remember the time everyone said, the picture with main protagonist ride lapras with eevee were fake and the graphic looks awful?
I currently wouldn't get suprised if this actually is real. lol

Yeah, that's actually why I said I wouldn't put it past GameFreak. I wanted so bad to believe that screenshot was fake, but it wasn't.

Thankfully this one is.

 

[Cainhxrst]

well, there is one plus, if nothing comes about, the reveal will be surprising yeah?
its a shame that little shrew mole thing is fake.

yeah I kinda hope the reveal comes out of nowhere. It'd be extremely fun watching the community explode with joy and reacting all at once, especially after such a long dry period. In the lead up to LGPE we already had a somewhat of an idea of what the games were months in advance due to insiders hinting stuff and all of the kanto, gen 1 remake rumors, etc("what defines a generation?" ugh) but this time things seem a lot more quiet on that front. It really does feel like we're in completely uncharted territory

 

[techitisJ]

Oh my gosh if something happens tomorrow when the forums are dead that will not be fun. I don't know if I can see anything really happening tonorrow, but then again my body told me to check youtube and twitter this morning right after I woke up in case something did happen while I was asleep.

But yes, I can agree that the Crown and Scepter leaks are now dead. It's been well passed the time they stated.

Also I know it's old and fake, but that little screenshot of the Calem looking guy in that scene looked really cool. I have to say if these games look anything similar to that, maybe just heightened a little more graphically wise, they should look really good. That looked pretty awesome. It keeps Pokemon's style while looking much more advanced.

 

[sj01blue]

It occurs to me that the nearest most exciting dates are... tomorrow (to see what comes after Blastoise) and the start of February (when the secret eeveelution design gets revealed to be probably nothing remotely interesting).

All aboard the mini-hype train- toot toot.

>=/ Come on, mini-hype train, stop being a broken image.
That's better.

Fingers crossed it's not #10 Caterpie tomorrow D;

 

[William-Jdubz]

We get the Indie Showcase direct as well tomorrow

The forums will be exploding with that news and excitement alike lol

 

[Scruffyjay]

So, I guess the possibilities for the trivia thing tomorrow are:

-caterpie
-chikorita
-pikachu (and then eevee)

 

[prog rocker]

So, I guess the possibilities for the trivia thing tomorrow are:

-caterpie
-chikorita
-pikachu (and then eevee)

Yes, those are the alternatives. Third one is the most probable in my opinion.

 

[Scruffyjay]

Yes, those are the alternatives. Third one is the most probable in my opinion.

Some people on twitter were also theorizing gen 8 starter reveal after gen 1 starter trivia, but I'm pretty sure that's not happening.

 

[Minya_Nouvelle]

It occurs to me that the nearest most exciting dates are... tomorrow (to see what comes after Blastoise) and the start of February (when the secret eeveelution design gets revealed to be probably nothing remotely interesting).

All aboard the mini-hype train- toot toot.

>=/ Come on, mini-hype train, stop being a broken image.
That's better.

I thought we were suppose to get some sort of plush by the end of the month too that's related to the thing that's related to mewtwo. All in all, the next couple of weeks don't look so bad. Even if we don't get anything new, at least we'll be getting information of some sort.

So, I guess the possibilities for the trivia thing tomorrow are:

-caterpie
-chikorita
-pikachu (and then eevee)

Technically there's a fourth possibility too: it just randomly ends tomorrow. There's nothing after Blastoise.

 

[Poke Dragon]

So, I guess the possibilities for the trivia thing tomorrow are:

-caterpie
-chikorita
-pikachu (and then eevee)

I don't think Caterpie even has a chance of claiming the spot for tomorrow. Chikorita however, is the most probable since the whole starter thing in Japan is happening.

 

[Plubio]

but this time things seem a lot more quiet on that front. It really does feel like we're in completely uncharted territory

I feel that we will probably know real stuff the closer we are to the announcement.
At any rate it's kinda hard to predict exactly when at this point — we all could agree on "May or before" but...

 

[PocketMonster]

chikorita i feel confident.

 

[William-Jdubz]

If we look at the Japanese twitter and gamefreak twitters with the final evolutions plush collection and their various giveaways of said collection, I have a feeling this what the countdown is for. Although you never know what else could be around the corner.

 

[William-Jdubz]

LOL just remembered

What if this countdown is just like last years where people speculated all these complex theories and algorithms and it turned out to be nothing and just a celebration of Pokémon day and nothing more.

Perhaps people will complain and blame the official Pokémon account for misleading them once again ...

 

[prog rocker]

Nah, we're used to that by now.

 

[PocketMonster]

The give away is over.

-- "Friday, January 11 - Sunday 20th (Sunday) 23: 59 minutes"
【公式】ポケモン情報局 (@poke_times) on Twitter
フォロー&RTキャンペーンで、ぬいぐるみのセットを抽選で3名様にプレゼント！ | ポケットモンスターオフィシャルサイト

So it's not possible to be the count down to a give away.

 

[Myth]

I feel like this generation can finally end up with many patterns.

