Pokémon Sword and Shield Introduce Gym Leader Nessa, Head to Treehouse
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company revealed new details about Pokémon Sword and Shield at this year’s E3, including a dedicated half-hour slot on Nintendo’s Treehouse channel. Included in the details is the reveal of Nessa, the game’s Water-type Gym Leader, who can be battled in the game’s E3 demo.
Nintendo also revealed that Pokémon Sword and Shield will be compatible with Poké Ball Plus, though it cannot be used as a controller in the game. Players can transfer a Pokémon to the Poké Ball Plus and take it with them on a walk. The Ball will light up and vibrate, and occasionally the Pokémon cry will be heard. New Poké Ball Pluses will contain the mythical Pokémon Mew, which can be transferred to Pokémon Sword and Shield.
The game’s time on the Nintendo Treehouse boardcast included appearances from producer Junichi Masuda and director Shigeru Ohmori to talk about the game and show some gameplay. The footage included exploration and battles in the new Wild Area, its new Max Raid battles, and some connectivity features with other players. Junichi Masuda also revealed that not all Pokémon from previous games can be transferred to Pokémon Sword and Shield through the upcoming Pokémon Home service. Only those Pokémon that appear in the Galar region’s Pokédex can be transferred into the games.
Pokémon Sword and Shield will be released simultaneously worldwide for Nintendo Switch on November 15, 2019. A physical double-pack containing both games is available to pre-order.
Went from a Day One purchase to possibly being my exit from the series. I need an official announcement of full Dex patching being on the table before I take the plunge. I have a living Dex in Bank, so this news is huge. Gen III had the excuse that the GB and GBA didn’t communicate with each other. No valid excuse exists now. Pokemon is the biggest video game franchise, period. Unless it’s all going to the Yakuza and/or Nintendo due to early 90s contracts, GameFreak has all the money in the world to make Sword and Shield full Dex compatible, especially since they’ve been reusing models since XY.
It seems that it will be possible to having a living Pokedex in Pokemon Home, so it’s not a total gamebreaker for me. It’s still very disappointing, though, and I cynically think they’ll save being able to have all Pokemon in the game for Sword & Shield’s “third version.”
Although, enough clamoring by people apparently changed Nintendo’s mind in regard to Mario Maker 2 and being able to play online with friends. Maybe enough of an outcry will make them patch in the rest of the Pokedex. Part of the reason stated for the lack of all Pokemon was a shortage of time. Balance reasons is dumb; they’re gotten around that before plenty of times.
To be fair, I will entirely stick to new Pokemon in Sword/Shield, as I do in every generation. I really hope there are at least 100 new Pokemon in the Galar region.