SwSh Cameos of characters from past games?

[JFrombaugh]

One thing that gameFreak seems to be doing more and more in recent Gens is having characters from previous Gens make reappearances. Some of them have played a surprising role in the story (Anabel in the original SM), others have been battleable (Mina in Let's Go?? Who'da thunk it???), and still others just talk to you for 30 seconds, give you a semi-essential item, then leave (cough Colress cough). It's probably a fair bet given GameFreak's recent history that we will see at least a couple cameos of this type in Sword & Shield.

Regardless of your opinions on these cameos, I just thought this might be an interesting thing to speculate about now that we know a fair bit about Sword & Shield from just today's teaser alone. So...what NPcs from past games do you think could potentially be making a reappearance in some form in Galar?

For starters, I think it's possible if not likely that Sina & Dexio will return, since Kalos is theoretically just a short train ride away anyway. I could definitely see them being in Galar to do research on some new gimmick of the games.

I'm also going to go out on a limb and predict that Lillie will appear in SS & will be a battleable side boss similar to Mina in LGPE. She'll mention to you about how "a Trainer who moved to Alola from Kanto" inspired her to get over her dislike of seeing Pokémon get hurt.

Beyond that, it's anybody's guess. I do think we will see, much like in Sun & Moon, one or two shorter cameos of NPCs from Gens 5-7 appear that are totally unexpected. It could be Shauntal, it could be Wikstrom, it could be Bianca of all people...

But one character that I am personally hoping does NOT make a reappearance, is Looker. As funny as the whole Ultra Beast mission from the original SM was, I feel like this story of you joining the International Police and solving detective cases in the postgame has worn out its welcome by now.

 

[PurplePopplio]

Maybe Cynthia will make an appearance and foreshadow Sinnoh remakes. Also, might this be her home region?

 

[IncineROAR]

But one character that I am personally hoping does NOT make a reappearance, is Looker. As funny as the whole Ultra Beast mission from the original SM was, I feel like this story of you joining the International Police and solving detective cases in the postgame has worn out its welcome by now.

+1, I've been over Looker since Gen 5. I like postgame episodes that are in the vein of the Delta Episode, but not Looker missions. It's pretty certain we will get Gen 4 remakes to let him appear in those games instead.

Cynthia would be a cool champion to return, perhaps a few characters from Alola. Serena or Calem appearing as a battling opponent in whatever facility is created would be awesome too.

 

[RC821]

Nanu will appear in the Dark Type Gym to see this brother as a Gym Leader.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Well naturally I do hope Champion Cynthia will make a cameo, and I hope that we can battle her without having to go through a very difficult stretch of unfair battles. It could help foreshadow a Gen IV remake, which I think will happen later in this generation.

I do hope we get some cameos from characters living in the Kalos Region, considering how close the UK and France are. Maybe a cameo from Clemont or Diantha would be nice. Even seeing Professor Sycamore again would be nice.

 

[PinkIceFox]

Hopefully not Cynthia.

I'd like to see some 'less important' characters show up. Because having more than one champion in a region could really snuff out the wow factor potential the local champion has.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

Olivia should give you the fossils. Because you can never have too much Olivia.

 

[Almonds]

Steven Stone. There's no way he's missing out on searching for rare stones - especially with that mine.

 

[Karamazov]

Marlon. I will say this for every single game until he comes back, and then I'll say it some more.

But other than that, I think it's time to retire Looker and phase in Anabel. Looker got stale, and Anabel has a more interesting character and story. I'd also like to see past Champions show up and offer us optional battles. But really, I'd be up to see any old character but Trevor again; continuity's nice, and I love seeing how characters continue their stories.

 

[Esserise]

One thing i've learned is that it's never the ones you expect

so in this case i'm gonna say Glacia, Faba, and Mr. Bonding will make appearances

 

[PurplePopplio]

One thing i've learned is that it's never the ones you expect

so in this case i'm gonna say Glacia, Faba, and Mr. Bonding will make appearances

In that case, Benga. Haven't seen him in a quite a while.