First of all, the myth that a starter generation game necessarily needs to be announced earlier in the year, or that it needs a long pre-release period. I mean, I agree that it's good to larger scope Pokémon games to have a longer pre-release period (specifically speaking of Pokémon games), but at the same time, that's not necessarily a rule. And this year, I think that the live action can end with it (I believe in the possibility of a teaser being released soon, but I think we will only have the first trailer at late April or early May). About the starter generation games being announced "late" in the year, Black and White have already shown that it is possible.

The other pattern that I think can be broken, is the one that says the next region will be a cold region. The pattern itself doesn't make much sense imo, but I think it can be broken once and for all with the next games, since of the 3 most speculated regions so far (Spain, China, England), none of them is really a cold place.

And finally, two other patterns that I think can be broken in the next generation, are the ones about the starters. The first one is the one that says the next starters will be grass-"feminine", fire-"cool" and water-"strong" (because we had chesnaught/incineroar-"strong", delphox/primarina-"feminine", greninja/decidueye-"cool"). We had 7 generations of starters, but only in the last two we had some supposed hint of a pattern, yet it was enough for the fans to adopt as one.

And then, the fire starters and the Chinese Zodiac (Sorry, Tech. I noticed you like/believe this theory.)...In my opinion, this pattern has already been broken with Fennekin. But keeping going...

This pattern can be deceptive because the Chinese Zodiac fit many families of different species, so any animal that comes out of this pattern is probably still somehow fitted in it by its followers (as when they say foxes are canids). In addition, the Chinese zodiac is full of "high known" common animals, the kind that Game Freak likes to use to inspire the starters, for obvious reasons.

Just out of curiosity, more than 50% of the evolutionary lines of fire-type Pokémon could fit into the Chinese Zodiac in some way, using the same argument used to put Fennekin in.

And of all those that don't fit in any way in the Chinese Zodiac (like Volcarona, Volcanion, Heatran, Chandelure etc.), I see only five evolutionary lines having chances of having been starters (only 5 of them look like starters /are based in simple and famous concepts, like the starers are), they are: the evolutionary line of Salandit, Litleo, Slugma, Turtonator and Torkoal. Only those 5 (4, actually, if we count that Torkoal and Turtonator are based on different species of turtles).

Does that mean that Game Freak is inspiring the whole fire-type-dex by the Chinese Zodiac? I don't think so. But as I said before, the Chinese Zodiac fits a lot of species and families, and when a Pokémon had finally come out of the pattern (Fennekin), people have managed to fit it in, claiming that it belongs to the dogs' family.

I also think the existence of Honoguma should have ended with this pattern, but people still think that Game Freak is following the Zodiac. I believe that in this generation we may have a fire-type starter based on to something totally outside of the Zodiac, such as a tortoise, a frog or a bear, which would break the pattern once and for all. Still, it is unlikely to happen, since any animal that fits the family of any Zodiac's animal (like a feline (lion), even if it not be a tiger) will prolong the pattern.

Edit - Fixed some of the english errors.

 

[Bolt Strike]

First of all, the myth that a starter generation game necessarily needs to be announced earlier in the year, or that it needs a long pre-release period. I mean, I agree that it's good to larger scope Pokémon games to have a longer pre-release period (specifically speaking of Pokémon games), but at the same time, that's not necessarily a rule. And this year, I think that the live action can end with it (I believe in the possibility of a teaser being released soon, but I think we will only have the first trailer at late April or early May). About the starter generation games being announced "late" in the year, Black and White have already shown that it is possible.

That pattern should stay. The fandom is going to eat itself alive if we have to wait much longer to get any concrete information on this game. Maybe 9th gen if they don't tease the game for a year and a half like they did for this one it'd be more okay for them to announce it later, but for this one they've already started hyping the game much earlier than they normally do, dragging this out any longer than they have to would do them more harm than good from a marketing standpoint.

 

[Myth]

That pattern should stay. The fandom is going to eat itself alive if we have to wait much longer to get any concrete information on this game. Maybe 9th gen if they don't tease the game for a year and a half like they did for this one it'd be more okay for them to announce it later, but for this one they've already started hyping the game much earlier than they normally do, dragging this out any longer than they have to would do them more harm than good from a marketing standpoint.

I understand. I said a few pages ago (here and here) my reasons for believing that this could happen. I just didn't want to repeat it all over again. But briefly, I agree with you (that we already waited too much), but I think a live action marketing action can compensate for all the time (from their point of view, of course).

But anyway, I don't want to start other discussion about of when the game will be announced. I understand your point (and agree with you, actually), but I still believe that this pattern can be broken now (for the reasons quoted in the pages I cited).

 

[Scruffyjay]

I definitely believe the zodiac pattern. Seems like weird denial to say there isn't one at this point.

I really hope they keep the stealthy-bulky-feminine (or magic?) pattern because I really want that stealthy fire starter.


Edit: The zodiac theme seems slightly loose if it's true, with fennekin and cyndaquil. Meaning if true we could even get a sheep instead of a goat (which are considered very similar, can be interbred to make hybrids, and have skeletons often just labeled "sheep/goat" at archaeology digs), or a zebra instead of a horse. Perhaps even a pika rather than a rabbit, but pikas look pretty similar to mice so I'm not sure.