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

[Cainhxrst]

while I like James Turner's designs, I do hope he's not primarily in charge of designing pokemon for the upcoming games. I feel like his designs are distinctly cartoony and have a ton of western influence compared to the others (this is fine, just not sure how I'd feel about a dex consisting mostly of these designs).

With Yusuke Ohmura leaving GF after s/m, I hope Sugimori takes the helm at designing pokemon again

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

Found it.

Spoiler

Probably just someone's fan interpretation, but I just found them interesting concept-wise.

These seem promising. I can see the similarities of the Spider Crab with the Spider. Though the eyes seems awkward on both to me.

And honestly, the spider makes me think of this...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZsTXIQIB3Y

 

[Oriden]

I meant the guy posted that Crown and Scepter rumor that might mistaken the logos for the Spider and butterfly.

How would you make that kind of mistake, though?

 

[El_]

Probably the first leaker had mistaken the Crown and Scepter logos as mascots.

I agree with the above, that would be very weird unless said logos were in the shape of something that could be misrepresented as a mascot. I don't see that as likely since a "crown spider" seems oddly specific... tbh a Butterfly as a logo you'd probably be able to get away with. Less this person actually mistook a stylized crown for a spider....

Meh, if real its probably a Golden Eagle since that is an obvious one to use for a mascot in a Euro-centric region. Suit of Armor would hopefully not simply be a Golurk redux... Would honestly rather have the bugs since that is much more unique. You may as well have just made Braviary/Golurk legendary and slapped them on the cover.

 

[Oriden]

Biggest problems I see with the possibility of mistaking Crown and Scepter logo as mascots is that-

1) Pokemon logos are very clean, so they shouldn't be that difficult to interpret that you would mix up a crown and sceptre with a spider and butterfly.
2) We have never had the box legendaries as part of the logo, so why would you misinterpret the shape and then boldly claim that they're the legendaries without any second guessing? There's no basis to form that assumption.

 

[LunarCaliber]

I agree with the above, that would be very weird unless said logos were in the shape of something that could be misrepresented as a mascot. I don't see that as likely since a "crown spider" seems oddly specific... tbh a Butterfly as a logo you'd probably be able to get away with. Less this person actually mistook a stylized crown for a spider....

Meh, if real its probably a Golden Eagle since that is an obvious one to use for a mascot in a Euro-centric region. Suit of Armor would hopefully not simply be a Golurk redux... Would honestly rather have the bugs since that is much more unique. You may as well have just made Braviary/Golurk legendary and slapped them on the cover.

I remembered the guy from the marble rumors has mentioned one of the legendaries is going to be a bird that bases on a eagle and it also mentioned that you find the unique way to evolve your pokemon (maybe meltan could be hinting that you can't evolving them by leveling them and you need an unique way).

I known the marble rumor has been debunked,but the guy said in the Marble rumor that it's going to be Breath of the Wind but Nintendo was suggesting to fix their mistakes and that's taking them forever..

Nintendo president said that making a main pokemon game was very difficult for the the Switch recently,but King Zell has mentioned that Gamefreak is going to release this year and they are going to trying to make it like Breath of the Wind.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

2) We have never had the box legendaries as part of the logo, so why would you misinterpret the shape and then boldly claim that they're the legendaries without any second guessing? There's no basis to form that assumption.

Actually, we had once-in X and Y, where the legendaries were

I remembered the guy from the marble rumors has mentioned one of the legendaries is going to be a bird that bases on a eagle and it also mentioned that you find the unique way to evolve your pokemon (maybe meltan could be hinting that you can't evolving them by leveling them and you need an unique way).

I known the marble rumor has been debunked,but the guy said in the Marble rumor that it's going to be Breath of the Wind but Nintendo was suggesting to fix their mistakes and that's taking them forever..

Nintendo president said that making a main pokemon game was very difficult for the the Switch recently,but King Zell has mentioned that Gamefreak is going to release this year and they are going to trying to make it like Breath of the Wind.

"Like Breath of the Wild" is a vague statement that's easy to guess. No use going back to old leaks that have long since been proven fake to try to connect it to something else.

 

[Oriden]

Actually, we had once-in X and Y, where the legendaries were

"Like Breath of the Wild" is a vague statement that's easy to guess. No use going back to old leaks that have long since been proven fake to try to connect it to something else.

Eeeh... I did forget that. But Sun and Moon didn't follow this so it's still only one instance of it happening, not enough to boldly go "Oh the legends are definitely a spider and butterfly, it's right in the logo," so the idea still falls pretty flat.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Eeeh... I did forget that. But Sun and Moon didn't follow this so it's still only one instance of it happening, not enough to boldly go "Oh the legends are definitely a spider and butterfly, it's right in the logo," so the idea still falls pretty flat.

