If you haven't heard the news yet, which would mean that you haven't been on the internet or left your house since June, not every single Pokémon is included in Sword and Shield. As such, there's only a certain selection of Pokémon available from every single generation. Today, we're going to be taking a look at ten Generation Three Pokémon that we're glad to see have returned to Sword and Shield, in no particular order. Let's get into it.
10 Shiftry
Shiftry is one fun Pokémon that made the jump from Generation Three into Sword and Shield, and that's really nice to see. This Pokémon is the final form of the Seedot line and has a unique and interesting grass/dark dual-typing that you don't see very often. While Shiftry might not necessarily be the most competitively viable Pokémon out there, he's great to use through the story of the game, and can be a great aid during your Gym Challenge. This Pokémon doesn't get a ton of love, so it's nice to see him make it to these games.
9 Gardevoir
Gardevoir is one Pokémon that we all would expect to see make an appearance in Sword and Shield. Gardevoir is easily one of the biggest fan-favorite Pokémon out there, especially out of Generation Three. It's received a fantastic Mega Evolution in the past, so clearly Game Freak seems to like it, too. This is one wild Pokémon. It's been known to open small black holes in the past in order to protect it's trainer, because, yeah, that's something that the laws of space allow to happen. Totally. For sure. Love a good black hole every now and then, great way to pass the time.
8 Wailord
Look, Wailord is in Sword and Shield... but is he really IN Sword and Shield? Well, his canonically large form is not. Even when Dynamaxed, Wailord still really isn't his proper size in the mainline games, which is very sad to see.
The last game that actually depicted Wailord as the right size was Battle Revolution for the Wii, a decade ago. It's ridiculous that Wailord is still smaller than its trainer in the mainline games. This is something that needs to be remedied very soon, but at the very least, we have a small Wailord in Generation Eight.
7 Flygon
Our wonderful little bug boy, Flygon, has successfully made the jump to Generation Eight, and taken his place in Sword and Shield. Yay! Flygon really doesn't get the credit that he truly deserves. He's got a great design, and a really unique typing, being a dual dragon/bug-type. Another bonus to seeing Flygon make the jump is that Pokémon Go recently held a Trapinch community day, meaning that many of us have a shiny Trapinch that we're ready to transfer into the game once Home launches. Could we get an update on that, by the way?
6 Milotic
The beautiful Pokémon Milotic is also available to catch in Sword and Shield. This Pokémon is seen as a sort of counterpart to Gyarados. Instead of evolving from a weak Pokémon into a strong one, Milotic evolves from an ugly Pokémon into a beautiful one. It isn't an easy evolution, though, as it needs to have the highest beauty stat possible in order to evolve. Well, that used to be the case. Now it needs to be traded with a Prism Scale, as beauty isn't really a thing in the games anymore. The Prism Scale trade is actually a much easier task than raising the beauty stat, so that's something we can be thankful for.
5 Duskull
Duskull also made the jump into the Generation Eight crowd, which is nice, because that means it brings Dusknoir with it, who was introduced in Generation Four. Dusknoir though, is most famous for its role in the Mystery Dungeon games, Time, Darkness and Sky.
If you haven't played those games, you're honestly just a bad person. They're absolutely incredible, and easily stand up to the quality of the mainline games. We're on a total tangent here, yes, but that doesn't matter. Play those games.
4 Snorunt
Snorunt is in the games, which is big. That means that Froslass is in the game too. That possessed icicle siren monster is absolutely fantastic. She freezes men she likes and uses them as decorations. Can you even think of a bigger power move than that? No, you can't. Because there isn't one. The power that she radiates is out of control, so we're glad that she makes the cut for Sword and Shield. Oh, Glalie too, he exists.
3 Mawile
Mawile made the jump from Ruby and Sapphire into Sword and Shield. While its fantastic Mega Evolution obviously isn't in the game anymore, Mawile is still a great Pokémon on its own. The whole hair that could swallow an entire human look is absolutely rad, so props to her on that one. Besides that, it's just a fun Pokémon to use throughout the story. Keep killing it Mawile.
2 Zigzagoon
Well, Zigzagoon is in the game, but not your old boy from Generation Three. Zigzagoon is now in his Galarian Form, which literally just makes him a member of KISS for... some reason? Either way, he's fantastic. His Galarian Form also grants him access to a brand new evolution in the form of Obstagoon. A whole mess of a line, yes, but they certainly deserve some renewed respect after the dirt that they've been paid in the past. It seems that a new form and evolution was just the way to do that.
1 Roselia
Roselia and Roserade made their way to the games as well. If you haven't seen, Roselia has become somewhat of a meme on Twitter lately, due to the fantastic strut that she has when she's walking around camp. Did we expect this of Roselia? No, but we probably should have. She's an absolute queen, and Roserade is fine too. We're focused on Roselia first and foremost. She's a legend.