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

[Project_Mars]

... I'm legit pissed right now.

It right right there. Make the Mega Evolutions into Gigantamax. IT WAS RIGHT F***ING THERE! An easy, EASY solution to the massive fan upset of you tossing Mega Evolutions. While the mechanic is gone at least the forms could continue to live on as just a general super form the Pokemon can obtain through various means.

But no, this is GameFreak where for every step forward they take they also need to take two steps back to assure they're not advancing too far if not advancing at all.

Like, what are even these forms? Call me bias right now but they're either stupid, meme-y, amd/or trying too hard. Eevee just just a normal Eevee with giant mane fluff, Pikachu is just a normal Pikahcu with a elongated glowing tail, Meowth they're trying to go for the Alolan Exeggutor meme even though THEY DID IT WITH ALCREMIE ALREADY, and Charizard... Charizard... why? Like, had they just combined the Mega Forms I'd even be fine with that (would still at least keep the dream the Mega Pokemon as Gigantamax forms) but NOPE. Instead Charizard is just a normal Charizard except his wings and horns are flames now... ~ooh, how more visually interesting than Mega Charizard Y (hint: it's not)~

Oh, and of course all of them are Gen I Pokemon because at this point GF isn't beating a dead horse they're... doing something more descriptive to it. I'm just so mad right now...

This is not the type of news I (and from what I can tell a lot of people) want to see before a new livestream.

I ain’t too upset with the new Charizard model for Gigamax since it seems like a bit of a compromise. Either you go with Y and anger the people who wanted X to come back, pick X and anger the people who wanted Y to come back, or do something new since it’s a new form that is separate from Mega Evolutions and anger people who were expecting it to be one of the two megas. Also doesn’t quite shut the door on Megas potentially coming back if GF so desires.

Also, as the prophecy from May foretold, Gigamax Pikachu is indeed Gen 1 Chubbychu and Gigamax Meowth is the ancient internet meme Longcat. The Eevee is a surprise, but not a wholly unexpected one given that Eevee has become one of the series mascots alongside Pikachu.

I agree with you there, but not for the exact same reason.

At the very least, it can be assumed that the leaker knew what content would be revealed before the games themselves come out. A disproportionate amount of the content in the leak has been revealed before release.

The leaker claims he "didn't get too far", which implies he got the information from playing a bit of the game, but somehow he still saw all of the fully evolved starters and even lategame stuff such as these specific Gigantamax formes. Having seen this much information, it is strange that he chose to reveal only Pokémon whose existence would be confirmed before the games' release. This includes most of the Pokémon and characters mentioned in the leak - at this point we've only yet to see three named Pokémon from the leak (the evil legendary and the chipmunks whose existence was confirmed by background details), one presumed Meowth evolution, the evolved starters, G-Max Lapras, and two Gym leaders. All the mentioned mechanics in the leak have been confirmed.

Granted, there has been a lot of stuff announced that wasn't in the leak as well (namely, two Gym Leaders and most of the revealed Pokémon), but it strikes me as a little more than odd that of all the things a leaker could leak, most of it would get an official confirmation before the games' release. One would think there wouldn't be a perfect overlap between the leaks of a legit leaker and the plans of the PR people, yet here we are with most of the leak confirmed piece by piece, and still a month left to go for the rest.

So yeah, the "smoking gun" for me isn't how much the leaker got right, but how much of the leaked content we have already seen confirmed.

I’ve seen a suggestion that the person was from the marketing team and leaked that info, hence why it’s been stuff that they’ve revealed... but it’s also mostly stuff from Sword that’s been leaked so maybe they also got to play just that version a bit too and chose to leak stuff from it? Who knows.

 

[Rarycaris]

At the very least, it can be assumed that the leaker knew what content would be revealed before the games themselves come out. A disproportionate amount of the content in the leak has been revealed before release.

There's also the possibility that Nintendo knows about the leak and has altered its information release schedule accordingly.

 

[Project_Mars]

There's also the possibility that Nintendo knows about the leak and has altered its information release schedule accordingly.

That seems unlikely. Marketing probably would have been set up quite a bit in advance and I doubt any of the game getting leaked would have changed any of that.

I ain’t in marketing though so idk how possible changing that in response to a leak would be though.

 

[Vinc2612]

Gigantamax Eevee looks like someone drawing Eevee from memory, with a poor idea of proportions.

Pikachu is nostalgia-aimed, ok, why not.

I don't like Meowth eyes but the concept is not bad.

