Pokemon Sword And Shield: What Are These Mysterious Symbols?

The eighth generation of Pokemon games, Pokemon Sword and Shield, have finally been revealed. The trailer, which you can watch above, shows off the new starter Pokemon, a new region, and how Pokemon will look on Nintendo Switch. But it also has a few shots that raise more questions than they answer.

At two points in the trailer, you can see stones with symbols carved into them. These symbols are different from previous Pokemon puzzles, like Gen 2’s Unown and Gen 3’s braille, and they could just be decoration–the new region, Galar, might be inspired by England, and these could be Stonehenge-esque stones. But they’re featured prominently in their respective shots, so it’s hard not to wonder.

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Also shown in the trailer is a large carving in a hillside of what might be a Pokemon. Aside from another indication that this might be an England-inspired region, it could represent a legendary Pokemon; it appears to be both breathing fire (or smoke) and shooting out lightning bolts, and there are small figures at its feet that seem to be having a bad time.

In more regular news, the trailer revealed the new Gen 8 starter Pokemon, and Sword and Shield have been confirmed for a late 2019 release.

EVO 2019 Lineup Drops Smash Bros. Melee in Favor of Ultimate

The Evolution Championship Series has unveiled the lineup for this year, and tournament regular Super Smash Bros. Melee didn’t make the cut.

The GameCube title has been a part of the event for over 10 years, but won’t be making an appearance at EVO 2019 when it kicks off in Las Vegas this August 2 – 4.

The longtime tournament favourite (which outlasted both Brawl and the 3DS/Wii U sequel) has been replaced by the most recent Smash Bros. game, Ultimate.

Melee got a send-off in the form of a thank you video during the reveal livestream yesterday, suggesting that we may not see the brawler show up in the competition again.

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Daily Deals: Add 400GB to Your Switch for $60, OLED TVs, Gaming Laptops, More

Welcome to IGN’s Daily Deals, your source for the best deals on the stuff you actually want to buy. If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

We bring you the best deals we’ve found today on video games, hardware, electronics, and a bunch of random stuff too.Check them out here or like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get the latest deals.

sandiskultra400gbmicrosdxcSandisk Ultra 400GB Micro SDXC Card for $62.30

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Where To Pre-Order Pokemon Sword And Shield For Nintendo Switch (US)

In a Nintendo Direct earlier this morning, Nintendo announced two new Pokemon games, which are titled Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. The two games will arrive on Switch in late 2019, marking the first main series Pokemon games to arrive on the console. The Direct also gave us a brief look at the games’ gorgeous new region, Galar, and the three new starter Pokemon: Grookey, a grass monkey; Scorbunny, a fiery rabbit; and Sobble, a shy water lizard.

More information, including the exact release date, will be revealed in the coming months, but if you’re already mentally throwing your money at Nintendo and counting down the days, pre-orders for the game are slowly opening up. Best Buy, Amazon, and GameStop already have listings for Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield live on their sites, so you can pre-order the games right now. We’ll update this post as more retailers begin offering pre-orders.

Where to pre-order Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield

Pokemon Sword

Pokemon Shield

Pre-order bonuses for Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield

As of right now, the only pre-order bonus available is at Best Buy, where you can receive $10 reward credit for pre-ordering one of the Pokemon games. However, to be eligible, you must be a Best Buy member. Signing up for their membership program is free.

Complete Guide to Pokemon Sword/Shield’s Preorder Bonuses

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It’s official: the full 2019 Pokemon game for Nintendo Switch is called Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. The pair of games is slated for release in “late 2019” and will be set in a new region called Galar, which bears some resemblance to England. The starter Pokemon this time around are a grass chimp named Grookey, a fire rabbit named Scorbunny, and a water lizard called Sobble.

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Pokemon Sword And Pokemon Shield – Official Reveal Trailer

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New Pokemon Starters: Sword And Shield’s First Gen 8 Creatures Revealed

As part of a special Nintendo Direct to celebrate Pokemon Day, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have finally pulled back the curtain on Pokemon Sword and Shield, the series’ upcoming eighth generation titles for Nintendo Switch. On top of revealing details about the games’ setting, we got our first look at their brand-new set of starter Pokemon, which represent the first Gen 8 Pokemon.

