WMG / Pokémon Sword and Shield

Refrain from using first person pronouns, please. This is a WMG page, not a forum.

Pre-Release Theories

New and Returning Pokémon

The games will feature new Pokémon based on:

• The Welsh Pembroke Corgi
  • To be used, almost exclusively, by Socialites
  • Confirmed. Yamper fits the description of a Corgi.
• A butler and maid
  • Confirmed with Indeedee. Not quite in the way you expected though.
• Gargoyles
• A teapot
  • It will be Water/Fire: Water by being a container and fire for heating it up.
  • An evolution line with a Pokémon that starts as a teabag, evolves into a teacup, and then evolves again into a teapot.
    • Half-confirmed, as it starts with a teacup in Sinistea, then Polteageist, a teapot.
  • Confirmed with Polteageist. However, its typing is Ghost.
• Big Ben
• Chess pieces
  • We already got Pawniard and Bisharp for that so it's unlikely.
    • Still possible, as the chess puns aren't part of the Japanese names, so the chess theme is pretty much only for the localized versions.
    • Half-confirmed, as Rookidee and its final evolution Corviknight are named after chess pieces as well. However, the line isn't fully named after chess pieces (there are no chess pieces called Squires to fit for Corvisquire), and it's only in the English version, so the same situation as Pawniard and Bisharp.
• The Nuckelavee
  • And it'll either be Water/Fairy or Dark/Fairy.
• A griffon
• The Black Shuck
• The Cù-Sìth
• Lambton Worm
• The water starter evolves into the Loch Ness Monster
  • Jossed. It evolves into a spy.
• Characters from Alice in Wonderland, like Alice, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, and/or the Jabberwocky.
  • Their types would be pure Fairy, Normal/Fairy or Ghost/Fairy, Dark/Fairy, and Dragon/Fairy, respectively.
• Peter Pan
• Doctor Who
• Thomas & Friends (or at least a train Pokémon)
  • Unlikely we'll have something based directly on Thomas or any of his colleagues/rivals, though Rolycoly has many traits of something that will evolve into a train-themed Pokémon, such as it traveling on wheels, being made of/powered by coal, and gaining Speed through steam.
    • Jossed, it evolves into Carkol, a living mine cart, then Coalossal, a coal behemoth with the same bipedal build as Pokémon like Rhyperior and Aggron.
• Jack the Ripper
• Spring-Heeled Jack
• Baryonyx
  • Could perhaps be the region's fossil.
• A spellbook
• Anything created by J. R. R. Tolkien, whether it be Sauron, Gandalf, or a hobbit.
• The Mither-O'-The-Sea and her counterpart Teran.
• Messenger pigeons
  • This would make more sense as regional variants of Pidove.
    • Jossed on Pidove; although it made it in the game, it never got a regional variant.
• Royal guards
• Caorthannach, the Mother of Demons
• A leprechaun
• The dullahan
  • Well, we technically have that in Blacephalon...
    • Mega Blacephalon?
    • They're nixing Megas this time around, so not likely.
• Red squirrels (possibly the resident rodentlike Com Mon)
  • Confirmed with Greedent.
  • Or the newest Pika-clone
  • Could evolve into a Steel-type.
• Ravens (after the famous London Ravenmaster)
  • Confirmed with the reveal of Corviknight.
• A Lion and Unicorn based on the royal coat of arms.
  • Sort of confirmed: the regional Ponyta variant looks like a unicorn, and the 24 hour live stream they used to announce it could be a nod to the fact that unicorns are, in the stories, difficult to find and fearful of humans.
    • Confirmed with Galarian Rapidash, which looks like a unicorn you'd see in a fairy tale.
• A Gothic Horror character.
  • Morpeko seems to be based around The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
• Steel-type sheep Pokemon (for the "steel wool" pun).
  • There's a sheep Pokémon called Wooloo, but it's a Normal-type, so jossed unless it evolves into a Steel-Type.
    • Fully jossed, as Wooloo's evolution is Dubwool, also a pure Normal-type.
• Water/Steel swordfish/narwhal.
• Sherlock Holmes, and it will be Looker's local partner.
• Rival red and white dragons
• Shetland Pony
• Robin Hood
  • Maybe based on the Disney version of him?
  • Decidueye's already got that covered, so unlikely.
• A clockwork automaton
  • Doesn't Magearna already count?
• Haunted armour
  • Perhaps they have a signature Ability that allows it to equip any of the Honedge line as a weapon.
• An Electric-Steel Pachirisu evo. An Electric/Fighting Togedemaru evo with a berserk Dark-Type Mega Evolution. An Echidna pseudo-legend. A Flying-Type regional variant of Vulpix that evolves into a Steel/Fighting Type Ninetales.
• The lubber fiend, a large hairy creature who does housework in exchange for a saucer of milk and a place in front of the fire.
• A Harry Potter-type Pokémon that casts spells.
• A Petrifying Well, similar to Sandygast
• A dolphin.
• A bloodhound.
• A peacock.
• The Welsh Dragon
• A living rhubarb stalk, since rhubarb's first use was recorded in England.
• A Pokémon (possibly Poison/Steel) based on industrial/factory pollution (given that Steampunk/Industrialization might be a theme in some parts of the game)
  • Confirmed with Galarian Weezing, whose hat-like protrusions also resemble factory smokestacks. However, it's Poison/Fairy.
• A Pokémon based on a train/locomotive would also fit in well with the industrial theme. It would make an excellent idea for a Fire/Steel type Pokémon.
  • Or even base the generation's legendary trio on trains; a Steel/Fire steam engine, a Steel/Electric bullet train, and a Steel/Ghost ghost train.
  • Not completely confirmed, but Rolycoly is headed in this direction, as it's a wheeled Pokémon made of coal. It's Rock-type, so whatever it evolves into, if any, will very likely also be Rock-type.
    • Jossed, it evolves into the Rock/Fire Carkol and Coalossal. Carkol looks like a mine cart, but Coalossal looks nothing like its pre-evolved forms at all.
• A Pokémon based on mining canaries (maybe Flying/Steel —> Flying/Poison), canaries which miners sent into mines to see if the air was safe to breathe (if the canary died, don't go any further).
  • Maybe from there it can evolve into a Poison/Ghost or Flying/Ghost?
    • Or it could have an ability that changes its type when poisoned.
• A Weever Fish
• A Sound/Fighting type Pokémon who looks like none other than Freddie Mercury, since the Freddie Mercopy thing is common in Japanese media.
  • Jossed, no Sound type was made this gen.
• British Coppers
• Bagpipes
• A version exclusive Ground/Dark stoat and Ground/Fighting badger duo.
• A Dragoon Pokémon (based on Dragoons in RPGs) who has a jump attack.
• Phancero, aka Olden. The Pokémon Company is aware of Twitch Plays Pokémon, as for the series' 20th Anniversary, they had an anime stream called "Twitch Watches Pokémon", so they could reference it in some way.
  • This is extremely unlikely due to the sketchy legal position of fan characters and their use in official media. Doing so could potentially weaken the legal claim Nintendo and Game Freak have on their IP.
• To reference Final Fantasy, a Pokémon that looks like Cloud, complete with a giant sword.
• Stephen Hawking
• The Cockatrice, also introducing petrification as a powerful move that deals Special Rock-type damage.
• A Pokémon based on an Adder snake.
• A Grass Snake (a snake species local in the UK) with the ability to feign fainting.
• A silkworm (and a straight-up one). We have Generation VIII Pokémon themed on cotton and another based on sheep. This would complete the trifecta of organic sources of fabric.
• A Bug-type Pokémon evolution line based on the peppered moth, with two variants or alternate evolutions in reference to the peppered moth's evolution in real life.
• Beefeaters
• The British Bigfoot or one of its similar derivatives (Shug-Monkey, Man-Monkey, Am Fear Liath Mor, etc.), found in a region resembling either Stonehenge or the Cannock Chase.
• Pokemon based on Grey Seals. Either a new evolution line, or a Galarian variats for Seel and Dewgong, that would be water/ground.

Meltan and Melmetal will appear

Due to them being featured in the Let's Go games, they could appear in some capacity.

• Probably because they're supposed to be preview Pokémon for Generation 8, just like Munchlax, Mime Jr., Ho-Oh, and so on...
• And the region is supposed to be heavily themed on industrialization.
• They could be the next Zygarde, but with a different collection mechanic
  • Or the next Cosmog —> Cosmoem —> Solgaleo/Lunala.

Starter final evolution speculations

• General
  • Grass/Fairy, Fire/Steel, and Water/Fighting
  • Grass/Rock, Fire/Electric, and Water/Ghost
  • Grass/Rock, Fire/Fairy, and Water/Fighting
  • Grass/Electric, Fire/Ground, and Water/Flying
  • All pure types throughout the line, just so they could demonstrate a buff given to just Pokémon with a single type.
    • Confirmed that all three starters remain pure Grass, Fire and Water.
  • Grass/Rock, Fire/Electric, and Water/Ice, where their secondary types can help make the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors go the other way. The secondary typings will be gained at the middle stage.
    • Uh... that would leave Scorbunny's evolutions kind of screwed, since neither of its STAB types would be super-effective on Grookey's evolutions.
    • Then maybe Grookey's final typing will be Grass/Ground instead? Ground will be x4 effective against Scorbunny, but at least the latter can hit back with Fire.
• Grookey
  • A Donkey Kong look-a-like who uses bongos, as a reference to Donkey Konga.
  • A Pure type football fan or Grass/Dark football hooligan with a vuvuzela and many sound-based moves/Soundproof as a hidden Ability.
  • 100%, Grookey's final evolution will be music-themed. All of Grookey's names in other languages have to do with tempo, rhythm, and music (like the French "Ouistempo"). This could imply that the stick in Grookey's fur is a rhythm stick, and that in addition to "grass/green" and "monkey", the word "groove" (and maybe "key") is an inspiration for Grookey's English name.
  • As the above mentions, some sort of drummer theme, based on Grookey tapping its stick on things in the trailer. Either a punk-rock drummer with a leafy mohawk, or a taiko drummer theme with its stomach being a giant drum.
  • Will be based on Little John.
  • Will be based on Sun Wukong.
  • Will be based on plush animals in general, with the final form resembling a gigantic teddy bear/stuffed toy monkey.
  • Nekomimi, but more primitive; it will be a primate with pronounced feline traits.
  • Final evolution is a big, fat gorilla with man-boobs, somewhat fitting into the 'feminine'(?) of the trio.
    • Rillaboom confirmed to have a musical motif as a gorilla that carries a wooden drum complete with drumsticks. Also is pure Grass.
• Scorbunny
  • Will be a Fragile Speedster
  • Will be secondary Fairy for its tricky outlook.
  • Dark-type again, to symbolise dirty tactics.
  • Soccer/football player who uses firey rocks as the soccer ball/football. Bonus points for the "Scor-" part to take from both "scorch" and "score."
  • Secondary Ground-type or Electric-type to emphasize fast running.
  • Will be based on the jackalope, because starting with Generation IV, there's always at least one fully evolved starter whose theme is based on a cultural element of somewhere else.
    • If Scorbunny were to be part Electric, then the antlers will be formed from lightning.
  • Fire/Poison - a bit dark, but a reference to myxomatosis, which has inflammation as a symptom OR the fatigue toxins that build up during exercise. The bandage on its nose could even be a hint towards something health and sickness related.
    • There was a dumpster behind it when it was first revealed, and Pokémon associated with pollution, such as Grimer and Trubbish, are always Poison types, so you might be onto something.
  • The June 5th direct showed Scorbunny at lv 15 knowing Double Kick. While that doesn't automatically confirm that it's a Fire/Fighting type, given that all the dual-type Fire starters did learn a few moves that weren't from either of their two types^note in fact, Litten learned Double Kick the level before it evolved into Torracat, yet Incineroar was a Fire/Dark type, but it does mean it's a bit more likely that Scorbunny's final form will be another Fire/Fighting.
    • Fire/Fighting is one of the four type combos that would let Scorbunny's evolution hit a Grass/Rock Grookey evolution super-effectively with its STAB (the other combos are Fire/Steel, Fire/Bug, and Fire/Ice... the latter two are not even remotely plausible).
    • Cinderace confirmed to have a soccer/football motif. Also is a Fragile Speedster pure Fire type.
• Sobble
  • Stays pure Water throughout the line, but will have a gimmick of changing its type within battle (such as by learning Camouflage or having Protean as its hidden ability).
  • Water/Ghost to go with the invisibility, and to extend the theme into mourning.
  • Water/Dragon with the personality of a Cowardly Lion.
  • A Water/Ghost Phantom Thief lizard, whose design is based on Joker. The same concept could also be Water/Dark, since the dark type also encompasses trickery.
    • Perhaps an art-loving one too, like Chameleon in Super Secret Secret Squirrel.
    • Inteleon confirmed as a pure Water lizard with a spy motif. Its Hidden Ability is Sniper, however.

The starter themes will be based off popular British Entertainment

• Going off of one of the other WMGs above, Grookey seems to be based off music (for now, at least) and introduced hitting a rock with a stick, so English Rock music.
• Scorbunny is most clearly based off of European Football/Rugby players.
• Sobble is the most difficult one to pinpoint, but may be based off British Dramas, as its name includes the word sob (and the French and Japanese names translate into crying) and may evolve into a Pokémon that represents the tragedy and comedy masks associated with theater.
  • So... basically a Shakespearean Pokémon.
    • Partially confirmed. Grookey's final evolution is a drummer and Scorbunny's final evolution evokes Association Football, but Sobble's final evolution instead has a spy-theme reminiscent of James Bond.

Alternatively, all three are based off of football culture

• Given that a stadium is prominently featured in the trailers and the starter reveals, and Scorbunny is almost definitely based on a footballer.
  • Grookey could be based on a football supporter, with the stick tapping being part of a football chant.
  • And if the other two starters are based on a footballer and a supporter, respectively, then Sobble could be based on non-participation and the public's fear of football riots.
    • It even puts out the fire Scorbunny creates, subtly representing the cleanup of any damage done.
  • Alternatively, the sobbing could be referring to how emotional people get over football, and will develop into an exaggerated form of manly tears upon evolution.

Alolan Pokémon that will likely appear in every future regional dex

• Mimikyu (aesthetic only) — disguise will be based on Clefairy as it's the popular Pokémon of this region.
  • A Mimikyu disguised as Eevee is probably more likely because of Let's Go.
• Salandit

  • Jossed: though candidates proposed are both in the game, they still retain original forms.

The themes of the cover Legendary (or Legendaries)

It has been suggested that the Legendary Pokémon on the cover would represent a more famous thought experiment: the oh-so-famous "unstoppable force meets immovable object". Thematically, this makes sense, as Pokémon Sword could represent the unstoppable force and Shield with the immovable object.

• Renamed versions of No Guard and Wonder Guard will be used as their abilities.
  • Jossed; Zacian has Intrepid Sword, which raises its Attack when it enters battle; Zamazenta has Dauntless Shield, which raises its Defense instead.
• Version-exclusive Pokémon will be split into heavily offence/defence oriented stat-spreads.
  • Confirmed with the Crowned forms. Their base forms have the same base stats, but diverge when they're equipped with their Rusted items. Zacian becomes more offensively-oriented, while Zamazenta becomes more defensively-oriented.

The two wolves on the logos are the two legendaries.

• Two new legendary wolf Pokémon will represent the Sword and Shield logos. One is a blue wolf with high attack who raises the spirits and attack power of humans and Pokémon in times of need. One is a red wolf with high defense who raises the courage and defense power of humans and Pokémon in times of need. The blue sword wolf attacks those who try to attack the region and the red shield wolf defends against attacks from enemies.
  • Confirmed! Zacian is the Sword legendary, while Zamazenta is the Shield legendary. Zamazenta, however, is blue, so jossed on the description part.
  • Not necessarily jossed on the latter; it only looks fully blue when seen from above due to its large ponytail. When viewed from the front, Zamazenta has prominent red features.

Many Pokémon will receive split evolutions.

• The wolves in the logos could represent different forms or evolutions of the same Pokemon, and the last Pokémon to receive two evolutions was a wolf-like Pokémon, which leads to:
  • Partially confirmed. The Galarian forms of Meowth and Yamask get exclusive Galar evolutions, along with Linoone, Farfetch'd, Corsola, and Mr. Mime.

Detective Pikachu will be obtainable and presented in a similar vein to the Ash Hat Pikachu

Only it will be able to use moves and lack the ability to talk.

New Type Combos to debut.

With every new Generation comes a new Type combination. Here are all unused Type combinations as of now. Winners will be placed in bold.

• Normal/Ice
  • A Pokemon based on a husky
• Normal/Poison
  • A result of a careless chef's disastrous cooking experiment.
  • Or perhaps a plague rat.
• Normal/Bug
• Normal/Rock
• Normal/Ghost (bonus points if related to a pure Ghost)
• Normal/Steel (bonus points if related to a pure Steel)
  • And that's ignoring the F-00 robot from Everlasting Memories
• Fire/Grass
  • ...with Chlorophyll ability and high Sp.Atk
    • Also with high Attack and knows Solar Blade.
  • based on Guy Fawkes or an effigy
• Fire/Ice - Confirmed with Galarian Darmanitan's Zen Mode.
• Fire/Fairy
  • A furnace(?) Pokémon that lives in the cold region. Helps people and non-Ice-type Pokémon get warm.
• Electric/Fighting
• Electric/Poison - Confirmed with Toxel and Toxtricity.
  • A jellyfish Pokémon that fits the Electric Jellyfish trope.
• Electric/Dark Confirmed with Morpeko, the Pika-clone of Galar
• Ice/Poison
• Ice/Bug - Confirmed with Snom and Frosmoth.
• Fighting/Ground
• Fighting/Fairy
• Poison/Psychic - Confirmed with Galarian Slowbro in the Isle of Armor expansion/Slowking in Crown Tundra
• Poison/Steel
  • A Pokémon based on industrial/factory pollution (given that Steampunk/Industrialization might be a theme in some parts of the game)
• Poison/Fairy - Confirmed with Galarian Weezing
• Ground/Fairy
• Psychic/Bug - Confirmed with the Blipbug line.
  • A Pokemon that's a (more literal) take on the term "Hive Mind"
• Bug/Dragon
  • Yanmega under this region's gimmick.
• Bug/Dark
• Rock/Ghost
• Dark/Fairy - Confirmed by the Impidimp line.
  • Used by Mega Evolutions Only - Jossed with the absence of Mega Evolution.
• Dragon/Fairy
  • Used by Legendary Pokémon (etc.) Only
• Flying (pure) - Confirmed with Rookidee and Corvisquire.
  • Sentient rotatory blades
  • A bird, but vibrantly-colored (green or violet)
• Fire/Water
• Fire/Steel
• Ice/Dragon
• Fighting/Ghost
• Psychic/Ghost - Nothing in the base game, but Ghost Rider Calyrex from the Crown Tundra counts.
• Psychic/Dragon
• Ghost/Dragon - Confirmed with the Dreepy line.
• Dragon/Steel - Confirmed with Duraludon.
• Electric/Dragon - Confirmed with Dracozolt.

The Mascot Legendaries will be based off Paradoxes.

Self-explanatory, really, but to give some examples:

• Going with what appears obvious, they'll be partially based off the spear-shield paradox.
• Second, the canine motif may be a reference to the Greco-Roman story of the inescapable hound and the uncatchable fox.

The Mascot Legendaries will be based on Geri and Freki, Odin's wolf companions.

These wolves are Odin's companions. Their names mean "ravenous" and "the greedy one", which would fit. Ravenously consuming other nations, Sword. Greedily clinging to one's own, Shield. And Odin is known for his wisdom, and a wise king should know when to attack and defend.

There will be a Pokémon that references games that Rare made.

Since Rare is a British company that used to be a second party to Nintendo and the fact that Nintendo and Microsoft are playing nice recently, it's not too far-fetched to see a Pokémon based on one of one of Rare's flagship characters, such as:

• A bear-bird duo
• A psychotic squirrel - Skwovet and Greedent kinda fit this; they're crazy when it comes to berries but nothing else.
• Hell, maybe Grookey's final evolution may reference Donkey Kong or one of his companions, since Rare worked extensively on that franchise. ** Rillaboom somewhat resembles Donkey Kong, with its drum specialization perhaps being a reference to DK's Jungle Drums.
• The rest are jossed, however Carkol wouldnt look out of place in a rare title...

There will be new Ultra Beasts, and there will be a way for them to evolve into regular Pokémon

They're supposed to just be their dimension's version of Pokémon, so it makes sense that there would be more species out there than the ones coming from the portals to Alola. Also, considering they're treated as legendaries but not referred to as such, and Cosmog and Poipole can both evolve, there might be a way for the others to evolve, and one of the methods of Pokémon evolution is exposure to a different environment. It's unlikely since it didn't happen in the last games, but adaptation to the different world could still be explored.

• To add to that, if so, there will either be two more or six more Ultra Beasts to increase the number of known species to either 13 or 17, which are the next two prime numbers.
  • Jossed - There are no new Ultra Beasts, however [[Eternatus]] resembles one and there has been discussion on whether it really is one or not.

The game mascots are Transforming Mecha or a magic-equivalent.

They can alternate between beast mode and equipment mode.

• Partially confirmed, since they both have alternate forms in which they do not have their respective sword and shield equipped.

There will be new cross-gen evolutions for Pokémon besides Eevee.

Because every even-numbered gen has introduced new (if you count the Mega Evolutions) evolutions for old Pokémon. While the Gen IV evolutions may not have been beloved upon their debut, the hate for most of them has cooled down significantly since then, and the whole alternate universe idea Sun and Moon gave us is a perfect justification for Evolite working on Pokémon it wouldn't have before.

• Also, certain Pokémon who evolve via learnt move could learn the required move before the method was introduced, not to mention things like type, stats, abilities, moves, etc. having been retconned in the past, so it's not like a justification is really needed anyway.
  • Confirmed. Farfetch'd has received a new evoluition in the form of Sirfetch'd, and Galarian Linoone can evolve into Obstagoon. Yamask has also received a new evolution known as Runerigus, while Meowth gained a new evolution in Perrserker.

Assuming cross-generational evolutions will return, likely candidates could include:

Pre-evolution only:

• Miltank and Tauros - in the Alola dex, the two were grouped together, and they are often seen as counterparts, so it would make sense that they would finally get a shared prevolution.
• Passimian and Oranguru - for the same reason as above, they share a Pokédex evolution family page, and they have enough similarities that they could be part of a branched evolution family.
  • Jossed so far.
• Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour - In similar fashion to the Eeveelutions, an Elemental Monkey pre-evolution will be Normal-type and change its type upon evolving.
  • If this happens, the pre-evolution will be based on the "do no evil" wise monkey, with its arms crossed, or the "smell no evil" monkey pinching its nose.
  • Joseed so far.
• Sawk and Throh - they're Unova's version of the Hitmon family, and since they can't be hatched from each other’s eggs like Nidoran or Volbeat/Illumise, a prevolution could link them.
  • Jossed so far.
• Skarmory - it was more or less introduced as a counterpart to Mantine, and it's more likely to get a Mega Evolution or regional variant than a regular evolution
  • Jossed as far as Mega Evolution/Regional variant goes, but could appear in the Crown Tundra.

Evolution only:

• Jynx - it seems like it was in part of a set with Magmar and Electabuzz; they received pre-evolutions together, and they have the Fire, Ice, Lightning thing going on.
  • Confirmed way back in Pokémon Gold and Silver with Smoochum.
• Farfetch'd - If it's ever going to get an evolution, it has to be in the game where its leek can become a sword.
  • Confirmed with the reveal of Sirfetch'd, though a part of its leek also becomes a shield.
• Delibird - The region is very icy, so there's potential for new ice types, its inspiration is relatively close to where Santa comes from, and Delibird could use an upgrade.
  • Jossed.

Pre-Evolution and/or Evolution

• Lapras - In a region based on the country where Loch Ness is found, this could be its time to gain an evolutionary relative.
  • Jossed; it received a Gigantamax form instead.
• Stantler - Similar reasons to Delibird, as Santa's reindeer, and Britain has a large red deer population, so if Deerling doesn't appear, Stantler could fill that role.
• Volbeat and Illumise - they're already related, so it would cement that to have a baby form, and their stats are low enough that they could benefit from an evolution.
• Minun and Plusle - it's unlikely that they'd ever give all of the Pikachu expies a prevolution or evolution, but these two would make the most sense to get at least a baby stage.
  • Alternatively, instead of a pre-evolution, the incense will cause the affected Plusle to have a chance to produce a Minun egg and vice versa.
  • More likely they'll receive an evolution. Plusle getting Electric/Fire (as a response of Scorbunny getting compared to Plusle), and Minun will get Electric/Ice.
    • All jossed. While only Lapras made it to Galar (for now), it didn't gain any new pre/evolutions.

