Many Pokemon players have pla൲yed a game in the series before. But, it's totally possible that you haven't played one in years, or that you have never played a Pokemon game at all. Sword & Shield might be your first foray back into the series, or your first Pokemon game ever.

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While the game has a built-in tutorial for all of its new features, things move fas🎃t and are sometimes not explained super clearly. If you're looking to get a grasp on what's going on, look no further. Here are some of the basic things you need to know about Sword & Shield before you start.

10 ꦚ Galar and Pokemo⭕n

map of galar

So, to keep it basic, what are Pokemon? These creatures, of which 🔴there are around 900, depending o⛎n how you count, are basically animals or monsters that can battle one another using a variety of moves, skills, abilities, and items. One of your main tasks is to catch all of them, filling up your Pokedex, which is a handy device that collects information on the Pokemon you've caught. You'll do this around the Galar region.

The Galar region itself is the setting specifically made for Sword & Shield. Each generation features a new region based on some part of the real world. Galar is based on the United Kingdom, featuring many British cultural references. You'll start your adventure in the smallꦺ village of Postwick.

A huge new draw for the Galar region 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:is its large Wild Area, which is the first time a main series Pokemon game has featured an open-world setting with Pokemon visiওble on the overworld and free cameraℱ controls.

9 Main S༒tory

research assistant sonia

Every Pokemon game features a main, o🥀verarching story separate from your own quest to defeat all eight gyms and take down the region's reigning Champion. In Sword & Shield, the main story is that of Chairman Rose — a powerful CEO of the Macro Cosmos company — attempting to revive Eternatus, a powerful Legendary Pokemon, to create an endless supply of energy.

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The player will need to help Sonia, a researcher, find the heroic Pokemon who helped prevent ✃the Darkest Day brought on by Eternatus many years ago.

8 ꦦ Gymꦏ Challenge

pokemon sword gym leaders

Aside from the apocalyptic storyline, the player will need to complete the Gym Challenge. This process involves registering, receiving an endorsement, and challenging the eight gyms of the region and168澳洲幸运5开奖网: their respective leaders.

The Gym Challenge in Galar is like a huge sporting event in real life. People come from all over to watch in huge stadiums and those who do well are heralded as celebrities. Once you've defeated all eight gyms, you can head to Wyn💮don for the Champion's Cup, where you'll face off against the other Gym Challengers tournament-style and then eventually face the Champion.

7 𝐆 Leon and Hop ൩

leon and hop

Two important characters in the game, both in the Eternatus storyline and during the Gym Challenge, a⛎re brothers Leon and Hop. Leon 🐲is the current reigning Champion and is said to be undefeated. You'll see a lot of him throughout your travels, and if you manage to defeat him, you'll take his Championship title and become the new Champion of Galar.

Hop is his younger brother who idolizes him. Hop will serve168澳洲幸运5开奖网: as the "rival" in your travels, accompanying you and challenging you regularly to t🤡est yꦍour skills.

6 ♔ How to Trade

sword shield ycomm surprise trade

On top of battling and collecting Pokemon, one of the most important aspects of the game is trading. This can be extremely helpful in finishing your Pokedex or getting a hold of a rare Pokemon you might want to use in battle. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Some Pokemon even evolve when traded.

There are a few ways to trade. The first is through a Link Trade, available in Y-Comm systeꦚm by pressing Y on your controller. Here, you can trade with someone over the internet or local connection. You can set a Link Code as a sort of password if you're looking for someone specific, who can enter the same password to join you.

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You can also do a Surprise Trade. With this, you deposit a Pokemon of your choice and receive a rand🍌om stranger's Pokemon in return.

Last, there are some NPCs who will trade with♒ you for a certain Pokemon, which they'll state, around the region.

5 Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra ♏

pokemon sword shield expansion passes isle of armor crown tundra

While Galar is the main region of Sword & Shield, you may have heard about the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra. These are two DLC expansions that feature new areas by the same name. Both function like the Wild Area, as open-world settings. They both contain their own storylines, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:new Pokemon, and much more.

The Isle of Armor came first and revolves mainly around a dojo, which the player can join. The Crown T🌟undra is a frigid area to the south of the Galar mainland and revolves around helping a man named Peony discover Legendary Pokemon.

4 Dynamax

gigantamax starters inteleon rillaboom cinderace

One of 🐠the most prominent features introduced in Generation VIII is the Dynamax phenomenon. This is basically a mechanic that only exists in Galar. Due to the presence of energy that leaked from Eternatus thousands of years ago, Pokemon are able to undergo a temporary tr♒ansformation when near Power Spots. They grow much larger, gain a boost to their stats, and the nature of their attacks change.

Some members of particular species168澳洲幸运5开奖网: are capable of Gigantamax. It functions basically the same way as Dynamax, but the Poke🃏mon's appearance slightly changes and they are capable of certain species-specific moves.

3 🅠 Max R🐟aid Battles

zweilous max raid battle

One of the most prominent uses of Dynamax in the games is Max Raid Battles. These are special battles where 🎉you team up with three other people and attempt to take down a large Dynamaxed or Gigantamaxed opponent (usually inside a Max Raid Den), which you can the🎃n try to catch.

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There are a few of these battles as part of the game's story, but they mostly take place in the Wild Area and the two DLC areas. You can team up with NPCs or with others online. These battles have five difficulty levels, noted by stars on the ra🦋id screen.

You can only use a single Pokemon, and you receive only one chance to catch the raid boss if you defeat it. Occasionally, Nintendo holds special events where certain Pokemon appear in Max R🐭aid Battles more frequently.

2 🍌 Version Differences ꦉ

gym leader bea and gym leader allister sword shield differences exclusives

If you're wondering why th🌃ere are typically two Pokemon games introduced alongside one a⛄nother, it's because they feature slight differences. Almost everything is the same, but they can vary in a few minor ways.

One of the differences between Sword and Shield is the🧸 gyms. In Stow-on-Side, players with Sword face Fighting-type user Bea, while players with Shield face Allister, who uses Ghost-types. In Circhester, Sword players will have to defeat Gordie and his Rock-type Pokemon,ও while those with Shield will battle Melony and her Ice-types.

Some Pokemon are exclusive to either version, too. Notably, the game mascots — Zacian for Sword and Zamazenta for Shield — are excಞlusives, as are some ꦑothers like Stonjourner (Sword) and Eiscue (Shield). Some items are also exclusive to either version.

Furthermore, those who purchase the Isle of Armor expansion will have different rivals depending on their version. Sword players will meet Klara, who specializes in Poison-types, while Shield players will meet A🧜very, who uses Psychic-types.

1 𒐪 Dexit Explained ♚

fearow pokemon lets go

If you've heard anything about Sword & Shield on social media or elsewhere online, it was probably about Dexit, or people saying "Bring Back the National Dex." What does this mean? In summary, new Pokemon are introduced every generation and carry over to the next generation. But, in Sword & Shield, Game Freak, the developers, decided that🔯 not all previous generation Pokemon w💃ould be included.

This sparked outrage and controversy, since many people thought their favorites or their battl🔯e teams would be cut. Others felt that Game Freak lied, because they said they were cutting Pokemon to focus on other things that fans felt never came to fruition, or were excuses to avoid backlash.

This was colloquially titled "Dexit," which is a play on the National Pokedex and Brexit, since the games are based on the United Kingdom. Since the original announcement, Game Fr▨eak has now introduced around 200 initially-cut Pokemon via the two DLC expansions, but many are still missing.

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