Then comes Charizard...
I hate that Charizard more than any other Pokémon form. Ever. As a reminder, ultra-beasts were "associations that they wouldn't dare otherwise, like a glass jellyfish. Definitely different from standard Pokémon".

Well, this Charizard is worse. This is not a Pokémon design. This is some stupid zombie stuff from Snakewood, a dying Charizard self-consumed by its internal fire. I hate the way its belly seems melting. I hate the way the interior of its head looks only occupied by a fireball. I hate the way its flesh seems teared by the fire trying to escape its body.

 

[Count Bleck]

*long mega rant about megas*

...okay? We already knew that wasnt gonna happen tho. They flat out said that megas werent going to be in the game, why would thengigantimax formes be the same? Thatd be dumb as hell and only fan the flames of laziness calls already being flung their way.

Megas exist seperate for gigantimax, theres no need to conflate the two. In fact, im sure we will see megas again in this very gen when Sinnoh comes along, seeing as like alola and z crystals, dynamax is a region exclusive phenomenon . Chill out, Mega Bee isnt gone forever.

Well, this Charizard is worse. This is not a Pokémon design. This is some stupid zombie stuff from Snakewood, a dying Charizard self-consumed by its internal fire. I hate the way its belly seems melting. I hate the way the interior of its head looks only occupied by a fireball. I hate the way its flesh seems teared by the fire trying to escape its body.

 

[Ironmage]

On Eevee

It's funny. If you had asked three years ago what mon I would put in the mascot slot, I would have easily said Eevee. It and its evolutions could represent 9 types, 4 generations, the overlap between (conventional) cuteness and effectiveness in battle, and the many spinoffs where it has an important role. I suppose I missed the fact that a real mascot is only ever a single-typed mon from gen 1. And like Pikachu, apparently involves GF shooting themselves in the foot when attempting to make it flashier in battle. Seriously, those stats and movepool don't work for direct attacking or defending. Evoboost was quite possibly the best thing they could have done.

On Pikachu

On paper, it's reasonable to give a GMax to mons that lean heavily on items, when both the earlier gimmicks used up that slot. Of course, I also think that the mouse will only become anything more than a noob trap when GF stops trying to force offense on to something statistically outclassed by the likes of electivire and luxray. given gMax cuts off screens, nuzzle, and Volt Switch, I don't think its the answer.

On Meowth

Why? Not just why make a questionable design as an outdated meme, why Meowth? I get that it's big in the anime, but I also stay as far away from that as is possible for a pokemon fan because I'm here for the game mechanics and even the basics are completely butchered there. As far as I am concerned, its just another gratuitous gen 1 pick.

On Charizard

Between the anime and Smash Bros, I've needed to dig in pretty hard to keep Zard as the fast special attacker it's been behind "oh look a dragon." This does not look like a Charizard I would want to use.

unsorted thoughts

Since I think on game mechanics a lot, there was a point where I looked at when GMax would be reasonable (though I compared it against megas, because I like having more options). I came up with two situations:
1. Offensive mon tied to an item. Generally NFEs that used to be the end of their lines (due to having some amount of weight to throw around), like Scyther. One that is coincidentally NFE but gets a massive independent item boost is Clamperl, and given that there exists a RL creature called the Giant Clam, I found it easy to imagine a fantasy world having the possibility of GIANT clams.
2. Mons that wouldn't change much from mega evolution. Think of gallade, for example (also scizor, if 'Maxing didn't completely screw over Technician). Mons where both their typing and ability are part enough of their identity that they're not going to change. For me, the biggest pick in that category is Dhelmise. Grass/Ghost/Steelworker defines Dhelmise. It even fits the bulky attacker role 'Maxing seems to lend itself most to.

So yeah, when I looked at where I would think the mechanic would be best applied, I found Clamperl and Dhelmise. Two pokemon that are about as close to the bottom of the barrel as you can get, with ones that I've missed likely also residing there. I really enjoy when the new stuff brings mons out of obscurity (remember mawile in gens 3-5? Yeah, me neither), so with all reveals being either new or well-known gen 1 mons, I am severely disappointed. Also, all of the newly revealed designs are ugly.

 

[Count Bleck]

On meowth. Im preeeetty sure its based on some kind of Yokai, but which one i cant recall. I thought there was defenitly a long cat ghost of some kind...