Alternate Evolutions:

• Torracat, Trumbeak, and Crabrawler - they will receive alternate evolutions that focuses on raising their speed (their original final evolution drops the base speed stat upon evolving).
  • One of those is a starter, though...
    • If Melmetal and Silvally are anything to go off of, TPC seems to be breaking a lot of Evolution rules from the past lately.
• Weepinbell - if the Gen II Beta is anything to go by, they've already considered it in the past, and Bellossom would get a counterpart.
  • Adding onto this, it'll be Grass/Steel and its base stat total is like Victreebel's, but with (physical) Attack and Defense stats swapped.
    • Aside from Farfetch'd as noted above, Jossed. The remaining new evolutions for old-gen Pokemon stem from their Galarian forms only, and are Linoone, Meowth, Corsola, Mr. Mime, and Yamask.

Armored Mewtwo will be obtainable as a mystery gift.

It wouldn't be the first time they put Anime exclusive characters into the games (I.E Jessie and James, Ash-Greninja, and Ash's Pikachu). Seeing as Mewtwo Strikes Back evolution is in development as well, it would coincide with the recent trademark (even though it is likely just for merch).

• With the inclusion of Armored Mewtwo in Pokémon Go (meaning it has a model and animations) it seems even more likely. However, this assumes Mewtwo will make it into the game.

The Pokémon first seen in the Generation VII games will be receiving major Balance Buffs in these games.

Game Freak has a history of being very averse to Nerfs but incredibly liberal with Balance Buffs, even if they keep quiet about it. The Pokémon introduced in Pokémon Sun and Moon are largely considered underpowered, Legendary Pokémon and Ultra Beasts excluded, which I suspect is part of a long-term plan (that is, spanning multiple generations) by Game Freak to experiment with those buffs and see how people react to them. During then, Game Freak's people have been collecting usage data like mad. Now that they've had enough time to evaluate things, I expect the Generation VII Pokémon to be receiving many increases to base stats, changes to Abilities or new Hidden Abilities, or utilization of game mechanics new to Pokémon Sword and Shield based on the data they've gathered to put them on par with other generations, or possibly just under them to receive further buffs in future generations. A corollary is that most of the Pokémon introduced in Sword and Shield might be just as underpowered, or maybe slightly less so, as Game Freak continues to collect data.

Many Pokémon introduced in Kalos will be returning in this game.

Since France and Britain are neighbors, it would makes sense for them to have similar dexs.

Hidden Abilities for the Galar starters

• Grookey: Most likely an Ability about sound, rhythm, curiosity, or mischief
  • Soundproof
  • Competitive
  • Frisk
  • A new Ability that powers up sound moves
  • Pickpocket
  • Pickup
  • Prankster
  • Own Tempo
  • Inner Focus
  • Tangled Feet
    • All Jossed, it gets Grassy Surge.
• Scorbunny: Most likely an Ability about speed, physical skill, or fighting spirit
  • Limber
  • Quick Feet
  • Guts
  • Hustle
  • Infiltrator
  • Mold Breaker
  • Rivalry
  • Technician
  • Huge Power ^note The only Pokémon that have this ability are ones that have a rabbit aesthetic or gain them later on, and would allow Game Freak to putting more numbers into Scorbunny's other stats.
    • Jossed, it gets Libero, a renamed Protean.
• Sobble: Most likely an Ability about disguises or timidity
  • Color Change
  • Protean ^note This assumes that Game Freak is willing to repeat Hidden Abilities on starter lines. So far, the only Hidden Ability shared among starter lines is Shell Armor, for the Turtwig and Oshawott lines, and Shell Armor isn't a particularly good Ability; Protean is a near Game-Breaker.
  • Disguise ^note This assumes Game Freak is willing to allow a Pokémon other than Mimikyu to have Disguise, which is doubtful, considering that it's a form-changing Ability and cannot be copied, replaced, or suppressed, nor can it function on a Ditto or Mew transforming into Mimikyu. Even if the Sobble line does get Disguise, it is very possible that only one stage of Sobble's line will get Disguise, and the others will have a different Hidden Ability (like Thick Fat changing to Reckless as Pignite evolves into Emboar).
  • Anticipation
  • Rattled
  • Shed Skin
  • Hydration (just because no Water starter has had it yet)
  • Wimp Out
  • Run Away
    • Jossed, it gets Sniper.

Many Pokemon evolutionary lines from Unova and Kalos will appear in Galar.

Some Pokemon that debuted in Gen VI were unavailable in VII, and some Pokemon from Gen V haven’t been available since Gen V. Gen VIII is the best time to make these Pokemon available again.

• Confirmed for Unova, as it has the highest amount of returning Pokemon out of any region.

Shellos and Gastrodon will return.

And only the West Sea variants will be available, just as the East Sea variants are the only kind found in the wild in Alola.

• Confirmed, although it remains to be seen what variants will be available.

There will be a lot Pokémon introduced in this region that are pure Flying or primarily Flying

Notice how Corviknight's first type is Flying and not Steel?

• Cramorant (a Flying/Water type) has been confirmed.
  • Corviknight's two pre-evolutions are both pure Flying.

A few sets of past lesser legendaries will be accessable by Max Raid Battle.

• Possible, as a few sets of Mythicals and Legendaries were found inside the data of Sword and Shield.
  • Possibly confirmed with the Crown Tundra expansion; the trailer showcases many different legendaries being fought in Max Raid Battles.
    • Confirmed: Max Adventures, a new feature in the Crown Tundra DLC, each have a dynamaxed legendary Pokémon at the end of them.

Dynamax works differently for Wishiwashi.

Rather than growing in size, its Gigantamax form gathers way more Wishiwashi while activating Schooling. This might be similar to Totem Wishiwashi in Pokémon Sun and Moon.

• Jossed, Dynamaxing works the same for Wishiwashi as any other Pokémon.

Pokémon missing from Sword and Shield’s roster will be patched into the game.

Just like how Pokémon Go started off with the Kanto Dex before adding more over time, so too will Sword and Shield start off with the Galar Dex and will add more over time, eventually resulting in a National Dex.

• Confirmed with the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC packs.

The missing mons from the Galar Pokédex will still be transferable to Sword and Shield despite what has been said...

... By virtue of Pokemon HOME not being released until a few months after Sword and Shield, meaning this is simply a History Repeats scenario as to exactly what also happened with X and Y and Sun and Moon in regards to Pokemon Bank.

• Unlikely, as it has been confirmed that Mega Evolution and Z-Moves are not returning. This by default extends to both Primal Reversion and Ultra Necrozma.
  • Not necessarily — no Mega Evolutions or Z-Moves don't rule out Kyogre, Groudon, or Necrozma from being in the games. I don't believe you'd be able to store everything in Pokémon HOME if they weren't going to let you do anything with them. Which leads us to a compromise...
    • So... something involving Gigantamax, then.
    • Confirmed with the DLC packs. A free update will be included to allow people who didn't buy the packs the opportunity to transfer the added Pokémon to their games.

A trainer-owned Pokémon with alternate formes accessed via Mega Evolution or Z-Moves can access those forms via Dynamax.

Though this can only be done in the postgame, and there are penalties for choosing such Pokémon to Dynamax, such as reduced duration, no extra effects with the Max moves, or less pronounced stat increases. They remain in their alternate formes once Dynamax wears off. This would tie in with the rumor that certain Pokémon like Pikachu and Lapras can assume alternate appearances when Dynamaxed under certain conditions.

Hidden abilities for revealed Pokémon (except the starters)

• Wooloo:
  • Fur Coat
    • Jossed, it gets Bulletproof.
• Gossifleur/Eldegoss:
  • Chlorophyll
  • Natural Cure
    • Jossed, it gets Effect Spore.
• Drednaw:
  • Intimidate
  • Anger Point
  • Rock Head
    • Jossed, it gets Swift Swim.
• Corviknight:
  • Battle Armor
    • Jossed, it's Mirror Armor.
• Yamper:
  • Static
  • Pickup
    • Jossed, it gets Rattled.
• Alcremie:
  • Gooey
  • Cute Charm
    • Jossed, it gets Aroma Veil.
• Rolycoly:
  • Flash Fire
    • Confirmed!
  • Weak Armor
• Duraludon:
  • Bulletproof
  • Clear Body
  • Soundproof
    • Jossed. It's a new ability called Stalwart, which ignores abilities and moves that attract moves.
• Obstagoon
  • Intimidate
  • Moxie
  • Rivalry
  • Tough Claws
    • Jossed, it gets Defiant.
• Polteageist
  • Steam Engine
  • Shell Armor
  • Liquid Ooze
  • Shields Down
    • Jossed, it gets Cursed Body.
• Cramorant
  • Swift Swim
  • Tangled Feet
  • Big Pecks
    • Jossed, Gulp Missile is the only available ability it can get.
• Sirfetch'd
  • Justified
  • Stance Change
  • Long Reach
  • Inner Focus
    • Jossed, it gets Scrappy.

Pokemon that can Gigantamax.

• Tyranitar
• Hydreigon
• Duraludon
  • Confirmed
• Volcarona
• Pikachu
  • Confirmed.
• Lapras
  • Confirmed
• Zacian
  • Jossed, it can't Dynamax at all.
• Zamazenta
  • Jossed, it can't Dynamax at all.
• Melmetal
  • Confirmed.

If Sirfetch'd is exclusive to Sword, then its Shield counterpart will be...

• An alternate evolution for Farfetch'd, this time defense-oriented.
• Dunsparce's evolution
• A Delibird evolution that, to contrast Sirfetch'd's heroic look, takes on the Dark-type and the look of a burglar. Its bag becomes a Thief Bag, its hat becomes a flatcap, it takes on a black-and-white striped scheme, and gains the ability Pickpocket.
• A Ghost-type evolution to contrast to the Fighting-type Sword exclusive Sirfetch'd and Bea, with Shield's Ghost-type exclusive Allister.
  • Confirmed, as Allister has a Cursola, a Ghost-type evolution to Corsola.
• The Paladin archetype, having a sword and shield like Sirfetch'd, but having a bigger emphasis on its shield.

The Pidgeys of this region will be pure-Flying.

This is based on the reveals introducing not one but two Pokémon that are primary Flying.

• Confirmed, until it reaches the third stage which is Corviknight (Flying/Steel).

Alternatively, if the Pidgey of this region evolves into Corviknight, they will be Flying/Rock.

If it's confirmed that Corviknight is the common bird of this region, it could evolve from something like a rook. The Rook and Knight are also chess pieces, and Rooks are shaped like castles; hence Rock typing.

• Partially confirmed. The Pidgey of the region does evolve into Corviknight but is pure Flying. Additionally, the first stage, Rookidee, is named after rooks.

There will finally be a poison type legendary.

It will be a toxic smog cloud based on the Great Smogs of Victorian London. It will be a Poison/Flying type. It was a Castform before the toxic air changed it.

• Confirmed. Eternatus is Poison/Dragon (but has nothing to do with smog).

Galarian Rapidash will be Psychic/Fairy type.

• Probably also will be a alicorn with wings.
  • Confirmed, but it's still just a unicorn.

Impidimp gain powers from acknowledgement.

Especially when they're being acknowledged as a nuisance. Paying attention to these little pests not only makes them stronger, it also encourages them to keep bothering whomever reacted to them, in hopes of triggering a feedback loop. The best way to deal with them is simply ignoring them until they go away.

• Confirmed! Sword's entry reads, "Through its nose, it sucks in the emanations produced by people and Pokémon when they feel annoyed. It thrives off this negative energy."

Yamper's evolution has been quietly semi-revealed already. (Spoiler if this turns out to be correct)

• A few eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a symbol on the side of the gem in the first trailer. It looks like a very fast dog Pokémon with a lightning bolt shaped tail similar to Pikachu's. Body shape looks like a whippet or Greyhound. Either would be a fitting evolution for Yamper because these are extremely fast dog breeds associated with the UK, and Electric-Types are known for their speed. Yamper is noted to be very hyper and running around constantly, which further supports this. It would be strange if this turned out to be just a random symbol that just so happens to perfectly match an existing Pokémon, especially since a new squirrel Pokémon was unofficially revealed in a similar hidden way by being on a random crowd NPC's t-shirt in the background.
  • It is Yamper's evolution, but it is not really a greyhound. It's more of a regular dog in build and doesn't particularly have a thin greyhound bodyshape. So both Jossed and Confirmed?

Your starter will be able to Gigantamax.

• Would give your choice much more viability in battle and possible more inclusion with the Dynamax lore.
  • Jossed so far.
  • Confirmed in the Isle of Armor expansion pack. Your starter can receive the Gigantamax factor by drinking Max Soup.

You can collect swords for Zacian and/or shields for Zamazenta.

They can then be equipped with one of these weapons, which will change various aspects of them, such what types they are. This is why their types remained unknown for so long.

• Confirmed! There's items called the Rusted Sword and the Rusted Shield. Zacian is pure Fairy and Zamazenta is pure Fighting, but with the items equipped, they get an secondary Steel type.

Characters

The names of the player characters will be named for Arthurian characters.

• Arthur
• Gwen
• Morgan
• Lance
• Perci
• Wayne
• Penn or Penny
  • All Jossed: the player characters are named Victor and Gloria.

There will be trainers who will be Shout Outs to popular British media, as well as Musicians

• A Psychic type Gym Leader or E4 Member based on one of the Doctors from Doctor Who
• A Psychic or Dark type Gym Leader/E4 based on Harry Potter characters
  • Jossed with Piers, as he's based on a 60s British rockstar.
• A Dragon or Steel type Gym Leader/E4 who is meant to be a King Arthur expy. To make it a double Shout-Out, they will be a blonde-haired teenage girl with her hair in a bun
  • Jossed; there's no Steel Gym Leader and the Dragon Gym Leader is Raihan, a social media blogger.
• A character based on William Shakespeare (training Normal or Fairy types)
  • Jossed.
• A Dave Lister lookalike.
  • Jossed.
• An Edmund Blackadder lookalike.
• A character based on one of the children from Chronicles of Narnia who will probably have Pyroar as their Signature Mon
• A Sherlock Holmes trainer who specializes in Ghost or Dark types.
  • Jossed; the Ghost Gym Leader is Allister and the Dark Gym Leader is Piers.
• An Alice Expy, very likely as Alice in Wonderland was very popular in Japan and held the basis for the Isekai Genre.
  • Jossed.
• A Mr. Bean-type character who doesn't speak, but has expressions that speak louder than words. They use Normal-type Pokémon.
  • Jossed.
• A very hot-tempered Fire-type Gym Leader/E4 based on Gordon Ramsay.
  • Jossed; the Fire Gym Leader is Kabu, a passionate immigrant from Hoenn.
• A Flying-type Gym Leader/E4 based on Mary Poppins.
  • Jossed; none of the Gym Leaders use Flying-types.
• A 101 Dalmatians-themed character who uses dog-like Pokémon.
• A James Bond parody who appears alongside Looker.
• A Roald Dahl-based Gym Leader with Normal/Fairy-types and a That One Boss Dark-type.
• Percy Blakeney. Has at least a Roselia/Roserade.
• A comedy troupe inspired by Monty Python.
  • Jossed.
• An H. G. Wells-style author whose gym is inspired by 19th century sci-fi novels. Probably uses a Elgyem or Beheeyem.
• An Expy of Hercule Poirot whom almost everyone mistakenly assumes to be from Kalos.
  • Jossed.
• A grass type gym leader based on J. R. R. Tolkien, whose main Pokémon is Trevenant
  • Jossed; the Grass Gym Leader is Milo and his signature Pokémon is Dynamax Eldegoss in his Gym Battle, and Gigantamax Flapple/Appletun normally.
• An Elite Five Group who are Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, and Slash Lookalikes. After all, who couldn't resist the idea of having Freddie, David, Mick, Paul, and Slash in the same game?
  • Or maybe, have all of The Beatles Lookalikes appearing in addition to other British Rock Band lookalikes being included too.

Looker and Emma will come back

If we don't get a Sherlock Holmes character, Looker will be the closest thing. In the postgame, he and Emma will probably be called to investigate the evil team's antics, and also foreshadow a potential Sinnoh remake.

• Continuing the theme of Doctor Who-related guesses, Looker will be revealed to have a similar backstory to The Doctor.
• Or Looker comes from the Galar region, and we'll finally know what his real name is.
• Perhaps Emma will don the Essentia identity again and become the hero of the London-based city in Galar, just as she was the hero of Kalos’ Paris-based city.
• If Emma was going to be a Gym Leader, she will be a Psychic-type specialist.
  • Jossed.

Nanu's brother will be a military general who is a Dark-Type Gym Leader

• Jossed, no mention of Nanu is made; Piers is the Dark Gym Leader.

The professor will at least passingly resemble...

• John Cleese
• Actual professor Brian Cox
• Even more actual professor Stephen Hawking
• Tom Baker or any of his new-series successors
• And speaking of possible female professors, J.K. Rowling
• Professor Layton
• Wallace, complete with canine Pokémon companion
  • All Jossed, the professor is an old lady resembling the queen.

The rival will be a rich kid.

Just look at that gigantic red roofed house on the map near the player's home cottage. There's a huge chance that the rival (or at least someone important to the story) could be living in there. Maybe the rival starts off as a Spoiled Brat but will slowly get nicer as the plot progresses.

• Possible? Hop (the rival) is the Champion's brother, and judging from the amount of sponsors on Champion Leon's cape and his popularity it's very likely his family would be well-adjusted.

The rival will be Spoiled Sweet.

They'll be a rich kid who is friendly to the player despite their class differences, but also Innocently Insensitive at times, doing things like sharing high-level potions with you because they assume you can't afford any and such. Through traveling around by themselves and helping you fight the Big Bad, they learn to become a better person and not judge people based on class.

• Jossed. None of the 3 rivals (Hop, Marnie, Bede) appear to be particularly wealthy.

Returning Trainer Classes

• Gentlemen
• Ladies
• Officers
• Artists and Painters
  • All confirmed, though the ladies are renamed Madames.

The rivals will represent a sword and a shield

In a Pokémon Sun and Moon artbook, it was revealed that Hau's confident personality represented the sun, and Lillie would be shy and represent the moon at first, but would eventually become more important in the story and represent the sun, so I think we will have an aggressive rival (the sword) and a rival who has trouble standing up for himself/herself. Near the end, the aggressive rival will become more polite, and the other rival will become more confident.

James Turner of Game Freak will make a cameo appearance

We all know that, ever since the beginning of the series, members of Game Freak would make cameos in the mainline Pokémon games as NPCs, usually to give you the diploma once you've caught all Pokémon species or (in the American-based regions at least) even battle you. Since the first ever Westerner Game Freak employee to create Pokémon (James Turner) originally hailed from the U.K., maybe we could see an NPC based on him alongside his other fellow Game Freak companions.

• The Pokémon Direct did acknowledge him via him revealing new details.

AZ and his Floette will be in Galar

If the rumors about Galar being the nation Kalos fought against 3000 years ago are true, AZ will most likely return in these games. Additionally, Eternal Flower Floette received her own unique Pokédex entry in USUM which mentions how the ancient flower she carries holds “terrible power”, which sounds a lot like foreshadowing the Pokémon returning in a future game. Perhaps the events of the story will involve bringing back this powerful flower to let the player get their own unique Floette, finally putting her unique stats and signature move to use.

• Jossed.

Second opinion on Leon's Hidden Depths.

Because he is foremost described as widely well-liked, it is presumed that he would either be secretly be a bad guy or a fraud. However, such a plot twist can only work so many times before it turns into an uninteresting cliché.

So instead of having a dark secret to hide, Leon's character will be explored throughout the game: Why is he charismatic? How did he become undefeatable? What made him decide to even become a trainer in the first place?

Throughout the game, Leon will share his own stories to the player; for example, how he was inspired to be a good person by, say, a rescuer, especially a Pokémon Ranger. That said, he won't spout them out for no reason. Maybe they can be earned after doing his quests? Or maybe there will be a camping spot to meet up with him.

Contrary to its frequent appearance, Charizard is not Leon's Signature Mon.

Instead, it is the first Pokémon sent out. Leon reserves his true final ace, hidden from view.

• Charizard will instead turn out to be a Ride Pokémon-like companion to Leon and his team will instead be based on what Starter you chose, which also explains why Hop chose the starter which is weak to yours, as it’s strong against his brother's starter.
• Same as the sub-point above, but rather Leon's Signature Mon will be the same as the player's starter and he'll bring it back out specifically because the player chose the same starter, and Hop choosing the weaker starter is him acknowledging being in his brother's shadow and wanting to overcome that perceived weakness.
  • Jossed., however his team being based on your starter is partly confirmed; one of his Mons is interchangeable.

Leon isn't evil, but he goes through an interesting character arc in-game

This is based on this Reddit thread.

It is strange that Leon was revealed to be champion so early; however, the whole "Leon is evil" plot is almost too easy of a twist. The thread linked goes into detail on Leon's name being derived from dandelion and the symbolism of dandelions. Long story short, the dandelion has very positive connotations. As many writers use symbolic names to represent a character's personality or story arc, it's unlikely that a character with a name that has very positive connotations will turn evil (although tropes can always be subverted).

However, with him being revealed early, it seems like Leon will play a much larger role in the story than previous champions. This leads to a theory that instead of being evil, Leon might suffer some hardships (such as a loss of reputation or even a strained relationship with his brother) that he works through before the player actually faces him in a match. A champion going through a character arc in game would definitely be an exciting twist for the series.

• Jossed. The story plays up Leon's achievements and he maintains a healthy relationship with both Hop and the player, however he does suffer a confidence blow upon finally losing to someone after what's assumed to be more than 10 years. He copes with it by establishing the Battle Tower.

The characters either have Chess Motifs or Playing Card Motifs.

Based on this Reddit thread.

• Leon is:
  • The king chess piece, because of his crown and status
  • The king of diamonds, because of the crown and having a diamond pattern on his cape
• Hop is:
  • A pawn, because of his hair
    • As in, he is a pawn to Leon's plan?
  • A bishop, because his hair resembles it closely, and also his name
  • The jack of either clubs or spades, depending on how you interpret his hairstyle
• Sonia is:
  • The Queen of Hearts, as she has heart-shaped hair decs

The characters have a plant-based motif, or at least naming theme.

Also mentioned in the above thread. (It could also be a combination of both.)

• Leon is a dandelion
• Hop is based on hops; his hair resembles the plant.
• Chairman Rose now adds to this theme naming.
• Nothing surprising here: human characters have had a plant-based naming theme since the start for the original Japanese games, and since Generation V for the English translations.

A secondary rival will be introduced and they'll be more competitive.

This seems as a given considering Hop is called "one of our rivals" and is using the starter weak to our own.

• Perhaps we will receive a second starter (from another region maybe even farther ahead) and this rival has a type advantage from that set.
• Confirmed, there are two more rivals: the "cold and calculated" Marnie and the "prideful" Bede. Everyone's still on the fence about their Pokémon, though.
  • Bede specializes in Psychic (and later Fairy) Pokémon, while Marnie specializes in Dark Pokémon.

This time around, the protagonists have more varying facial expressions, unlike in the Alolan games.

Considering that the Alolan protagonists were almost always smiling, even if in serious moments, giving the Galar protagonists more varying emotions will at least make them Foils to the Alolan protagonists.

• Confirmed; the player character consistently shows emotions throughout the game, most notably before Max Rait Battles start.

The sequence of Gym Leaders.

• Milo: 2nd. His Eldegoss is at Level 19, which is within the level range typically used by whichever Gym Leader you face second in a region. The first Gym Leader usually has levels between 9 and 14, and except for the Striaton Trio, Grass has never been the type fought first.
• Nessa: 3rd. Every screenshot of her Drednaw is at Level 24, which means her battle has to come after Milo's. This is disregarding the playable demos at E3 and the 2019 World Championships, where everyone is at Level 50, which I'm guessing is because Corviknight is on your team, and it almost certainly evolves from something at a higher level.
  • Jossed, Milo is first and Nessa is second. The levels just jump up really fast.

Milo, Nessa, and a Fire-type Gym Leader can be challenged in any order.

It'll be up to the player whether they want to go for an easy win or find a way to overcome their type disadvantage.

• Jossed. Milo is first, Nessa is second, and Kabu, the Fire Gym Leader, is third. This is also the first game to make clear an order in which they must be fought, instead of going from town to town and challenging whichever they find.

The version-exclusive Gym leaders that do not appear in each version will instead be part of the Elite 4

Assuming they appear at all.

• Potentially Jossed: the version exclusivity of Gyms depends on which Gym is in the Major League in each version. Minor League Gyms are likely to still appear in the games, it's unsure whether they can actually be challenged.
  • Jossed. Bea doesn't appear at all in Shield, but Gordie does appear in Melony's rare card.

Allister will remove his mask at some point, but his unmasked face will not be shown to the player.

A strategic camera angle will keep his face hidden, but it may elicit a surprised comment from the protagonist or another character.

• Jossed, as his rare card shows his face.

For the most part, the gyms will not be faced in a set order, and teams and levels will adjust based on the order in which they're fought.

With the Wild Area linking multiple towns, and the potential for trains connecting others, this would facilitate tackling the gyms in a less linear way.

• Jossed and inverted.

Team Yell is led by Marnie's father.

• Technically jossed. They're following her brother, and her brother (Piers) isn't really leading them, more letting them do their own thing.

Ryuki is one of the Gym Leader.

