Official Pokémon Sword and Shield speculation thread (Updated June 5th, 2019)

[JFrombaugh]

RuffledRowlett pointed out what looks like a train station in the starting town...is it possible that the Player Character might have moved from Kalos, similar to how Elio & Selene were originally from Kanto?

 

[Alola]

Am I the only one who likes the backpacks?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

If he gets three, i can see Scorbunny staying unevolved being the comedic relief mon, but also as the cutest starter he has.

Like it was mentioned before fire starters always evolve, and this one follows Ash’s speedy battle style to boot.

 

[Joker901]

RuffledRowlett pointed out what looks like a train station in the starting town...is it possible that the Player Character might have moved from Kalos, similar to how Elio & Selene were originally from Kanto?

Not a long trip, let's say XD

 

[BraixenFennekin]

and I wonder ash will catch Scorbunny in Galar region like he caught Chimchar in Sinnoh

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Am I the only one who likes the backpacks?

I like them too! They remind me of the Enid Blyton books I read about hiking in Britain when I was younger!

 

[TheElderKing]

RuffledRowlett pointed out what looks like a train station in the starting town...is it possible that the Player Character might have moved from Kalos, similar to how Elio & Selene were originally from Kanto?

Someone said that they might be connected with the Premier League’s colours, given the English inspiration and the soccer-type stadiums and outfit.

 

[Poke Dragon]

I actually hope the anime repeats the Diamond and Pearl series in terms of starter composition for the characters.

 

[nickdt]

No way, fire starters always evolve. Every single one. Froakie and Popplio evolved (3 on 7 in total) so probably we'll have to wait 10 gens before seeing this miracle again. Grass starters seem on this way too after they shined at little bit.

Cyndaquil says hi (Yes, i know it evolved in Sinnoh, but that wasn't in his own series, so for me that doesn't count).

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

I wonder the female companion with Ash in Galar region is getting a water type Pokémon like Dawn got a Piplup

Why not? The shy ones are cute afterall

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Cyndaquil says hi (Yes, i know it evolved in Sinnoh, but that wasn't in his own series, so for me that doesn't count).

Do you realise you basically said ‘It evolved but it didn’t?’
Because you just denied that the factually correct statement was correct.

The point was that the fire starters always evolve. The cyndaquil line is an anomaly: heck, Typhlosion literally holds the record for the starter with least anime appearances.

 

[nickdt]

Do you realise you basically said ‘It evolved but it didn’t?’
Because you just denied that the factually correct statement was correct.

It didn't evolve in its own series and thats the argument i am making. Ash can get Scorbunny, but it doesn't have to evolve in the Galar Series, especially since its base form seems the most marketable for me at the moment.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

It didn't evolve in its own series and thats the argument i am making. Ash can get Scorbunny, but it doesn't have to evolve in the Galar Series, especially since its base form seems the most marketable for me at the moment.

So that London cameo in SM098 is foreshadowing the Galar Region

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

It didn't evolve in its own series and thats the argument i am making. Ash can get Scorbunny, but it doesn't have to evolve in the Galar Series.

It evolved nonetheless.

Scorbunny also fits Ash’s speedy theme like a glove and gives Chimchar-like vibes.

 

[Karamazov]

Am I the only one who likes the backpacks?

Yes.

 

[Joker901]

and I wonder ash will catch Scorbunny in Galar region like he caught Chimchar in Sinnoh

Really? Someone abandoned that bunny on the street and Ash saved it. Like 4 fire starters on 5...

 

[JFrombaugh]

I’m thinking about calling my character Alice and starting with Scorbunny. I just hope there doesn’t end up being a major character who’s named that.

 

[nickdt]

I’m thinking about calling my character Alice and starting with Scorbunny. I just hope there doesn’t end up being a major character who’s named that.

Lol. Alice in Wonderland reference hahahahaha.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Yes.

I’ve no problem with the backpack size but I hope we can get colourful variants and designs.

 

[Hidden Mew]

This reveal was pretty great. I was expecting just a quick little bit of information at the end of the Direct like what happened with Sun/Moon, but the whole presentation was about these games. We got the titles, the starters, a bit of gameplay footage, a look at the new trainers and the new region's name. That was pretty awesome. I'm also happy that these weren't leaked ahead of times, or at least I wasn't aware of a leak like with the Sun/Moon logos. I always felt kind of bad about that leak in a way since that did take a bit of the surprise factor out of announcing a new generation on the franchise's 20th anniversary.

Pokemon Sword/Shield are definitely different names than I would have expected, but I think that they're pretty interesting. It makes me wonder if it ties into the storyline or theme of the games. The Galar region looks so beautiful and vast. I'm sure that it will be a lot of fun to explore it. I'm not too surprised that the wild random encounters are back. While I love seeing Pokemon in the overworld, I suspect that these games were far too into development for them to consider using that feature from the Let's Go games. Same with the Pokemon following you mechanic. Hopefully these features can be brought back again, along with some other features from the Let's Go games. Honestly, removing good/useful features with the hope/possibility that they'll be brought back in future titles is practically a staple of the franchise at this point.

I also liked that they showed a bunch of different Pokemon from the other generations to show that older Pokemon will be available within the games. Granted, at least part of that was done to not show more of the new Pokemon, but usually they just showcase more on first generation Pokemon than anything else. It still makes me think that they want to reassure fans that older Pokemon are going to be in the games after the mixed reactions to B/W only having new Pokemon up until the post-storyline, but it was still pretty cool. Seeing a different variety of Pokemon available right off the bat was great. I just hope that the new Pokemon won't be harder to find like they have been for the past couple of generations.

I am glad that I'm not the only one who noticed the huge backpacks. Hopefully that means that there will be more pockets for certain items. I also hope that if trainer customization is available, which I think has a decent chance of being in the games, that there are different kind of backpacks you can buy. The default outfits look fine, but the color of the backpacks look too plain for my tastes. That's relatively minor all things considered, but I just wanted to mention it.

I really like the new starters. Scrobunny and Grookey are especially cute, but I like Sobble is pretty cute too. The reveal trailer shows off their personalities pretty nicely and they're all adorable. I'm not sure if they work as well as a trio design wise compared to the Alola starters, but they're still pretty great and they may feel more marketable as a group the more I see them. Right now, I could definitely see myself with Scrobunny and Grookey for the games, but it depends on how their evolved forms turn out and if there are more Fire types introduced that I really want to train. My initial reaction to these starters reminded me a lot of how I felt about the Kalos starters. I loved Chespin and Fennekin right away, but I didn't think Froakie was as good. It was still fine, but it just didn't get me as excited by comparison. While I think my initial reaction to Sobble is better than what I thought of Froakie when it first came out, the whole experience still felt similar enough for me. The evolved forms did change my initial decisions for X/Y too. I still like Chespin, but I went for Fennekin and Froakie because I liked their evolved forms more and I still wasn't into another part Fighting starter.

This Pokemon Direct was great. Even though it was set to start 6AM my time, I still set my alarm up to watch the presentation live. I could have just woken up to check the video on Serebii later instead, but seeing the announcement of a new generation live is pretty great and it was worth waking up earlier, even if I was too excited to go back the sleep afterwards. Hopefully there won't be a long drought of news after this announcement, but at least there is still a lot of information here to help tie fans over if that does happen.