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

[Juizel]

Nah, Clearly the Switch Mini will be robust enough that kids can throw with it like a ball :')

It's a whole conspiracy! SWSH with frustrating forced rematches and a robust Switch Mini for the children! It's been planned all along.

Honestly if Switch Mini is that robust and bounces back nicely, I'd consider getting one because whenever the battery is low I could still have fun throwing it against walls. It seems so perfect

 

[jonathan keller]

Just to clarify, because it's getting really old seeing this. It's only here in the western world were the slogan is Pokemon:gotta catch 'em all. In Japan it is simply "Get Pokemon!".
I think that's where a big part of this outrage is coming from. People have been lead to believe for 20+ years that we were supposed to catch them all, when in reality, Game Freak never related to that slogan.They wanted you to get Pokemon...and we did. Just wanted to clear up the confusion.

 

[9tiefly]

(Sorry for the off topic but just to update you all. I'm finally home and checking on my Bank boxes. They're empty BUT I can't remember if that's because I withdrew my entire collection or if it's because the remaining mons have been whiped out, since I haven't renewed my subscription for a few years now. Most likely the former, though. The most important mons had been stored in my Sun savefile either way, which I'd completely forgotten that I did! So yeah, if you're on the #bbnd side check on your mons if you haven't payed for your Bank subscription for a while, just to be safe! They'll even let you withdraw your stored mons without having to renew the subscription.)

 

[KiranTheWitch]

I want the gym leaders and E4 members to be involved in the story this time, like they were in BWB2W2 and XY. But more so.

Other than Malva, the E4 had no involvement in the story of XY and i don't get why. They're supposed to be the most powerful trainers.

 

[Knightwolf09]

I liked the part in the rumor where you get to use your Dynamax Legendary against Eternatus. Some people think that the legend's weapons transforming is their Gigantamax form.

 

[Oriden]

Just to clarify, because it's getting really old seeing this. It's only here in the western world were the slogan is Pokemon:gotta catch 'em all. In Japan it is simply "Get Pokemon!".
I think that's where a big part of this outrage is coming from. People have been lead to believe for 20+ years that we were supposed to catch them all, when in reality, Game Freak never related to that slogan.They wanted you to get Pokemon...and we did. Just wanted to clear up the confusion.

They have inadvertently encouraged it, though... what with completing pokedex entries and having to do so to get the shiny charm. The idea of "catch them all" hasn't been absent from the series, slogan or no slogan.

 

[Poke Dragon]

I do find it weird that Eternatus wouldn't get a Gigantamax form while Zacian and Zamazenta would. This unless has to do with its name, then I can see why it wouldn't get a Gigantamax form. However, when did a Pokemon's name ever prevent it from getting a form that contradicts it's meaning? If you see how there's Alolan Sandslash even though it does not have the Ground-type at all, then there's nothing preventing anything getting a form because of its name.

 

[Sakuraa]

Spoiler: Supposed Leak

"Exclusive for the starters 3rd form, they will have slight visual differences based on gender. This does not effect gameplay."

Why didn't they just say, "the starters final forms have gender differences"? It's not like this is a foreign concept. (Not that I believe any of this)

 

[jonathan keller]

They have inadvertently encouraged it, though... what with completing pokedex entries and having to do so to get the shiny charm. The idea of "catch them all" hasn't been absent from the series, slogan or no slogan.

You're right. Just wanted to point it out.

 

[Juizel]

They have inadvertently encouraged it, though... what with completing pokedex entries and having to do so to get the shiny charm. The idea of "catch them all" hasn't been absent from the series, slogan or no slogan.

Well, but what else do you want to do with people who complete the Pokedex? Give them nothing, just to not encourage them to catch them all? Give them something absolutely useless, like 10 Oran Berries?
Imo the Shiny Charm wasn't that much of a "must have" item for the general player, but really more of a nice bonus for collectors/hardcore players. That said, I don't exactly mind it being given out for completing the regional dex instead of the national dex.

But rewarding a certain time-consuming action in a game isn't necessarily encouraging it, it's more encouraging sinking your time in the game in the first place.

I do find it weird that Eternatus wouldn't get a Gigantamax form while Zacian and Zamazenta would.

Well, I mean, Rayquaza "only" got a Mega while Groudon and Kyogre got a primal. (I know it's technically the same, but lore-wise it's kinda different)
Zygarde didn't even get much of a lore in its own generation, while Xerneas and Yveltal were part of the plot. (And even in the next gen, it was just hanging out in a cave, or something)

Ofc there are the fusions with Necrozma and Kyurem on the other hand, but the third legendary not actually getting the same treatment as the two main legendaries isn't too far off. Eternatus could still, for all we know, have some ability that gives extra boosts to its Dynamax form, making Gigantamax a joke in comparison

"Exclusive for the starters 3rd form, they will have slight visual differences based on gender. This does not effect gameplay."