• In terms of importance, Ryuki seemed to have practically nothing outside of being a trainer you could fight in Gen 7, showing up randomly as a challenger for the champion title with little indication of his existance prior (and in USUM, a Gym Trainer in Malie's Kantonian Gym). It is also said he is from another region, so it is possible he was foreshadowing to Gen 8.
  • Jossed. There is a Dragon-type trainer, named Raihan, who is the eighth leader.

There will be a Trainer who is a tennis player and uses Alcremie

Strawberries and cream are traditionally eaten at the Wimbledon tennis tournament in the UK.

• Jossed. No tennis player trainer classes are in Galar, and Alcremie is Mad Hatter Opal's ace.

Bede is actually a shapeshifted/disguised Impidimp...

...or an evolution of the same line, masquerading as a human. This is the real reason why official sources have been so oddly adverse to acknowledging Impidimp's existence; their profiles reveal too much and would risk giving the game away. After all of the speculation last generation about Lillie, Lusamine and others being Ultra Beasts in disguise, they don't want fans to realize that they've planned something of a similar nature this time around.

This is the real reason for Bede's smug self-assuredness: he's not human, but a member of The Fair Folk working towards his own ends, and endlessly amused by how nobody's able to see through his oh-so-clever disguise.

• Chairman Rose is either in on the deception — aware of Bede's true nature as a pokemon, potentially even owning him (or planning to capture him if he steps too far out of line) — or just as in the dark as everyone else. If the latter, he believes that he's playing Bede as a pawn, only to get blindsided by the truth.
  • Jossed.

Plot and Setting

Galar is the other region that Kalos was at war with.

Britain and France were historically enemies and engaged in wars against each other.

• Does this mean that Galar also owned Unova/Orre/Alola at some point until they rebelled against them?
  • Only Unova, because Arizona and Hawaii were part of Mexico and an independent country, respectively, until long after America became independent.

Gym Leaders, Gyms, and the Elite Four

• A gym inside of a building that looks like Buckingham Palace
• A gym based on a football (the European kind) stadium, with the gym leader being either:
  • A nigh unbeatable older gentleman with a Scottish accent (obviously written phonetically), playing mind games and pulling out a full restore at the last second.
  • A referee who is blind to the fact that his gym trainers fully exploit The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard
    • Confirmed, although it appears every Gym is based upon a football stadium, and the main field is the setting for the Gym Leader battle only. Before that, traditional Gym puzzles are still present.
• A gym based in a steam engine factory, with the gym leader being a guy in a bowler hat and a monocle
  • Jossed.
• The entire elite four being one single family.
  • Jossed, the Elite 4 got replaced by the Champion Cup.
• A Dark-type gym with a James Bond-esque Gym Leader.
  • Jossed, the "gym" is in a park where the Gym Leader, Piers, holds his concerts.
• A ghost gym located next to an old graveyard
  • Jossed, it's in Stow-on-Side, the desert town where it switches positions with the Fighting Gym depending on the version.
• A Fairy-Type Mad Hatter Gym Leader
• The Champion will be The Queen.
  • And she will have a Corgi-inspired Pokémon in her lineup.
  • She might not be "the Queen", but she could be an old royal figure inspired by the Queen. Bonus points if named "Liz", "Beth", "Eliza", "Ella", "Betty", etc. Or a different name like "Victoria" or "Alexandra".
• Jossed: The champion is a male named Leon who has the appearance of a king.
• A Freddie Mercury-inspired Gym Leader. Trainers based on the Beatles.
  • Maybe his Pokémon would be weak to Electric-type as a reference to one of the lyrics in Bohemian Rhapsody: "Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening me!"
    • Or maybe he will be tied to Electric-types because of the song Flash, and his highly energetic songs in general, like Don't Stop Me Now, Keep Yourself Alive, Tie Your Mother Down, etc. etc.
  • Not really a gym leader, but they could base the region professor on Brian May in a nod to his being an actual scientist.
  • Jossed: the professor is an old lady resembling Queen Elizabeth.
  • Alternatively, an Elton John-inspired Gym Leader.
• A small side island based on Ireland, with a gym based on the Giant’s Causeway. The Gym Leader is a really tall guy named Finn.
  • Jossed; the islands are part of the expansion pass; the Isle of Armor is based on the Isle of Man.
• A Fairy-type gym that looks like a large medieval castle with a young girl dressed as a princess as the Gym Leader, located in the highest tower, of course.
  • Confirmed with the Fairy Gym's presence, Jossed with its appearance.
• The Champion and Elite 4 being based on the Spice Girls.
• The Elite Four are based on the Knights of the Round Table, with the Champion being a King Arthur expy.
• A Mary Poppins based Gym Leader who uses Fairy types.
• A Gym Leader based off of Gordon Ramsay who uses Fire-type Pokémon.
• A Male Fairy-type Gym Leader because it would be unexpected.

  • Fairy-type predictions Jossed. The Fairy Gym is located in a dark forest and its Leader is an old lady, Opal. She passes her Gym Leader position to Bede in the story before she retires.
  • Singer Gym Leader somewhat confirmed in the form of the Dark Gym Leader Piers.

The games' storyline will involve Brexit

Assuming that Galar is the U.K., it makes sense that the evil team of this game would make the region afraid of the rest of the world for their own evil purposes.

• This could even tie in to the games' infamous restrictions on importing Pokémon that aren't in the Galar Pokédex — Galar could have instituted some limits on immigration, which would include barring many imported Pokémon.
  • Jossed.

There are other major landmasses to explore, outside the main map.

Given the power the Switch has over handheld units, the map of the region seems a little small compared to what it could be. This could mean that either the mainland is more detailed with larger towns and cities, or that there are other large islands that compose the region, big enough to warrant their own maps. These possible locations could be based off of Ireland or Iceland.

• Confirmed with the expansion pass Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra.

The football stadium will be the setting of the Pokémon league tournament

Because of how the Pokémon battle in the trailer took place in a stadium, it is possible that there might be a Pokémon league tournament similar to the anime. The player would possibly have to win the tournament to fight the Elite Four.

• Jossed: the stadium is just Galar's example of a Gym, however there is a larger stadium where a tournament to fight the Champion takes place.

The entire Gym system in Galar is based on sporting arenas.

Along with the scene in the trailer taking place in what appears to be a football stadium, there appears to be several buildings that look like stadiums on the map. Perhaps the gyms are akin to sports teams, with the Gym Leader serving as the "captain". You'll have to beat each team in order to advance to the Elite Four (which probably takes place in the London-analogue city in the north of the map).

• Confirmed: the Gyms look like stadiums.
• As a corollary to this, perhaps you'll be part of a "team" of your own (perhaps consisting of the rivals that end up with the starters you didn't pick), and you'll have your own Gym. The Gym would be a good method to introduce rematches with the gym leaders, as they challenge your gym in the same way you challenge theirs.
• Second corollary: there might also be a rival team that serves as the villain team for the generation. That, or the villain team is based on Football Hooligans that support the rival team, and will stoop to any means to ensure that they win.
  • Confirmed as well: Team Yell are the supporters of Marnie, one of your rivals in the Gym challenge, and they resemble stereotypical hooligans.

There will be an area based on the Isle of Wight

• Perhaps a post-game like area for something akin to the Battle Frontier.
  • Somewhat confirmed with the Isle of Armor, which is based on the Isle of Man.

Galar has an active royal family.

• Assuming that this will bleed over from real life Britain, perhaps Galar is one of the few Pokémon regions to continue having a monarchy.
  • Depending on your gender, you will befriend either the prince or princess, who will be both one of your rivals and (like Yancy/Curtis in Black 2 and White 2) will be something of a love interest.
    • Or, in a plot twist... you, the player character, are actually the Prince/Princess!
  • Alternatively, there will be a set of royal twins where the one who matched your gender becomes something of a possibly stuck-up rival where the opposite gender twin becomes your friend and love interest.
    • Or if they want to be progressive, have the Prince be the rival and the Princess be the friend/love interest regardless of the player's gender; other games had strong subtext, so why not go along with it.
    • The prince/princess could also be the Champion, once again gender-dependent.
• There are descendants of the royal family, named Sordward and Shielbert. They're encountered in the post-game as the antagonists of the post-game story.

The gyms will be replayable.

Meaning that even though you've cleared it, you can challenge it again anytime at an optionally higher difficulty.

• Somewhat jossed; the gym challenges can't be redone once they're cleared and the Gym Leader is beaten. However, you can rechallenge the leaders in the post-game Champions Cup should you and them be pitted against one another.

The Train Station in Couriway Town in Kalos from Pokémon X and Y leads to the Galar region.

There is a real-life tunnel named the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) that connects England and France, which is what Galar and Kalos are based on, respectively. This could mean that there may be a Kalos post-game in Pokémon Sword and Shield. Similar to how in Pokémon Gold and Silver you could travel back to Kanto after you defeat the Champion, you may be able to fight all eight gym leaders in Kalos, with the post-game ending off with a Pokémon battle between the player and Calem/Serena from X and Y.

• Unlikely: Pokémon Gold and Silver was the first and only game in the main series where the player could travel to another region, although there is a chance, due to Switch games’ high storage capacity and how small Galar looks at the moment.

There will be steam engines for the most part.

Even though there is at least one sight of an electrical train in the trailer. Given how industrial and steampunk some cities look, it would perhaps add to the feel with Steam Engines powered by Fire-type Pokémon or even Pokémon like Klink.

• In addition, they appear to be a method of fast travel. There are railways present throughout Galar except the the northernmost and southernmost tips.
  • Possibly subverted; Motostoke is a steampunk-based city, and the Rolycoly line is linked to steam power, but it doesn't look like Galar's trains run on steam as well.

The Cerne Abbus Giant expy is depicting Meltan and Melmetal

Self-explanatory, really. The giant figure on the hillside during one part of the trailer depicts a giant figure with tiny ones around it. Its real-life basis, the Cerne Abbus Giant, lacks similar figures around it. All of the depicted creatures share a similar roundish head, most likely representing both Meltan and Melmetal. However, I'm not sure what the wind and lightning could represent outside of the Meltan line learning electric moves.

• After the reveal of Gigantamax, it's safe to assume that Melmetal will make use of it.

The regional specialty is...

Starting from Gen II, every region has its own specialty which is a snack food that acts as a Full Heal (even Kanto now has one in Pewter Crunchies). Each one is based on a real snack which is associated with the area that the region is based on. What might Galar's snack of choice be?

• Most likely, it will be based on Jammie Dodgers, one of the most famous cookies from Britain.
• Or either scones or hot-cross buns with a Poké Ball design.
• An expy of Freddo might suffice, considering its informal history as a price benchmark.
• Maybe they'll be Wagon Wheels?
• "Iron Brew" (based on Irn Bru, a soft drink famous in Scotland)
  • Jossed. Unless I forgot, Galar doesn't have a regional snack.

The theme of this region will be industrialization.

Starting from the bottom on the Galar map, the towns and cities look more modernized as it goes up. On the official Pokémon Sword and Shield website, the people and Pokémon in this region are described to be working together to develop the industries. Since Great Britain is known for its medieval history and partaking in the Industrial Revolution, Galar may have had a culture based on The Middle Ages, but now it's evolving to be more Steampunk and technology-based.

There will be an area based on the London Underground.

Possibly linking together smaller towns or various districts of a big city, if not the entire region itself.

• Jossed, however the overground train serves the purpose of linking towns.

An area based on the other famous hill carving, The Long Man of Wilmington, will be present

To have a legendary hill duo.

The game's two major cities will be based on London and Manchester.

Furthering the theory of the games being based on the dualism between traditionalism and progress as expressed in two teams (in the above folder), the two major cities featured on Galar's map will be based on Manchester (the central, industrial city to the fortress' South) and London (the northern city) respectively:

• The northern city will be based on London, Britain's capital since Roman times and home to its historical institutions of government (the Houses of Parliament) and commerce (the City). As depicted on the map, it appears to hold buildings resembling the Elizabeth Tower, Wembley Stadium and the London Eye, key London landmarks.
• The central city will be based on Manchester, which rose to prominence during the Industrial Revolution on the back of the cotton trade and now is going through something of a rebirth, with the relocation of prominent broadcasters to MediaCity, the government placing importance on it as the centre of the 'Northern Powerhouse' and a growing reputation for dynamism propelling it towards second city status. The gears suggest an industrial theming, in common with Manchester's roots, and its position relative to pseudo-London fits with the idea of Galar paralleling Great Britain flipped upside-down.
• Confirmed with Wyndon being clearly based on London.

We will have a character make a Face–Heel Turn and a large part of the plot will be trying to turn them good again.

Of course, this character won't be genuinely evil, but turn to the evil team because they believe that their philosophy is actually correct and think that you, the player, are standing in the way of a good cause. There are several possibilities to how this could go down:

• If we are going by "the opposite gender player character is your sibling" theory, then your brother/sister will be brainwashed by the evil team's philosophy and go over to their side.
• In case of the "Galar has a royal family twin set" theory, the twin who is the same gender as you will be the one to go to the side of the evil team.
• If a standalone rival is made, then it will be your rival who does this, giving you a substantial reason to fight them beyond "they're a jerk."

They will most likely try to pull a We Can Rule Together throughout the course of the game. However, something will happen to make them realize that this was not what they signed up for, and in the end, they will help you to stop their former allies.

• Jossed, none of the characters have made any betrayal attempts intentionally. Chairman Rose only wanted to start the Darkest Day with Eternatus to end an energy crisis that wouldn't happen for another 1000 years.

There will be elements with World War II influences somewhere in the game.

It could be in the form of Pokémon inspired by WWII-era devices/weaponry, an abandoned underground tunnel reminiscent of real-life tunnels untouched since the 40s, or a notable character based off of Winston Churchill.

Ultra Space will return.

This time, it'll be an area that can be explored and wandered about rather than corridors to battle Ultra Beasts, along with more characters from the other dimensions.

Ability to use the train(s) will be restricted to post-game content

Until that point, there will be a train operator regretfully telling you that trains aren't running due to "leaves on the line", "staff shortages", "scheduled maintenance", or any other reason, possibly changing as you progress in the game. It is unlikely that they will offer a replacement bus service.

• Jossed, the trains are used to get from town to town, although they can be also used to go to the Isle of Armor and the Crowned Tundra.

In the snowy area, the Poké Mart is out of stock

You will also be able to find one house that has hoarded all the milk in a panic.

• Jossed, the only snowy city in the game, Circhester, still has a fully accessible Poké Mart.

There will be a coastal area where fossils can be mined

It will be similar to Sinnoh's underground, with a mini game to extract the fossils, and all existing fossil Pokemon will be able to be found there.

The story of Galar will tie in with both Kalos and Unova as a sequel to both BW and XY

The three regions have a similar ancient history. The Kalos war, the disappearance of Melmetal, and the creation of Unova’s Abyssal Ruins and relic items all happened 3,000 years ago (and possibly the event of Unova’s legendary dragons splitting by the twin heroes, which likely happened around that time frame). Galar’s story explains more about the ancient history of all three regions and how they connect.

• Jossed, it's a standalone story.

Guesses for the gym types, based on analysis of the map

It's probably safe to say that the stadium-like buildings strewn throughout the map are this region's gyms.

• Gym 1 (Farming town)
  • Grass seems like the obvious pick, given the leaf symbol shown on the gym in the trailer.
    • Confirmed as the Grass-type Gym.
• Gym 2 (Port town)
  • Looks like an obvious Water gym.
    • Confirmed as the Water-type Gym.
• Gym 3 (Industrial city)
  • Steel type seems like the best fit, though Electric or Fire could also work.
    • Confirmed as Fire.
• Gym 4 (Mountain town)
  • Definitely Ground or Rock, though Ground seems most likely.
    • Either Fighting or Ghost, Jossed.
• Gym 5 (Mushroom forest town)
  • Could be Poison, Fairy, Psychic, or Ghost.
    • Confirmed as Fairy.
• Gym 6 (Snow town)
  • Ice seems like the obvious pick, but it could also be Dark given the dark coloration of the Gym.
    • Confirmed as Ice, however, if you're playing Sword, it'll be Rock instead.
• Gym 7 (Dragon head city)
  • A little harder to place, though Dragon probably fits the best.
    • Confirmed as the Dragon gym, but it's actually the eighth gym. The seventh gym is in Spikemuth, where the gym battle takes place after running all the way to the other side of the town.
• Gym 8 (Far northern London-analogue city)
  • Could be anything, though Psychic or Steel (if Gym 3 isn't Steel) might fit.
  • Or, if you and the rival have Gyms, this could be the first typeless gym since Blue in Gen 2.
  • Or this is the Pokemon League/Elite Four location.
• Gym 0? (starting town)
  • If the London gym is the Pokémon League and the starting town has a gym, I'm guessing Normal or Flying as a neutral type.

We haven't seen the whole map yet.

• Galar looks way smaller than any of the other regions, even taking into account the free roaming and the games no longer being bound by gridlike routes. There are three likely possibilities:

1. This is not the complete map, and a more complete, more zoomed out one will show up later on as more information is released.
2. The counterparts to Ireland and Northern Island are also playable, and they constitute a rather large postgame.
3. The game is spent traveling back and forth between the realm shown on the map and another one, such as a Dark World or Ultra Space.
   • 1 is partially confirmed; screenshots show a train station identifiable on the map, but those screenshots show an entire town whereas the map has the train station all by itself.

There will be a tropical beach area

This beach will allow you to evolve Pikachu, Exeggcute, and Cubone into Alolan Raichu, Alolan Exeggutor, and Alolan Marowak, respectively, and other Alolan Forme Pokémon, such as Alolan Rattata and Alolan Grimer, may also be found there. The tropical beach will probably not be accessible until the post-game, though.

• Jossed. There's no such area to evolve Pikachu into Alolan Raichu.

Zacian and Zamazenta had a master in the distant past.

Long ago, they were ordinary wolf Pokémon who served a noble and kind Master, possibly an expy of King Arthur. But something happened, and he was corrupted. Zacian carries his sword, and Zamazenta carries parts of his shield. And the reason that they fight the Protagonist is to ensure that they don't suffer their Master's fate.

Dynamaxing is influenced by "ley lines".

Dynamaxing can only be done in certain places on the map. These places of power could be connected in a manner similar to ley lines, which originated in Britain.

Dynamaxing and the Hillside Pokémon shown doing it will actually be a contrast to Ultra Beasts

We know Totem Pokémon are tied to Ultra Wormholes and they're larger than their regular counterparts. Perhaps the Ultra Wormholes connected to a dimension where the Dynamax phenomenon is more common, but the energy was so low it only allowed a slight abnormal growth. Additionally, the Wild Dynamax points are in the ground in contrast to the wormholes, which are generally in open air. And the color schemes are complete contrast as well. Ultra Wormholes are bright, white and blue while Dynamax is tied to darker, black and red...ish color palettes.

‘’Civil War -> Public Enemies’’

Okay, so hear me out on this one. I know it’s highly unlikely, but I want to share it regardless. The player finds out that Galar has a restriction policy in place prohibiting certain Pokémon from entering the region and wants to repeal it, while Leon supports the policy and wants to keep the player from repealing it. The player encounters Zacian and Leon encounters Zamazenta.

The player tells a local about their encounter with Zacian and the local tells them the story of the two Legendaries: Zacian and Zamazenta have appeared several times in Galar’s history during times of national division, where they would fight each other in a symbolic match to determine what path the region would take; whoever’s armament breaks — Zacian’s sword or Zamazenta’s shield — determines who the winner is. The two of them draw their power from the feelings of the people, so they’re only as strong as the sum total of each person’s feelings on their stance (in this case, the restriction policy). The local prophesizes that the two will fight again.

Throughout their journey, the player proves themselves to the people of Galar and wins their support on repealing the policy while Leon drums up support for keeping it. At the climax of the game, the player battles Leon to determine the policy’s fate and ties with him, prompting the two Legendaries to appear and duke it out in one final battle, with Zacian representing the player’s stance of repealment and Zamazenta representing Leon’s stance of keeping the policy as-is. After much back-and-forth, Zacian manages to break Zamazenta’s shield, but the amount of hits it had to get in to do it have cracked its sword, rendering it useless. Both legendaries disappear, severely weakened without their armaments. At this point, a threat — Yveltal or Zygarde from Kalos — attacks Galar. Leon and the player are declared public enemies for their role in causing Galar to be without its greatest guardians. From there on, the player must work with Leon to hold off the Kalosian threat, with Leon coming to understand the player’s position. After barely managing to defeat it, both the player and Leon clear their names and agree to repeal the restriction policy. They battle again, and after the player beats Leon and becomes the new Champion, the credits roll, showing the two Legendaries watching over Galar while forging new armaments.

• This is a decent theory, but... it only really works for the Sword version. The version mascots are bound to be version-exclusive as always, so there has to be a scenario where the player is represented by Zamazenta instead.
  • OP here. How about a scenario where someone’s trying to implement that policy (and would thus be represented by Zacian) while the player wants to keep it from being made official (and would thus be represented by Zamazenta)?

Rose, Oleana, Bede, and Marnie are cogs in a greater scheme, like a 3rd legendary

Oleana invented the Dynamax band, yet Professor Magnolia simply researches the phenomenon; my theory is that Oleana was a colleague-slash-assistant of Magnolia in their youth, finding some other power, then they diverged in different fields. Chairman Rose's name is suspicious when you consider that Marnie's Japanese name is Mary, guessing they're related, but not as Father and Daughter. The assumption is that Rose is just casually using Bede as his new champion project like he did with Leon. Oleana presumably developed Dynamax even further and instead employed Team Yell to hype up Marnie as some kind of underdog (or Ringer), but they didn't account for the player character to pop right in, or Hop.

The Wild Area is presumably a large site of some kind of grand battle, making naturalized Dynamax sites a common sight, in comparison to the (presumably) man-made sites at the stadiums. Instead of rallying people as an army, you instead gather cheer energy towards one or two people. Bede will be the jerkish posh kid who's obviously skilled and takes down other trainers, but he isn't sportsmanlike, earning him scorn. On the other hand, Marnie is relatively unknown besides to Team Yell. It's possible that Oleana is trying to cause a grand clash of trainers in an attempt to focus cheer energy; she's still perfecting her research independently from Rose (who's probably unaware of what's happening). Bede will probably defeat Leon, making him The Unfought, whilst Marnie graciously takes her defeat with pride, giving you the boost.

There's something telling from the color of Rose, Marnie, and Sonia's eyes, or that Rose, Oleana, and Bede all have hexagons in their design somewhere, being their belt buckle (also their beard/moustache being a double hexagon), earrings, and watch, respectively. Though, their connection to each other was already stated. weirdly, there's also Meltan the Hexnut Pokémon, though their origin presumably predates modern Dynamax.

The box legendary, or another unrevealed legendary, is caught through the Max Raid mode.

Toward the end of the game, the villains' plan will involve forcing the legendary into Dynamax mode, which threatens the entire region of Galar. You'll need to team up with the three rivals in order to defeat it in Max Raid mode. Since this is a mode where you team up with three other players to catch a Pokémon, a scenario like this may be the reason why you have three rivals in this game. Maybe the postgame will unlock single-player Max Raids where you team up with your rivals again.

• Jossed. Zacian or Zamazenta (depending on the version) are caught in the post-game's climax, after Sordward/Shielbert attempt to force the other counterpart to Dynamax and it goes berserk, forcing you to battle it in order for it to come to its senses.

Dynamaxing was used in the war between Kalos and Galar.

The Galarian trainers used Dynamaxing to counter the Kalos trainers' Mega Evolution in the war. The results were... catastrophic, to say the least. In order to prevent extreme collateral damage from a battle between a Dynamax Pokémon and a Mega Evolved Pokémon, the non-native method of transformation is now banned in both regions.

There is illegal Morpeko racing in Galar.

This parallels the underground hamster racing in the UK in the 2000s. However, since Morpeko is a naturally Dark-type Pokémon, Morpeko is a willing participant in these races. It would also be reflected in Morpeko having a high Speed stat, even for an Electric-type.

• Jossed.

A "Cloyster Card" is involved with the trains.

In real-life London, a card from the Transport For London called an "Oyster Card" is mainly used for everyday commutes. Part of the game may involve obtaining a "Cloyster Card" in order to use the trains, which makes for a great reference due to the similar names between the Pokémon and the travel card.

• Jossed; no card is needed to use Wyndon's trains in most cases, although a specific card key is needed to access Roes Tower from there.

Antagonists

A conflict referencing the War of the Roses will be a prime motivator for the main villain.

Perhaps the Big Bad is a secret descendant of the PokéYorks or just thinks they are one, and thus seeks to avenge their (alleged) ancestors.

• Given that the character that basically screams "evil team leader" is named Chairman Rose...

The evil team will go back to being the Big Bad.

The endgame of the main story in Sun and Moon had the real Big Bad be the Aether Foundation. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon supplanted even Aether with just Ultra Necrozma being the real boss. In Sword and Shield, whoever the evil team is will carry the actual Big Bad this time. But it doesn't necessarily have to be the obvious leader of the group.

The evil team controls the central structure.

That gigantic, tall fortress-looking thing in the middle with the wings will either fall under control of this team or has been in their control since the beginning of the game. Since it's right in the middle of Galar, whoever controls it would definitely have enormous control over the region as well.

