Sword & Shield **Official news only** DLC Crown Tundra 22nd October

Are we not gonna talk about how in their trailers they show off Zacian and Zamazenta using what looks like signature moves? I mean legends have had those since gen 2, not surprising but still curious that they've shown them but no info has been given.
They look fairly standard all things considered, just not a lot to say. Guess I'm surprised that Shield's seems to be an offensive move.
 
all of them are Pokémon already confirmed for the game -- they're being very careful with what they put in pre-release stuff
I swear, every time I meticulously trawl through these videos for new 'mon; and it's all ones we've seen before! Even ones that were literally just revealed like Pawniard and Skorupi! It's so specific and on-point I almost love it.
I can't help but get an ominous feeling from this; for some reason I find it hard to imagine Nintendo specifically keeping track of the old mons they've revealed Serebii-style just so they can double down on duplicates. It feels more likely that there just aren't many unrevealed old Pokemon left. Is it just me?
 

CTNC

Doesn't know how to attack
I swear, every time I meticulously trawl through these videos for new 'mon; and it's all ones we've seen before! Even ones that were literally just revealed like Pawniard and Skorupi! It's so specific and on-point I almost love it.
Now that you mention it, I think I realize something. Game Freak really doesn't want to reveal ANYTHING they don't have to. Did they notice fans keeping track of old Pokemon and think that was too much info?
 
I can't help but get an ominous feeling from this; for some reason I find it hard to imagine Nintendo specifically keeping track of the old mons they've revealed Serebii-style just so they can double down on duplicates. It feels more likely that there just aren't many unrevealed old Pokemon left. Is it just me?
At first you might think that, but this isn't actually new -- this is very consistent with previous trailers; there's been multiple times where new trailers have been dropped and there's no new returning reveals, but they even show returning Pokémon that were just revealed offhand in a trailer a few days prior.

It's bizarre, but I agree with CTNC here -- they really do just seem that committed to not giving away even the smallest bit of info.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
Well boys, it's been a wild ride. Bumpier than usual, but nonetheless the past few months since February have brought us equal quantities of joy, sorrow and anxious waiting for new info.

Whatever your current feelings on the game, this community, Game Freak, everything, all of this build-up, all of these emotions and speculation are coming to the final stage. As of posting this, we are now almost precisely 2 weeks away from Sword and Shield being fully demonstrated to the whole world, possibly less than that if a big leak comes around.

Brace yourselves. Even if 0 additional news is given until launch day, the wait alone is gonna be tense...
 

DHR-107

Robot from the Future
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Orange Islands
Only new thing is Zacian and Zamazenta in-game.
Technically we see a Poliwag T Shirt which we haven't seen before, and Poliwag isn't yet confirmed as being in the game.

This video also hard confirms Shuckle.

Wait a fucking second was that a wild Dusknoir?! The trade evos are never in their final formes in the wild!
Did you not also see Gigalith previously? Or Steelix?

I can't help but get an ominous feeling from this; for some reason I find it hard to imagine Nintendo specifically keeping track of the old mons they've revealed Serebii-style just so they can double down on duplicates. It feels more likely that there just aren't many unrevealed old Pokemon left. Is it just me?
100% they will be keeping track of what they have shown and what they haven't. Marketing teams for stuff like this are super on point (Especially this time around) and they are giving nothing away. Promo shots which might include new (or new new) Pokemon are being very carefully curated.

I always appreciate trade evos being in the wild.
It makes going for the full dex that much smoother.
Its definitely appreciated for Single Player people or people who don't want to get Switch Online for whatever reason. I liked the more "expanded" dex options for USUM (different ways to get hard to find things), much like the Islands in ORAS. I just hope Pokemon like this are still super rare/hard to find and strong so you have to be on your A Game.

As Yung Dramps said earlier, we are into the final two weeks before launch. We made it to November without any leaks, so the Nintendo Ninja's are likely out in force. I'm expecting something to drop sometime in the middle of next week, but it could happen at literally any time from now onwards.
 
Zamazenta's move on that trailer had a bit of Fire-esque vibe to me, or maybe it was just the explosion afterwards. If the cover legendaries have unique typings, then I'm leaning towards Fighting/Fairy and Fire/Fairy as of right now. If not, then good luck guessing both correctly.
 
They look fairly standard all things considered, just not a lot to say. Guess I'm surprised that Shield's seems to be an offensive move.
It could plausibly be some kind of counter, like Obstagoon's signature move. But it does look more like a standard shield bash.

