As reported by Serebii (owner of the popular Pokemon website of the same name) on ResetEra, Pokemon Sword and Shield took a little under three years to reach the same milestone. Within its first 16 to 17 months, it sold 21.85 million.

When considering lifetime sales, Pokemon Red, Green, and Blue are still ahead with 31.38 million units sold. Pokemon Sword and Shield is in second place, with current sales at 26.35 million, while Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is in third. Not bad for a title criticized at launch for its extensive technical issues.

The next title in the franchise is Pokemon Legends: Z-A, out in 2025 and set entirely in Lumiose City from Pokemon X and Y’s Kalos region. With Nintendo indicating a launch for Nintendo Switch “systems,” it could launch alongside the console’s successor. Head here for more details on the latter.

The world of Pokemon got one of its biggest shakeups ever last year with the release of Sword and Shield. The game not only brought the ability to play a mainline game on a TV screen for the first time, it also saw a lot of changes to its world structure, and you know the whole PokeDex, which…let’s not even get into that. But it also seems it will change up how post-release support is handled. Instead of the traditional third game or enhanced re-releases, Sword and Shield will get expansions. Ahead of the first one, The Isle of Armor, we got a trailer to highlight it.

The trailer is a very brief one, but it gives you an idea of the expanded parts of Galar with new Pokemon to collect as well as new foes to face in battle. You can read more details about the upcoming expansion through here.

Pokemon Sword and Shield is available now on the Switch. The Isle of Armor will launch on June 17th with a second, titled The Crown Tundra, set to come in Autumn.

Pokemon Sword and Shield is about catching ’em all (check out our guide here for more info). However, there are several other endgame activities that will keep you occupied afterwards like the raids. Soloing the Dynamax Raids might be some of the toughest challenges especially the 5-Star Raids. So how do you go about doing it all on your lonesome?

In Max Raids, you’ll have NPC trainers joining your party to lend a hand, negating the need to be constantly online. There’s a caveat though – their level is roughly 70 percent of yours. So the best option is to make sure your Pokemon are at level 100 before attempting the raid. This will ensure that NPC trainers are their highest possible levels.

5-Star Raids are tougher than the average raid due to attacking several times in a turn and having a 10-turn limit to defeat them. The fight also ends if four Pokemon faint so the higher their levels, the better. Level up quickly from the Battle Tower or use Exp Berries and Rare Candy to make the process quicker.

Boosting Pokemon stats with Vitamins is also key but you’ll want to focus on increasing Attack and Special Attack for that higher DPS. Bring Legendary Pokemon like Eternatus (who’s earned from completing the main story and specializes in Max Raid battles) to further tip the skills in your favour. Held Items are also important for further boosting Attack and Special Attack.

Look for the Choice Specs on Spikemuth and Choice Band on Route 2 – these grant 50 percent extra Special Attack and 50 percent extra Attack respectively. Use Choice Specs on Eternatus and the Choice Band on your next powerful Pokemon and you’re good to go.

In an interesting, unannounced twist, Nintendo’s Pokemon Sword and Shield currently have snow in the Wild Area. This is to celebrate the start of December and is currently affecting all areas within. The snow is more than just for show – it also means that Ice type Pokemon are more common.

So if you’re looking to capture a Sneasel or Vanillish, this is a good time. It remains to be seen if the event will bring any other neat changes or content. If nothing else, it should provide some new sights for veteran trainers as they scour the Wild Area for Max Raid battles and Gigantamax Pokemon.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launched on November 15th for the Nintendo Switch. It sold over six million units in its first week, a staggering figure that’s contributed to a 95 percent market share for Nintendo in Japan. In the UK, it’s the biggest exclusive IP launch of 2019 and helped Switch sales spike in the region. Check out our review of the game here for more details.