 

[ScraftyIsTheBest]

Gigantamax Charizard doesn't surprise me in the least. It's Leon's signature Pokemon and Gigantamax/Dynamax is the newest "show-off" mechanic for Sword and Shield, so naturally the Champion ought to show it off with his ace, much like how Diantha showed off Mega Evolution with her Gardevoir. Given this time we know Leon's the Champion and his ace is Charizard well in advance, but point remains.

So we're going to have to face off against a raging, super-sized Zard in the Champion battle. Really though, side note, I do wonder what Leon's team will be like, if he'll base it around a certain theme of Pokemon like previous champions did (whoever the new pseudo-legendary is will very likely be a part of his team for sure), but it'll be interesting what kind of team Leon has besides his Charizard.

 

[Kanburi]

Mfw

Receive a Gigantamax-able Meowth when you purchase SS early. You don’t need NSO for it, but it can’t be evolved.

If you have Let’s Go, you can also get a Gigantamax-able cover Pokémon for whichever version you have.

 

[Siggu]

Mfw

Gigamax Butterfree was certainly something I could not see coming.

On the other hand, Giga Charizard looks pretty fine, Giga Eevee is horrible (as expected), and Giga Pikachu could have been a little better if it had a different-colored belly as to homage its original design a bit more.

Also, the website is updated.

Gigantamax Meowth is an early-purchase (as in "up to January-early") bonus.
Gigantamax Pikachu and Eevee are Let's Go savegame bonuses (each one from their respective version).

Pikachu's MAX Signature move deals damage and paralyzes all opponents.
Eevee's MAX Signature move has an Attract secondary effect (gender-restricted, of course).
Meowth's MAX Signature move deals damage, confuses the opponent and has a Pay Day secondary effect (although likely buffed as it says "considerable" bonus).
Charizard's MAX Signature move deals damage AND adds passive damage for 4 turns against non-Fire-type targets.
Butterfree's MAX Signature move deals damage and instantly triggers an Effect Spore-like effect, causing Paralysis, Poison or Sleep to all opponents.

 

[Dan_Noodl]

Gigantamaxed Meowth looks very awkward in motion. It’s almost uncomfortable to look at it move

 

[Vengeance417]

Mosura ya Mosura

Dongan kasakuyan indo muu

Rusuto uiraandoa, hanba hanbamuyan, randa banunradan

Tounjukanraa

Kasaku yaanmu ​

 

[DrPumpkinz]

On paper, it's reasonable to give a GMax to mons that lean heavily on items, when both the earlier gimmicks used up that slot. Of course, I also think that the mouse will only become anything more than a noob trap when GF stops trying to force offense on to something statistically outclassed by the likes of electivire and luxray. given gMax cuts off screens, nuzzle, and Volt Switch, I don't think its the answer.

Who needs Nuzzle when you can Glare both opponents?

I actually had a feeling Pika's G-effect would be paralysis, and now I'm kinda sad that I put it into writing.

 

[Kurona]

Really like how Gigantamax Butterfree looks, too. It seems there's a running theme with some of the Gigantamaxes of some of them having only one thing changed, like how Butterfree gets new wings and nothing else. It's pretty effective especially in this case.

Still, uh, anyone else feel a little bit cheated that the first new form of an old Pokémon we got shown was Zigzagoon and it's been exclusively Gen 1 since? I mean I like all the new stuff, but...

 

[Ironmage]

So we see Eldegoss falling asleep from butterfree's special move, which further implies that it is not considered a powder move. This would be entirely reasonable, having a more reliable form of every butterfly's gimmick, except for the part where the other half (quiver dance) is unavailable while maxed.

 

[DHR-107]

English Trailer.

For once I think we got more content than the Japanese one!

So we see Eldegoss falling asleep from butterfree's special move, which further implies that it is not considered a powder move. This would be entirely reasonable, having a more reliable form of every butterfly's gimmick, except for the part where the other half (quiver dance) is unavailable while maxed.

Looks like the GMax moves will go though any sorts of "protections" a Pokemon might have, as Mudsdale also gets paralyzed from Pikachu's electric move.

 

[Blitz]

Mudsdale is paralyzed by Pikachu's move. Either it ignores the type chart or just applies a static "You're paralyzed, get over it." effect to the field regardless of the type.

EDIT: It's likely the 2nd one as it's attacking Mimikyu rather than Mudsdale directly.

 

[Siggu]

Gigantamax Butterfree's move looks kinda... busted to me. Guaranteed status to all opponents (one of them being Sleep) is ridiculous.

It would be difficult to pull off in singles because of its terrible stats, but on Doubles...

