February 27 2019. For some it is a date like all others, for others it is the Pokémon Day, anniversary of the aforementioned saga always celebrated in various ways. And this year Nintendo has decided to celebrate big by broadcasting a very short Pokémon Direct 7 minutes, but definitely rewarding.
Since the beginning of the Pokémon series on the Game Boy, fans dream of the moment when the main RPG saga manages to land on the home console to enjoy HD graphics of the adventures of the Pocket Monsters. That time has come: the Direct presented Pokémon Sword and Shield Pokémon, titles that introduce the eighth generation of monsters, and that will be released for Nintendo Switch.
Again the hardest choice
Each time a new main chapter of the Pokémon series comes out, players are destroyed by the terrible choice of the Starter. The three eighth generation Starters were introduced during Direct, and as usual they are Fire, Water, and Grass types. We do not yet know their type once they have reached their final evolution, however we can try to throw some bets on this.
- Grookey: the grass monkey, gives the feeling of being able to become a mighty gorilla. It is very difficult to imagine anything other than a Grass / Fight as far as it is concerned, and that would mean a return to the Chespin typology;
- Scorbunny: the fire-type monkey, seems to be very particular. That patch-shaped spot on his nose could mean a Fighting type, however the similar types of Pokémon seen so far have often resulted in a Normal-type secondary category;
- Sobble: the water chameleon seems to be very shy. He is the most varied as regards the possible types of his evolution, but the ones that seem most probable to us are Dark, Elf, or Earth.
All three starters are really beautiful and well designed. Seen in their entirety they appear very simple and round, similar to those of the first generations, however by analyzing them they are full of details that make them unique. As a design they are probably the best starters for many years now.
God save the queen
Each game in the main Pokémon saga is set in a new region, always inspired in some way by a real-world location. The brand new region, called Galar, appears to be a kind of United Kingdom during the industrial revolution. Filled with Victorian architecture and with a structure that resembles Big Ben, Galar has extremely varied settings, from barren plains to snowy fields.
The peculiarity is that this region is full of industries that are carried out by the joint work of humans and Pokémon, which suggests a rather interesting storyline regarding work and collaboration. The fact that the new region could be inspired by the United Kingdom had already been running on the net for a very long time as a rumor, in fact in the last period the names of Pokémon King and Pokémon Queen had popped up, names that however did not find confirmation.
We return to the traditional
Graphically, the title has obviously made huge steps forward compared to the last generation of the Sun and Moon, on the other hand the saga has finally landed on the home console. It must be said that Let's Go Pikachu probably! and Let's Go Eevee! they worked as prototypes for these new games, but compared to them the gameplay returns to a more traditional approach, with casual encounters in tall grass and normal battles against wild Pokémon.
Even in terms of extra-story activities, things seem to have been studied to perfection: in the trailer we see our character entering a sort of stadium, dressed in clothes similar to those of a football team. Will it be mini-games or a major big increase in competitive modes?
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are shaping up to be truly two unmissable titles, and the producers themselves in Direct said they are working to make them the greatest Pokémon games ever. For the moment we don't know much apart from the starters and the setting, but we look forward to new information to discuss it with all of you.
► Pokémon Sword and Shield is an RPG type game developed by Game Freak and published by Game Freak Nintendo for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/11/2019