• Confirmed in the finale, not so in the rest of the game.

The evil team leader's main Pokémon will be an Aegislash.

Its Pokédex entries state "Generations of kings were attended by these Pokémon, which used their spectral power to manipulate and control people and Pokémon." and "Apparently, it can detect the innate qualities of leadership. According to legend, whoever it recognizes is destined to become king." The leader will be amassing followers to try and overthrow the current monarchy of Galar, using Aegislash's approval as proof that they are destined to become king.

• Rose's main Pokemon is a Copperajah, so jossed.

The evil team leader will be an old man.

And then we can call him GRAMPS.^Explanation "GRAMPS" is an acronym assembled from past villainous teams: Galactic, Rocket, Aqua or Aether Foundation, Magma, Plasma, Skull.

• While Rose is a man, his age is ambiguous.

Instead of a single evil team, we'll have two factions that are rivals to each other.

Depending on the version or which side you pick, one of them will be more antagonistic.

• Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire ideas anyone? One of their headquarters will be in a Vice City of sorts.
  • Jossed.

Leon is the Big Bad

This is the earliest a generation has ever revealed the Champion's identity, so maybe there's more going on. The trailer makes a big deal of him being beloved by the people, and excluding N, who was only very recently Champion when you arrived, we haven't had an evil Champion before. This could also lead to interesting dynamics with the rival.

• Jossed.

Alternatively, Leon is a Fake Ultimate Hero who used corruption and nepotism to get the position of Champion

As mentioned above, it is very strange for a region champion to be revealed so early and there be no baggage to this reveal. It is also worth noting that he is seen with a non-Mega Evolved Charizard as his signature mon — very different from previous champs who, even if they didn't use a mon from that generation, always made use of the gimmick introduced in that gen (Diantha's Mega Gardevoir). This, along with all the hew and cry made about his supposed greatness, could be a sign he is not what he says he is.

Unlike other champs, his mons will be seen throughout the story as foreshadowing to his fakery. They will be familiar (having identical movesets and levels to that of previous champions — as in he borrowed them from their original trainers), his roster will be quietly changed periodically (he bought more powerful Pokémon from rich friends), and he will have movesets that are not normally possible. To drive home this point further, you will constantly see him in battle, but only in controlled circumstances (inside Gyms) and have a convenient excuse as to why he isn't there to fight for real.

The evil team will exploit his charade and use blackmail to make him do as he wants, and his attempts to prove his lies will cause disaster that you have to stop. Hop will experience Broken Pedestal with regards to his brother, and serve as a contrast to him because he became the champion through honest means.

• All jossed. However, the only team member that Leon has shown on-screen before the champion battle is Charizard and he adds the starter that Hop and the player didn't pick into his team.

Alternatively, Leon is a pawn for the evil team

Specifically, they are his sponsors — the reason he wears so many logos is to promote their items — who've allowed him to get to where he is today, and they use his connection with them as blackmail so he'll do what they say when they say it. Leon hates it, but is/feels powerless to defy them.

• Jossed. Leon is a good champion all along; he just doesn't agree with Rose's plans.

Building on the above, the evil team will be exploiting the nature of Pokémon battling and how the gyms are publicized in the Galar Region.

They want as much money and publicity as possible and don't care how they get it, even if it means overworking or abusing Pokémon or their trainers. They work from the shadows and even hire stunt people and grunts to do their dirty work, anything that brings attention to what they want, when they want it.

• Jossed.

Professor Magnolia is the evil team's leader

She has a queen Elizabeth-esque appearance and appears more morose in her artwork than previous professors. Her bio refers to her granddaughter doing "a certain research task" for her. It's possible her granddaughter is her (most likely unwilling) stooge. She could also be using you and Hop as instruments in her plans (building on the "your rival will pull a Face–Heel Turn" WMG, she will attempt to Divide and Conquer, using Hop's drive to be the champion to turn him against you). This would also make fighting the evil team much more compelling than in previous games.

• Jossed; Magnolia doesn't play an active role in the storyline aside from introducing the player to the Dynamax phenomenon and giving her professor position to Sonia.

Leon is not evil; rather, it is Sonia who turns evil/is revealed to have been evil the whole time

I don’t understand why everyone believes that Leon must be the bad guy. I do think it’s strange that they revealed the champion so early, but it doesn’t mean he’s going to be evil. As we all know by now, most humans in recent Pokémon games are named after flowers, with meanings that represent their character. Leon is named after the dandelion, which represents faithfulness, pretty much the exact opposite of evil. Sonia, on the other hand, is named after the sandersonia. What does this flower mean? Desire for wealth, a potentially villainous trait. Furthermore, Professor Magnolia’s character description says she gave Sonia a “certain research task...” Ellipses are always foreshadowing something.

• It could be faithfulness TO EVIL (his master). Faithfulness is not always a good thing. They could easily both be evil. Though Leon might end up with a Heel–Face Door-Slam while Sonia gets a successful Heel–Face Turn, for example.
  • Jossed, Sonia remains good throughout the entire game.

The team behind Dynamax will be a Cipher-style MegaCorp.

The Dynamax system will be run by The Cracker and their Hacker Collective team behind them and will have some sorts of collaborations with International Police, who bribed each other in favour of War for Fun and Profit. Assuming Police Brutality will be present, these Private Military Contractors will be responsible for the Dynamax systems, turning them into The Social Darwinist at worst.

• Jossed; Dynamaxing comes from Wishing Stars that fell from Eternatus' body

Chairman Rose is the villain

He does give off a lot of "evil team leader" vibes. Plus it would fit in with the "Leon is a pawn for the bad guys" theory, as Rose was the one who sponsored Leon in the first place. Maybe the real reason Leon's never lost a match is because Chairman Rose has been manipulating things behind the scenes in order to take advantage of the power and prestige a champion has.

• Confirmed that he's a villain, but Rose hasn't been manipulating things: Rather, he's trying to recreate a doomsday scenario to harness more energy for Galar.

Oleana is up to no good too.

She is named after oleander, a plant renowned for its beauty, cultivated all over the world, but also for its poisonousness, infamous for causing illness in domesticated animals like cats, dogs, and horses (and to a lesser extent, humans). It would make a lot of sense that this character has some sort of harmful agenda she's hiding from everyone not in the know, particularly if it involves harm to Pokémon, to parallel the plant.

• Just a note: she's not actually named after oleander, but the genus Olea which includes olives (her Japanese name is Olive).
  • Confirmed, she tries to stop you in Rose's place beforehand.

Alternatively, adding to the Hacker Collective WMG above...

Perhaps they have tampered with the PC system in Galar, preventing Pokémon unavailable in Galar from being brought in. Though defeated in the story, their tampering with the PC system will remain. Post-release, there may be online cooperative events in which additional Pokémon are allowed in, bit by bit, in the form of finding various grunts and admins who have gone into hiding and defeating them, allowing NPCs to access their computers to see what they've done and lift the restrictions, hence allowing those Pokémon in.

Bede is connected to, or boss of, the true antagonist team

• Sinister look? Check. Hints of an ulterior agenda? Check.
• He's gonna be a Dirty Cop.
  • Confirmed. Not a cop, though. He's Rose's adopted son.

Team Yell is fond of using the Galarian Zigzagoon line.

In particular, the admins (or whatever high-ranked members are called within Team Yell) will all use Obstagoon. One of their goals, as Marnie's fanclub, is to prevent Marnie's rivals, yourself included, from completing the Pokémon League before her, and what better Pokémon to use than one whose name is a Portmanteau containing the word "obstruct" or "obstacle"?

• Confirmed, a lot of them do use the line. Their "leader", Piers, uses an Obstagoon.

Chairman Rose is setting up Bede to replace Champion Leon as part of some greater scheme.

Leon may have made a great Unwitting Pawn, but Rose has decided that it's time to switch him out for someone new. Perhaps Leon is getting a bit too close to uncovering some inconvenient truth, or he's simply becoming less useful. The problem with someone remaining undefeated for so long is that it makes things stale. Better to have Leon take a fall and bow out before he becomes too much of an Invincible Hero.

• Bede is likely aware that the fix is in, though he may not realize just how much Rose intends to rig things in his favor. He may sincerely overestimate his own skill, believing he's better than he actually is — he may be good, but not necessarily good enough to beat someone like Leon in a fair fight. The protagonist also naturally threatens his ego by virtue of being able to beat him when they face off, much to his ire... though he may attempt to stave off a Villainous Breakdown by reminding himself that he's going to be the next Champion, while you should wind up fading into obscurity. You're just a speed bump, right...?
• Bede benefitting from Chairman Rose's plans to rig the League also parallels Team Yell's efforts to 'support' Marnie by sabotaging her competition. This may lead to them having a collective Heel Realization after the truth about the Chairman is inevitably exposed... or clinging to the self-justification that they were 'evening the odds' in her favor.
• I really like the idea of Rose being some sort of [[corruptcorporateexecutinve]] who will betray someone if in his head it's "best for buisness"

Cynthia will appear as a battleable character

The Pokedex revealed as of 10/17 has many Pokemon she's been associated with apparent: the only three missing are Spiritomb, Eelektross, and Garchomp. Garchomp's a borderline shoe in to appear in game, meaning it would not be hard to have a team for her.

Gameplay and Meta

Third Version name speculation (assuming there is a third)

• Spear
• Gun
• Crown
  • Confirmed, in a way—one of Sword and Shield's expansions is called The Crown Tundra.
• Throne
• Staff
• Armor
  • Confirmed, in a way. One of Sword and Shield's expansions is called The Isle of Armor.
• Knight
• Bow & Arrow
  • Dual Versions
• Trebuchet
• Axe
• Mirror
• Helm
• Spell

This gen's unique mechanic will involve special kinds of PokéBalls

The Japanese art for the titles shows a unique Poké Ball design in the titles. In the previous gens, the mechanic was also hinted at through the title cards in some way, so it's likely the new mechanic has to do with unique PokéBalls. As for what they do...

• A special kind of PokeBall that will power up the Pokémon caught in them up past their normal BST.
• A PokéBall needed to catch a new sub-species of Pokémon like the Ultra Beasts.
• Some kind of Fusion mechanic
• The ability to make and customize your own Poké Balls, kinda like Apricorns and Kurt in Pokémon Gold and Silver, but more in-depth.
• A Chekhov's Gun/Escort Mission like the GS Ball (or at least like in the anime).
• This symbol seems to be present in Gyms, so they could have a bigger role in the game.
• The ball will dramatically increase the attack or defending stats of the caught Pokémon, at the expense of the other stats, and can be switched at will.
• A new ball that allows two held items — one attack-oriented, and one for defence.
  • Sort of confirmed? The Dynamax mechanic does seem to involve giant Poké Balls somehow.
    • Confirmed for Dynamaxing making the Pokémon's Pokê Ball bigger before the Dynamax itself, but jossed on the item mechanic; Pokémon can still hold only one item, like always.

There will be some Zelda references

Perhaps as a trio of Pokémon meant to represent the Triforce Wielders, such as a Fighting-type for Link, a Fairy-type for Zelda, and a Dark-type for Ganondorf.

• With the game having some royal-theming, this could be possible.

There will be a non-linear portion to the game

It's possible that the southern portion of the map is the tutorial section of the game, akin to the Great Plateau in Breath of the Wild. The tutorials will probably be less intrusive than in Pokémon Sun and Moon, based on complaints about the handholding in that game. Once you've cleared the first gym, though, the game will open up more, and you'll be able to challenge the other gyms in any order (with their levels scaling based on the number of badges you have). It gives this impression based on how close together the areas in the central part of the map are: this could indicate that this part of the map is more of a centralized hub to encourage more player choice in exploration.

• Confirmed, through the Wild Areas.

There will be a Pokémon World Cup as post-game content

Once you've become the champion, where do you go from there? A possible idea for post-game is to have a tournament featuring trainers from the other seven regions, where you compete to become the best trainer in the Pokémon world.

• Jossed. However, you can rematch the Galar Gym Leaders and rivals in Wyndon Stadium.

The new mechanic in Sword and Shield will involve a special kind of items just like the previous generations.

The items that will appear are based on weapons like a Sword and Shield and they have the ability to transform moves into those weapons or those weapons grant the holder a new special move, and unlike Z-Moves which are one-use only, these can be used multiple times until their PP is out. For example, the shield could enhance a move like protect into a stronger shield that can also give the opponent splash damage from their attack based on the type of the shield (for example, a water-type based shield would give the opponent water damage whenever they attack).

• Jossed. There are no specific item restrictions to Dynamax.

The new gimmick for the generation is weapons and armor that use the Pokémon’s item slot

Both weapons and armor would be associated with a certain type. For instance, holding a weapon with a certain type would give that Pokémon STAB capability with moves of that element (if the Pokémon already has that type, there might be a bigger boost to attack instead). Holding armor with a certain type would increase resistance to that type by one stage. So super-effective moves would become neutral, non-effective moves would become immunities, and x4 weaknesses would be reduced to x2.

• Jossed, no item needed.

Stadium battles are based around the audience.

At the end of both parts of the trailer of gameplay and the title drops, there are huge cheers from an audience. This is somewhat based on Lockstin's theory, where perhaps the player and the opponent's actions sway the crowd in ways not unlike Contests. Perhaps doing certain combos and tactics will yield Stat buffs like raising attack and raising defense.

• Jossed. The audience is there for show, but the Champion Cup and Gym Leader themes incorporate chanting when the opponent is down to their last Pokémon.

There will be some way to change Ultra Beasts' Beast Boost.

Assuming that Game Freak wants to do more with Ultra Beasts, perhaps there will be a way to remove the Ultra Energies responsible for their ability Beast Boost and give them their own unique abilities. I propose some I've made if that's the case:

• Nihilego: Psycho Venom: Moves that inflict Poison also have a chance to inflict Confused in Single Battles, or give the inflicted enemy a chance to target allies in Doubles.
• Buzzwole: Energy Drink: Buzzwole’s Bug-type moves give him an increase in Attack and Defense.
• Pheromosa: Aphrodisiacs: Pheromosa inflicts Infatuation on the opposing Pokémon and forces the opponent to swap every time it comes into play.
• Xurkitree: Overcharged: Xurkitree starts the battle with maxed out Special Attack, but with each Special move used, it decreases until there are no changes to Sp Atk.
• Celesteela: Ready for Takeoff: Celesteela’s Flying-type moves damage adjacent opponents and also deal Fire-type damage.
• Kartana: Swordplay: Moves such as Psycho Cut, Cut, or Leaf Blade are increased in power.
• Guzzlord: Ravenous: All physical moves heal Guzzlord for half the damage dealt. An opponent’s held item will contribute to the healing and add another 25% damage to heal without side effects.
• Blacephalon: Pyrotechnics: All Fire-type moves decrease stats if they miss.
• Stakataka: Build Up: Every turn this Pokémon is out, increase in Defense and Special Defense. Every time this Pokémon is hit, decrease the Defense stat based on whether it is Physical or Special. Status moves do not affect this ability.
• Naganadel: Hive Queen: Bug-type and Poison-type moves add each other's damage and add a Stealth Rock-esque effect.

The new mechanic will involve plants/flowers in some way.

The building that most likely houses the professor's lab has a large greenhouse attached. This might mean that plants play an important part in the "gimmick" of this region.

• Maybe it will expand on Oriocorio's gimmick of changing types based on giving the Pokémon flower nectar.
• If there are special Poké Balls involved, maybe the apricorns from Gold and Silver will make a return?
  • Confirmed on one note - Apricorns return in the DLC.

The game will be fully-voiced.

They're moving the mainline games to a much more powerful platform than the 3DS, and can therefore have more data. All of the human characters will be fully-voiced. Notice I said human characters. All Pokémon (except Pikachu and Eevee) will still have the traditional cries.

• Jossed.

Field moves will finally be passive abilities.

• Instead of Hidden Machines, Pokéride, secret techniques, etc. Pokémon that should have the ability to swim, carry you across water, fly, move boulders etc. will be able to use these abilities in the field as soon as you catch them.
  • Maybe you'll still have to earn Gym Badges or meet some other requirement before you can use them, to prevent them from being used too early on.
    • Jossed, no field moves are needed to fully navigate the region and there are no breakable or pushable boulders in sight, although Galar Taxi serves as the Fly substitute and the Rotom Bike is upgraded to travel on water during the story.

Pokémon will be restricted to, or have a severe advantage/disadvantage in certain environments.

• Similar to the restrictions that applied to Sky Battles, Pokémon that wouldn't be able to manoeuvre in the open sea, or underwater, will either be unable to be used, or will suffer some other drawback to compensate.
• This has steadily increased in the past with certain moves, but moves in general could also have different effects based on environment, e.g. Using Earthquake in water could create a tidal wave, changing the type, power, accuracy, etc. of the move.
  • Jossed, the environment doesn't affect Pokemon in any way apart from the move Nature Power turns into.

The main gimmick of this generation will be Deoxys-style form changes.

• This is based on a concept I've seen a lot lately in fanart, and it fits with the Sword and Shield motif. It could function like Mega Evolution, in that only a handful of Pokémon can activate it, or it could be common for new Pokémon, or Pokémon in the new regional dex.
  • Partially confirmed. The main gimmick of this generation is Dynamax, which involves Pokemon becoming extremely large, having an HP increase, and having max-powered moves. Select Pokemon can undergo a special transformation known as Gigantamax.

Possible new moves

• Calling Card: The user throws its trademark calling card at the opponent and swaps with another Pokémon in your party.
• Diving Jaws: A two-turn move, similar to moves like Phantom Force or Solar Beam. The user dives underwater, then strikes with a powerful bite the next turn. This move can be boosted by Strong Jaws.
  • Leviathan/Gator Jaws: A Water-type Biting move, but without the two-turn charge.
    • Confirmed not once, but TWICE, with the moves Jaw Lock (for Drednaw) and Fishious Rend (for Dracovish/Arctovish)
• Mischievous Mayhem: A status move that scrambles the base stats of the opposing Pokémon. For example, if a Pokémon uses this move on a Guzzlord, its HP could swap with its Physical Defense.
• Petrification: A move that deals Special Rock-type damage.
  • Adding onto that, it'll be acheived through Eye Beams.
• Electric Field: A status move that paralyzes non-raised Pokémon when they switch in, and can be absorbed by Electric-types.
• Scorching Strike: A move unique to the final evolution of Scorbunny. Involves it creating a ball of flame and kicking it at the opponent. Has a chance to miss, but also an increased chance to burn.
  • Confirmed with Pyro Ball, although it doesn't have increased burn chance.
• Vanish: The user temporarily has its evasion maxed until it attacks the next turn.
• One that raises just the user's accuracy, and another variant by 2 stages.
• A move that works like Swagger, but decreases stats instead of increasing, but still confuses the opponent.
• An attack that decreases an opponent's stats, but raises the user's.
• Heroic Dive: A move that goes on stand-by throughout the entire battle. Should one of your Pokémon be targeted with a move that will absolutely KO them, the user will instead jump in the way and take the blow for them.
• Lava Trap: An entry hazard that burns the next Pokemon to switch in.
• Rehydration: The user nourishes itself or its ally with water, healing them.
  • Confirmed with the move Life Dew, a Water-type healing move that heals all allies.
• Ivy Field: A Leech Seed-esque attack that instead increases in power if the opponent is poisoned.
• An attack that deals more damage when the user is hit with a super-effective move. Stacks with x4 effectiveness plus.
• Vicious Grind: The user grabs the opponent and grinds their body along the ground, dealing damage for 3 turns. During this attack, the base Accuracy of the opponent's attacks is drastically decreased, and if the user is hit while performing this attack, they will take increased damage.
• A form of Shield Bash where the user weaponizes its armor. Its defense stat will be used in calculating its offense.
  • Confirmed with Body Press, a Fighting-type move that takes Defense instead of Attack in damage calculation.
• Salty Cloak: An Ice-Type move that deals recoil damage per turn in exchange for increased Base Power to Ice-Type attacks.
• Ow the Edge, but renamed as an official move for Obstagoon.
  • Jossed, its signature move is Obstruct, which acts as a King's Shield, but lowers Defense instead of Attack when contact would be made.
• Psy-Horn: Galarian Pontya's Signature Move which is a Psychic-type version of Smellingsalt and Wakeup Slap, this time dedicated to the poison-status.
  • Jossed, the Galarian Ponyta line doesn't have any signature moves.

Possible new Abilities

• Disease: The opponent suffers a random stat decrease whenever this Pokémon is sent out.
• Even Temperature: The Pokémon cannot be burned or frozen, and has increased defense against Fire- and Ice-type moves.
• Incantations: All Special Moves' base power is increased by 1.2x.
• Knapsack: The Pokémon can hold multiple items at once.
• Sharp Nose: The Pokémon tracks down the opponent with its scent, detecting any Ghost-types it faces.
• Silent Guard: This Pokémon cannot flinch or be swapped out by the opponent's moves.
• Soil Body: Rock-type moves heal the Pokémon instead of damaging it.
  • Asteroid Veil: A variant that raises the Pokémon's Defence instead.
• Stationary: This Pokémon is not affected by grab moves and lifting moves.
• One that removes Spikes, Stealth Rock, etc the moment the Pokémon is switched in.
  • How about Dramatic Entrance?
• Combo Attack: Boosts the power of multi-strike moves.
• Heat Up: Boosts speed when hit by a Fire-type move.
• Combo Breaker: 2-5 hit moves will only hit Pokémon with this ability twice. Double hit moves only hit once.
• Soporific: Poison attacks cause Sleep instead of Poison condition.
• Hallucinogenic: Poison attacks cause Confusion instead of Poison condition.
• Sand Shield: Boosts defense in a Sandstorm.
• Reciprocity: If a Pokémon with this Ability is hit by a healing/curing move, the same effect is applied to the Pokémon who used it.
• Deadly Aim: All shooting moves (i.e. Searing Shot, Bullet Seed, Rock Blast, etc.) have an increased chance to land a critical hit.
• Parachute: Increases speed during Strong Winds and Sandstorm instead of taking periodic damage.
• Strong Legs: Boosts power of kicking moves.
• Berserker: Increases damage of all moves at low health.
  • This would need a different name, as it sounds too similar to Berserk.
• Careful Aim: Reduces priority of moves to boost their accuracy.
• Adrenaline: Boosts attack every turn.
• Several exclusive to bulky ice-types to compensate their poor defensive typing.
  • Hard Ice: The Ice-typing now has the resistances of a Steel-type
  • Melted Veil: The Ice-typing now has the resistances of a Water-type
  • Enchanted Crystal: The Ice-typing now has the resistances of a Fairy-type
  • One that freezes the Pokémon that used a super-effective move on the user.
  • One that turns incoming moves that are regularly-effective to x0.5 effective.
  • A differently-named Filter/Solid Rock.
  • One that give the user immunity to the first super-effective move it's about to be attacked with.
• Ignorant: The user's moves are not affected by the target's hold items. Excluded are Orbs on the Spacetime Trio, Plates on Arceus, Memories on Silvally, Drives on Genesect, the Primal Reversion Orbs, Mega Stones, or Z-Crystals.
• Preparation: Charge moves (Solar Beam, Skull Bash, etc.) no longer have a charge turn.
• Envious: The Pokémon copies any stat increases by opposing Pokémon.
• Last-Ditch Effort: When HP reaches 0, the Pokémon randomly uses one of its moves before fainting.
• Second Wind: When HP reaches 50%, the Pokémon's Speed increases.
• Poison version of Water Absorb (G-Weezing's signature ability).
  • G-Weezing's signature ability is Neutralising Gas, though the Posion-type version of Water Absorb could still appear on another Pokémon.
• Proxy: Self-targeting status moves can be used on allies.
• Drummer: Contact moves deal sound-based damage to adjacent Pokémon.
• Bad Influence: Allies' Normal-type moves are changed to Dark-type.
• Standoff: Every turn nobody uses an attacking move, this Pokémon's Attack increases. Attack stat resets once somebody attacks.
  • Potentially overpowered if the opponent is Asleep, Frozen, or otherwise unable to attack while combined with passive damage, such as Toxic or Leech Seed. Or not. Depends on whom it's given to.
• Deadlock: Moves done to the user by an opposing Pokémon with Deadlock deal no damage and have no effect. A Pokémon with Deadlock can still affect an ally with Deadlock. Deadlock does not work if at least one Pokémon in play has Shadow Tag, Arena Trap, or Magnet Pull; if moves that prevent switching or escape have been used, such as Block or Wrap; or if all remaining Pokémon in play have Deadlock.
• Cold Soothe: Heals status conditions in hail (making it essentially an Ice-type version of Hydration).
• Beam Breaker: Gives full immunity to all "beam" moves (Ice Beam, Solar Beam, Psybeam, Bubble Beam, Hyper Beam, Aurora Beam, Signal Beam, Charge Beam, and Moongeist Beam).
• At Ease: The Pokémon's Special Attack goes up by one stage each time it knocks out an opposing Pokémon through direct damage. Also replaces Moxie on Litleo and Pyroar.
• Downgrade: When a battle begins or this Pokémon is sent out, the Pokémon directly opposite from this one will have either its Defense or Special Defense lowered, whichever stat is lower.
• Frost Force: Ice-type moves are boosted by 30% when in Hail. Hail does not damage this Pokémon if it normally would.