Sorry, I forgot to finish that line-what I meant to say was "where the legendaries were made to clearly form the shape of letters", so even if they were doing something similar, it would be really weird for it to be hard to tell what the title was.

 

[Myth]

@Stygian
On second thoughts, I think the live action can really change things up...

I can see 3 possible scenarios now:

• A Mini Direct this week followed by a Pokémon Direct. With a trailer showing many things from the game, like XY. With the following months with lots of information being shown;
  
  
• A Nintendo Direct this week with a little teaser of the Pokémon game at the end. Maybe, with just the titles and nothing more. Followed by a great dry period until May. And then the first trailer being released shortly before the live action release (maybe a day before). And that same trailer being shown in theaters;
  
  
• No news until May. And then the first trailer being released shortly before the live action release (maybe a day before). And that same trailer being shown in theaters.

I still believe in the first option. But thinking more about what you have said, makes sense, the live action is their wild card, it's the biggest showcase they could have, since the initial repercussion was very good, and millions will watch it.

So, I start to think that the second option might happen. The last one is the one I find most unlikely, they have already announced the games a long time ago, fans are thirsty for news, going through January/a Direct without any news would not be any good.

Still, I think only the live action can change things up. So I don't believe in an announcement happening in February, March or April (unless if the live action be released in early May, and then with the announcement being made at the end of April). Also, if they want to use the live action as the main showcase for the games, it makes sense that they would want everyone to start the hype together. The chance for a non-fan to get interested in the game after leaving the theater would be much greater if he realizes that everyone is talking about the same trailer he just saw, and that the hype-news season is in the beginning. It also would be much easier for him to follow the following information and trailers as well.

However, even if the second or third option happens, it doesn't mean that we will not have any kind of news until May. In SM's pre-announcement we had Zygarde and his forms, and also Magearna later. I believe that if the second or third option happens, surely we will have this kind of news being released as a way to excite the community.

Oh, and I also just remembered of Town.

 

[Oriden]

@Stygian

On second thoughts, I think the live action can really change things up...

I can see 3 possible scenarios now:

• A Mini Direct this week followed by a Pokémon Direct. With a trailer showing many things from the game, like XY. With the following months with lots of information being showed;
  
  
• A Nintendo Direct this week with a little teaser of the Pokémon game at the end. Maybe, with just the titles and nothing more. Followed by a great dry period until May. And then the first trailer being released shortly before the live action release (maybe a day before). And that same trailer being shown in theaters;
  
  
• No news until May. And then the first trailer being released shortly before the live action release (maybe a day before). And that same trailer being shown in theaters.

I still believe in the first option. But thinking more about what you have said, makes sense, the live action is their wild card, it's the biggest showcase they could have, since the initial repercussion was very good, and millions will watch it.

So, I start to think that the second option might happen. The last one is the one I find most unlikely, they have already announced the games a long time ago, fans are thirsty for news, going through January/a Direct without any news would not be any good.

Still, I think only the live action can change things up. So I don't believe in an announcement happening in February, March or April (unless if the live action be released in early May, and then with the announcement being made at the end of April).

However, even if the second or third option happens, it doesn't mean that we will not have any kind of news. In SM's pre-announcement we had Zygarde and his forms, and also Magearna later. I believe that if the second or third option happens, surely we will have this kind of news being released as a way to excite the community.

Oh, and I also remembered of Town.

If I recall correctly, it was mentioned somewhere that they regretted the news gap for Sun and Moon, so I find the second scenario unlikely.

I don't think the third scenario is likely either. February was clearly too early for Sun and Moon, but May seems more like a remake date (Let's Go being a good recent example).

Not that I think we'll be getting an announcement this month either, since February was already too early. Plus we've been hungry for Gen 8 news since 2017- what's a few more months?

What I can see happening is an improved version of the Sun and Moon news cycle, without the gaps- we will probably get more teasers for the new Mewtwo movie for the next few months (like we got with Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel) but without revealing whatever new pokemon features in the movie until maybe March.

Detective Pikachu probably won't have any more effect on Gen 8 than the game did on LGPE.

 

[Bullet Club Master]

If I recall correctly, it was mentioned somewhere that they regretted the news gap for Sun and Moon, so I find the second scenario unlikely.

Do you have the article that mentions that? Because if they don't repeat what they did for Sun and Moon again then that would be fantastic! I didn't like the dry period between the announcement and the first actual trailer of Sun and Moon.


