The release of Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield is right around the corner, and information about the game has revealed there's plenty to be excited about. The common thought is that when a new generation of Pokémon games is announced the only thing to look forward to is new creature designs, but that's not all there is.
New entries feature new mechanics, region forms, evolutions, characters, and much more. Let's look at 10 things we already know about the Galar Region of Pokémon Sword & Shield and ranked them.
10 Starters
One of the first pieces of key information fans yearn for when another generation of Pokémon games is announced is, of course, a look at the starters for the new games. In the Galar region, new trainers will have the choice between the blazing rabbit Scorbunny, the sad lizard Sobble, and the grooving monkey Grookey.
With the games being months away the middle and final evolutions still have yet to be revealed. Many players make their decision based on the final evolution, so fans are yearning for the reveal in the coming months.
9 Pokémon League Champion
Often the Pokémon League Champion is a mysterious figure that has a past shrouded in mystery and such, but that doesn't seem like the case for Leon. Leon is a very proud and flamboyant champion who is a modern-day rockstar in the Galar region.
He's not afraid of the spotlight and seemingly loves all of the attention. Leon's younger brother Hop is a promising and upcoming trainer that will be the main character's friend and rival along their journey in hopes of challenging Leon one day.
8 Dynamax
Dynamax is Pokémon Sword & Shield's generational gimmick for lack of a better term. It allows trainers to increase the size and power of their pokémon for 3 turns during a battle.
Not only does it increase the physical size of the creature and the power of its attacks, but it can also result in Dynamax-form specific moves that can only be used when Dynamax is active. It's unclear how useful or important Dynamax will be to the overall experience but expect it to play a role in the story in some way.
7 Fast Travel
Over the years the Pokémon games have tried to move away from the HM or Hidden Machine moves that allowed players to overcome obstacles in the world that halted their physical progress through the region. It seems that Pokémon Sword & Shield will be providing fast-travel from one area to another via a taxi cab service.
These taxi cabs don't drive, but rather are carried by the powerful new raven-inspired pokémon called Corviknight. If you're planning to get around, you better get familiar with Galar's taxi services.
6 Raids
With the Nintendo Switch having the Nintendo Online service, it came as no surprise that the first entries on the latest piece of Nintendo hardware would include a new online mode or feature. In Pokémon Sword & Shield players will be able to participate in raids featuring Dynamax pokémon in The Wild Area.
Though details on the multiplayer experience still aren't fully known, it has been expressed that some pokémon will only be encounter-able for the first time through raids. Afterward, it seems they'll start popping up throughout the game in specified areas.
5 Fairy Gym
The Pokémon series has yet to feature a gym dedicated to the fairy-type. A glance at the official Galar region map shows that the series could have such a gym for the very first time.
If you glance towards the upper left of the region map you can spot a gym surrounding by trees and glowing mushrooms that very much communicates fairy-type. Now, it's unclear whether this is version specific, or if it's a hybrid typed gym that's a mix of fairy and some other typing such as poison or grass. We'll have to simply wait and see.
4 Team Yell!
As the generations progress, it seems that Pokémon tries to find new ways to present a team of people who get in the way of the journey of the main character to be the best trainer in the region. In the Galar region, that team of people is called Team Yell and are a group of individuals who are huge fans of a girl named Marnie.
Little is known about Marnie outside of her having this crazed group of fans. Does she use them to do her bidding as this set of game's villain, or is she trying to get rid of them for fear of never living a normal life? Time will tell what her true motives are.
3 Differing Gym Leaders
Lifelong fans of the franchise know that each version of a new generation includes version-specific pokémon that can't be encountered in the wild in the other version of the game. In Pokémon Sword & Shield players will also have to decide which version as the gym leaders they most desire to fight against.
Each game will share a select number of gym leaders, but will also include a couple of people who are specific to a particular version. This means that making a decision on which version you want has added another layer of complexity.
2 Galarian Forms
With the introduction of Alolan forms of pokémon in both Pokémon Sun & Moon, fans anticipated that regional variants could continue in the Galar region. With the release of the newest trailer of the upcoming new titles, fans received their first glance at some Galarian forms.
The Galarian forms currently known about are for both Weezing and Zigzagoon. Weezing's Galarian form turns the purple smoke sphere into a gentleman as the Galar design gives it a large mustache and an extremely tall top hat.
1 The Wild Area
The Wild Area is arguably the most anticipated thing that's unique to the Galar Region. It's a large open area that allows trainers to explore in hopes of finding new and familiar pokémon. The creatures that appear change based on both the time of day and the weather that's actively occurring in-game.
While in this area of the game players will also have full control of the camera, a first for the mainline series of games. The excitement comes from the idea that The Wild Area is the franchise's first steps towards a console-based evolution.