Potential new items

• Z-Mega Stones - Allows Mega Evolutions to use Z-Moves, which can have a Z-Crystal assigned to one stone (I.E. assigning a Fightinum-Z to a Lucarionite). Sounds unlikely due to balance reasons, but it might be possible.
  • If they were to be added, the game could also allow upgrading normal Mega Stones to Z-Mega Stones. The naming convention would be "[Mega Stone] Z" (I.E. Lucarionite Z).
  • One way of balancing this out is if a Mega-Evolved Pokémon uses a Z-Move, it will be forcibly reverted back to its normal form, regardless if the Z-Move succeeds or fails.
  • Jossed. Neither Z-moves nor Mega Evolution will be in the game.
• New Plates (see below).
• An item to be hold for single-typed Pokémon, raising the powers of their non-STAB moves.

Sword and Shield will have amiibo support

Since the Switch can scan and read amiibo, it's possible that Pokémon Sword and Shield will also be compatible with them. Maybe it'll come with a set of cards (as a crossover with the TCG) or you can even scan amiibo from the Super Smash Bros. series to get special Pokémon.

Sword and Shield will be a Wide-Open Sandbox a la Grand Theft Auto

For example, the game will not end even after you win the final tournament or complete the Pokedex; you are free to roam Galar, continue catching Pokémon, and continue battling Mooks.

• You mean like every other main line Pokémon game?
• Potentially new trainers will randomly spawn throughout the region, rather than predetermined opponents you can rebattle.

There will be a surfing minigame, similar to Mantine Surf in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

This one would involve crossing the Channel to get to Kalos, though since this is a challenge and not a route, it won't come with exploring Kalos.

• Jossed (for now). There is no way to get to Kalos.

We will get something of an equivalent to Chess-Boxing.

A Pokémon battle as usual, but when the time is up, the trainers move into a boxing ring and spend the period fighting each other!

• Jossed.

Potential new types/type effectiveness changes

As unlikely as it is with Fairy being added to rebalance the type chart, there's still room for improvement, and no one really expected Fairy so late in the game, so...

• New Types:
  • Sound Type - it already has a group of moves under its classification, and so many Pokémon have it as a common theme, so it seems like the most natural type to be introduced.
  • Cosmic Type - There are so many moves that are classified as Psychic-type that can easily be associated with space and the cosmos. Examples being Hyperspace Hole, Photon Geyser, and Moonlight.
  • Flux Type - Combining a few different concepts here, a type that represents flow or change could apply to space, time, fluid forms, metal, magnetism, radiation, etc. Examples of Pokémon could be Eevee, Ditto, Mew, Castform, the Porygon line (unstable/adaptable genetics/structure), Celebi, Dialga (time), various Pokémon in the amorphous egg group, etc. Also moves that change type, effect, abilities etc. E.G. camouflage, nature power, transform, etc.

• Balance changes:
  • Ice needs some resistances, but past that, it should at least do neutral damage to Water.
    • The following resistances should be: Flying-type (Because this is SE against Flying already) and Fairy-type (because Fairies were warded off with "cold" steel. We already have the Steel-type resisting it, so why not add Ice as well?)
    • Also, the removal of the Fighting-type weakness, as ice being frail and fragile is just a common misconception.
    • Arthropods typically don't do well in the cold, so if not outright weak to Ice like Grass types, Ice could resist Bug.
    • Ice-types will at least be resistant to Ground and Flying-types. This guess was to make Ice-type resistant to both Landorus-T's STAB to nerf its power, but whether this change would work depends on how bad Landorus-T is overpowered/over-centralized in the metagame, and whether those resistances would actually help.
  • If the concept of Pokémon weapons/armor is introduced, types with only a few weaknesses may gain another weakness for the purposes of balance. For instance, the Water type may gain an additional weakness to Poison.
  • Fire should be weak to Flying, because Flying has many wind-based moves and wind can cause fires to go out.
    • Or spread. Also, a lot of Flying moves involve attacking with wings, beaks, feathers, etc.
  • Electric will resist Water and maybe Ice to add more counters to the many prominent and powerful Water Pokémon.

• All jossed. There are no new types and no changes to strengths and weaknesses.

Sound will be added as a type, and has been in consideration before now

One of the arguments against adding a Sound-related Type is that if it were going to happen, it would have happened by now, and "sound" is just a subcategory of moves in the same vein as aura and bomb moves. The previous generation added a Starter Pokémon themed around singing, so logically they would have introduced it in Gen VII. However, if you compare Primarina to Decidueye and Incineroar, the latter two have signature moves of their secondary types, whereas Primarina's signature move is Water type. If they did decide to retype it to Water/Sound, or just change the move's type, Primarina's hidden ability would still allow Sparkling Aria to become Water type. This may have been foresight on the developers' part, in case they ever decided to upgrade Sound to an actual type.

• Thoroughly jossed.

The Gyms of the region will function more like actual tournaments.

And you have to go through rounds to face off against the gym leader.

• Or the Pokémon league as a whole will work as a tournament, and if you fail at any point along the way, you have to restart from the first gym and work your way back up the ladder.
• Semi-Jossed: Gym Challengers only have to face eight gyms in a set order, with no penalty for failure other than having to challenge again that specific gym (as it happens with Hop in Circhester). Those who complete the challenge face each other in a tournament bracket in Wyndon, and the winner enters another bracket with the Gym Leaders to see who will get to face the Champion.

The stadiums aren't gyms and are more like the battle facilities of the region.

Which would make sense to a degree.

• Jossed. They are indeed gyms.

We'll get a style-change option.

Let me explain: in the upcoming game Dragon Quest 11 S, it was revealed that you can swap between the more modern 3D gameplay and the more retro 16-bit gameplay. So with this in mind, perhaps we'll get that option as well, giving the player to swap between the style we've seen in the trailer and the style of one of the games from Gen 3 to Gen 5, whether it be Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl, or Black and White.

• Jossed, the 3D graphics remain the only graphical option.

The camera will be free.

We've had cameras that pan at least as early as Pokémon Black and White, and Pokémon X and Y brought a camera that tilts, but Sword and Shield will be the first time the player gets to control the camera too. I had thought about this looking at the unusually vertical shape of the Galar region — it would get monotonous quick if you were heading up most of the time.

• Confirmed for the Wild Area and the DLC locations.

The rumored "Armored Evolutions" are nothing like Mega Evolution.

There are rumors circulating around the web about the next Pokémon games featuring something called "Armored Evolution", said rumors further being reinforced by the "Armored Mewtwo" trademark being recently patented. I see people around thinking that this'll be like Mega Evolution, but I feel that's not the case. Think about it: the rumor also said that the Meltan line may have some form of involvement with these new evolutions, so here's what I think: Armored Evolutions aren't accessed mid-battle, and don't change the stats of the Pokémon that is armored. Instead, it's similar to that of Pokémon like Oricorio, where the form doesn't drastically change what they are. I feel like Armored Evolutions give Pokémon temporary health points for added survivability.

• Alternatively, they are little more then aesthetic changes like Spikey Eared Pichu or Ash's Pikachu and its variants.
• Dialga and Palkia might be potentially given "armoured forms" — if not in Sword and Shield (assuming this "Rumor" is true), at least in the inevitable DPP remakes.
• Turns out that Armored Evolution is sort of a thing with regards to Zacian and Zamazenta. They become their Crowned Formes and gain the Steel-type when holding the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield respectively.

Potential amiibo compatability

• In general, Pokémon and Human Characters unlock areas filled with species from the generation the ambiio is in.
  • Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Charizard, Squirtle, and Ivysaur: Unlocks an area filled with Kanto Pokémon, especially the starters.
  • Pichu: Johto Pokémon
  • Lucario: Sinnoh Pokémon
  • Greninja: Unlocks an area filled with Kalos Pokémon, especially the starters.
  • Inceneroar: Alolan Pokémon; also filled with Alolan variants as well as starters. You can also evolve your Pokémon there into regional variants.
• As for characters from other franchises, you can battle trainers who are loosely based on them.
  • (Male) Pokémon Trainer will let you battle Red.

The rumored "Armored Evolution" will be achieved by...

Special items based on weaponry will be held on a compatible Pokémon, and once they have proven themselves worthy through many battles, they will achieve Armored Evolution.

• Somewhat confirmed. Zacian and Zamazenta become their Crowned Formes when holding the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield respectively, gaining the Steel-type.

More moves will have exceptions to the type effectiveness.

The mechanics will work just like Freeze Dry.

• Old moves with updated type effectiveness:
  • Light-based Psychic moves will be super-effective against Dark-types.
  • Acid-based Poison moves will be super-effective against Steel-types.
  • Scald and Steam Eruption will be super-effective against Ice-types.
  • Diamond Storm will be super-effective against Steel-types, since diamond is much harder than steel.
  • Sky Uppercut will be super-effective against Flying-types.
• New moves with different type effectiveness:
  • Ground Surge: An Electric-type attack that can hit Ground-types for neutral damage.
  • A literally-groundbreaking Rock-type move that's super-effective against Ground-types.
  • An attack that uses black flames and can burn Fire-types.
  • Corrosive Toxic: A stronger version of Toxic that can poison any type, even Steel and Poison types themselves (without the need for the Corrosion ability). In this case, the Corrosion Ability would be altered so that it would make all Poison-type moves deal at least neutral damage to Poison and Steel types (so as not to make this ability redundant).
  • An attack that involves weaponizing "nuclear winter" and can freeze Ice-types.
  • An attack that can paralyze Electric-types.
    • All Jossed.

Moves added to returning Pokémon's movesets

• Wishiwashi will receive Aqua Jet to provide it with more options to compensate for its very low Speed.
  • Jossed.
• Aurorus will receive Aurora Veil because, well, it just makes sense. That, and it goes very well with Snow Warning. Aurorus will also receive Power Gem so it can have a strong special Rock-type move, considering it has crystals on its sides.
• Mudsdale will receive Slack Off to make better use of Stamina.
  • Jossed.
• Alolan Exeggutor will receive Autotomize and/or Dragon Dance to help it outrun certain threats.
  • Jossed for both.
• Cryogonal will receive Wide Guard to help better deal with moves like Heat Wave and Earthquake.
• Araquanid will receive Aqua Jet as well to put it on better footing with Azumarill.
  • Jossed.
• Volbeat will receive Spotlight to give it a few more niche uses for very crafty players.
• Crabominable will learn Ice Shard and Mach Punch to compensate for its very low Speed.
• Generally, Pokémon who gain the Dragon typing upon Mega-Evolution may learn Draco Meteor via Move Tutor if they hold the appropriate Mega Stone.
• Lotad line will learn Water Pledge and Grass Pledge, while Volcanion will learn Fire Pledge and Water Pledge. In other words, dual-type Pokémon; whose typing are two of the three: Grass, Fire, and/or Water; will learn both of the respective elemental pledges.
  • Alternatively, they will learn a new move that has the combined effects of the pledges of the two types they possess.
    • Jossed, the Pledge moves remain starter- and Silvally-locked.
• A new strong special Rock-type move will be given to the Omanyte, Lileep, Nosepass, Archen, and/or Amaura lines, Magcargo, Lunatone, Minior, and/or Nihilego for better STAB use of their Special Attack stats. This move could also be given to other related Pokémon that it may fit thematically with or could use better move variety, like the Numel, Magnemite, Trapinch, Piplup, Klink, and/or Sandygast lines and/or Cobalion.
  • Jossed. No special Rock-type moves were introduced.
    • Un-jossed with the addition of Meteor Beam in the Isle of Armor DLC, which is a 2-turn move that raises the user's Special Attack on the charge-up turn.
• Pikachu will receive Detect — or maybe just a special promotional Pikachu that wears a detective hat.
  • Jossed.
• Minior will receive Endure to last longer in Core Forme; and Air Slash, Aeroblast, and/or Hurricane to have a strong Flying-type attack from the special side.
• Alternatively, Suicune will get Aeroblast to tie into its wind motif in a way that links it to Lugia, parallel to Entei receiving Sacred Fire in Gen VI. It's a pity that Raikou gets left out again, but there aren't any suitable signature moves for it to borrow anyway.
• Hydreigon will receive Nasty Plot and/or Dragon Dance to give it some extra power, and Sludge Bomb and/or Iron Head to give it more reliable coverage for Fairy-types.
  • Nasty Plot and Dragon Dance confirmed; Sludge Bomb and Iron Head jossed.
• Forretress will receive U-Turn to give it a physical pivot move with Bug STAB.
• Beartic will receive Ice Shard, Close Combat, Earthquake, and/or Waterfall to provide it with STAB priority and better coverage.
  • Jossed.
• Wailord will receive Wish or Recover so that it can better put its massive hit point count to good use.
  • Jossed.
• Aerodactyl will receive Brave Bird and Head Smash for powerful STAB and to make better use of its Rock Head ability.
• Pidgeot will receive Boomburst and Focus Blast for stronger normal STAB and coverage for Rock.
• Archeops will receive Brave Bird for stronger Flying STAB.
• Avalugg will receive Trick Room to take advantage of its very low Speed.
  • Jossed.
• Scrafty will receive Bullet Punch as a way to fight back against Fairy-types, especially with Attack boosts from Moxie.
  • Jossed.

A new mechanic involving predator-prey relationships for wild encounters will be introduced

The Pokédex refers to various Pokémon having natural rivalries or predator-prey relationships, the games have introduced Pokémon attacking each other in Horde Encounters (Durant/Heatmor; Zangoose/Seviper), and S.O.S Battles (Corsola/Mareanie), and the early anime shows what happens when the wrong Pokémon is selected in battle (Caterpie/Pidgeotto).

• Maybe for selected Pokémon, something akin to an ability would activate for specific encounters, temporarily boosting an appropriate stat or set of stats like attack, speed, or accuracy for the predator, and attack/defence, speed, or evasion for the prey; if not causing it to freeze for a turn as in the ability Truant.
  • Or in the case of the predator, attacking multiple times as in the ability Parental Bond, or the move Beat Up.
    • Jossed; predation remains a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation.

There will be an item to buff single-type Pokémon.

When held, it will boosts the holder's Attack and Sp. Att by, say, 50%. This is similar to Eviolite boosting unevolved Pokémon's Defence and Sp. Def.

• Jossed.

This game will be VR-compatible.

Especially during the battle scene.

You can now catch a wild Pokémon where there are more of them in battle.

After selecting a Poké Ball, you get to then select which wild Pokémon to catch. If you have more than one Pokémon active, you'll get a disclaimer that trying to catch a Pokémon will use up all of your Pokémon's turns.

• Adding onto this, there will be new kinds of Poké Balls that allows the player to use more than one to catch all wild Pokémon at once.
  • These Poké Balls will be themed after grapes.
• Perhaps it will come in the form of a key item you acquire at some point. The snag machines in Colosseum and XD made targeting in a double battle possible. While it's doubtful that the machine will be featured here, perhaps that part of its functionality could be developed independently, or taken from it for more legitimate use.

Gyms are replayable after clearing them.

You can go to them to grind, or try more challenging versions of their trials.

• Jossed; once a gym challenge is cleared, it can't be attempted again.

Rather than just the standard puzzles to reach the leader, Gyms will introduce unique battle mechanics

Instead of standard battles, as has been the case in previous generations, the gyms' architecture and terrain will play a role in the actual battles. This could be as simple as Hail or Sandstorm being in effect in an Ice or Rock/Ground gym, or the appropriate Terrain in a Grass/Electric/Psychic/Fairy Gym; or as complex as introducing unique conditions that affect the stats and move choices of the Pokémon taking part, e.g. A battle in darkness reducing accuracy, or a battle set in reduced gravity reducing speed or evasion. Alternatively, the type of battle could restrict Pokémon choices, as was the case in Sky Battles e.g. underwater battles only allowing aquatic Pokémon to compete.

• As an extension of this, Pokémon will have hidden characteristics, separate to their abilities, that will give them advantages/disadvantages in different scenarios: Pokémon that have other means to navigate (e.g. Zubat) will not suffer an accuracy loss in darkness; non-aquatic Pokémon will lose health over time underwater etc. Promoting the use of certain Pokémon in different situations.
• The gym leaders' Pokémon will be able to fully exploit the mechanics of their gyms.
  • There are unique battle mechanics, confirmed! Kabu has you and another trainer team up to catch a wild Pokémon, although the trainer will attack you as well; Opal gives you questions that raise stats on correct answers or lower stats on wrong answers.

Evolution by fusing will be implemented.

If Pokémon can be given away in exchange for candies in Go and LGPE, then SwSh will take the next step by allowing certain Pokémon(s) to be consumed to evolve the target.

• Could this mean Shellder will finally be used as part of Slowpoke's evolution methods?
  • This particular Slowpoke notion is jossed, as Galarian Slowpoke will still require items to evolve.

Evolution methods will be streamlined via retcon

Pokémon like Eevee and Feebas have had multiple methods of evolution in games where previous methods were unavailable, and with the introduction of new types in the past, and potential parallel universes being referenced, it wouldn't be too big a stretch to change evolution requirements for cross-generation evolutions. Using Eevee as an example, with the introduction of the Ice Stone, it could feasibly evolve into all of its current evolutions via an appropriate Evolution Stone.

• Confirmed for location-based evolutions, as they require stones now.

Field abilities will only activate if your Pokémon is following you.

• Jossed. Pokémon following you does not return as a mechanic until the Isle of Armor; even then, it's only cosmetic.

Dynamax has no restrictions in regard to Mega Evolution or Z-Moves

When a Pokémon undergoes Dynamax, its in-game nameplate becomes red, as opposed to getting an icon as it would with Mega Evolution. There's also no indication (yet) of a required held item for Dynamax to occur, which would free the item slot for a Mega Stone or Z-Crystal. While it's unlikely, given the pains underwent in Gen 7 to prevent a Mega Pokémon in any form from using a Z-Move, it would make Leon's choice of ace in Charizard, a Pokémon that famously possesses two Mega Evolved forms, seem less random or less like Gen 1 pandering.

• Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves aren't coming back. It's Gen 1 Pandering outside of possible Let's Go Compatibility.
• Dynamaxing doesn't impose an item restriction, but it only lasts for 3 turns or until the user switches out before the 3 turns are up.

In Double Battles as well as cases where trainers use more than one Pokémon each, when they Dynamax one of their Pokémon, they'll withdraw all others.

It'll be too cramped otherwise.

• Jossed. The 2nd Pokemon remains out as a Dynamax Pokémon is behind the trainer.

The non-Galar Pokédex Pokémon and mechanics will be free DLC.

To be a bit more hopeful than the above part. Plenty of DLC on the Switch has been free, after all.

• Confirmed; any new Pokémon additions come as free updates, although access to the areas where they can be actually caught still have to be paid for.

Max Raid Battles are how you find Pokémon with Hidden Abilities.

Though they won't be guaranteed, of course.

• Confirmed.

Location based evolutions.

• The moss rock will either be in the fairy looking forest or the foggy looking forest seen in prerelease shots.
• Icy rock
  • It will obviously be in the snowy area, but as a specific guess, it will be somewhere in an open wild area without any trees.
  • It will, alternatively, be positioned at the top of the highest mountain yet, to coincide Crabrawler's evolution location with Eevee's (to Glaceon).
• The magnetic area will be artificially generated within the dragon-headed castle.

  • Location-based evolutions are removed! Instead, you have to use stones (Leaf and Ice Stone for Leafeon and Glaceon, and Thunder Stone for Vikavolt.)

Gameplay modes, old and new

As well as the return of "triple battles", "rotation battles", and "inverse battles", new battle types will appear, with some of them being inspired by Pokémon Showdown. Examples include Camomon battles, where a Pokémon's type is altered to match the first two moves in its moves pool and a battle type where each Pokémon's type matches it's ability's type(s) (Hidden abilities don't count or there would be Pokémon with three types).

• In a Camomon battle, for example, a Pokémon with the moves (in order) Return, Drain Punch, Thunder Wave and Toxic would become a Normal/Fighting type (the first two moves in the movesets are Normal and Fighting, respectively.
• A Pokémon with the regular abilities Poison Point and Magic Guard would be Poison/Psychic type in the " abilities = types" levels (assuming that Poison Point was a Poison type ability and Magic Guard was a Psychic type ability).
  • Jossed. The only new battle mode is Max Raid battles, and it's co-op multiplayer only. Triple, rotation and inverse battles do not return.

Abilities will be assigned types

A few notable examples:

• Overgrow: Grass
• Blaze: Fire
• Torrent: Water
• Swarm: Bug
• Poison Point: Poison
• Sand Stream: Rock
• Arena Trap: Ground
• Snow Warning: Ice
• Intimidate: Dark
• Cursed Body: Ghost
• Cute Charm: Fairy
• Arielate: Flying
• Galvanize: Electric
• Magnet Pull: Steel
• Fur Coat: Normal
• Magic Guard: Psychic
• Power Construct: Dragon
• Iron Fist: Fighting
  • What would be the purpose of them having types?
    • See above.
    • Jossed, no ability/type assignments have been done at all.

Dual-typed Plates

These new plates would boost the power of two types instead of one, would turn Arceus into a dual-type Pokemon and Judgement would become a dual-typed move. Examples:

• Sun Plate: Grass + Fire
• Steam Plate: Fire + Water
• Swamp Plate: Water + Grass
• Slush Plate: Water + Ice
• Crust Plate: Rock + Ground
• Mineral Plate: Rock + Steel
• Volcano Plate: Ground + Fire
• Tundra Plate: Ice + Grass
• Shadow Plate: Dark + Ghost
• Hydroelectric Plate: Water + Electric
• Mushroom Plate: Grass + Poison
• Buzz Plate: Bug + Flying
• Magical Plate: Fairy + Psychic
• Firefighter Plate: Fire + Fighting
• Mud Plate: Water + Ground
• Phoenix Plate: Fire + Flying
• Shell Plate: Bug + Rock
• Mythical Plate: Dragon + Fairy
• Bullet Plate: Fighting + Steel
• Coldfire Plate: Ice + Fire
• Mercury Plate: Poison + Steel
• Gas Plate: Ghost + Poison
• Hellfire Plate: Dark + Fire
• Comet Plate: Steel + Psychic
• Ore Plate: Ground + Steel
• Lava Plate: Rock + Fire
• Magnet Plate: Electric + Steel
• Brutal Plate: Dark + Fighting
• Wit Plate: Psychic + Fighting
• Continent Plate: Grass + Ground
• Chrysalis Plate: Bug + Ice
• Cotton Plate: Fairy + Grass
• Firefighter Plate: Fire + Fighting
• Avalanche Plate: Ice + Ground
• Snowstorm Plate: Ice + Flying
• Scissor Plate: Bug + Steel
• T-rex Plate: Dragon + Rock
• Molten Plate: Fire + Steel
• Planet Plate: Rock + Psychic
• Firefly Plate: Fire + Bug
• Dragonfly Plate: Dragon + Bug
  • Jossed; the only obtainable plate is the Pixie Plate.

Certain Pokémon can enhance the curry to a literal extent!

For example, the various form Alcremie's cream can be used to enhance certain types of curry.

• Jossed; how well a curry turns out depends on how well the flames were fanned and how the curry was stirred

Pokémon that may have old abilities changed or new ones added onto them too increase their usefulness in battle

• Wailord
  • Regenerator would allow Wailord to consistently heal it's massive HP and play hit and ran tactics more effectively.
  • Hydration could instantly heal off massive damage in a turn and would allow wailord too better perform it's role as a wall.
  • Rain Dish can consistently heal small patches of wailord's HP and make it harder for opposing Pokémon to take it out.
    • Jossed; it kept all 3 of Water Veil, Oblivious, and Pressure.
• Lopunny
  • Huge Power would give regular lopunny a much needed power boost while still following the theme of only Pokémon with rabbit aesthetics and weak attack stats having the ability.
• Volcarona
  • Drought would allow Volcarona to unleash more powerful Fire attacks, instant Solar Beams, give more support too it's allies, and would be a nice reference to the Pokédex's claims of Volcarona being able to alter the environment with it's fiery powers.
  • Solar Power would boost it's special attack immensely and make it even more of an invaluable partner of Drought/Sunny Day users.
    • Jossed; Volcarona kept Flame Body and Swarm.
• Meganium
  • Grassy Surge could either replace Leaf Guard as its new hidden ability, or take up regular ability slot 2. Setting up grassy terrain on the go and have it regain health every turn help it stand out among bulky grass-types, especially when it had been previously outclassed by even unevolved Pokémon via Eviolite. It also complements its lore, given its breath can revive dead grass and plants.

The sausages are made of Pokémon that aren't available in Galar.

They are cut from Sword and Shield.

Toby Fox's battle music composition will be much more important than it's looking like right now.

Although Toby Fox stated on his Twitter that the track wouldn't be a "main" theme, it does sound a little too epic to at least work as a wild battle theme and/or a regular trainer theme. The usage will probably be for something a bit more dramatic. Besides, Toby Fox's nature is no news for anyone.