Serebii Update: As it is December 1st, it is now snowing in every area of the Wild Area in Pokémon Sword & Shield for every player! https://t.co/gDbXkHSvkT pic.twitter.com/kuTdeFodnn

— Serebii.net (@SerebiiNet) December 1, 2019

Perfectly Balanced

Much like in previous Pokemon titles, you’re not going to want to evolve or even narrowly focus on every Pokemon captured in the early game. Instead, look to create a balanced team especially one that can cover for your starter’s weaknesses. Explore the areas around you and experiment with capturing all kinds of Pokemon. Evolutions for nearly every Pokemon will crop up down the line so don’t worry about putting all your resources and energy into evolving your own from the outset. It’s elementary but still worth remembering, especially for new players.

Set Battles

If you want to up the challenge a bit, look into changing the game’s battle style. Instead of Switch, which asks if you want to change a Pokemon once an opponent’s has fainted, go with Set. This will keep your Pokemon in the fight and force you to deal with potential counters, having to switch without the relative safety provided and so on.

Strong-Looking Pokemon

From the outset, you might be tempted to wander around the Wild Area and catch Pokemon willy nilly. However, you’ll find that certain Pokemon are described as “Strong-Looking”. They’re openly roaming and higher in level than any of your current Pokemon. Capturing them isn’t possible – you need Gym Badges to be “allowed” to capture them – you can defeat them and get some XP for your team. Just be careful because some Strong-Looking Pokemon will massively out-level your own and appear more commonly in the Wild Area as you progress through the game.

Inactive Den Farming

When traversing the Wild Area, you might have noticed some glowing beams. These are dens, which serve as battlegrounds against Gigantamax Pokemon. However, if a den isn’t glowing, you can still interact with it to earn Watts. Watts are a currency used in the Wild Area with certain vendors and going to inactive dens will net 50 of them. So even if a raid isn’t available, keep scouring the area for dens and get those Watts.

Cavalry’s Here

Though Pokemon Sword and Shield shouldn’t push you to the limit all of the time, there will be some battles – like the Max Raids – where you’ll need help. As such, it’s possible to call in backup and have a friend jump in to help out. Just remember that if your friend has a stronger Pokemno, let them Gigantamax it during the fight (since only one can be active on your side at a time and the overall battle has a turn limit).

Minting Nature

In the late game, you’ll have the ability to change a Pokemon’s nature with Nature Mints. Each Mint has its own unique name but will essentially boost one stat while lowering another (with the Serious Mint making all stats equal). After completing the main story, go to the Battle Tower in Wyndon and select three Pokemon to battle with inside. Every win grants three Battle Points and you can purchase a Mint with 50 BP from the vendor.

Mewgenics

Mew was initially the toughest Pokemon to unlock in Pokemon Red and Blue but the process to get it in Sword and Shield is more straightforward. First, you need to have unlocked Mew in Pokemon Let’s Go via the Mystery Gift option. You’ll need a Pokeball Plus accessory for the same. Once that’s done, connect the Pokeball Plus to Pokemon Sword and Shield, choose the Mystery Gift option and viola, Mew is available for you. Is it step up from all the crazy glitches in the 90s? We’ll let you decide.

Poke Jobs

Want to level some Pokemon on the side without having them in every single battle, especially if they’re too weak (and you’re not in the mood for Strong-Looking Pokemon fights)? Try sending them on Poke Jobs. Go to a Pokemon Center and access the Rotomi for a set of jobs. Look for the one that best suits your Pokemon and send them off. Completing the job will net some XP and as more jobs are completed, you’ll get items as well. When a Pokemon has completed a job, you’ll be notified of the same so head back to the Pokemon Center to pick them up.

Respawning Items

The Wild Area will be overwhelming especially at the start but it has its perks. If you see something sparkling, walk up and interact with it to get Poke Balls or even items that can fetch a pretty penny. These items will respawn so don’t be afraid to chart a farming route and just explore the Wild Area in the midst of other activities. Also note that Leftovers can be found while exploring, which provide a nice held item for the early going.

Berry Good

Cooking curry is a pretty important activity since it can increase your bond with a Pokemon and bestow different benefits. Curry is made with berries (yes, seriously) and special ingredients, the latter which is abundantly found in the Wild Area. Berries are found in random places but there’s a certain technique to nabbing them from trees. Be careful of shaking the tree too much since it can cause a Pokemon to attack. Instead, look for the intervals between shakes and grab the berries in those moments.