As for putting a trailer of Generation 8 on a screening of the live-action film, Gamefreak would be stupid not to do it. Regardless when Generation 8 is revealed, it would be a wasted opportunity for Gamefreak not to advertise generation 8 on the live action film in some capacity whether that be in a trailer attached to the film or even the starters cameo in some way on the film. So many people will be watching the film that if they advertise generation 8 then it will increase the amount of people that would be interested in generation 8.

 

[Myth]

If I recall correctly, it was mentioned somewhere that they regretted the news gap for Sun and Moon, so I find the second scenario unlikely.

I don't think the third scenario is likely either. February was clearly too early for Sun and Moon, but May seems more like a remake date (Let's Go being a good recent example).

Not that I think we'll be getting an announcement this month either, since February was already too early. Plus we've been hungry for Gen 8 news since 2017- what's a few more months?

What I can see happening is an improved version of the Sun and Moon news cycle, without the gaps- we will probably get more teasers for the new Mewtwo movie for the next few months (like we got with Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel) but without revealing whatever new pokemon features in the movie until maybe March.

Detective Pikachu probably won't have any more effect on Gen 8 than the game did on LGPE.

I see people saying that (about they didn't liking the drought period on Sun and Moon pre-release), but I can't find the source. But I think they would be different scenarios.

As I said, the only way I can believe the first trailer being shown in May is if they're planning to use the live action as the main showcase for the games. "And why not use live action as a big showcase, but still showing others trailers before (in March or February)?" Well, I had edited the post and added the reasons why I find that unlikely. And if they did that, they would not be using the live action as the "main showcase". I can only see the programming being changed if they want to use live action as the main showcase for the games. Otherwise, I really think we'll have the trailer this month.

I understand your opinion. I personally don't believe in the trailer being shown in February imo, for a few reasons: 1) It will be a big "generation jump". In the currently context, January seems the most propitious time to generate the hype and start marketing for something big like that, just like xy pre-release season was. Like, it's in early January that youtubers start making videos with top5/top 10 games that they pretend to play that year. 2) Nintendo will need help if they want to reach this fiscal year's goals, that ends in March. And a January announcement, followed by news in February, would sell far more consoles than a dry period in January followed by the announcement only in February. 3) The game was announced a long time ago. I know we've been hungry for Gen 8 news since 2017. But the scenario is different now. In 2017, we already knew that we would have USUM, so we knew we would not have the Switch game in that year (besides that, Ishihara also said we would not have information about the game "in less than a year"). Until May 2018, we were not sure we would have the game that year, just that we would have news about soon, and it was also scheduled for "2018 or later". So the expectation created around a possible announcement, the fans' thirst for real news (like the name of the games or a trailer), wasn't as big as it is now. After the announcement of LGPE, we discovered that the game had been postponed until 2019. And then, we have reached the present day. They are different scenarios. Fans are waiting for news of this long-announced game now. I think the community would not react well by going through a Direct without any news of the games. And I believe that Nintendo plans to show a Direct or a Mini Direct this month. 4) In a January Direct, is expected to being shown what the company has to offer in the year. We already know about the existence of the game, so there is no more what they could say about, besides a teaser or a trailer. 5) An announcement will boost again the Let's Go's sales. Pokemon game announcements increase sales of the old games, especially if they were released shortly, like LGPE. It happened with B2W2. 6) The game was announced a long time ago, and has been in development for a long time. If they want to, I think they will announce it sooner, if there is no reason to not do so.

I also don't believe in the third option. I still bet on the first one, btw. But I have to consider the second one if they are planning to use the live action as the main showcase for the games. Using the live action in that way seems to me the only logical reason for them to ignore everything else. I only see the live action changing things up.

Also, as I said, even if the second or third option happens, it doesn't mean that we will not have any kind of news until May. In SM's pre-announcement we had Zygarde and his forms, and also Magearna later. I believe that if the second or third option happens, surely we will have this kind of news being released as a way to excite the community.

As for putting a trailer of Generation 8 on a screening of the live-action film, Gamefreak would be stupid not to do it. Regardless when Generation 8 is revealed, it would be a wasted opportunity for Gamefreak not to advertise generation 8 on the live action film in some capacity whether that be in a trailer attached to the film or even the starters cameo in some way on the film. So many people will be watching the film that if they advertise generation 8 then it will increase the amount of people that would be interested in generation 8.

I think you misinterpreted it. It seems logical that they will show a trailer or some kind of advertisement of the games in theaters. But advertising the games in the live action is different from using it as the main showcase for the games.