Why didn't they just say, "the starters final forms have gender differences"? It's not like this is a foreign concept. (Not that I believe any of this)

Maybe the differences are more pronounced than they have been on most Pokémon yet and makes them look like they could have differences? Also afaik gender differences were a somewhat dropped concept, too, that didn't get too many new differences added. :|
(Not saying I believe in the leak, ofc, I'm pretty indifferent to it. Might happen, or might just not. I wouldn't have believed the Dynamax leak before seeing Dynamax is a thing either, at this point I just don't think I could predict anything Game Freak would do.)

 

[YourSweetestNightmare]

I'm soooo scared if there's no new Eeveelution introduced on this game..
.
Do you think we will get a new Eeveelution this time??

 

[Juizel]

I'm soooo scared if there's no new Eeveelution introduced on this game..
.
Do you think we will get a new Eeveelution this time??

I sure hope so, tbh. I love Eevee & its evolutions. Dragon and Steel type eeveelutions pls

 

[Silktree]

And he also said that it was going to be a policy going forward.

Yep. Unless their plan backfires, we'll have to wait for them to arbitrarily pick the right time for a Pokemon to be usable again. Doesn't that sound fun?

 

[Oriden]

I do find it weird that Eternatus wouldn't get a Gigantamax form while Zacian and Zamazenta would.

Well, that "leak" doesn't mention Zacian and Zamazenta getting Gigantamax forms that I see... and we don't see Zacian and Zamazenta get big when they transform, so there's no indication that those are Gigantamax forms either.

But I think that supposed leak is 100% horseshit piggybacking off of that one legit leak, considering it so kindly refers to Wooloo by name but doesn't bother mentioning the names for the "three new pokemon" to be revealed in August. And "confirming" that one of the many fake starter evolution art is legit is equally as vague and just pot stirring to keep people talking about it.

Edit: Oh it did say that you'd have to Gigantamax your legendary. I missed that bit.

Well, but what else do you want to do with people who complete the Pokedex? Give them nothing, just to not encourage them to catch them all? Give them something absolutely useless, like 10 Oran Berries?
Imo the Shiny Charm wasn't that much of a "must have" item for the general player, but really more of a nice bonus for collectors/hardcore players. That said, I don't exactly mind it being given out for completing the regional dex instead of the national dex.

But rewarding a certain time-consuming action in a game isn't necessarily encouraging it, it's more encouraging sinking your time in the game in the first place.

But it does reward catching them all which is encouraging it. If they didn't want you to catch them all or didn't give a rat's ass that you did, then yes, they wouldn't give you anything for it. By handing out the shiny charm, it basically says "We acknowledge and praise your dedication to catching every pokemon, here's a reward so you can now collect more of them."

The point is that they have designed the games in such a way that entices collecting behavior- you have to collect them all to complete the pokedex and you've had to collect them all to get the shiny charm, so of course people are upset when told that they can't "collect them all" in these games. The games set us up for this kind of behavior for years, even without the slogan, because there are elements in the game that clearly give the message: "Hey, try to get every single one."

Maybe the differences are more pronounced than they have been on most Pokémon yet and makes them look like they could have differences? Also afaik gender differences were a somewhat dropped concept, too, that didn't get too many new differences added. :|
(Not saying I believe in the leak, ofc, I'm pretty indifferent to it. Might happen, or might just not. I wouldn't have believed the Dynamax leak before seeing Dynamax is a thing either, at this point I just don't think I could predict anything Game Freak would do.)

By "slight visual differences," it sounds more like the kind of gender differences that we saw introduced back in Gen 4. =/

And I wouldn't call the concept dropped... granted, we didn't really get any last gen aside from Partner Eevee, but a quarter of the pokedex was made up of legendaries and sub-legendaries, so not really a big shock there. Gen 4 released a shitton because that was the first time that they were introduced and they went back and gave differences to a bunch of older pokemon, but Gen 5 and 6 both gave us a couple new ones, so it's not really dropped so much as just gone from the introduction explosion to a small trickle here and there.

I'm soooo scared if there's no new Eeveelution introduced on this game..
.
Do you think we will get a new Eeveelution this time??

=/ I don't know... all the eeveelution merch was making me think that we won't, but I haven't seen them being advertised much in awhile, so maybe we're back on for getting a new one or hopefully a pair. We do know that Eevee is confirmed for being in the games, at least.

I really want to see a Flying and Ghost-type. XD Reeeeally want those two. Or a fluffy Normal-type tank with high hp. Or a Dragon, I guess. But mostly Flying and Ghost.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

but Gen 5 and 6 both gave us a couple new ones, so it's not really dropped so much as just gone from the introduction explosion to a small trickle here and there.

I think it should be noted that while Gen 5/6 gave less gender differences they were way more pronounced in appearance (and in battle usage point of view for Meowstic).