The next Pokemon games, if not THE major Pokemon game that we’re waiting for, will hit Nintendo Switch this November according to the surprisingly low key press conference that happened tonight in Tokyo. Pokemon Let’s Go! Pikachu and Eevee are the loosely inspired by Pokemon Yellow returns to the Kanto Region that also integrate quite heavily with Pokemon Go, but it seems that while the titles look back on the series past, it will also feature a tease for its future.

The title is set to feature just 152 Pokemon, with a square focus on the original Kanto Native species that players could originally discover across Yellow Version. But according to a comment translated from The Pokemon Company CEO on Twitter from someone at the event, there will be one, all new Pokemon in the game, on top of that classic 151.

No further comments have surfaced clarifying if you can actually catch the beasty, or whether it simply appears as a secret for what’s to come in 2019. There’s precedence for this kind of thing in the series, with Generation 4 Munchlax and Bonsley both showing up prior to the release of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl within the Gamecube companion title, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness.

Pokemon CEO: one completely new Pokemon will be in the game. Completely all new

— Yuji Nakamura (@ynakamura56) May 30, 2018

These titles are an “alternate story” from the original Pokemon Sun and Moon, borrowing much of the core of those games, but making many alterations such as to wild Pokemon distribution, new story events involving the legendary Necrozma and Team Rainbow Rocket, new Z-moves and adding a handful of additional monsters to catch that weren’t available in Pokemon Sun and Moon.

The alternate events of the story revolving around Necrozma and the light of Alola flesh out the backstory of the previously mysterious Legendary similarly to how the Anime gave Zyguard a story. Other new characters are introduced, such as the four members of the Ultra Recon Squad, affiliated with the Aether Foundation but not a part of it. Each version has two members of the squad highlighted, but all will appear in both versions.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Announced via Nintendo Direct in June 2017. According to producer Shigeru Ohmori, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon were worked on by younger members of Game Freak with some key supervision, while the main team began to work on the Nintendo Switch project. Designed as the culmination of their work with the Nintendo 3DS, the development team of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon was about half of what it was for the original Sun and Moon, despite that the games have a script twice as long as their predecessors.

Ohmori would also say in a separate interview that the Ultra instalments first began as an idea formed as Sun and Moon were just wrapping up, with the games intended to take advantage of the momentum afforded to the series by Pokemon Go on mobile. The chance for the younger team members to gain valuable experience working on the Ultra games is said to be in the long run, helping the Switch project along.

Between the reveal in June 2017 and release in November 2017, the game would tease its various new elements and plot points through periodic trailers, starting with a trailer that revealed an expanded story with new locations, new designs for the player characters, expanded roles for characters that got little screen times in Sun and Moon, and a new evolution for Rockruff, which turned out to be a gift for trainers who got the game near launch.

Small trailers would continue to be released, primarily through the Pokemon official youtube channel for the next few months. Trailers would reveal new events like Mantine Surfing, traveling to other Ultra Space dimensions to catch Legendary Pokemon from throughout the series, as well as new Ultra Beast Pokemon to be found in the game. As past games limited changes to new forms to keep perfect compatibility, this is the first time new monsters were introduced within the same generation. New Z-moves and Team Rainbow Rocket, as well as the premise of the story were also introduced.

Story

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are alternate tellings of the events of Sun and Moon, and as such don’t deviate much father than previous special editions such as Pokemon Emerald or Pokemon Platinum do from their paired versions. You are a young boy or girl who moves from the Kanto region to the tropical Alola region, home to tons of new, exotic species never seen before outside that region.

Young trainers in Alola take on the Island Challenge, as opposed to the Gym challenge of other regions. Trial captains challenge the player and their team as they travel the four islands of Alola and the player will eventually conquer the Kahuna of each island before they can move on. Meanwhile, the trainer meets Lillie early on, a mysterious young girl who’s taking care of an even more mysterious Pokemon, with a mystic power and an inability to stay in the bag. Lillie and the island challenge itself eventually wrap the trainer up in the goings on of the Aether Foundation, Team Skull, The Ultra Recon Squad and the mysterious Necrozma.

