Pokemon is one of the biggest names in modern media, and today Nintendo and Gamefreak aired a Nintendo Direct all about Pokemon Sword and Shield. This direct showed off a host of new features including; seven new Pokemon, the “Wild Area”, and a new evolution feature called Dynamax.

We venture into the new Galar region where Pokemon battles are all the rage and gym leaders have wide open stadiums where your Pokemon can duke it out for the masses to watch. These stadiums will be the main way of progressing the story it seems and looks like a return to classic gym battles, unfortunately. I was a big fan of the changes made Pokemon Sun and Moon to this now stale and tired formula.

It’s not all disappointment, however, now that Pokemon is on the Nintendo Switch, we get full camera control in a new area. The area is known as “wild area” and will act as a pseudo open-world. You will traverse the “wild area” as you move from town to town on your way to becoming the Pokemon champion. On your travels you will, of course, encounter loads of different types of Pokemon including new faces; Gosifleur (a flower Pokemon) Corviknight and Drednaw; depending on the weather in the area you will encounter different Pokemon.

When you encounter the different Pokemon and trainers you typically fight them and in classic Pokemon fashion you can train and evolve your new pals. In Sword and Shield, you can now do a new form of temporary evolution of sorts called “Dynamax”. When you Dynamax a Pokemon you make them grow into a Godzilla sized version of themselves and their power increases exponentially for three turns and can only be used once per battle (Kind if like mega-evolutions in previous games).

Another new and extremely exciting feature that I’ve never known I wanted is known as “Max Raid Battles”. These raid battles will allow you to team up with three other players either online or within the same room on multiple Switch systems to take down powerful Dynamax Pokemon. Gamefreak incentive-ized players to participate in raid battles by making certain Pokemon only available for capture after you defeat their Dynamax form. I could see Pokemon Sword and Shield turning into a sort of “game service” with this new feature.

With lots of new information released today, it is safe to say that Pokemon Sword and Shield are high on my list of most anticipated games for this year! If you are ready for a new adventure in the Pokemon world then keep your eye on November 15th, 2019 for release of Pokemon Sword and Shield for Nintendo Switch.

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