New Pokemon RPGs, Sword and Shield, Announced During Special Nintendo Direct

Early this morning, the Pokemon Company took over Nintendo’s channels with a special Nintendo Direct — or rather Pokemon Direct — stream. The stream didn’t last long; in fact, it took up less than 10 minutes. But it provided enough information to get fans of Pokemon excited.

As it turns out, the company has been hard at work on a new set of Pokemon RPGs, titled Pokemon Sword and Shield. These games take place in an all-new region — the Galar Region.

Galar is a diverse area featuring terrain ranging from fields and meadows to snow-covered mountains. Players can also expect to explore expansive contemporary cities, where they’re sure to meet plenty of interesting characters.

As with all Pokemon RPGs, Sword and Shield start players out with one of three “starter” Pokemon, who will be their companion throughout the game. As Galar is a completely new region, it only makes sense that these will be never before seen Pokemon.

The first Pokemon is a mischevious Grass-type Chimp Pokemon, known as Grookey. Grookey is incredibly curious, which probably means he’s going to get into a bit of trouble. 

The second is the incredibly energetic Scorbunny. As the name indicates, this one is a Fire-type Rabbit Pokemon.

Finally, there’s the shy, and therefore stealthy, Sobble. This Water-Lizard Pokemon hides in water while shooting attacks at its opponents.

What other features players can expect from the game were not revealed during the announcement. That said, players probably won’t have to wait too long to find out. As it turns out, the Pokemon Company and GAMEFREAK intend to release both games on Nintendo Switch later this year.

There’s no official date yet, but we do know it will be a simultaneous global release. This seems like an excellent move considering the Detective Pikachu movie will have released by then, most likely increasing the number of people interested in picking up their first ever Pokemon game.

It should also be noted that before the Pokemon Direct came to an end, the company stated that fans should also keep an eye out for more announcements. It seems the Pokemon Company isn’t done with us yet.

If you’re interested in watching the announcement, you can do so in the video above. We’ve set it to start at the right point, but just in case it doesn’t behave properly, the announcement begins about 29 minutes in.