As in previous Pokemon games, players will be presented with a choice of three different Pokemon when they first begin their adventure in Sword and Shield. This time around, the options will be the Grass-type chimp Grookey, the Fire-type rabbit Scorbunny, and the Water-type lizard Sobble. You can see all three of them below.

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No other new Pokemon have been revealed yet, but we did get a glimpse at a ton of returning Pokemon, including a handful from Sun and Moon–you can see all the Sword and Shield Pokemon in our gallery. Sword and Shield are set in the new Galar region, which appears to be based on Britain and spans idyllic countryside, rustic towns, and frigid mountains.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are being directed by Shigeru Ohmori, who also served as director of Sun and Moon. Based on the footage revealed thus far, Sword and Shield appear to be much more traditional takes on the series than the recent Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee; random encounters seem to be back, and players will once again be able to battle wild Pokemon before capturing them. It’s also been confirmed that Gyms are returning after they were dropped from Sun and Moon. We also spotted some mysterious symbols, though it’s unclear what significance they have, if any.

Pokemon Sword and Shield release exclusively for Nintendo Switch in late 2019. That doesn’t appear to be all that awaits Pokemon fans this year, however. Toward the end of the presentation, The Pokemon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara teased that the company has “plenty in the works for the Pokemon brand that we hope will delight you.”

Starters Announced for Pokemon Sword and Shield

GameFreak announced the three starters coming to the freshly announced Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield games for Nintendo Switch.

Players will be able to choose the grass chimp Grookey, the fire rabbit Scorbunny or the water lizard Sobble in the all new Galar region for these 8th Gen Pokemon titles.

Starters

When detailing the starters, director Shigeru Ohmori described Grookey as a mischievous Pokemon full of boundless curiosity, Scorbunny as always running about, bursting with energy, and Sobble as a bit timid, shooting out attacks as it hides itself in the water. Evolutions for the starters were not shown during the Direct.

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Pokemon Sword and Shield Announced for Nintendo Switch

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have announced Pokémon Sword and Shield.

The announcement was accompanied by the first footage of the newest Pokémon title and the reveal that it will take place in the Galar region.

We also got a glimpse of the new grass, fire, and water starters – the Chimp Pokemon Grookey, the Rabbit Pokemon Scorbunny, and Water Lizard Pokemon Sobble.

The trailer showed Pokémon battles, beautiful backdrops, weather effects, and so much more.

As for more on the Galar region, it is said to contain many environments, including “idyllic countryside, contemporary cities, thick forests, and craggy, snow-covered mountains.”

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Pokemon Sword And Shield’s New Galar Region Looks Very Familiar

Nintendo debuted the new Pokemon RPGs coming to Nintendo Switch this year during its special Pokemon Nintendo Direct. In the process, it revealed a lot about its new setting. Pokemon Sword and Shield are set in the Galar region, and the gameplay video gives some sense of the real-life setting that inspired it.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, Galar looks to be very heavily inspired by the UK. It’s full of cottages and Victorian architecture, and an overview even showed a tall clock tower that appears similar to the famous Big Ben tower in London, England. The setting also appears to offer a variety of weather types, including winter weather that requires a change of clothes. You might also notice some mysterious symbols scattered throughout; we’re not sure if they have any significance at this point, but they could prove to be significant.

The names “Sword” and “Shield” also invoke imagery of Medieval knights, often associated with English history. In a tweet from 2018 that may have slyly teased the game, Game Freak specifically tagged Nintendo of Europe. At one point in the trailer the player character dons a soccer-like uniform and enters a huge stadium, which contributes to the European feel.

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This wouldn’t be the first time Pokemon has been set in a region inspired by Europe. While many of the earlier Pokemon RPGs have been set in areas based on Japanese settings, the Kalos region of Pokemon X and Y was based on Paris and the surrounding French countryside. Other notable non-Japanese regions have included Unova from Black and White (based on New York City) and Alola from Sun and Moon (based on Hawaii).

The debut also laid out the three new Gen 8 starters, and they’re just adorable. We’ve also rounded up all the Pokemon in Sword and Shield we’ve seen so far.