 

[YourSweetestNightmare]

I really want to see a Flying and Ghost-type. XD Reeeeally want those two. Or a fluffy Normal-type tank with high hp. Or a Dragon, I guess. But mostly Flying and Ghost.

I really want Dragon type Eeveelution. It's fan demanded type for a long time and it suits for Medieval themes that Galar represents. Steel or Ghost type are good too!!

 

[jonathan keller]

I'm soooo scared if there's no new Eeveelution introduced on this game..
.
Do you think we will get a new Eeveelution this time??

Well....every other generation since the 2nd Gen has given us an eeveelution. And we are in the 8th Gen. We'll see what happens.

 

[Juizel]

But it does reward catching them all which is encouraging it. If they didn't want you to catch them all or didn't give a rat's ass that you did, then yes, they wouldn't give you anything for it. By handing out the shiny charm, it basically says "We acknowledge and praise your dedication to catching every pokemon, here's a reward so you can now collect more of them."

The point is that they have designed the games in such a way that entices collecting behavior- you have to collect them all to complete the pokedex and you've had to collect them all to get the shiny charm, so of course people are upset when told that they can't "collect them all" in these games. The games set us up for this kind of behavior for years, even without the slogan, because there are elements in the game that clearly give the message: "Hey, try to get every single one."

Then again they did drop the national dex in gen 7 already so they "slowly" turned "GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL" into "GOTTA CATCH SOME OF 'EM". It's nothing I personally am fond of, really, and even if you didn't have all old games, filling the national dex (since Shiny Charm excludes event-only ones) in gen 6 at least was fairly easy with just a couple of trades. XY and ORAS all together really made it easily possible. Not saying it didn't cost any effort, but it's not the amount of effort that requires you to own at least a single game for every generation released in the past at least.

And Let's Go also still encouraged catching a lot of Pokemon, with that being the main way to level up so idk. :|

By "slight visual differences," it sounds more like the kind of gender differences that we saw introduced back in Gen 4. =/

And I wouldn't call the concept dropped... granted, we didn't really get any last gen aside from Partner Eevee, but a quarter of the pokedex was made up of legendaries and sub-legendaries, so not really a big shock there. Gen 4 released a shitton because that was the first time that they were introduced and they went back and gave differences to a bunch of older pokemon, but Gen 5 and 6 both gave us a couple new ones, so it's not really dropped so much as just gone from the introduction explosion to a small trickle here and there.

It does, yeah, but you never know what someone might consider "slight visual differences". It's like some people see a colour and call it scarlet, others simply say red.

For the sake of argument, I actually checked the Bulbapedia list for the gender differences and for Gen 5 it was Unfezant, Frillish and Jellicent, while for Gen 6 it was Pyroar and Meowstic. Unfezant, Frillish, Jellicent and Pyroar are fair gender differences imo, since they're basically still the same Pokémon; but both Meowstic learn different moves and have different abilities so idk if I'd still count that as "slight visual difference". Eevee in Let's Go is fair, but afaik that's only the partner Eevee (although I'd be fine if Eevee from now on had that difference, I liked heart-tail Eevee xp)

So compared to how many species got gender differences from gen 1 - 4 in the gen 4 games, I really consider this feature pretty much dropped. And while I don't blame Game Freak for that (it was a neat little detail and a great nod at the real world, where visual gender differences range from super subtle (or even non-existent) to extremely obvious, depending on species) because it really doesn't add too much to the game and probably was one of the most overlooked features I'd still love if it was still a bigger thing. But I'm fine it's not, really.

=/ I don't know... all the eeveelution merch was making me think that we won't, but I haven't seen them being advertised much in awhile, so maybe we're back on for getting a new one or hopefully a pair. We do know that Eevee is confirmed for being in the games, at least.

I really want to see a Flying and Ghost-type. XD Reeeeally want those two. Or a fluffy Normal-type tank with high hp. Or a Dragon, I guess. But mostly Flying and Ghost.

Love how you sound really enthusiastic at first, and then plain "Or a Dragon, I guess."
Legit made me chuckle here. xD

 

[swiftgallade46]

Just to clarify, because it's getting really old seeing this. It's only here in the western world were the slogan is Pokemon:gotta catch 'em all. In Japan it is simply "Get Pokemon!".
I think that's where a big part of this outrage is coming from. People have been lead to believe for 20+ years that we were supposed to catch them all, when in reality, Game Freak never related to that slogan.They wanted you to get Pokemon...and we did. Just wanted to clear up the confusion.

Does it really matter though? Western consumers are still a massive portion of Pokémon’s (and by extension, GameFreak’s) revenue source. I’m sure there is also coordination between Western and Japanese marketing teams on what is and is not appropriate for marketing the franchise. Regardless of slogan, there has always been an emphasis placed on the collection aspect of Pokémon. And people feel that this quality has been dealt a major blow with SwSh.

 

[BackSet]

If you have to catch them all by trading and transferring you can't really consider it "catching" them all since you didn't do all the "catching".