 

[Oriden]

Do you have the article that mentions that? Because if they don't repeat what they did for Sun and Moon again then that would be fantastic! I didn't like the dry period between the announcement and the first actual trailer of Sun and Moon.


As for putting a trailer of Generation 8 on a screening of the live-action film, Gamefreak would be stupid not to do it. Regardless when Generation 8 is revealed, it would be a wasted opportunity for Gamefreak not to advertise generation 8 on the live action film in some capacity whether that be in a trailer attached to the film or even the starters cameo in some way on the film. So many people will be watching the film that if they advertise generation 8 then it will increase the amount of people that would be interested in generation 8.

I see people saying that (about they didn't liking the drought period on Sun and Moon pre-release), but I can't find the source. But I think they would be different scenarios.

As I said, the only way I can believe the first trailer being shown in May is if they're planning to use the live action as the main showcase for the games. "And why not use live action as a big showcase, but still showing the trailers before (in March or February)?" Well, I had edited the post and added the reasons why I find that unlikely. And if they did that, they would not be using the live action as the "main showcase". I can only see the programming being changed if they want to use live action as the main showcase for the games. Otherwise, I really think we'll have the trailer this month.

I understand your opinion. I personally don't believe in the trailer being shown in February imo, for a few reasons: 1) It will be a big "generation jump". In the currently context, January seems the most propitious time to generate the hype and start marketing for something big like that, just like xy pre-release season was. Like, it's in early January that youtubers start making videos with top5/top 10 games that they pretend to play that year. 2) Nintendo will need help if they want to reach this fiscal year's goals, that ends in March. And a January announcement, followed by news in February, would sell far more consoles than a dry period in January followed by the announcement only in February. 3) The game was announced a long time ago. I know we've been hungry for Gen 8 news since 2017. But the scenario is different now. In 2017, we already knew that we would have USUM, so we knew we would not have the Switch game in that year (besides that, Ishihara also said we would not have information about the game "in less than a year"). Until May 2018, we were not sure we would have the game that year, just that we would have news about soon, and it was also scheduled for "2018 or later". So the expectation created around a possible announcement, the fans' thirst for real news (like the name of the games or a trailer), wasn't as big as it is now. After the announcement of LGPE, we discovered that the game had been postponed until 2019. And then, we have reached the present day. They are different scenarios. Fans are waiting for news of this long-announced game now. I think the community would not react well by going through a Direct without any news of the games. And I believe that Nintendo plans to show a Direct or a Mini Direct this month. 4) In a January Direct, is expected to being shown what the company has to offer in the year. We already know about the existence of the game, so there is no more what they could say about, besides a teaser or a trailer. 5) An announcement will boost again the Let's Go's sales. Pokemon game announcements increase sales of the old games, especially if they were released shortly, like LGPE. It happened with B2W2. 6) The game was announced a long time ago, and has been in development for a long time. If they want to, I think they will announce it sooner, if there is no reason to not do so.

I also don't believe in the third option. I still bet on the first one, btw. But I have to consider the second one if they are planning to use the live action as the main showcase for the games. Using the live action in that way seems to me the only logical reason for them to ignore everything else. I only see the live action changing things up.

Also, as I said, even if the second or third option happens, it doesn't mean that we will not have any kind of news until May. In SM's pre-announcement we had Zygarde and his forms, and also Magearna later. I believe that if the second or third option happens, surely we will have this kind of news being released as a way to excite the community.



I think you misinterpreted it. It seems logical that they will show a trailer or some kind of advertisement of the games in theaters. But advertising the games in the live action is different from using it as the main showcase for the games.

No, sadly I couldn't find it when I looked. =/ But I distinctly remember it being mentioned at some point.

I can't see them using Detective Pikachu as the main showcase- they have been all about controlling how their stuff is revealed lately, to the point of shafting CoroCoro on getting the scoop, so trusting a couple of American production companies who they have never worked with before doesn't seem like a remotely good idea.

 

[Cainhxrst]

there's also that mystery "Pokemon A" pokeshopper mentioned a while back. According to him it's set to be revealed around the end of January. If it isn't something like lisa's eevee or spiky eared pikchu, and actually turns out being a new form/pokemon then that could put us in range for an announcement the following week or so (which would be early February). The more time passes though I do kinda feel pessimistic about it though, I'm keeping expectations low and thinking it's probably just merchandise for armored mewtwo. While he quickly tried to dispel the idea people had that eevee was getting a new evo last year, he's been pretty optimistic and all in on the idea that something related to mewtwo will be revealed within the next month or so.