 

[MizuTaipu]

I'm hoping that Wikstrom from XY will return because he's a knight. Sword and Shield...y'know The Kalos Elite Four really needs more development (besides Malva).

 

[RileyXY1]

I'm hoping that Wikstrom from XY will return because he's a knight. Sword and Shield...y'know The Kalos Elite Four really needs more development (besides Malva).

But still, Phoebe never returned in Alola. Instead, Alola brought back Red, Blue, Wally, Anabel, Cynthia, Grimsley, Colress, Sina, Dexio, and all of the old villainous team leaders.

 

[Alola]

I fully expect to see Diantha in some capacity. Maybe, she's shooting a movie of some sort.

Also, Wikstrom and for him to reveal that this is his home region and that he met his Aegislash here.

 

[FlashFire926]

Kalos characters. I think Dexio and Sina are a safe bet, with Professor Sycamore or Clemont might be in the cards, too.

 

[colours]

Unpopular Opinion: Am I really in the minority that doesn't want any past characters to return?

I realize how unlikely this is to happen. Especially if we get a huge battle stadium-esque postgame, I fully expect important characters from previous generations to make an appearances. After all, that's how TPC/Game Freak gets people hyped for these games, right?

But the thing of it is, I personally want this region to be a breath of fresh air. I want to meet new faces, learn new names, get to know new people. I feel like I can't do that as effectively if I'm still stuck in the past wanting the same people back in just a different setting, y'know?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

But the thing of it is, I personally want this region to be a breath of fresh air. I want to meet new faces, learn new names, get to know new people. I feel like I can't do that as effectively if I'm still stuck in the past wanting the same people back in just a different setting, y'know?

Can’t both happen at the same time? Lots of new faces with one or two older ones at times can’t hurt.

 

[colours]

Can’t both happen at the same time? Lots of new faces with one or two older ones at times can’t hurt.

Depending on what those older ones are. Allow me to rephrase:

I feel like I want to build more of a relationship with more recent/newer characters than older ones. Rather than have Red, Blue, Cynthia, or Steven, or anyone pre-Gen VI to make an appearance, why not have someone from Kalos make an appearance instead? Why not Sophocles or Clemont or any of the other Gym Leaders or even the Elite Four make an appearance?

It certainly doesn't hurt to have old characters back, for sure. But it also doesn't hurt to build new attachments as well to newer characters rather than get too attached to the old ones. That's how I see it, anyway.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Depending on what those older ones are. Allow me to rephrase:

I feel like I want to build more of a relationship with more recent/newer characters than older ones. Rather than have Red, Blue, Cynthia, or Steven, or anyone pre-Gen VI to make an appearance, why not have someone from Kalos make an appearance instead? Why not Sophocles or Clemont or any of the other Gym Leaders or even the Elite Four make an appearance?

It certainly doesn't hurt to have old characters back, for sure. But it also doesn't hurt to build new attachments as well to newer characters rather than get too attached to the old ones. That's how I see it, anyway.

That makes things clearer. Your previous post gave the impression (at least to me) that any previous character shouldn’t be included.

 

[Esserise]

Unpopular Opinion: Am I really in the minority that doesn't want any past characters to return?

I realize how unlikely this is to happen. Especially if we get a huge battle stadium-esque postgame, I fully expect important characters from previous generations to make an appearances. After all, that's how TPC/Game Freak gets people hyped for these games, right?

But the thing of it is, I personally want this region to be a breath of fresh air. I want to meet new faces, learn new names, get to know new people. I feel like I can't do that as effectively if I'm still stuck in the past wanting the same people back in just a different setting, y'know?

Well, it's more that almost every new game in the series has included at least one major character from previous games, so it's just very likely that we'll see someone pop up somewhere, but it would likely be in a minor-to-negligible role. I'd have to go back and check, but I think RSE and XY are the only games that didn't have a significant character make a cameo of some kind (aside from Kanto itself, GS had Prof. Oak, Lance, and Bill in the main storyline, DP had Jasmine, BW had Looker and Cynthia, SM had a handful from all over the place), and yet I don't think RSE or XY felt any more or less new than other games simply by virtue of not having any established characters show up, because those characters' parts in those other games were all trivial anyway.