Gameplay

In the field, as the game is a follow up to Pokemon Sun and Moon, the adventure through the Island Challenge is largely familiar to those who played that game, as you travel through the islands of Alola, find and train Pokemon, take on Trials from Island Captains, take on Kahunas and unravel the mysteries of Necrozma and the Ultra Beasts. The exact steps might change around and a handful of new locations appear and new events occur, but the journey largely feels similar until the ending.

Pokemon gameplay has remained relatively similar for the 21 year run of the series, and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is no different, maintaining all of the large systems from Pokemon Sun and Moon. Pokemon have one or two of 18 different types, from the obvious like Fire, Grass and Water, to the obtuse like Poison and Dark. Pokemon can learn up to four different moves, also matched to these types and go at each other in turn based battles. Trainers can keep up to six different Pokemon on them and level them up to increase their stats, learn new moves and evolve.

There are better resources for a more in depth rundown of how Pokemon’s battle systems work than the above functional explanation. The meta game is altered at a high level of play thanks to the addition of the new ultra beasts, new available moves and new Z-moves, but at the most basic level the gameplay is going to have a flow much like any other Pokemon game.

A couple of new mini games, Mantine Surf and Ultra Space Exploration, both open up new areas to explore. Mantine Surf is a fun mini game players can choose to participate in that moves them between the islands of Alola, where they can show off with tricks and earn BP exchanged for moves and items. Ultra Space Exploration is a post game minigame where you’ll ride either Solgaleo or Lunana through Ultra Space, using the motion controls to dodge hazards and warps you don’t want to take in order to find rare or legendary Pokemon, or even tackle the Ultra Beasts on their home turf.

Characters

Most of the major players of Sun and Moon have a similar, but not identical role in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, including Professor Kukui, Lillie, Guzma, Lusamine, Hau, Gladion, the four Kahunas, and others. In order to avoid repetition, and to avoid spoiling the differences they do show within the game, we’re going to focus on the two new groups of note.

The Ultra Recon Squad is a mysterious group of four individuals with an unknown origin. They speak in stilted, official, almost robotic tones and make it quite clear that they are not native to the Alola region. They appear to be working with the Aether foundation but not strictly as a part of it, and carry with them a never before seen Pokemon. There are four admins, Dulse, Zossie, Soliera and Phyco. Dulse and Zossie are primarily encountered during the story of Ultra Sun and Phyco and Soliera feature heavily within Ultra Moon.

Team Rainbow Rocket appears late in the game to cause trouble first in Festival Plaza and then on Aether Paradise. Giovanni of Team Rocket has brought together the team leaders of all other past Pokemon games, Team Aqua’s Archie, Team Magma’s Maxie, Team Galactic’s Cyrus, Team Plasma’s Ghetsis, and Team Flare’s Lysandre. Each of these team leaders was pulled from a world where they had managed to succeed in their evil ambitions, and brought together under Giovanni and Rainbow Rocket’s umbrella. What does Giovanni hope to achieve by bringing all these terrifying mobsters together?

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon was first leaked through a series of patent filings. Just days after the games leaked, they were officially announced during a Pokemon-centric Nintendo Direct on February 26, 2016. The game was announced as part of a larger presentation that celebrated the Pokemon franchise in general as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the series. The video took users through a kind of history of the Pokemon games and then culminated with the reveal of Pokemon Sun and Moon. While there isn’t a great deal of information about what the new title brings, there has been a trickle of sorts as well as some details leaked in the video.

The video did show off what looked like some changes to the design of items and creatures inside the game. Pokemarts have gotten a different look than what we’ve seen in previous iterations. The Pokemarts look like they’ve been given a more modern look.

The games do not have an official release date, but Nintendo has said they will be ready to play by the “Holidays” of 2016.

Story

During the reveal of Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, Nintendo did not reveal any details of the story. The game was indicated to take place in a new setting though. When the video showed one Water Gym, there is a palm tree in the middle of the courtyard. This would seem to indicate at least part of the story is going to be taking place in a tropical location. The Pokemon centers also have a different look than previous games with a mix of mushrooms and a more tropical setting. Vehicles appear to play a part in the game as well..