Both moves look physical to me, entirely unsurprisingly. Wouldn't be at all surprised if Zamazenta is fire type. Personally I'm thinking Steel/Fighting for Zacian and Steel/Fire for Zamazenta, which would also make the two super-effective against each other. Given the fact that they're openly referencing the unstoppable force vs immovable object paradox, I have a hard time imagining that they haven't considered the interaction of the two cover legendaries.

Zamazenta's move on that trailer had a bit of Fire-esque vibe to me, or maybe it was just the explosion afterwards. If the cover legendaries have unique typings, then I'm leaning towards Fighting/Fairy and Fire/Fairy as of right now. If not, then good luck guessing both correctly.
Unique typings is more of a Mythical thing now. I don't think there have been any non-mythical legendaries with unique typings since gen 5 (which had Tornadus, Terrakion, and all three Unova Dragons).

Edit: forgot Nihilego
 
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Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
There is a small chance that we'll get to hear Megalovania in an official Pokemon game. Arceus has blessed this timeline

(Memes aside congrats to Toby, that's an opportunity most would kill for)
 
Wait a fucking second was that a wild Dusknoir?! The trade evos are never in their final formes in the wild!
Pretty sure there were Wild Steelix at Iron Island in Platinum.

On the other hand, it's really cool to see wild mons like that on their final stages, this is something that always kinda bothered me on the series. Not specifically talking about Trade Evos, but even regular ones like Tyranitar.

Also, yes, wild trade evos are very nice for no trading runs.
Never liked trade evos tbh. May be related that I used to think Kadabra evolved at lv. 55. Grinding to that level in GSC was hellish, especially since I grinded on wilds. (Cycling Road)

Kids make some dumb mistakes. Can't even use the "no internet back then" excuse since my cousin had Stadium 2 and I should've checked on it first.


Only new thing is Zacian and Zamazenta in-game.

Woah woah, what is that building at 0:17?
 
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I just began a new marketing course and some of the things there made me think about the marketing strategies of Game Freak.

I think I got their strategy figured out.

We're in an era where everybody think only of the beginning. First weekend of sales, first week of exhibition (for movies) and so on. But the fact that they've just released the list of top selling Pokémon games for 3ds/Switch triggered me to think they're focusing on the short and medium term, not the launch.

They're counting on mouth to mouth marketing. We'll probably have less pre-sales and sales at week 1, but they are counting on Red and Blue-style of marketing. Old school Marketing. When the reviews start to come up of an awesome game, people will flock to it through an organic marketing.

If that's not the strategy, I don't know what they're doing.
 
Speaking as somebody who is less than impressed with the games currently:

This strategy seems suspicious. It would be focusing on consumers taking other people's word for the game rather than them having enough information to make their own decision (unless you view the full dumps that occur right after release). Given GF/TPC clearly has the resources to reveal nearly everything, I can't help but think they're doing this because they have something to hide, something that would seriously damage sales if its details were prominently shown. Maybe its [REDACTED], maybe the Wild Area is boring and empty, maybe it has no postgame, I can't say for sure. But I do think that getting this game without checking its full details yourself post-release would be a serious risk.
 
Uh... who's that Toby guy?

Speaking as somebody who is less than impressed with the games currently:

This strategy seems suspicious. It would be focusing on consumers taking other people's word for the game rather than them having enough information to make their own decision (unless you view the full dumps that occur right after release). Given GF/TPC clearly has the resources to reveal nearly everything, I can't help but think they're doing this because they have something to hide, something that would seriously damage sales if its details were prominently shown. Maybe its [REDACTED], maybe the Wild Area is boring and empty, maybe it has no postgame, I can't say for sure. But I do think that getting this game without checking its full details yourself post-release would be a serious risk.
Or it's just in response to the (nonsensical IMO) complaints that they were revealing too much content pre-release in the Gen VII games.
 
Or it's just in response to the (nonsensical IMO) complaints that they were revealing too much content pre-release in the Gen VII games.
This complaint was certainly valid with ORAS -- I don't think there was *anything* unknown at release, aside from the precise mechanics of Rayquaza's mega evolution and Hoopa's new form (not least because Hoopa itself was officially a secret at the time). Same with USUM, where Ultra Necrozma was basically the only new thing in the game leaks if I recall correctly.

I do think they've gone a little overboard with the secrecy this time. Especially as an ubers player, where we officially know *literally nothing* about a prospective gen 8 ubers meta except "these two Pokemon that you know nothing about will probably be in it, and they have signature moves".
 

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