• It's used as the Battle Tower theme, so he actually was telling the truth.

Dex entries in these games.

In general, Sword entries will describe Pokémon's offensive capabilities, while Shield entries will describe Pokémon's defensive capabilities.

• Jossed.

This game will be the darkest mainline Pokemon game so far.

Sun and Moon were downright Lovecraft Lite with their themes despite their cheerful aesthetic, so why shouldn't Sword and Shield follow the pattern?

Of course, I'm not talking about some Dark Fic esque nonsense, but more of the Nightmare Fuel other Pokemon games have already done in the past, but darker: Stakes being higher, more creepy Pokédex entries, some Backstory Horror here and there, the Big Bad turning out to be utterly unredeemable, the third Legendary being one of the Elder Gods in everything but name, etc...

• Jossed. Eternatus, said third Legendary, is pretty nightmare-inducing and has a rather bleak backstory, but the games aren't particularly dark than those before. There aren't even any outright evil human characters.

Carried over from LGPE

The Poké Puff and Poké Bean of this generation will still be berries.

There will be a small section in Galar where you can walk up to a Pokémon and straight-up catch them.

• Semi-confirmed; the Wild Area has Pokémon wandering around outside of tall grass, but they have to be caught the old-fashioned way.

Some Alolan forms can be traded in-game.

For the regular versions of Pokémon that are obtainable, they can be traded by an NPC in exchange for their Alolan counterparts.

• Jossed for the base game, no such in-game trade exists. At most, you can trade in Galarian Meowth and Yamask for their original counterparts.
• Confirmed for the DLC, a NPC named Regina can trade you an Alolan Exeggutor or an Alolan Marowak for their original counterparts (found in the Isle of Armor) and those trades can be done an unlimited amount of times.
  • Unrelated to the Alolan forms but she can trade the regular forms of Galarian Pokémon for their regular forms too (example : Galarian Weezing for Kantonian Weezing).

---

Jossed

New and Returning Pokémon

The Honedge line will be exclusive to Sword.

Because it is, well, a sword.

• Doubtful. While it is indeed a sword, its final evolution is still Aegislash, which also adds a shield to it. As such, not having a mon with a shield directly available without needing to resort to trading in the version of the game literally titled Shield would be rather silly, all things considered.
• This is all assuming that the Honedge line is even in Galar's regional dex. This is looking a bit like how people assumed Solrock and Lunatone were going to be in Sun and Moon when it turned out that they weren't.
  • The Honedge line is confirmed to be in the games.
• Alternate theory: Honedge will be exclusive to Sword, but there will be a second line of shield Pokémon, whose final stage involves a sword, that will be exclusive to Shield.
• Jossed. It's available in both games.

The Honedge line won't appear in the region, but will be referenced.

Such as a statue or painting of Aegislash appearing in one town; bonus points if there is an inscription about it being an unknown Pokemon from a distant region.

• Jossed. The Honedge line appears in full.

Arthurian Legend will be referenced.

• Sword and Shield's equivalent of the Guardian Deities could be based off of the Knights of the Round Table.
  • Alternatively, they'll be based on Arthur, Lancelot, and Merlin. The Arthur-expy would be a cutesy Event Pokémon that evolves into a powerful king when brought to a lake, paralleling Arthur's journey to receive Excalibur.
  • And there'll be a Water/Fairy mythical representing the Lady of the Lake.
• Jossed. No such Pokemon appear.

There will be no mascot Pokémon.

At this point, Pokémon is so popular, there could just be a picture of part of the region or an important human character from the game (Masters shows that TPC knows about the Pokémon humans' popularity) and enough people would still find the game in a store and still think "I want that" for the game to not fail. And in Gen VII, TPC retconned a lot of things we grew up thinking "That's just not possible" (Such as an evolving Mythical Pokémon). Besides, downloading Switch games off the eShop seems to be way more common than it was for the 3DS, so boxes wouldn't matter as much unless you were a collector.

• Jossed, the mascot legendaries are Zacian and Zamazenta.

At least one Generation VIII Pokémon will appear in Pokémon Detective Pikachu.

Because it'll be the last Pokémon-related place people will expect, but at the same time, would make for great marketing for Pokémon Sword and Shield. This will also probably be the first entry here to be Jossed.

• ...And it's Jossed. If a Generation VIII Pokémon showed up in that movie, someone would have spotted it by now, and word would have spread.

The wolves on the Sword/Shield logos are literally that.

Rather than Pokémon mascots, they are actual animals used in symbolism.

• Jossed, they are the legendaries, called Zacian and Zamazenta.

The version mascot is a single Legendary Pokémon, but with one form for each version.

This is due to both version logos having a wolf at the top.

• Alternateively, both legends will be wolf-themed because they'd be based on Skoll and Hati, wolves from Norse mythology who chase the sun and moon in hopes of devouring them.
• Building on the original WMG, the form for Sword will be a Glass Cannon while the one for Shield will be a Stone Wall. If a Third Version is released, its version of the Legendary will be a Mighty Glacier.
• Building on both of the above, the legendaries are the two wolves on the logo, one red and one blue. Perhaps the third wolf will be yellow/green and the third game will be called "Pokémon Crest".
• Jossed. There are two separate wolf legendaries, not one with two forms.

The box mascots will have nothing to do with wolves.

It seems so obvious that they are based on wolves that it doesn't feel like it would be a big surprise if they were based on wolves.

• Jossed with a vengeance.

There will be at least one new Eeveelution.

We're at another even-numbered generation; it would fit the pattern (Espeon and Umbreon in Gen 2, Leafeon and Glaceon in Gen 4, and Sylveon in Gen 6). We could see a Dragon-type, fitting in with mythology of the British Isles, or we could see a Steel-type, referencing armored medieval knights and the games' titles.

• Considering the industrial nature of the region, a Poison-type could be another alternative, and any of the above three types could be a foil to Sylveon.
• Jossed.

Alternatively, each Eeveelution will be given a new form with one of the unused types.

With the exception of Fairy (which arguably could have been classified as such), all Eeveelutions are types which were classed as Special. Rather than add new Eeveelutions, they could decide to give them forms from the Physical side of the type split (with Dragon either being introduced as a new Eeveelution, used as a new form for Eevee — the only physical type currently — or used as a form as well).

• Extending this further, they could be made dual-typed (similar to Mega Evolutions).

• Vaporeon: Dragon or Flying — It's already got some serpentine traits, so it would be easy to exaggerate that. Alternatively, it could be made to appear more avian, with the fins becoming feathers.
• Jolteon: Steel — Its fur is described as needle-like, and it could be given the ability Iron Barbs.
  • Perhaps Electric/Steel, to make it more like a Robot Dog, or a Cyborg in similar vein to Genesect.
• Flareon: Ground — Fire and Ground types are both associated with lava.
  • Basically a cheaper Groudon/Primal Groudon, and a Mega Evolution would help make Flareon a viable option.
• Espeon: Ghost — Espeon is a Nekomata, which is a type of Youkai.
• Umbreon: Fighting — Dark type is basically fighting dirty.
• Leafeon: Poison — Leafeon purifies the air around it, so the other extreme is releasing toxins.
  • Alternatively, another Grass/Poison to do both.
• Glaceon: Rock — Ice and Rocks can both be crystalline.
• Sylveon: Bug — Sylveon is already somewhat buglike, what with the feelers and unusual eyes, and modern depictions of fairies often have insect-like wings.
  • Alternatively, a Bug/Fairy that could give Totem Ribombee a run for their money. A Mega Sylveon could also bring Alien Invasion to mind.
• Jossed. All Eeveelutions appear as they do in previous games.

Corviknight evolves from the regional variant of Murkrow and Honchkrow.

Given that a regional variant of Linoone evolved into a brand new Pokemon, it isn't too big a reach that an already revealed Pokemon could evolve from an unrevealed regional variant. They'd also be Flying/Steel types to match Corviknight.

• Jossed. Corviknight is the regional bird of the region and part of a new evolutionary line. Its pre-evolutions are Rookidee and Corvisquire, pure Flying-types.

If there are Regional variants, they'll be exclusive to Gen 2 Pokémon.

Self-explanatory, really, but Gen 7 introduced exclusively Gen 1 variants.

• Or they will be exclusive to Gen 1 and 2. They will be called Galaran Regional Pokémon.
• Or any Pokémon native to Kalos.
  • Given Galarian Zigzagoon is a thing, jossed.

A new Legendary Pokémon will be based on the Loch Ness Monster

• If nothing else, there will be a lake area full of catchable Lapras.
• But it will be hidden in an area with a single Lapras-like Pokémon resembling a fake monster made of hose pipes and other man-made items.
• If it counts for anything, the playable demonstration at E3 shows there's an area with the name of Lake Miloch. If this Pokémon exists, it'll be there.
  • Jossed. The third legendary, Eternatus, is nothing like the Loch Ness Monster. There are no new legendaries beyond Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus.

Alternately, the fossil Pokémon will tie into a "sword and shield" motif

I'm thinking either Baryonx or Iguanodon as the "sword", while Polacanthus is the "shield".

• Alternatively, Shieldon and Cranidos will return with new forms, along with foreshadowing the revisit of the Sinnoh region.
  • Jossed.

We will get some of the cut Pokémon from the Gold And Silver beta

• The reaction to the Pokémon we didn't end up getting was very positive. We might get some of them re-done and finally added to the Pokémon world.
  • If Gorochu is included, 4-stage evolution lines will finally be introduced.
  • Very unlikely on both fronts, considering Masuda in an interview said that Pokémon that are scrapped after a point are unlikely to get reused.
    • ...making it the perfect time to shock the audience with something unexpected.
    • That is, if Game Freak are even aware of the beta being leaked.
  • Jossed.

There will be another set of 4 guardians.

• This time representing the four constituent parts of the region.
• Bonus points if it's a trio, with the legendary representing Northern Ireland either being an event exclusive, or a secret member which unlocks a separate island to explore.
  • Jossed.

Objectively, the version mascot's typings will be the best of their respective areas.

For example, Sword could be Fighting-type, as it's one of the best offensive types, while Shield could be Steel-type, as it's the best defensive type.

• Jossed. Zacian is pure Fairy and Zamazenta is pure Fighting, but will gain the Steel type while they're holding their signature Rusted items.

Lycanroc will receive a regional variant.

• To represent the idea of reintroducing wolves into Britain and a certain visiting werewolf (unless they've decided 3 forms is enough).
  • Jossed. Lycanroc doesn't even appear in the base game, and its appearance in the teaser for the DLC shows its regular form.

New Mega Evolutions will finally be added.

Sun and Moon didn't introduce any, so it might be a good time to bring some more.

• Hopefully this is the case, as Game Freak has shown interest in continuing to dive deeper into Mega Evolution.
• If there's given strong popularity of Eeveelutions, they might finally receive Mega Evolutions (except Eevee, who already had its own Z-Move). See above.
  • Jossed. Mega Evolution will not even return. At all.

Primal Reversion will also return, but solely for Fossil Pokémon.

It's a common fan-theory that the Fossil Pokémon weren't originally Rock-type, so if Mega Evolution returns, maybe Primal Reversion will come with it, and unlock reversions for the fossils.

• Like Mega Evolution, Jossed.

These games will contain the first mascot duo since Gen 2, but there will be a second duo.

The second duo will be based off a Spear and a Staff, to represent Physical and Special.

• Jossed.

If the armor evolution rumor is real, then attempting to apply it to Eevee will result in a Steel-type Eeveelution instead.

Rather than a new form, Eevee will gain a new evolution this way.

• Jossed.

Shaymin will have new forms based on other types other than Grass and Flying

• Jossed.

This gen will have a Recurring Element of the Elemental Monkeys.

Early in the game, you'll receive either one of the three Pokémon of a Grass, Fire or a Water-type, all being 2-stage evolution. However, they will be a step-up from the monkeys by being dual type throughout the line; for this case, they'll be Grass/Fire, Fire/Water and Water/Grass.

• Jossed.

The main legendaries will be based on Hindu mythology.

This guess is based on an older rumor that this region would take place on Sri Lanka.

• Please explain what a pair of wolves bearing a sword and shield have to do with Hindu mythology...
  • Clearly Jossed.
• Though it's jossed, Cufant and Copperajah are based on Indian elephants, so there's something going on there.

As an air transport Pokémon, Corviknight evolves from a messenger bird.

It has to start somewhere before it can carry people around.

• Jossed. It starts as Rookidee (rook and chickadee) and then Corvisquire (crow), which aren't messenger birds.

Wooloo will evolve into the cover Legendaries

This is unlikely, but would be interesting.

Wooloo's description states it avoids conflict and follows the crowd, and Zacian and Zamazenta's intro video show them in some form of conflict. Maybe as part of its development, it loses its sheepish qualities and chooses a stance on conflict (attack or defence). Their wool is used to make garments, which the wolves' fur resemble, and Zacian at least has a flowing part of its mane in the same place as Wooloo's locks. It would also aptly represent the concept of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

• Jossed.

The third Legendary will be an armless suit of armor.

It can then attach both version mascots to become a proper knight!

• Jossed.

The third legend will be named something along the lines of Zayero.

As Zacian and Zamazenta are named after their respective colors of Cyan and Magenta, this seems likely. Whether or not it's a wolf as well is another story.

• The third will be Yellow, and then there's also a fourth legend named after the color blacK. You know, CMYK (okay, K actually stands for Key, but most people usually don't see the word Key as a color).
  • Jossed. There is no yellow legendary and black legendary to accompany Zacian & Zamazenta; rather, we have only Eternatus.

Zacian and Zamazenta are part of a split evolution chain, like Solgaleo and Lunala.

The precedent is already there, and the wolves' designs are very close to each other (both wolves with white bodies, blue tufts of fur, golden armor with crowns, and extremely similar body shapes under said fur and armor). In addition, their reveal cinematic seemed to imply a sort of familiarity when they stopped fighting upon recognizing each other — perhaps a reflection of some kinship?

• Jossed.

In the event that fossils return, they'll be given to you by an NPC resembling Mary Anning

• Jossed. It's a generic Scientist.

Drednaw's base speed will be a three-digit number.

On the account on how it has well-developed muscles to allow it to move quickly.

• Jossed, its speed stat is 74.

Galar will have one of the biggest Pokédexes to date.

• From what was shown with the new Wild Areas, there is a varity of Pokémon that appear in them. Ranging from Gyarados, Avalugg, Snover, Butterfree, and Snover to name a couple. It could be possible that this region will once again have multiple Pokédexes as well as a Potential Pokédex to at least the 500's to 600's to allow players to have a massive amount of variety and choice.
  • Jossed. The main Galarian Pokedex reaches 400.

Returning starters aside from Charmander line

There will be 5 other past starters that will return in SwSh. Including the Charmander line, they will include 2 Grass-types, 2 Fire-types, and 2 Water-types, plus there will be one starter from each gen.

• Among the Grass-types, the Chikorita and Rowlet lines will be retained.
• Among the Fire-type, the Tepig line will join the Charmander line in the Galar Dex.
  • Alternatively, the Torchic line will be the second fire-type starter instead, given Blaziken's popularity.
• Among the Water-types, the Mudkip and Froakie lines will be retained.
• Gen 4 starters will be completely excluded, if only to be reserved for the Sinnoh remakes.
  • Jossed. The Charmander line is the only one that appears in the base Galarian Pokedex. It does have the rest of the Kanto starters and the Alola starters in the game.

There will be a new line that utilizes the Ice Stone.

It will be a 3-stage Fragile Speedster Ice-type with the middle stage requiring the Ice Stone to evolve into the final stage.

• Jossed. There are no three-stage Ice-type Pokemon introduced in Generation VIII.
  • However, there is a new line that utilizes the Ice Stone, but it is a two-stage line: Galarian Darumaka. Half-confirmed on it needing the Ice Stone and being a Fragile Speedster, Jossed on it being three-stage.

All Gen 1 Pokémon will be in the Galar Pokédex

• If only for Let’s Go compatibility. Though doing this might infuriate fans who are sick of Gen 1 at this point on top of the other Dex controversies.
• Jossed. Only a third of Gen 1 Pokemon are available.

Out of the 809 Pokémon currently available, roughly half of that number will be included in Sword and Shield's data. At least 500 Pokémon, including new Pokémon, will appear in the Galar Pokédex.

• Jossed. Just over 300 Pokemon from older generations return, capping off the Galar Pokedex at 400 total. Previous generation mythicals as well as the other two Gen I and all three Gen VII starter lines exist in the game files but as of writing are currently unavailable legitimately.
  • Un-jossed for the DLC, which combined add over two hundred more old generation Pokémon.

The Ultra Beasts will not be in the initial Galar dex, but will be patched in later on.

The Ultra Beasts are invasive species on a dimensional level, but this way, they can be invasive species on a metanarrative level too. Invasive species aren't found, they're introduced.

• Confirmed—the Ultra Beasys return in the Crown Tundra DLC.

Rolycoly will evolve into a train

• I'm not the one who put up this WMG, but I'd like to make a follow-up: Evolving Rolycoly will involve use of the Galar train network.
  • Jossed. Rolycoly evolves into a minecart, then a coal colossus resembling Rhyperior.

Some Mega Pokémon will be reused for the Gigantamax mechanic.

For example, Charizard, after Gigantamaxing, will temporally become Mega Charizard Y.

• Likewise, Gigantamax forms will be re-used the next time the respective Pokeémon has access to Mega Evolution.
• Jossed.

The third Legendary (especially if it completes a trio with them) will deviate from the cover Legendaries by being based on a large wild feline.

And just to intensify the contrast, the weapon they represent will be long-range and solo, contrasting with the foiling, close-range sword and shield. Most possibly a bow or even a crossbow.

• Jossed. Eternatus doesn't resemble a feline at all.

Yamper will evolve into a Pokémon based on a Collie.

And, following the Metric unit theme, its name would be a Portmanteau of "collie" and "coulomb."

• Jossed. Its name is Boltund.

Some Pokémon will not return despite one of its evolutionary line appearing.

For example, Rhydon will be in Galar, but you won't be able to find the item Protector to evolve it into Rhyperior.

• Jossed for the case of Rhydon — Rhyperior was present in the demonstration for the Room Service hold item.
• This is jossed even beforehand - Masuda confirmed in an earlier interview that for a Pokémon that have made an appearance, their entire evolutionary line will be in the game as well.

Characters

Your rival will be your sibling, aka the player character you don't select

• Jossed, he's a character of his own (and the Champion's sibling).

Your rival in Gen 8 is your sibling.

Being based on the gender not selected.

• One rival is the champion's younger brother, but he was described as "one of your rivals," implying there may be at least one more.
  • Jossed. There are two other rivals, but neither have any familial relation to the player character.

The Gym with the leaf-looking symbol is not the Grass-type gym

In the original games, the leaf-looking badge was the badge of the Ground-type gym. Beyond this, the trailer shows a Lucario (Fighting and Steel) fighting a Tyranitar (Rock and Dark) in the gym in question.

• Jossed. It is indeed the Grass-type Gym.

The protagonist will have two rivals

One will be a friendly rival who is very supportive of the protagonist, the other is a traditional jerk rival. As a subversion of Pokémon’s usual rivals, the friendly one is a boy and the jerk is a girl, though she will get some redemption after the protagonist becomes champion.

• Also in a twist, the supportive one turns out to be a villain team grunt, either a grunt of a local villain team or a International Police officer, while the jerk rival might be a Gladion/Guzma/Plumeria-style Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Jossed, there will be three rivals: Hop, a friendly boy; Marnie, a cold and calculated girl who is affiliated with Team Yell, them literally being her fan club; Bede, a prideful boy with further motives.

The Professor will be named...

• Hawthorn(e)
• Linden
• Maple
• Larch
• Hazel
• Holly
• Ashe
• Poplar
  • Jossed, her name is Magnolia.

Antagonists

This game's Villain Team will be a group of Black Knights

With a name like Sword and Shield, it might be the case.

Alternatively, the Evil team will be zealous industrialists who perform evil acts in the name of progress.

Their members will probably all abuse the Appeal to Novelty fallacy, then add some Insane Troll Logic.

Or... the evil team will be luddites.

A team of people who believe in reverting the world back to an age before advanced technology.

The evil team will be based on unseelie/evil fey and use Fairy and Dark types.

And its leader will be an evil "fairy queen". Because we need more female team leaders.

Galar's evil team will be chess themed.

It will have a black and white coloring to go with it. Grunts will be called "Pawns", admins will be called "Rooks", and there will be two leaders ranked "King" and "Queen".

• Alternatively there will be three admins with each one named after a chess piece. A Mad Scientist or otherwise cerebral figure named Bishop, The Brute named Rook who will stand in defense of his Pawns when things go south, and then there's Knight, who'll be the most commonly seen of the admins and potentially be a Noble Demon outright pulling a Heel–Face Turn.
• If so, their grunts and admins will be using Pawniards and Bisharps against you.

The new evil team will be inspired by old historical witches.

For a time, England was afraid of one certain type of people: witches. Historically, countless people were burned at the stake for 'witchcraft' in the olden days of England, and were generally regarded as evil beings. So having the next evil team name be something like 'Team Witch' would be fitting for the British aesthetic.

The new evil team will be Vikings, and maybe have similar colors to the NFL team called The Minnesota Vikings

And they'll be there to take over the region along with catching the legendary mon.

There will be two evil teams that are version exclusive.

• The one in Sword will be industrialists looking to "destroy" the past in the name of progress, and the one in Shield will be traditionalists trying to "protect" the old ways at the expense of progress.
• There will also be two professors (based on Game Xplain's analysis of the trailer). The professor in the city will be associated with the modern team, and the professor in the more isolated lab will be with the traditionalists. It might even be that the professors are the team leaders, and you will work with the opposing team's professor based on what version you play.
• The teams will be Steel and Grass based.
• The main villain of one version could be male, while the main villain of the other version would be female.

The Leader of the Evil Team will speak with a super-exaggerated British accent and will have a "large vocabulary"

Because why not.

• So, an Evil Counterpart to Wikstrom's Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe?
• Jossed.

Assuming Galar has an active royal family, the Big Bad's team will be based off of the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot.

Presumably, that team wants one of their own people to be the monarch because they'd represent their ideals regarding Pokémon/the legendaries/the region, which the current monarch opposes. Our trainer will end up stumbling on the plot when they encounter a grunt trying to abduct the heir to the throne. Bonus points if the team is named some variation of "Fawkes"/"Fox".

The evil team will be industrialists who seek to exploit Pokémon for labor.

(Credit to this Tumblr post) The fact that Pokémon and humans worked together to develop industry was specifically noted in the Direct, implying it's an important detail. Maybe the villains work for a large company (either as explicit representatives or criminals working for them secretly in an Aether Foundation-style twist) that seeks to kidnap Pokémon and use them to expand and make money. Alternatively (or concurrently), they could seek to exploit Galar's resources for the same end (this could tie into the mascot legendaries).

The evil team will have Playing Card Motifs

In a Shout-Out to Alice in Wonderland, the evil team will consist of people following different playing card suits and faces. There would be four types of grunts: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. The Aces would be admins, the Jack and Joker would be second-in-commands, and the King and Queen would be the leaders (much like the chess-themed evil team WMG).

• This and all other villain team WMGs are Jossed. The villain team looks like (and, in a sense, are) hooligans.
  • Even that's Jossed. There is no villain team at all.

The Big Bad of the game will be based off of...

• Moriarty
• Voldemort
• A Doctor Who villain
• A James Bond villain
• Oswald Mosley
• Jack the Ripper
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
• Morgan(a) Le Fay (bonus points if they use some more obscure variant of her name)
• Nimue/Vivienne
• Mordred
• Compeyson
• Vortigern (could instead be a Greater-Scope Villain and/or Predecessor Villain to the Big Bad in the present)
• King Henry VIII
• Or in a twist, a Corrupt Corporate Executive based on the negative opinions of Winston Churchill (or other British leaders of different eras), to reflect a Capitalism Is Bad perspective. Sounds like a James Bond villain could do.
• Or, in a Take That, Critics!, the villains are a group of thinly-veiled Straw Fans raging at Pokémon they never used not being in Galar and saying they need to destroy things, much like how people are doing things like making false rape allegations against Masuda and sending death threats.
  • Game Freak would have to CRUNCH, and not just CRUNCH, but CRUNCH, to make villains based on the 'Dexit' angry crowd.
  • We do get a team of hardcore fans in the form of Team Yell, but they're Loony Fans of Marnie.
• Jossed.

The Team Leader will turn out to be the Mascot Legend

A twist because people expressed interest in that concept in Sun and Moon.

• Imagine the Admins and the Grunts reacting to discovering that they've been misusing Pokémon, on the behalf of a free Pokémon.
• Also, after the predictable Tragic Villain treatment Necrozma got, it would be thought-provoking to have a borderline psychopathic villainous Pokémon as the Big Bad who is solely responsible for its own villainy (a la Darkrai from the Mystery Dungeon spin-offs^note but that was only because there weren't any humans to fill the role of the Big Bad, while later Mystery Dungeon games flat-out copped out by using non-human, non-Pokémon entities as the Big Bad).
• Of course, it'll turn out that they are a Tragic Villain and that their human disguise is modeled off the human that kicked off their Start of Darkness as a reminder of what they must do.
  • The human and the Mascot Legend, instead of mutual antagonism, had a pseudo-trainer-and-Pokémon relationship until other, far less noble individuals caused an incident that led to the tragic demise of the human. Basically, the inverse of AZ and Floette.
  • Alternatively, the opposing version Mascot Legend attacked the human out of pure envy.
• Jossed. The Big Bad doesn't have a team, and it's not a Mascot.