Gameplay

The Nintendo Direct video did not share a ton of information about new gameplay features. What we do know is that the video showed some new vehicles that might be used in some way within the Pokemon universe. Some images show Pokemon riding on the back of  a truck. There are a number of different trucks that appear throughout the game, including pickup trucks and fire trucks. It’s unclear whether or not players will be able to actually drive these in cooperation with the Pokemon beasts they have captured, or whether they will be part of the NPC background in the game.

The biggest feature when it comes to gameplay is this game will be able to sync up with the Pokemon Bank. The Pokemon Bank serves as a kind of online storage application which makes it possible for players to move their collection of Pokemon wirelessly from Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue, and Pokemon Yellow into Pokemon Sun and Moon. These other Pokemon titles which have been announced as working with Pokemon Bank were entered into the Nintendo Virtual Console on the Nintendo 3DS on February 27, 2016. Pokemon from Pokemon Omega Ruby, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, Pokemon X, and Pokemon Y can also be transferred to Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon through Pokemon Bank.

This Pokemon Bank is taking center stage when it comes to new and old Pokemon games alike. Players are able to access the bank online from any computer or mobile device. This means characters that have been captured in previous versions of the game can be played with in Pokemon Sun and Moon. The bank has a number of different search functions that allow for players to find exactly the Pokemon creatures they want and put them into the game at any point during the playthrough.

Characters

The Nintendo Direct presentation did not shed any light on specific Pokemon characters that would be inserted into this game. Every title in the franchise has introduced some new characters to the franchise while reintroducing existing characters from previous titles. While there aren’t a ton of Pokemon characters that were officially named, there are some characters which seem to have been teased. Blastoise and a few other Pokemon appeared in pictures of the trucks shown off in the reveal. There is also an unnamed flying creature which was very briefly shown off.

Using the Pokemon Bank, it appears players of earlier games in the series will be able to port Pokemon from those versions into this new title. By all accounts, any characters that are from earlier games in the franchise can be ported into Pokemon Sun and Moon. There have been some characters which have made appearances in all, or almost all of the games in the series and will likely make an appearance in this game as well.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game

However, GameFreak does have something else up its sleeve: HarmoKnight, a platformer where you both attain killer rhythm and measured platforming success that is confirmed to release on March 28th.

The whole point of the game is to follow the usual platforming tropes but making music in the meanwhile. Think of it as the atypical rhythm game but without the on-screen prompts. You’ll be collecting musical notes, which adds to the whole musical arrangement part of the rhythm game, while also beating back enemies to continue onward.

Simple but quite effective, HarmoKnight will be arriving as a digital download on the 3DS eShop. If you want to test the game first, then you can look for a demo online roughly a week after the official game release according to Nintendo.

Source: CVG

Nintendo has dropped the Pokebomb by announced a brand new 3DS title called Pokemon X and Y, and we have some new details on it courtesy of Nintendo Direct.

There was also a debut trailer released during the event, and we don’t really have it now but we will attach it to this post later once Nintendo officially releases it.

Nintendo, it seems, has run out of names for its Pokemon games as it has named it Pokemon X and Pokemon Y. It will be made by Gamefreak and will be released sometime this year exclusively for the 3DS.

“The worldwide launch of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y this October allows players to begin their adventures at the same time,” said Tsunekazu Ishihara, CEO of The Pokémon Company. “Now, Pokémon fans across the globe can discover the secrets of Pokémon games and can collect, battle, and trade with each other immediately.”

“We brought Pokémon into an entirely new dimension and we’re incredibly excited to bring Pokémon X and Pokémon Y  to fans,” said Junichi Masuda, video game director at GAME FREAK inc.

“The stunning visuals, a completely redesigned environment, game scenario, music, and communication features will bring smiles to the faces of video game players around the world.”

The more you battle with your Pokemon, the stronger your bond will become, according to the trailer. There’s a lot more details like how it will be the first fully 3D Pokemon title and it will feature all new gameplay as well.

Stay tuned as this story is developing…

We also have the screenshots for the same: