Five months have come and gone (and how!), and now we’re getting the first of the Sword/Shield expansions, with new Pokémon to boot. We saw the initial designs for several of these back in January, but now that we’ve learned so much more about them, let’s dig in deep, why not?
Well, it didn’t take them long to force me back into service. We saw a few other new/redesigned critters in the trailers for the expansion packs, but as interesting as they look, I will refrain from talking about them until we learn more. There’s more than enough in the initial batch to make a fully-featured post.
Here we are, the end of the new Pokémon road, about eighty monsters accounted for (plus regional variations, so even more than that.) Those ten months sure passed by quickly. The critters we’re talking about today mostly hail from late in the game, which often means they aim to be the toughest of the bunch, or are the weird stragglers that keep us on our toes. All in all, I think Sword/Shield has some of the most inventive and diverse new Pokémon of any generation I’ve seen for a while, and that continues here, making sure that we end on a high note.
(Most images from Serebii, as you could guess)
This time, it’s all about Galarian variations, and Sword/Shield certainly has a varied and interesting bunch, pulled from a few different previous generations. Adding regional evolutions really brought the creativity, and they ended up with a lot of concepts that feel more specific than just “old Pokémon adapted to different ecosystem.” There are also some older Pokémon here that I never really expected to be put back in the spotlight, and I appreciate how they spread the love around.
So, roll up for the magical mystery tour (most images taken, once again, from Serebii):
It has always been my contention that the deeper into a Pokémon game you get, the more interesting monsters you’ll find. It’s only in the middle that they begin to really unleash the weirdos to inspire awe in all of us, often when we least expect. it That’s what we’re getting in this batch, and I don’t even think this includes the absolute weirdest and most unique of all this generation’s new additions.
Let the fun begin (once again, all images from Serebii):
This time, we’re going to focus mostly on Pokémon that appear early in the games. This is probably the first time in series history that so many monsters were kept under wraps, and they throw them right at you right away, too, so if you weren’t the kind of cheater who looks up leaks, you’d actually be in for a bit of a surprise. Theoretically, I mean.
Let’s get on the road, then (all images from Serebii):
Now that we’ve all had time to take in the newest batch of Pokémon, it’s about time to really get into the nitty gritty of it all. Is that not what I’m here to do? While I would usually want to use high quality artwork for all of these posts, timeliness wins out because there’s so much to cover and only so many days left in the year, so get ready for some ripped renders (at least they look nice.)
To start us off, I’m going to first look at a batch of Pokémon related to ones that were previewed beforehand—all the evolutions and early stages that were left to surprise us when we first got the game (and they really went out of their way to keep these things a surprise, leaks notwithstanding.) It’s always interesting to look at an entire family of creatures as a whole, to see just how they got to be what they are.
Only two weeks to go. October went by with a few updates, but absolutely no completely brand new Pokémon (although our dude Impadimp’s multiple appearances during the twenty-four hour stream put him on the minds of everyone, as it should be.) Instead, the focus has been on new versions of older ones, including Galarian forms and Gigantamax transformations. I didn’t really mention much about the latter when they were introduced, except in the case of Alcremie’s exceptional Gigantamax form, but the new batch is a little more interesting overall, especially since it’s mostly popular old game Pokémon getting roided out. I know I’m pumped to get to it.
Only a few new Pokémon for this entry, but they are all definitely worth expounding about. While the pace of new critters for this generation has been slower and more deliberate, I do think in general the cleverness on display in the ones they’ve shown has been consistently high, and there’s a great variety among them as well. Plus, we still haven’t even seen some of the ones they’ve shown in demos or hinted at through other means, so we clearly have some more worth looking forward to.
I wasn’t sure we’d be getting regional variations in Sword/Shield (they made sense in the previous games because of the particular nature of the setting), but they are indeed here, revealed at just about the same time they were revealed way back in the lead-up to Sun/Moon. It’s almost as if they plan these roll-outs rather meticulously…anyway, there aren’t as many completely new Pokémon in this batch, but there’s definitely some interesting stuff, so watch out!
A Scrapbook of Infinite Noise 