The true villains will be International Police

.

Given UK-based Galar will have Dirty Cops and Police Brutality issues, this would take account with Old-Fashioned Copper as grunts. The Police Brutality issues would give Grand Theft Auto a run for their money, with the new Big Bad being a police chief.

• Looker will be The Dragon or The Evil Genius who could be on the run from the Galar community, and the police in real-life UK is famous for being crooked. Looker might be The Mole, Anti-Villain, or something like Even Evil Has Standards, but whatever the case, he cannot stand the corruption of the International Police anymore.
  • Jossed.

Gameplay and Meta

Max Raid Battles will feature legendaries from previous generations.

Get's them in the game without needing a narrative justification - like the Hoopa portals, but more epic. This is also how the Raid Battles in Pokemon Go work.

• Jossed. Most previous legendaries aren't even in the Pok&eacutedex.
  • Un-jossed as previous legendaries will be returning for raid battles in the second DLC, The Crown Tundra.

Player outfit customization will be more along the lines of Let's Go! (sets instead of individual pieces of clothing).

• Jossed. It's individual pieces.

Carried over from LGPE

How the Gym Masters are different from the Gym Leaders

Taking from the concept of the Master Trainers in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, it may be that to succeed at a Gym Master challenge, you must use Pokémon of the same type as the Gym Master. This, of course, will wreak havoc on single-Pokémon runs and Nuzlocke runs.

• Jossed. Gym Leaders return.

Walking Pokemon will return

So that those walking animations for the Pokémon from Gens 2 through 7 get some use.

• Jossed — The walking and running animations are instead used for wild Pokémon wandering around the wild areas as well as your Pokémon interacting within Pokémon Camp.
  • No longer Joseed as of the Expansion Pass: Walking Pokemon are a thing in the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra after certain points of those quests, though this does not carry over to mainland Galar.

The eight new moves used by the partner Eevee in Let's Go! will be given to its evolutions

It would be a waste to introduce such interesting moves only to not use them again. Each Eeveelution would gain the move that matches its type:

• Vaporeon: Bouncy Bubble
• Flareon: Sizzly Slide
• Jolteon: Buzzy Buzz
• Umbreon: Baddy Bad
• Espeon: Glitzy Glow
• Leafeon: Sappy Seed
• Glaceon: Freezy Frost
• Sylveon: Sparkly Swirl
  • Jossed, the moves are gone from the game.

Confirmed

New and Returning Pokémon

Grookey's evolutions will be music-themed

Groovy monkey. Ouistempo in French. Hits stuff with a stick. Drummer monkey!

• So it's going to evolve into either Ringo Starr or Phil Collins.
  • Alternatively, David Bowie.
  • Or Alex Turner, of the Arctic Monkeys.
  • Or Russel Hobbs, of Gorillaz.
    • Confirmed. Grookey's final evolution, Rillaboom, carries drumsticks and has a section of atree stump that resembles a drum.

The Third Version Mascot will either be Dragon-type outright or have a Dragon motif somewhere in its design.

This did indeed turn out to be the case with Necrozma, Zygarde, Kyurem, Giratina, and Rayquaza beforehand. Either Gen VIII will be the first generation to break the streak by not having a third version mascot, or it'll be hidden in plain sight like always in the form of some variation of a Dragon based design or actually being part Dragon-type.

• A Dragon-type would thematically fit as a rival to Zacian and Zamazenta, making the two into dragon-slaying knights.
• Confirmed. Eternatus is Poison/Dragon.

Zamazenta's Shield parts are its external attachments.

Similar to how Zacian is holding a sword, Zamazenta's "mane" is not part of its body. Instead, it is equipped with pieces of armor that form a shield.

• Confirmed. Zamazenta has an alternate form in which its shield is not equipped.

Duraludon is NOT this gen's pseudo

Despite acting as a foil to Tyranitar, Duraludon will be a 1-stage Pokémon like Druddigon or Turtonator.

• Confirmed. Gen VIII's pseudo is Dragapult, with Duraludon being a single staged Pokemon.

We'll finally get a fifth Regi.

Regirock represents the Stone Age, Regice represents the Ice Age, Registeel represents the Iron Age, and Regigigas, the former three's creator, represents Pangaea, the earliest-recorded continent in the world. In this case, we might get a Dark Ages golem, we'll call him Regidark, since a majority of the recorded events of the Dark Ages took place in Britain.

• It could be Regigigas's antithesis, and the people locked it away and removed all records of its existence to prevent it being uncovered again and causing another Dark Age.
  • Bonus points if it takes inspiration from Deltarune.
  • Jossed in the original game, but gone past confirmed for the DLC as artwork for The Crown Tundra shows two more Regis. And one is based on the Dark Age, though it's the dragon-type Regidrago.

Plot and Setting

The Dynamax Band's and Dynamax/Gigantimax have a dark secret like Z Rings/Z-Power Rings

The Z Rings and Z-Power Ring's were made of fragment's of Necrozma's body and Z Crystals were crystals of Necrozma's light, so it wouldn't be too out there for Dynamax to have a similar dark past.

• OP of the original here. Confirmed! Dynamax as a whole is a byproduct of Eternatus' energy.

Carried over from LGPE

Eevee will retain its cry from LGPE.

This is similar to Pikachu having its anime cry since XY.

• Confirmed in the Japanese trailer in 5 Sept 2019 during the segment showcasing Pokémon Camp.

Mixed

New and Returning Pokémon

Regional variants

Assuming this will be a returning trend:

• Snubbull & Granbull - Being based on bulldogs, it would be pretty fitting for these to get the regional variant.
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Herdier and Stoutland - For similar reasons, being based on Yorkshire terriers.
  • Jossed. They returned in the Isle of Armor, but as their regular variants.
• Ralts Line - if not the entire line, at least Gallade having a knight theme, being a Fighting/Steel or Psychic/Steel.
  • Unlikely due to the line having access to Mega Evolution in both final forms.
  • Jossed.
• Mareep Line - Maybe an Electric/Steel variant for the "steel wool" pun.
  • Unlikely for the same reason as the Ralts line.
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Lapras - Because we need a Loch Ness Monster. Maybe it'll be Water/Dragon or Water/Fairy instead of Water/Ice.
  • Jossed. It is getting a Gigantamax form, though.
• Sunflora - It will be Grass/Fire and be based on the fire flower.
  • Jossed. It doesn't appear in the games.
• Misdreavus and Mismagius - partially based on a banshee and a witch. They could be Fairy, Fairy/Ghost, or Fairy/Dark types.
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Shaymin - Assuming we're getting regional variants of Mythical Pokémon, a Galaran (Galarian? Galarite?) Shaymin would be perfect because Shaymin is inspired by hedgehogs, which the UK have plenty of. Perhaps this one would be Ground-type instead of Grass-type considering hedgehogs are creatures that like to burrow.
  • So... what would the Sky Forme be?
    • Shaymin Sky Forme has two possible main inspirations: the terrier dog and the reindeer. Going off this, perhaps its type would be one of the following: Ground/Flying for the terrier, and Ground/Ice for the reindeer.
  • Perhaps also Togedemaru?
  • Partly jossed. Togedemaru appears in the games without Shaymin.
• Psyduck and Golduck - they will be Water/Psychic types.
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Trapinch line - they will start as Bug/Ground, then become Bug/Dragon.
  • Regular Flygon appears in the game's trailer. So this one's looking to be Jossed.
• Dragonite/Dratini line - it's the original Dragon Pokémon, its name is a reference to knights — it could be a literal dragon-knight (Dragon/Steel) or full Western Dragon (Fire/Dragon).
  • Jossed. They will not receive regional forms.
• Haxorus - will be Dragon/Steel.
  • Jossed.
• Machop Line - perhaps gaining Rock or even Steel typing. Also the only trade evolution line from Generation 1 that hasn't received a Mega Evolution or regional variant.
  • Jossed.
• A set of starters that haven't gained Mega Evolution — perhaps the Gen 2 starters, as they're the only ones that are completely monotype throughout the line.
  • Jossed. The only Starter line besides the newly introduced ones is Charmander and its evolutions.
    • While this is still Jossed, the Bulbasaur and Squirtle lines were later added in the Isle of Armor DLC, alongside the Gen 7 starters. The Gen 3 starters will reappear in Crown Tundra
• The Fennekin line, becoming archers as opposed to sorcerers, perhaps now Fire/Grass?
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Scyther and Scizor - Bug/Dragon (or Dragon/Flying) and Dragon/Steel. Scyther's always looked like a dragon, and Wikstrom had a Scizor, so it could work as a knight Pokémon
  • Jossed.
• Yanmega - Yanma could evolve into an actual Dragon-fly (Dragon/Bug)
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Durant - Bug/Ground. To better stand up against Heatmor, they sacrifice their armor to boost their abilities to use and master additional Ground-type moves.
  • Jossed. While Durant is in the games, it didn't receive a regional form.
• Girafarig - Normal/Dark or Dark/Psychic because of the common "add on the dark type" so many Alolan forms have
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Lanturn (and possibly Chinchou) - Dark/Electric type that grew feet and now lives on land, Synchronize is new Hidden Ability
  • Jossed.
• Houndoom - Normal/Fire or pure Fire, became more domesticated
  • Jossed. Neither Houndour or Houndoom are in the games.
• Noctowl - Ground/Flying, based on burrowing owls
  • Jossed.
• Forretress - Steel/Fire, lives in volcanoes
  • Jossed. It doesn't appear in the games, nor does Pineco.
• Phanpy line - Pure Grass types that live in a more forested environment
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Eevee: Due to the reveal of Galarian Linoone getting an evolution. This could perhaps put an interesting spin on the ever loved tradition of Eevee getting a new evolution or 2 every even numbered generation since Gen 2. Perhaps this version of Eevee will still be a normal type but will have the ability to evolve into two or three different forms that a normal Eevee cannot.
  • Jossed. Neither Eevee nor any of its evolutions get new forms.
• Alternativly like Pikachu and Cubone, Eevee will remain normal but Galar's climate effects Eevee's evolutions. I.E Instead of Espeon it would evolve to a different Pokemon during the day at max happiness.
  • Jossed.
• Furret - Ice or Ice/Normal. Based on a stoat.
  • Jossed. It doesn't appear in the games, nor does Sentret.
• Masquerain: Retains Bug/Water from Surskit.
  • Jossed. It and Surskit don't appear in the games.
• Cherrim: Grass/Fire to utilize Flower Gift better. Also more physically-inclined to correctly utilize Flower Gift's boosts.
  • Jossed.
• Ponyta and Rapidash - Perhaps make them fairy types to give the latter more of a unicorn mystic feel to it. This mostly stems from the 24 hour nature live stream where sounds of hoofs are galloping through the forest. And around 20:00 Ponyta's cry would sound out. The curiosity here is to why a Fire type pokemon such as Ponyta which are typically found in open fields and volcanos (And in one case a burnt down mansion) would be residing in a highly forested and magical esc area? Perhaps a variant that had adapted there.
  • Confirmed. Ponyta is Psychic type, and Rapidash is Psychic/Fairy. Both of them also very clearly resemble unicorns, especially Rapidash with its long horn and appearance of a majestic creature.
• Litleo & Pyroar -
  • To compliment Ponyta's unicorn asthetic by representing the Lion on the royal coat of arms.
  • Jossed. They don't appear in the games.
• Final answer: Out of this list, the only Pokemon with Galarian forms are Ponyta and Rapidash. (Though Eevee and Lapras do have Gigantamax forms.)

Fossils will return and be based on the animals from the Crystal Palace Grounds

If they're non-dinosaurs, we could be seeing a pterosaur and an ichthyosaur. If they're actual dinosaurs, we could be seeing an Iguanodon and a Megalosaurus. Bonus points if their first stages are based on the outdated Crystal Palace statues and their second stages resemble their real-world counterparts.

• Maybe also a third fossil, a Hylaeosaurus, as the Aerodactyl equivalent?
  • Jossed. Fossils return, with a new fusion gimmick, but don't resemble any real-world animals in their entirety. However, the existing fossil Pokémon are based on the early mixed-up skeletons that were once displayed at the Crystal Palace, so this part is confirmed. They do not evolve into anything though.

---

Post-Release Theories

Gen VIII Species Guess

Eternatus has the power to reuse waste as energy.

This includes its own waste, as the result, it became part-Poison.

Yamask in Galar were not immigrated from Unova.

Instead, they came from a local cult who uses black magic that were similarly used in Ancient Unova Sorcery in the Royal Kingdom. Using forbidden magic results in converting people into Yamask, with the different ritual practiced by the cult resulting in a different variant.

The Fossils will get proper restorations at some point

Either a future version, future game, or the Diamond and Pearl remakes will see a different scientist show up with a regeneration machine and will use it to help repair the DNA of the Galarian fossils pokemon, essentially finding a way to evolve them. They'll become Rock plus their other types (so Rock/Electric for the -zolts, Rock/Ice for the Arcto-s, etc).

Alternatively, the fossils (more specifically Dracozolt and Arctovish) aren't chimerae, but just either missing parts or have parts on wrong.

Arctovish has a consistent color scheme and aside from its head being on wrong, there's very little that looks chimeric about it, and while Dracozolt's arms and head are ridiculously small compared to its tail and legs, that's just because it's missing its midsection.

• What if instead of missing it's midsection, Dracozolt actually has the arms and head of a juvinile but the tail and legs of an adult?

Eternatus is the "gun Pokémon" people were joking about.

It's associated with the other two "weapon Pokémon," Zacian and Zamazenta, it's a Dragon-type, playing into several things (gunpowder was invented in China, which is often symbolized by dragons; people who used guns used to be called "dragoons" because the muzzle flashes of early guns resembled fire breath; there's an actual missile launcher out there called the M47 Dragon), and it learns a lot of projectile or beam moves (its signature move is even called Dynamax Cannon). Oh, and Chairman Rose was trying to use it to generate energy, but he ended up causing a massive disaster with his name on it instead. In other words, he shot himself in the foot.

On another note, the fossils won't get their true forms through technology, but breeding.

• Each iteration of the fossils' offspring will be slightly less horrific and more normal, similar to the process of actual evolution, until the four combinations have completely adapted to their mismatched bodies. Dracozolt's front and back bodies will fuse together properly, giving the appearance of a two-toned Velociraptor. Dracovish will grow an actual, quadripedal body from its tail, along with lungs, evolving into something similar to a Brachiosaurus; alternatively, it could develop the ability to make water bubbles like Araquanid, and plop them on its head to breathe. Arctovish will get its head on straight and turn into something that takes attributes from both a plesiosaur and a Megalodon, though nowhere near as extreme as Cara Liss's creation, and Arctozolt will sprout heavy, insulating feathers like a hoodie that will protect it from the cold its lower body produces; the lower body will also grow smaller in proportion to the head.
  • Jossed—none of them are able to breed, even with Ditto.

The fossils will evolve into their proper forms when traded.

• A future game will introduce the Draco and Arcto heads and the Zolt and Vish bodies, with four new hybrids being spawned from them, however, if two of them with the corresponding front and back halves are traded, like Dracovish with the new hybrid with the Draco head and the Vish body, both will evolve into their proper forms (with whoever has the head).

The Galar Fossils being so messed up is because they aren't Rock-types.

• All the previous Fossil Pokemon had always been conspicuously part Rock-type: it's because by being Rock-types their DNA preserved better to remain viable. This is what happens when non-Rock-type Pokemon are tried to be revived: they don't revive as well with their DNA degraded, which is why they had to be patched together instead of just restoring one incomplete fossil by itself.

The cause of all the fossils being halved will be discovered/implied.

• More likely than not, it'll be an apex-predator fossil Pokemon that was fond of biting its prey in half...

The paintings on Runegrigus is an interpretation of Eternatus.

It is serpentine, just like Eternatus' regular form when viewed from afar.

The five troopers in a Falinks unit are mated to the brass, who is the opposite sex.

...Which is why the unit as a whole is classified as genderless. There are lots of animals that operate like this in real-life (whether it's the males or the females that function as leader varies from species to species), and it's the sort of weird and cool thing that the franchise likes to take inspiration from anyway.

Clownfish are an example of a real life creature that works this way. The largest member of a school is the leader and is also always female. The second-largest is her second in command, always male, and functions as her mate. The rest are always, depending on who you ask, sexually immature males or completely sexless. If the female dies, then the male becomes the new female and the largest sexless individual becomes male, which might potentially also be true of Falinks.

Copperaajah is the Indian elephant mentioned in Raichu's early dex entries

It's more plausible than the Ground-type Donophan option. With Steel not being resistant to Electric type attacks, nor being super vulnerable to them, this accolade of knocking out a Copperjah certainly makes Raichu sound all the more impressive.

Eternatus and the original dragon come from the same planet. As did Necrozma, for that matter.

It was thought by some that Kyurem came from space, having arrived in a meteor. While it's confirmed to be part of the Literal Split Personality that created Reshiram and Zekrom, we still don't know where the original dragon they split off came from; it just seemed to show up for the founding brothers of Unova. Perhaps the initial backstory for Kyurem was true from a certain point of view. And it wouldn't be the only powerful space dragon. Both Eternatus and Necrozma are space dragons, and while Necrozma showed up in Ultra Space it's capable of travelling to other universes so either it could've been native to the main universe, or it isn't but their species exist in the main universe where some uncorrupted version of the Blinding One exists.

All three of these dragons are also ludicrously powerful; Eternatus in its base/natural form is 10 BST above your standard box legendary^note Eternamax is by far the strongest of any Pokemon, but given it's absorbing so much Dynamax Energy it's not a natural state. Necrozma's true form of Ultra Necrozma, the one it had before being crippled, is only surpassed by the Primal and Mega forms of certain legendaries, and Eternamax Eternatus. And if Black/White Kyurem is any indication, the original dragon would probably be something like 740 BST(stronger than Arceus), maybe even higher. At least two of them have some space-time bending powers too; Necrozma is obvious, and Eternatus is said to warp space-time through Dyanamax. This probably explains why legendaries who should be one of a kind can show up in Dynamax Adventures; the power of Eternatus warping space-time lets you encounter versions from another universe, much like hope the wormholes in Gen 6 and 7 allow you to. While the Tao Trio lack any space-time warping feats, it could just be because at most you get 2/3rds of the actual original dragon so that might've been lost by no longer being whole.

All these three Pokemon come from the same planet, and for whatever reason all three ended up on some version of the Earth. More concering is the fact that they would seem normal on whatever planet they come from.

Eternatus and Zygarde are enemies.

In many ways Eternatus is an Evil Counterpart to Zygarde. Zygarde and Eternatus are bizarre and otherworldly dragons who have "spread themselves" (Zygarde has its cells, while Eternatus has its energy leaking across the Galar region to cause Dynamax Evolution) and who's complete form is a lot stronger than their base form (100% Zygarde and Eternamax Eternatus). However while Zygarde is a protector of nature native to the world, Eternatus is an alien beast akin to radiation. One balances the world, while the other is a force of imbalance. And Zygarde's Ground typing is a contrast/deterrent against Eternatus' Ground typing. The reason why Eternatus fell into a slumber for so long wasn't because it was completely knocked out by its arrival, but because Zygarde fought an already injured Eternatus so it'd fall into a slumber, 20,000 years ago.

Why didn't Zygarde return 3000 years ago to stop Eternatus again? Because it's the same timeframe as the war AZ was part of. As such, Zygarde was distracted dealing with its native region of Kalos, which led to Zacian and Zamazenta having to step in. By the time Eternatus revives in the modern day it's such a brief event that by the time Zygarde could reach Galar the player and the mascot legendaries would've taken care of the problem. The two dragons being rivals would also be fitting given the countries their regions are based off are historically major rivals. Also, if Kalos and Galar are close enough to France and England, they'd be neighboring regions so Zygarde would be the closest dragon to confront Eternatus 20,000 years ago.

Character-related Guesses

Bede is just Sebastian Debeste from Ace Attorney Investigations.

Sebastian could still be considered a minor when his father was given his sentence (although it was not stated what that sentence was in-game), so he could have been put into an orphanage. However, laws in the Ace Attorney universe are likely a bit different, so perhaps Sebastian ran off to Galar, ended up in an orphanage, got a Pokemon, and, with his earnings from Pokemon battles, changed his name, got a new jacket, dyed his hair, and regressed back into being a jerk.

Alternatively, Bede is Sebastian's son.

Whilst visiting Galar, Sebastian went missing (and then was killed), leading to Bede being stuck in Galar, and with no connections to either side of Sebastian's family, Bede was left in Galar as an orphan. It was assumed Bede was killed as well, but once the gym challenge in Sword and Shield began, his whereabouts were made known, and eventually he may have gotten into contact with people his father knew in Japanifornia.

Additionally, Allister will get a lawyer in the next game due to his rare league card.

Allister did not approve that league card, nor did he approve that photo being taken of him. He did not want to be seen with his mask off by anyone, and was very bothered by the printing of that league card. (This leads to a lawyer from Japanifornia entering Galar and eventually encountering Bede.)

Allister has an anonymous online account where he is much more open.

Despite having much less to say in-game, Allister is much less introverted on the internet, and has secret online accounts dedicated to him being able to talk about anything he wants.

Allister is closeted nonbinary and has terrible gender dysphoria

More specifically, Allister has a lot of body dissociation. Specifically, Allister wears to mask as to be able to tolerate watching replays of Gym Battles, and doesn't like to talk much due to vocal dysphoria. Luckily for Allister, everyone seems to think it's just to give off a mysterious impression.

• Adding onto this guess, it happened when he was younger and saw his previous life as a girl.

Acerola is Allister's sister

Both are Ghost-type specialists who are quite young. Allister also has purple eyes like Acerola and they have some similar hair quirks. The difference in hair colour may be that they just inherited from their parents who have different hair colours. Acerola may have chosen to go to Alola for a change in environment and stayed due to loving it and accepting the Elite Four position. Allister wears a mask as he would rather not be compared to his sister and get successful by his own means. Mask off, he actually has the same smile as Acerola.

Allister is wearing a Shy Guy mask from Super Mario.

Allister doesn't play the main Mario games though. Only Mario Kart.

That time Bede dealt with rogue Dynamaxed Pokémon in his gym.

He was using a Steel-type for type advantage. In particular, he used a Bronzong, which is also part-Psychic, in reminiscence to his previous type specialty.

• Bede has a Mawile, which is half-Steel type, which also gives him an advantage over a possible Dynamax Fairy Pokemon.

Ball Guy is not a single person.

They are a group of People who share a common interest in Poké Balls.

Gordie's grandfather, who is also Melony's father, specializes in Steel-type Pkeémon.

One generation is in the Stone Age, the previous generation the Ice Age and further up is the Iron Age.

Kabu is related to Flannery or is otherwise from Lavaridge Town

• He's canonically stated to hail from Hoenn and uses Fire types.
  • Maybe he's a good friend to her family.

Nessa is Marlon's sister or cousin

Both are dark-skinned water type trainers. It's possible one or the other moved out to establish more of their own name.

Leon is a successful Nuzlocker.

It's mentioned a few times that Leon has never lost a battle. Losing a battle in a Nuzlocke is generally treated as a game over, so if Leon were a Nuzlocker, he'd have to never lose. His team, save Charizard and the third starter, are all catchable in the Wild Area, so the team was possibly assembled after a disaster that only Charizard survived. He only had five Pokemon before he took in the third starter, implying that he lost a 'mon in his final challenge, and only felt ready to take a new one now. He's averse to giving you and Hop his recommendation because he doesn't want you to go through what he did.

That said, if he's a successful Nuzlocker, that means that he's freed from the challenge, hence why he still has his Charizard in the post-game.

Chairman Rose is xenophobic.

Why were so many Pokemon cut from the Dex? They are literally barred from entering Galar. Rose enforced a tight policy in terms of what other region Pokemon were allowed in, hence why you couldn't transfer Pokemon from other games. They were blocked upon entry. Even worse, maybe some of them were deported. The Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC bringing back a lot of old Pokemon is the result of slowly reversing Rose's policies after removing him from power.

• It could just be a question of averting invasive species. We know in Alola, Yungoos were never native to the region to begin with, and ended up radically altering the Rattata population, so I'd think Rose doesn't want to risk anything fucking up Galar's ecosystem.

Faba leaked the Type: Null blueprints to Macro Cosmos.

Obviously a Pokemon that can adapt its type to fight certain Pokemon, in this case Eternatus, would be greatly appreciated by someone like Rose, so Faba leaked Type: Null to him, thinking it was no consequence to the Aether Foundation as that project was already canned.

Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC

Galarian Birds typing

• Moltres
  • Dark/Flying: It's predominantly black and visually similar to Yveltal.
    • Confirmed.
  • Dark/Fire: It's flames are still quite predominant, which might hint to the Fire Typing being retained rather than Flying.
• Zapdos
  • Fighting/Flying: It's much beefier than the normal Zapdos, and during the direct the sound of punching can be heard when its concept art is shown.
    • Confirmed.
  • Ground/Flying: Visually it looks like a roadrunner, which might imply a Ground type.
• Articuno
  • Psychic/Flying or Ghost/Flying: It's appearance could point towards either, and either typing would complete a trio of effective types with Dark and Fighting if the other two are those types (more likley Psychic, since Ghost isn't super effective against Fighting).
    • Psychic/Flying is confirmed.
  • Psychic/Ice

Galarian Slowking and Slowbro are both Psychic/Poison, just with different stats

While it's a great opportunity to have the evolutions have different typings, they're not necessarily beholden to that. Secondly, the only difference between the level-up learnsets of Galarian and standard Slowpoke is the Poison-Type move Acid (replacing Water Gun). Third, with the new rivals for Isle of Armor being a Poison specialist and a Psychic specialist, it would be thematic for one to use Slowpoke and one to use Slowking.

• Confirmed, though both also have different signature abilities and signature moves in addition to different stats.

Galarian Slowking is Psychic/Ice and Galarian Slowbro is Psyshic/Steel

Since they evolve with items found in the Crown Tundra and Isle of Armor, respectively. Slowbro's Shellder will likely harden like steel (and maybe extend further over its body similar to its Mega Evolution), while Slowking's Shellder will freeze over its head.

• Jossed, Slowbro is Poison/Psychic.

The man shown in the Crown Tundra trailer is a ground type specialist

One part of this expansion is entering Pokemon dens—y'know, in the ground.

• Jossed—Peony specializes in Steel types.

Klara will use a Gigantamax Dustox

Her hair bow looks like a Dustox's wings, and since other of Pokemon are receiving Gigantamax forms in the expansion it's entirely possible that Dustox is one of them.

• Jossed; she uses regular Dynamax Slowbro, and the Wurmple family doesn't appear at all in the Isle of Armor.

The Bulbasaur and Squirtle lines are version exclusives.

• Jossed. Both appear, the player just chooses which one they want, with the other one gotten through the Dynamax Adventures in the Crown Tundra.

There will be a Complete physical package at the end.

It's usually how it goes with Nintendo Games and DLC these days. Simply called Pokemon Sword: Complete and Pokemon Shield: Complete.

• Confirmed: a special bundle of Sword and Shield packed in with the expansion pass will release in November 2020.

Mustard is a retired colonel.

He's a wise, genteel old soldier, making him a nice English counterpart to Lt. Surge.

There will be a classic Vile Villain, Saccharine Show

Chairman Rose, an Affably Evil Well-Intentioned Extremist, seems like a Disc-One Final Boss compared to past villains in the series. Maybe we get a new villain to face now that the league is over, or Rose will show his true colors?

• Jossed. Both sets of DLC have No Antagonist, excluding the rivalry with Klara/Avery or Calyrex's steed briefly going amok.

Mustard will be a superboss trainer

He is cited to have trained Leon and to have once been galar's champion himself. Perhaps there will be an opportunity to battle his best Pokemon, possibly around the Level 80-90s range.

• Confirmed, although his Pokémon are at the level 73-75 range.

Mustard has an arch-nemesis.

His name is Ketchup.

• Ketchup is just his nickname. His real name is Tom Ato.

There will be a research facility

Inside the facility there is a researcher who can revive fossils in a more normal way which allows you to revive the Galarian Fossil Pokémon properly or just revive fossil Pokémons of past games. The researcher will also be related in some way to Cara Liss.

• Jossed. The Max Lair contains a couple scientists and some scientific equipment to study the happenings down there, but that's all. Previous generations' fossil Pokémon can be found in the wild in the Crown Tundra.

The Kanto Starters' G-max moves have the secondary effects of combined pledge moves.

So far, G-Max Wildfire from Gigantimax Charizard's inflicts damage for four turns on non-Fire-type opponents, similar to the sea of fire created from Grass Pledge + Fire Pledge. Therefore:

• G-Max move from Gigantimax Venusaur will create a swamp that slows the target's side of the field for four turns. (Water + Grass pledges)
• G-Max move from Gigantimax Blastoise will create a rainbow that doubles the probability of secondary effects taking place on its side of the field, also lasting four turns. (Fire + Water pledges)

All Mythicals will be able to be carried over in the updates.

Although the update coinciding with Pokémon Home only had a small handful of Mythicals granted permission for the game, every single move that can only be learnt by certain Mythicals like Genesect's Techno Blast and Magearna's Fleur Cannon are still in the game's movepool. Much like how the Legendaries' signature moves were left intact and they themselves will return in the Crown Tundra, it's pretty much concrete evidence that all Mythicals will be able to be carried over some time later.

Isle of Armor will be treated like Alola for the purposes of Pokémon evolution.

For instance, if you're in the Isle of Armor and you give a Pikachu a Thunder Stone, it'll evolve into Alolan Raichu. If Exeggcute and Cubone are made available, they will evolve into their Alolan forms there but into their Kantonian forms everywhere else in Galar. A corollary is that, if Isle of Armor is treated as Alola instead of Galar, Koffing would evolve into Kantonian Weezing there, as would Mime Jr. into Kantonian Mr. Mime.

• Jossed, but you can get all of the Alolan forms, and non-Galarian forms, either as gifts or through trading with NPCs.

Quick Draw will be an ability version of Quick Claw

Similar sounding name aside, Galarian Slowbro is noted to have a "speed that puts even the quickest reflexes to shame" under the influences of stimulants in its system.

• Confirmed.

Peony's ace is Slowking

• Jossed. His Ace is Copperajah, the same as his older brother, Rose.

At one point in the Crown Tundra storyline, you'll have to go to the Diglett Sculptures on Route 6 for some reason.

It seems strange that they're marked on the map even though you never actually do anything there.

• Jossed.

There are two more new Pokemon based on the Knight Chess Piece

Recently, Dataminers have found among the code added in preparation for the Crown Tundra that the Pokedex will reach 898, Two codenames have been found Before Calyrex while another two unidentified slots are also present, possibly for Regileki and Regidrago, the two Code names are stated to be Hakuba and Kokuba which translated to White Horse and Black Horse respectively, with Calyrex being established as the crown, it would of course stand in for both the King and Queen, if these Pokemon are indeed horses, they could possibly be based on the knight playing piece which protect the King/Queen pieces, much like knights are generally depicted to do.

• Half-confirmed. While Glastrier and Spectrier are legendary horses, they aren't based on the knight chess piece; instead they both serve as Calyrex's loyal steeds.

Crown Tundra will have a new dex listing dedicated to legendaries.

So instead of being in the Crown Tundra dex, all legendary Pokémon will be listed in another category.

• Jossed. A majority of the Legendaries aren't registered in any of the Galar Pokédexes.

There will be a gimmick in the Galarian Star Tournament.

For each side, one trainer can only use Mega Evolution, while their partner can only use Dynamax.

• Jossed—the tournament is just your standard double-battles tournament.

Crown Tundra's campaign levels will be centered around mid-game

The Isle of Armor's campaign involves battles ranging from Level 10-12 (Klara/Avery first boss fight) up to Level 30 for the Towers of Two Fists. This campaign is clearly designed to intertwine with the point of the story where the player challenges the first three gyms. The Crown Tundra will be first accessible starting from the point where the player enters Hammerlocke (or somewhere close to that point) and the legendary quests will intertwine with the remaining five gyms, rendering it a campaign ranging from Levels 30-35 up to Level 50-55.

• Jossed. The Crown Tundra is available when you first arrive at Wedgehurst.

Sonia will be in the Crown Tundra

Hop implies that Sonia went to the snowy and cold place somewhere during the post-game Isle of Armor quest. This implies she may make an appearance in the Crown Tundra.

• Confirmed.

Calyrex is based on King Arthur, Zacian and Zamazenta are its weapons

Calyrex will be akin to King Arthur, Zacian akin to the sword Excalibur, Zamazenta akin to the Shield of Lancelot or possibly Wynebgwrthucher. The unnamed horse legendaries will be based on King Arthur's steeds, Liamrei and Hengroen.

Calyrex has a base stat total of 570 or 580.

If Calyrex is associated with the white-horse and the black-horse, then they make up a Legendary Trio. We already have a 660+ trio in Zacian, Zamazenta, and Eternatus, but Generation VIII is one of two generations to currently lack a 570/580 Legendary Trio. Calyrex's group could certainly fill that gap.

• Jossed; its base stat total in its base form is 500, which consists of 100 HP and 80 everywhere else. Ice Rider and Shadow Rider Calyrex both have a stat total of 680 each, keeping the 100 HP but more varied elsewhere.

There is a third, as-of-yet unannounced Regi besides Regidrago and Regieleki.

This could make another Legendary Trio. I have no idea what its type would be though.

• Jossed. Datamine confirms there are no new Regis besides the two revealed.

Cara Liss was right all along.

There is a Max Raid Den in the Crown Tundra's Snowslide Slope area that contains Arctovish, Dracovish, Arctozolt, and Dracozolt naturally. That means these four Pokémon really DID exist in the wild at some point in time, and Cara Liss accurately recombined them.

Calyrex was the original owner of the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield.

When he ruled Galar, the main region, Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra were under his leadership, with Zacian and Zamazenta as his pet hounds. This explains why the dogs themselves have a second form that have scars on them despite supposedly having a form that protects them fully.

But when Eternatus came knocking, Calyrex used all his might wielding his sword and shield...and lost. His hounds, scarred from battles past and present, took up their king's weapons and reached their Crowned forms for the first time. This second wind allowed them to finish the job their king started.

However, the cost was grave. Calyrex was too wounded to continue ruling and had to enter his long slumber. His steed went wild without a master over the long-term separation. Meanwhile, knowing that Eternatus will threaten Galar once more, Calyrex left Zacian and Zamazenta with his weapons, giving one last order to defend Galar with them before sleeping.

Future Releases

Rather than a third version, we'll get Sword 2 and Shield 2

Not just because the third legendary isn't really part of a trio the way past games have had. The game sets up a lot of Passing the Torch situations:

• Bede taking over the Ballonlea gym from Opal and becoming a Fairy specialist rather than psychic.
• Marnie taking over the Spikemuth gym from Piers
• Sonia taking on Magnolia's position as the region's Pokemon Professor.
• It's mentioned that Leon took over several of Chairman Rose's projects after the latter's arrest.
• And of course, the main character becoming Champion and ending Leon's streak.

All of this creates a situation where the Galar League and potentially the whole region could look different in a few years, and following up that storyline makes more sense than rehashing the plot from SwSh, especially considering the two have such similar storylines already. Furthermore, if they go in a Black 2 and White 2 direction, they can incorporate other regions in the UK like how Unova expanded to include parts of New Jersey.

• All jossed. The January 2020 Direct confirmed that Sword and Shield will be getting DLC instead of new versions.

DLC will add Unova to the game, or at least the ability to travel to Unova.

Two supporting things for this:

• A lot of Unovan legendaries are present in the game files - seven. While Alola having six can be understood as Sun/Moon were the most recent games, it's still a lot more than Kanto (two), Johto and Hoenn (one each) or Sinnoh and Kalos (none at all), considering as well that Black and White predate the 3DS era.
• A man in the central Pokemon Centre in Wyndon states that he'd like to invite the best trainers from Galar back to his region. What region isn't stated, but another NPC in the building namedrops Unova.

There will not be an expanded version, single game or otherwise

These are the first paired main series games that have the third Legendary appear in the storyline, with the version mascots being left until the post game, making SwSh's story feel more like a third version then previous games. It would be pretty redundant for them to include Eternatus in the plot for an expanded port when he was already the climax boss.

• Half confirmed as there will be no expanded version, but jossed as well owing to the announcement of the two DLC packs.

There will be a plot to implement Mega-evolution into battles.

An in-universe character thought it would spice the battle up even further. To a lesser extend, this includes Z-moves, too.

There will be at least two more DLC packs released after Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra

Two expansions packs bring in around 200 more Pokemon, to a total of 600-ish and almost 300 to go. The rest could easily bring in a hundred more each, and if Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum remakes are announced then there could be a patch coinciding with their release instead of attached to SwSh DLC.

Upcoming remakes will have regional forms of later-generation Pokémon.

For instance, remakes set in Sinnoh could have a Sinnohan Polteageist based on green tea and in a kyuusu or a Sinnohan Falinks based on armored samurai holding sashimono.

Despite what has been said, Mega Evolution and Z-Moves will return eventually.

• Currently there are 435 Pokemon with an additional 200+ returning and 6 entirely new Pokemon coming in the first season's expansion pass, which would raise the number to a hefty 641 Pokemon at the least with only at least mere 255 left unspokemon for. With additional features like Apricorn balls, Move tutors and perhaps loads more coming in the expansion GF may see the possibility of reimplementing Megas (and by extension Primal Reversion) and Z Moves in future. Adding to this, it was recently discovered by a dataminer that Jynx has an unused cry that has the same reverb Mega Evolution applies to a cry, meaning that at least one point in time, Jynx was considered for a Mega Evolution.

Should there be more expansions beyond the Crown Tundra, one of them will be based off of the Scottish Lowlands

While the Crown Tundra was confirmed to be based off of Scotland, it appears to be based off of the Scottish Highlands specifically, further corroborated by Bulbapedia. So, should we get a new expansion after the Crown Tundra, there could be an area based off the Scottish Lowlands, with areas based off of cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Ultra Space Will return or will be incoperatated into the Distortion World

If not for a Sword and Shield Expansion, at least for a Gen IV Remake which would greatly expand the distortion world to potentially have wild pokemon in it in the form of Ultra Beasts.

Mega-evolution will return because of its (in-universe) popularity.

The demand comes from the audience liking the gimmick present in the region next door. In contrast with Z-rings being compatible with Mega Stones by chance, research is made to deliberately fit Mega Evolution mechanics into the Dynamax Band.

When Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl, and Legends Arceus are connected to home, Sword and Shield will have a free update adding in the pokemon from those games.

Sword and Shield are still going to be the official games of ranked battles even after the release of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. But if the pokemon from those games aren't usable in official matches, that deincentivises buying those games. There are only about 60 pokemon in the Sinnoh pokedex (including the Platinum expansion) that are unavailable in Sw Sh, and even with the new pokemon and whatever changes they make, it probably won't be more than about 100. That seems doable for an update.

Unsorted

Z-Power and Dynamax Energy are related

Same energy, different application. Z-Power and Dynamax Energy are both shown to make Pokémon bigger, increase their stats, and allow them to perform souped-up moves. The difference is what's used to harness them. Z-Crystals are said to be congealed Z-Power, and since they would likely have a limited supply within them, once it's drained, it's gone until the next battle. It would also mean they could only be used for Z-Moves. Another interpretation is that Z-Crystals are the impure form of either Wishing Stars or Dynamax Energy. Wishing Stars, on the other hand, are something that can channel Dynamax Energy, and thus allow for a greater range of uses than plain old Z-Crystals, allowing for a Mega Evolution-esque function known as Gigantamaxing. Since it's only available to certain specimens of a species, they'd likely have to be infused with a ton of the stuff to get so big and powerful, similarly to how the Totem Pokémon got huge and gained passive stat buffs from being exposed for so long. The source is from two similar Ultra Beast-like creatures, who can both achieve an exclusve form using their energy (Ultra Necrozma for Necrozma, and Eternamax for Eternatus).

Related to the above-mentioned, Eternatus & Necrozma actually have met each other.

This is just a semi-blind guess based on Eternatus' backstory & appearance, plus the above-mentioned similarity of Z-Power & Dynamax; Eternatus arrived at Galar 20 thousand years ago, and caused havoc soon after until it was sealed, and its appearance is rather crytal-like quite reminiscent of Necrozma itself.

So speculation: What if Eternatus arrived at Galar because it was running away from Necrozma, or rather, based on the time frame, The Blinding One itself? The Blinding One was a benevolent light deity, while Eternatus is a malevolent dark abomination, so perhaps due to that basic difference, the two got into a scuffle where The Blinding One won, forcing Eternatus to flee before it got wiped, and unluckily for Galar, it landed there, tried to recover, but got sealed until present day.

There's a way to give access to Gigantamax forms to your Pokémon that currently locked out.

3 hints to this are Bede's Hatterene, Hop's Corviknight and Oleana's Garbodor, as they have them since their first forms, but Gigantamax Pokémon can only be captured in their final stage.

• Not necessarily true: Leon gifts you a Charmander that can Gigantamax upon becoming a Charizard.
• Confirmed in the Isle of Armor DLC, though it only applies to your starters, for now.
  • Fully confirmed: Max Soup can give the Gigantamax factor to any Pokémon whose species has a Gigantamax form. The reverse is also possible, removing the Gigantamax factor and letting these Pokémon Dynamax normally.

Eternatus & Necrozma were pieces of The Blinding One, and we'll see more of them in future games

Going back to the Z-Crystal vs Dynamax similarity above, there's one other unnerving similarity between Eternatus & Necrozma other than their crystal-like shape and their Pokemon-altering abilities: As mentioned in the character page, Eternatus' name contains part of the Greek word "thanatos", a.k.a., "death". Except that Necrozma's name also contains the word "necro": also "death".

So, either via DLC, Updated Re-release or future games, we'll see more pokemons having the same pattern: Crystalline bodies, names containing some word meaning "death", and abilities that, whether cosmetically in-game or actual game mechanic, alter other pokemons.

There is a legendary Eternatus is secretly connected to, but it's not Necrozma.

Rather, it's Jirachi. Both came from outer space, both hold eldritch power within themselves, and both are closely associated with wishes. Even more juicy, both Eternatus and the anime version of Jirachi take their energy from the land. If nothing else, it could help explain and shed light on what happened in Forina 15 years ago...

• Addendum: Seemingly arbitrarily, Jirachi was not hit by Dexit despite most other Mythical Pokémon getting the axe and, while not available yet, is buried in the game's code. Bizarre coincidence, or hidden link?

Unova was formerly a colony of Galar.

• Not only does it mirror how New York used to be a British colony, but it would also explain why there are so many Gen 5 Pokémon in Galar.

Future Promoted Raid Spawn events

• Valentine's Day/February: Gigantamax Alcremie, Gigantamax Lapras, Togekiss (The first of the three is a giant wedding cake, the second sings beautiful songs, and the third is only seen when there's peace.)
• March: Gigantamax Toxtricity, Gigantamax Flapple/tun, any green Shiny, Shiny Gigantamax Corviknight (March is generally seen as when spring starts. Grass types are sometime associated with spring weather. In addition, the green Shinies could be used for St. Patrick's day. G-max Wind Rage, Corviknight's G-max move, could be seen as the "March winds" part of the old adage, "March winds and April showers bring May flowers.)
• April/Easter: Togepi, Gigantamax Butterfree, Gigantamax Orbeetle, Water-type Pokémon (Togepi is egg-like in shape, and ladybeetles and butterflies are sometimes associated with Easter in media. Similarly to the above, the "April showers" part could be represented as the Rain weather condition, which is something that Max Geyser can definitely do.)
• May: Gigantamax Centiskorch, (Shiny?) Cherrim, Gigantamax Flapple/tun (The weather tends to begin heating up for real around May, which is something Gigantamax Centiskorch is known for. Cherrim would provide the "May flowers" part of the old adage, as well as Flapple/tun, due to being Grass type.)
• June: Gigantamax Melmetal, Gigantamax Charizard, Gigantamax Kingler, Gigantamax Coalossal (June and July are when most Legendary/Mythical code events are held, so a code for Gigantamax Melmetal would likely be distributed around this time. Charizard and Coalossal would represent how June is represented as the start of summer, and Kingler could represent how people like to go play in the water around this time.)
• July: Gigantamax Machamp, Gigantamax Grimmsnarl, Gigantamax Duraludon (A sort of "dump month" for those that don't really fit in.)
• August: Gigantamax Copperajah, Gigantamax Garbodor
• September: Shiny Orbeetle (Kids go back to school around this time.)
• October: Gigantamax Gengar, Gigantamax Grimmsnarl, Gigantamax Hatterene (These Pokémon are based on ghosts, ogres and witches respectively, which are all commonly seen around Halloween.)
• November: Gigantamax Appletun, Gigantamax Alcremie, Gigantamax Covrviknight (Thanksgiving pie, Thanksgiving cake, and Thanksgiving turkey.)
• December: The Delibird event held in 2019, but with an increased chance of being Shiny.

Ball Guy is actually Kurt's granddaughter

The trainer card states that their gender is entirely unknown, so they could just as easily be a Ball Gal. Also, they have access to Apricorn Balls. Parts of the Isle of Armour announcements might compound this—the ability to make Apricorn Balls is returning, and the first Pokemon revealed for the expansion is Galarian Slowpoke, a variant on the granddaughter's favourite Pokemon.

Unown will return, and they'll function like totally new Pokémon.

Since Hidden Power has been discontinued (for now), Unown has no moves at all. Unown will have to return at some point, and either they'll have to bring back Hidden Power (which could potentially wreak havoc with Dynamax as it would allow most Pokémon to use any Max Move except Max Starfall), or they will invent new moves for Unown. There would be a different one for each of the Unown forms, tied to the character they represent, which will have overwhelming power and allow them to catch up to the other Pokémon in usefulness. To prevent users of moves like Sketch, Mimic, Mirror Move, etc. from being overpowered beyond belief, new Abilities would be created for Unown that would be required to use them to their fullest potential.

If Unown were to return, so will Hidden Power.

Not only that, its mechanics will be expanded on:

• An Unown can be attached to a Pokémon to change its HP type.
  • Alternately, Hidden Power's type could be controlled by giving the Pokémon a Hold Item that boosts the power of that type, such as Silk Scarf for Normal, Twisted Spoon for Psychic, and Fairy Plate for Fairy.
• More variant will be added such as a physical version, one that is average power etc.
• An item that, when held by a single-typed Pokémon, will give it a secondary type based in its HP.
• HP type formula will be revised to include Fairy.
  • A corollary is that Hidden Power will always become Max Strike when the user is Dynamaxed or Gigantamaxed, regardless of what type it would actually be. An exception is if the Pokémon has a Normal-type G-Max Move, such as Gigantamax Snorlax, upon which it will become that G-Max Move instead.

Future DLC/Updates will add better raid NPCs.

They can't force Ninendo Online on us forever. Hopefully.

• It would be a sensible idea, considering that the online servers are very unlikely to last forever. The new areas are also a perfect opportunity to introduce more raid NPCs.
• Kinda-sorta? Dynamax Adventures from the Crown Tundra DLC involve you and your three buddies, be they online players or AI, picking from a pre-set pool of Pokémon before heading into the cave. So at least AI helpers there have some chance to be some level of useful.

The G-Max Pikachu and Eevee are your partners from Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Eevee!

You presumably cannot transfer them normally, since you can't do anything to get rid of them. But they love you so much they cross the ocean to get back to you. But, doing so weakens them, like how Ash's Pikachu goes from taking on legendaries to losing to regular pokemon when he changes regions.

• Even if they are weakened, that does raise the question as to why their IVs drop as well. It seems unlikely that crossing the ocean would manipulate someone’s genetics, hopefully.

The Impidimp/Morgrem and Indeedee in the Glimwood Tangle have a symbiotic relationship.

They're both emotion eaters who feed off of frustration and gratitude, respectively. Perhaps the Impidimp and Morgrem get humans lost in the forest to feed off their frustration, then — when they're good and full — lead the humans to an Indeedee, who will then guide the humans out of the forest and then feed off of the gratitude resulting in such an act.

Appearance-wise, Gigantamax Forms will override Mega forms.

If Mega Evolution returns and a Pokemon is capable of both Mega Evolving and Gigantaxing and does so at the same time, it will have the typing, ability and stats of its Mega Evolution, but it appearance will still be overtaken by Gigantamax.

Mega stones are region-locked.

In a sense that it only works on a specific form. For this case, Slowbronite is incompatible with Galarian Slowbro.

If it has both forms, then a Pokémon with a Gigantimax Factor will be incompatible with their respective Mega Stones.

This is similar to how Pikachu, Eevee and Meowth are not able to evolve if they have Gigantimax Factor.

There will be a update to fix every issues from graphics, the remaining missing Pokemon to the main storyline

Fans weren't very happy that about the issues the games have and hoped that a future free full patch would fixed everything.

It will feature underground ruins full of Unown somewhere in the Wild Area

In a fashion similar to that of Ruins of Alph and Solaceon Ruins

There will be 2 more Pokemon added.

There being 898 Pokemon is kind of unsatisfying, so maybe they're planning to add 2 more to get it to 900? Either in the DLCs or base game. However, with BDSP and Legends: Arceus in development already, it's probably unlikely.

The Eighth Doctor is inside the carriage in Route 1.

The Charmander that the player receives from Leon after becoming champion is the offspring of Leon’s Charizard.

Since Galar has nurseries, it wouldn’t be surprising if Leon had caught himself a Ditto and has bred his Pokémon with it. Plus, the Charmander you receive is capable of Gigantamaxing much like its father can.

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