I don't think they'd wait till May because they'd want to have the games revealed well in advance of the detective pikachu movie so there's at least buzz beforehand (assuming they plan on having a trailer ready to drop that week for exposure)

Vern (resetera person who tends to leak things) said he was expecting 2 directs this month but wouldn't say more. This doesn't really tell us much though because with animal crossing and FE both coming out this year, there's a lot of options for a potential other direct.

on the topic of Masuda apologizing for the Sun/Moon news drought. I do see it brought up a lot but yeah finding the exact source seems hard. I vaguely remember his words being along the line of "sorry for the wait!" more than him showing regret or anything like that though

 

[Myth]

I can't see them using Detective Pikachu as the main showcase- they have been all about controlling how their stuff is revealed lately, to the point of shafting CoroCoro on getting the scoop, so trusting a couple of American production companies who they have never worked with before doesn't seem like a remotely good idea.

I think they would not need to trust them though. Since it would be a trailer that would have already been officially exhibited by them (I don't see them exhibiting the trailer exclusively in theaters first, perhaps with some small new information. Or the same trailer presented in a different way perhaps). And it would be easy to make the trailer appear before and maybe after the movie too.

there's also that mystery "Pokemon A" pokeshopper mentioned a while back. According to him it's set to be revealed around the end of January. If it isn't something like lisa's eevee or spiky eared pikchu, and actually turns out being a new form/pokemon then that could put us in range for an announcement the following week or so (which would be early February). The more time passes though I do kinda feel pessimistic about it though, I'm keeping expectations low and thinking it's probably just merchandise for armored mewtwo. While he quickly tried to dispel the idea people had that eevee was getting a new form last year, he's been pretty optimistic and all in on the idea that something related to mewtwo will be revealed within the next month or so.

I don't think they'd wait till May because they'd want to have the games revealed well in advance of the detective pikachu movie so there's at least buzz beforehand.

Vern (resetera person who tends to leak things) said he was expecting 2 directs this month but wouldn't say more. This doesn't really tell us much because with animal crossing and FE both coming out this year, there's a lot of options for a potential other direct.

I don't think the "Pokémon A" would necessarily mean a following announcement, they can use it to soften the dry period, as it was with Zygarde in 2015.

I think we would only have to wait until May if they were planning to do something big with the live action. As if they were to use it as the main showcase for the games. And as I said, if they want to use the live action as the main showcase for the games, it makes sense that they would want everyone to start the hype together. The chance for a non-fan to get interested in the game after leaving the theater would be much greater if he realizes that everyone is talking about the same trailer he just saw, and that the hype-news season is still in the beginning. It also would be much easier for him to follow the following information with everyone as well. Otherwise, I also really don't think there are any chances of we getting there without the first trailer.

I still bet on the first option (a big trailer this month). But I think the Vern's thing really tells! Even if they were planning to use the live action as the biggest showcase, I don't see them showing a Direct and not showing us at least a teaser. The community would react badly, I think. More than ever we thirst for news.

In addition, a Direct this month would serve to show the Switch year's releases. Pokémon will probably be the biggest console release this year. Showing a Direct and not mentioning the game would be "tricky". And we already know about its existence, so there is no more what they could say or show about other than at least a teaser.

 

[Bullet Club Master]

I think you misinterpreted it. It seems logical that they will show a trailer or some kind of advertisement of the games in theaters. But advertising the games in the live action is
different from using it as the main showcase for the games.

No, sadly I couldn't find it when I looked. =/ But I distinctly remember it being mentioned at some point.

I can't see them using Detective Pikachu as the main showcase- they have been all about controlling how their stuff is revealed lately, to the point of shafting CoroCoro on getting the scoop, so trusting a couple of American production companies who they have never worked with before doesn't seem like a remotely good idea.

Sorry I meant to say that it would be stupid if Gamefreak were to not advertise the games in someway at the theaters when the live action film airs.

 

[Myth]

Sorry I meant to say that it would be stupid if Gamefreak were to not advertise the games in someway at the theaters when the live action film airs.

It's ok, I understand and certainly agree. What I meant, is that no one here is doubting that they will do it. My first post was about how they will use the live action. Whether it will be in an expected way (with just a advertisement), or as the main showcase (using as the main showcase doesn't mean that the first trailer would be shown first in theaters though. I don't believe that would be possible or even good.)

 

[SodiumChloride]

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/Junichi_Masuda/status/1081777616175095808

 

[SerenaToAlola]

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/Junichi_Masuda/status/1081777616175095808

Did Masuda-san just post a whole damn sceptre on his twitter?!