Although Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield was mostly absent from the Nintendo E3 2019 Direct, the games did take the stage for just a quick moment. During that brief Pokemon plug, Nintendo confirmed that the upcoming Switch games will have some Pokeball Plus support, but there is a catch.

The Pokeball Plus launched alongside Let's Go and functioned as both an alternate controller and a way to take Pokemon out of the game and for walks out in the real world. In Pokemon Sword and Shield, the Plus will not be available as a controller at all, but it will be possible to take Pokemon out of the game with the ball.

Players can transfer a Pokemon from the game to the Pokeball to take it out for a walk and then return to the game to possibly claim some kind of reward. At this point, Nintendo has not confirmed what those rewards will be or how frequently they can be claimed.

It seems likely that there will be other ties to recent Pokemon games like Let's Go and Pokemon GO when the game launches, but nothing else has been confirmed just yet. We are going to learn a lot more about Sword and Shield during the Treehouse event today, so be sure to come back for more news soon.

Be sure to check back throughout the week for more E3 2019 leaks, new, and updates. Until then, good luck out there, trainers!

Pokemon Sword and Shield launches on November 15, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.