Pokemon Direct : new Pokemon games! Sword / Shield

[Ragamuffin]

Nobody learned from the Rayman Leak, nobody learned from the Grinch Leak, it's best to wait until it's confirmed to be true or not... it's silly to get worked up over rumoured information. These are looking very real though, and I'm okay if they're real. I think. There's been some back and forth "X has been faked but Y is real" about some designs, for instance.

Spoiler

I heard Grookey/Sobble's final evo are faked but I haven't seen proof one way or the other. Speaking of, I don't like Sobble's design, but I actually think Grookey looks cool. I don't know if I'm getting the game but Grookey was my fave and I'm pleased with his designs tbh. A lot of cute Pokemon are being leaked, it's too bad Nintendo/Game Freak didn't want to show off, like, ANYTHING. Where are the region bugs and fish? We still haven't seen the chipmunk either which I assume is the rodent, and is Corviknight and the other thing supposed to be the birds? Is there no 3-stage bird like the other gens? Definitely... interesting. (Yes I know Taillow only has one evolution, but I'm talking Starly, Pidove, Fletchling, and Pikipek.) Corviknight is cool I guess but it's kinda underwhelming when it's only one Pokemon. There seems to be so little in this gen, even less than Alola. I was indifferent about the National Dex thing because, "well at least there's new Pokemon to look forward to" but there's hardly any... and while I loved most of the Alolan Pokemon, a lot of Galar's Pokemon are just... eh. I don't feel very strongly towards them.

Also, regional cat...?! People talk about the regular rodents/Pikaclones/bugs/birds, but there's usually a cat per gen too. Meowth/Persian, Mew, and Mewtwo; Skitty/Delcatty; Glameow/Purugly and Shinx/Luxio/Luxray; Purrloin/Liepard, Espurr/Meowstic and Litleo/Pyroar; Litten/Torracat/Incineroar, Solgaleo, and Zeraora... where is the Galar cat?!??!??!? Game is RUINED for me now!!!!!!!!! Giving me Meowth again isn't going to cut it, Game Freak! How can I be a crazy cat Pokemon trainer without any new cats?!

EDIT: Did I speak too soon? Apparently the bug has leaked now...

[Harmonie]

The Grinch leak suffered from the blurry image problem and the final roster it showed was wayyy too good to be true. But yeah it was so impenetrable aside from those two issues that it’s downright weird...

Pretty darn sure these new Pokémon are real. A number of them fall right in line with a leak that has been correct about everything that has been officially revealed. I know that leaks can be parroted and certainly have been in text form. But this? It’s just far too hard to fake.

[Sora]

If the leaks are accurate, my boy Absol is still in! I care more about that then I do the new 'mons surprisingly

A few of the new guys look nice, provided of course that these are legit.

[Harmonie]

Heads up, but I'm going to post a spoiler, so like don't even read below if you're avoiding them and especially avoid the spoiler tag.




Leak for those who are interested in what happens with Galarian Ponyta.

Spoiler

Galarian Rapidash was leaked:
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I do have to say this is a very fine design and I'm very happy with it. While I thought Galarian Ponyta was adorable, I thought that its super puffy mane and tail was a little overdone. Here I feel like that was remedied and the mane and tale are much more appropriately scaled.

I love the new eyes, too!

Overall, I love it! Looks like a contender for my list of top Pokemon! I can't wait to see the official artwork.

[Carrehz]

Usually I avoid leaks/"leaks" since I've always been afraid of falling for something only for it to turn out to be fake, but I went hunting for some earlier on since... well, the reveals thus far have been really disappointing.

(At the risk of sounding whiny, I feel like a lot of the 'leaks' I found have to be legit because they're [mostly] as unexciting as the rest of the Sw/Sh Pokemon we've seen so far... at least IMO. :p)

(Leak talk under the spoiler cut)

Spoiler

I saw a cute red fox-looking Pokemon, wouldn't mind if that one was legit.

Ragamuffin - I did see a cat earlier on, little fuzzy thing named Purrserker (sp?). I have a feeling that one's fake though, it just looked a bit off to me. I could be wrong, of course.
(I want a new cat Pokemon, too.)

I like the look of that Rapidash! I was keeping my fingers crossed for a pegasus/winged unicorn, but this is nice too, especially the horn. I sorta wish it had a traditional unicorn tail, though.

I love the curls in its mane ^^ Reminds me of Flurry Heart.

I'm neutral on the starter evos, can't bring myself to feel strongly about them either way. Where are the Scorbunny leaks...

Gotta admit, I'm strongly considering giving this one a miss, too. At least, I don't think I'll be buying a Switch just for it. I think at this point, it's gonna take something really nice to tempt me into getting the game.

(Anyone else find Gigantamax Eevee really underwhelming, btw? I mean, I know I'm not a fan of the gimmicky alt. forms [Mega, regional forms, etc] in general, but damn... At least the other Gigantamaxes looked a *bit* different. Eevee's just huge with a really big ruff? That's the best they can do?? :s)

[AnnaPommes]

well, it is just about two weeks left, right?

i guess i´ll be out of the ponyta/rapidash game since i preordered Sword. i guess i will get a duck with a vegetable then?

where do you peeps get your leaks? i just get advertisement-newsletters from the pokemon company, but by then it is usually old news?

about meowth - yes, but i really like their gigantamax-version!

