It’s the year 2019, and you’d think auto-saving is something every single game ever made now would have. But Pokemon does what Pokemon wants, and the mainline series has never had an auto-save feature. Well, that might be about to change with the upcoming Pokemon Sword and Shield, as per what many fans have spotted in the game’s newest footage (via Eurogamer).
During their latest Direct presentation, Nintendo showcased a new video for Pokemon Sword and Shield, talking about extended customization, camping, and more. At about the 00:45 mark in the video, as the player is entering a building, you can see the “Now Saving…” text appearing in the top-right corner. There’s multiple ways you can spin this, but the most obvious conclusion is that it’s the game auto-saving. Take a look at the timestamped video or the screenshot below.
Not having auto-save is something that Pokemon fans have often used to their advantage in the past. Everything from IVs and natures to shiny Pokemon spawning and battles with Legendaries, save-scumming and soft-resets are often utilized by many Pokemon players. This could be something that pisses off a lot of people- unless it’s optional, of course. Then again, auto-saves might also mean that the game will finally support cloud saves, which last year’s Pokemon Let’s Go didn’t.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are out exclusively for the Switch on November 15.