Mudsdale is paralyzed by Pikachu's move. Either it ignores the type chart or just applies a static "You're paralyzed, get over it." effect to the field regardless of the type.

Sounds like the latter, because in the website, it shows Mudsdale paralyzed, but otherwise unharmed.

 

[RocketSurgery]

I guess in hindsight, especially given the Affleck leak, we maybe should have anticipated that the news drop on GameFreak's 30th anniversary would focus on Gigantamax forms of the franchise's most iconic mons :P (plus apparently butterfree)

Given that the special Pikachu, Eevee, & Meowth can't evolve, it seems likely that they might be the only pre-evolutions with Gigantamax forms (pending other special forms). I saw someone in a twitter comment point out that since Pikachu and Eevee are gifts for having LPGE, maybe they'll have the special starter stats instead of regular. (But hopefully not the busted and not-super-well named moves)

Still, uh, anyone else feel a little bit cheated that the first new form of an old Pokémon we got shown was Zigzagoon and it's been exclusively Gen 1 since? I mean I like all the new stuff, but...

Definitely hoping Zigzagoon isn't going to be the sole non-Kanto mon & past gen mon with a Galarian or Gigantamax form! Starting to wonder if it was a one-off because someone designed a badger mon that looked too similar to linoone, and they decided, "Eh, let's just make an exception and make this a Galar form" :P

 

[Vengeance417]

Charizard has 21 HP IVs here at the very least, assuming no EV investment. It's base HP stat is 78.

When it's in its G-Max form, though:

It has the HP stat of a base 152 Pokemon, which confirms that D-Max/G-Max is an HP increase by nearly double.

Butterfree on the website had 0 IVs in HP and was set to 120, then it shot up to 180 HP when G-Max'd, which was an increase from base 60 HP to base 120.

 

[Siggu]

View attachment 201211

Charizard has 21 HP IVs here at the very least, assuming no EV investment. It's base HP stat is 78.

When it's in its G-Max form, though:

View attachment 201210

It has the HP stat of a base 152 Pokemon, which confirms that D-Max/G-Max is an HP increase by nearly double.

Butterfree on the website had 0 IVs in HP and was set to 120, then it shot up to 180 HP when G-Max'd, which was an increase from base 60 HP to base 120.

Uh... don't we already know that Dynamax/Gigantamax increases max HP by 50%?

 

[HeatEdgeSword]

Fire-type attacks used by Gigantamax Charizard will change to G-Max Wildfire. G-Max Wildfire doesn’t just deal damage to an opponent when it hits—it will also continue to deal damage for four turns to any Pokémon that isn’t Fire type!

Judging by the wording of it, G-Max Wildfire's effect may apply to its ally and itself if it loses its Fire-type as well. Unless Gigantamax Charizard has other boosted stats and I have a good reason to do so (like breaking sash), I would rather use Dynamax to set up harsh sunlight than using it.

 

[Kurona]

It appears the Meowth, Pikachu and Eevee are all incapable of evolving. I wonder if this'll mean boosted stats, like Floette-Eternal or of course the partner Pikavee in LGPE.

Also worth noting is what piece of text confirms this on the website:--


"Note: You’ll be able to receive the special Pikachu or Eevee at the Wild Area Station in the game. (You can reach this area after about two hours of gameplay, though individual gameplay time may vary.)

Note: The special Pikachu and Eevee cannot evolve."


The 'Wild Area Station'. Wonder what that is, exactly; especially for it being so early on?

 

[Siggu]

Judging by the wording of it, G-Max Wildfire's effect may apply to its ally and itself if it loses its Fire-type as well. Unless Gigantamax Charizard has other boosted stats and I have a good reason to do so (like breaking sash), I would rather use Dynamax to set up harsh sunlight than using it.

I don't think it should apply on its ally because all these MAX moves with harmful effects have only applied to opponents.

That being said... you're right at the inability to set up Sun. Unless you can choose to Dynamax instead of Gigantamax, this pretty much forces Charizard to be paired with a Sun setter (which means only Torkoal so far -let's forget about Ninetales-).

 

[Vinc2612]

Judging by the wording of it, G-Max Wildfire's effect may apply to its ally and itself if it loses its Fire-type as well. Unless Gigantamax Charizard has other boosted stats and I have a good reason to do so (like breaking sash), I would rather use Dynamax to set up harsh sunlight than using it.

I am pretty sure it will "just" set the Sea of Fire (the field induced by pledge moves), and not some new kind of field effect. So it would only affect the opposing side, for 1/8 of damages at the end of each turn.