[RainbowAlicorn999]

I was gonna get Shield for Galarian Ponyta but then I found out that they only have 400 Pokemon and included a bad mix. Sad.

[bright rabbit 1]

No Absol (one of my favourite Pokemon) so sad. Plus people are cancelling their pre orders

[Leave a Whisper]

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/11/there_are_no_plans_to_bring_the_full_pokedex_to_pokemon_sword_and_shield_and_future_games_will_follow_suit#reply



Dude, I'm not gonna transfer my teams into Pokemon Home if they're just gonna get stuck there on the vague assumption that I MIGHT be able to use them later.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I'm ok with some of the mix. I hate all of the starters though. Why are they all super humanoid? So disappointing.

[bright rabbit 1]

Goes to show you, GameFreak and the people who created Pokemon don’t care for their original fans.

Pokemon

1996 - 2018

And like Leave a Whisper said saving Pokemon onto Pokemon Home just to get stuck in there is just so wrong.

[Carrehz]

Well that sucks.

I mean, I get it, I guess, hardware limitations, etc, but... man. The problem I see is, you know they'll keep bringing back the same couple of Pokemon over and over. The Pikachu line will always be around. The Eevee line will always be around. etc etc. The Pokemon they shill the most will be in every game because they want to keep them in the public consciousness! Thus leaving less slots for different Pokemon in future games. if that makes sense.

Or maybe I'm being too cynical, but.. :/ Hard not to be, the way the Pokemon Company have been acting lately. (Don't even get me *started* on the trainwreck that the London pop-up shop turned into...)

(Idle thought: I wonder if all this "too many Pokemon to fit into the game" thing would still be a problem if they were still using the old pixel art style, etc instead of full 3D? I assume the 3D graphics, etc take up a lot more space. Hmmm.)

Also two new Pokemon were revealed in a trailer (scroll down, they're under Sirfetch'd):
https://serebii.net/swordshield/pokemon.shtml

Some sort of ancient tablet ghost(?) thing and what looks like a Galarian Mr. Mime (hooray for tired old British stereotypes).

[Harmonie]

Well that sucks.

I mean, I get it, I guess, hardware limitations, etc, but... man. The problem I see is, you know they'll keep bringing back the same couple of Pokemon over and over. The Pikachu line will always be around. The Eevee line will always be around. etc etc. The Pokemon they shill the most will be in every game because they want to keep them in the public consciousness! Thus leaving less slots for different Pokemon in future games. if that makes sense.

Or maybe I'm being too cynical, but.. :/ Hard not to be, the way the Pokemon Company have been acting lately. (Don't even get me *started* on the trainwreck that the London pop-up shop turned into...)

Yeah... GF/TPC has been playing clear favorites for quite some time and that goes past the point of mere annoyance when all of a sudden not all Pokemon are available in a generation anymore.

The fact that they just keep on pandering to Generation I Pokemon without a second thought really gets to me. After Sun/Moon only having regional variants from Generation I, I was completely done with the Gen I pandering. But then they just keep on going with it... Making LGP/E a game that took a step back from the Gen III Kanto remakes and only has Gen I Pokemon even in the post-game (save for the one new Pokemon they added as a GO collaboration).

Now from what I've seen, the actual Kanto pandering in Sword/Shield is not quite as bad as the advertising cycle has made it out to be.

Spoiler

For instance, the generation with the most Pokemon present in the games is Generation V!

(Idle thought: I wonder if all this "too many Pokemon to fit into the game" thing would still be a problem if they were still using the old pixel art style, etc instead of full 3D? I assume the 3D graphics, etc take up a lot more space. Hmmm.)

I'm not buying it. If the problem was space, then the 3DS games would not have been able to include all Pokemon. No way would that limitation have introduced itself in the Switch game. The Switch is infinitesimally more powerful than the 3DS and the cartridges hold waaayyyy more than a 3DS cartridge.

I have a hard time believing that the Pokedex cut was anything more than design choice by the company.

[Carrehz]

Oh, don't even get me started on the gen 1 pandering. It drives me insane. Sun/Moon had far too much of it, and then LGE/P, and all the merch seems to be 90% Gen 1 Pkmn, 10% Sun/Moon... I mean don't get me wrong, I expect/fully support the current gen getting tons of merch, but I'd like a bit more variety for the older gens...

(re: Harmonie's spoiler cut)

Spoiler

Huh, really? That's a surprise. I'm still shocked (pleasantly) that Trubbish made it in...

re: Pokedex cut - I dunno. I really have no idea how these things work... I'd like to believe there's hardware limitations, but...

I will say that in hindsight, Sun/Moon only allowing you to transfer old Pokemon through Bank was a sign of things to come. First they limit your ability to transfer old 'mons, then they limit which 'mons CAN be transferred, what's next?

[Sora]

The Gen 1 pandering is getting to me, especially as a merchandise collector :/

Don't get me wrong - Squirtle and her evos are my joint favourite Pokemon (alongside Absol). But there are so many gen 1 plushies and figures out there, I'd like a bit more variety (especially when we Europeans still don't have an online store).

(re: Harmonie's spoiler cut)

Spoiler

Huh, really? That's a surprise. I'm still shocked (pleasantly) that Trubbish made it in...

I'm not. Think about it - Britain's known for talking constantly about their bins