More Pokémon Sword and Shield Battle Options Revealed
With the start of the 2019 Pokémon World Championships this weekend, The Pokémon Company provided more details for the upcoming latest generation of Pokémon games, Pokémon Sword and Shield. The games will be used for competitive play in the 2020 Play! Pokémon Season, and will also include online options to allow players to battle each other.
To play online, players can visit the Battle Stadium to participate in ranked and casual battles — in both single and double Pokémon formats — as well as official and friendly competitions. Ranked battles will see players matched up with another of a similar rank based on points awarded from previous battles. Certain Legendary and Mythical Pokémon are not permitted for ranked battles, but can be used in casual battles.
Official competitions will see players participate in tournaments with a variety of rules and restrictions, while friendly competitions have rules and restrictions determined by the host player. Players do not have to use their own Pokémon in online battles and competitions, and can instead choose to use rental teams selected by inputting specific IDs online. Players can rent up to five battle teams and can make their own battle teams available for others to rent.
The Pokémon Company also showed off a new video showing some of the new battle tactics available to players thanks to new Pokémon abilities and items. For example, Galarian Weezing has the Neutralizing Gas ability, which prevents all other Pokémon’s abilities from being activated. Some Pokémon may also have rare Hidden Abilities, which can sometimes be found on Pokémon caught in Max Raid Battles. An example of this is Corviknight’s Mirror Armor, which reflects any stat-lowering effects applied to it. A couple of held items are the Room Service and Eject Pack. Room Service will lower the speed of the Pokémon that is holding it when the Trick Room move (which reverses the speed-based turn order) is successfully used. The Eject Pack will immediately switch out the Pokémon that holds it if that Pokémon has any stats lowered.
Pokémon Sword and Shield will be released simultaneously worldwide for Nintendo Switch on November 15, 2019. A physical double-pack containing both games and a SteelBook is available to pre-order. Those who pre-order the SteelBook double-pack will receive a code for each game that lets them fight and capture Dynamax Larvitar and Dynamax Jangmo-o in special Max Raid Battles before they are normally encountered.
Yet another version of Mold Breaker. 😛 I imagine thinking up new Abilities is probably harder than Pokemon designs, especially with having to come up with unique ones for specific creatures, but it’s still a bit silly.