Game Freak premiered a brand-new showcase Tuesday which highlighted a lot of new information regarding the upcoming Crown Tundra DLC for Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. The showcase ran nearly seven-minutes and featured news about what fans can expect to find when they travel to the Crown Tundra, as well as other announcements pertaining to Pokemon Home and how it will impact Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. Here is everything announced during the Crown Tundra showcase.
Returning Pokemon
One of the biggest draws of the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLCs are the returning Pokemon that were previously left out of Sword and Shield. As of the time of writing, there are currently 350 Pokemon that are unobtainable and non-transferable to the games. In the gameplay clips, several Pokemon were seen that are set to return with the launch of the DLC:
- Nidoran (f)
- Nidorina
- Nidoqueen
- Nidoran (m)
- Nidorino
- Nidoking
- Zubat
- Golbat
- Magmar
- Dratini
- Dragonair
- Dragonite
- Magby
- Crobat
- Slowking (Galarian)
- Swablu
- Altaria
- Lileep
- Cradily
- Absol
- Spheal
- Sealo
- Walrein
- Beldum
- Metang
- Metagross
- Gible
- Gabite
- Garchomp
- Magmortar
- Audino
- Tyrunt
- Tyrantrum
- Amaura
- Aurorus
- Carbink
- Bergmite
- Avalugg
This is likely not every Pokemon returning with the DLC, especially if the recent Pokemon datamine is to be believed. Considering Magmar is coming back, it's likely that Electabuzz will be returning as well - and will perhaps be exclusive to either Sword or Shield. There are also some returning fossil Pokemon, so perhaps players will see the return of all the fossils and not just those shown in the trailer. It's worth noting that this list is just the regular Pokemon, not Legendary Pokemon, as the Legendary Pokemon will be covered further down.
Galarian Forms
Several Pokemon in the Crown Tundra are receiving Galarian forms, or so it would appear. The three Legendary Birds of Kanto are receiving new forms (as well as appearing as their Kanto forms via Dynamax Adventure). These birds come with new typing and likely new moves as well. Articuno goes from Ice/Flying to Psychic/Flying, Zapdos goes from Electric/Flying to Fighting/Flying, and Moltres goes from Fire/Flying to Dark/Flying. Many fans hope that these other Legendary Pokemon will receive Galarian forms if Game Freak continues doing DLC for Sword and Shield.
In addition to the Legendary Birds, Galarian Slowking has also been revealed. Fans knew this Pokemon was coming due to the introduction of Galarian Slowpoke and Slowbro, but the design had been kept secret until this point. Galarian Slowking maintains the Poison/Psychic typing, and has a unique move and ability. The unique move, Eerie Spell, does damage and drains the PP of the last move a Pokemon used by 3. Their unique ability is Curious Medicine, which resets stat changes when Slowking enters battle - potentially very dangerous for competitive battling.
The Dynamax Adventure
The Dynamax Adventure is arguably the biggest selling point of The Crown Tundra. It is a co-op dungeon crawler of sorts, where players will dive deep into the Raid Dens and encounter several Dynamax Pokemon and potentially returning Legendary Pokemon. This game mode features several paths to take, and the team will vote on which one to go down.
However, to add to the difficulty of the Adventure, players will have to pick rental Pokemon rather than coming in with their stacked team. During the adventure, players will be given an opportunity to swap out their rental Pokemon for ones caught during the dungeon crawl, but only one player at a time can do this. The following Legendary Pokemon are confirmed to be coming back in this DLC:
- Articuno (Kanto)
- Zapdos (Kanto)
- Moltres (Kanto)
- Mewtwo
- Raikou
- Entei
- Suicune
- Lugia
- Ho-Oh
- Regirock
- Regice
- Registeel
- Latias
- Latios
- Kyogre
- Groudon
- Rayquaza
- Uxie
- Mesprit
- Azelf
- Dialga
- Palkia
- Heatran
- Regigigas
- Giratina
- Cresselia
- Cobalion
- Terrakion
- Virizion
- Tornadus
- Thundurus
- Reshiram
- Zekrom
- Landorus
- Kyurem
- Xerneas
- Yveltal
- Zygarde (50%)
- Silvally
- Tapu Koko
- Tapu Lele
- Tapu Bulu
- Tapu Fini
- Solgaleo
- Lunala
- Necrozma
- Eternatus
- Zacian
- Zamazenta
- Urshifu
- Articuno (Galar)
- Zapdos (Galar)
- Moltres (Galar)
- Regieleki
- Regidrago
- Calyrex
Galarian Star Tournament
Another big selling point of the DLC is the Galarian Star Tournament, a 2-on-2 battle against the Gym Leaders and Rivals from this generation. Players will be allowed to pick a partner out of all of the contestants to battle alongside, and then face off against the other teams of two. Players will even get to see new interactions with these characters that will bring out a new side of them that players may not be expecting. Not much else is known about the Tournament or what the rewards will be, so players will just have to take on the challenge to find out!
A Lot of Hats and Pokemon Home
A new promotion has started, aimed to give players some unique flair with some Pikachu. These Pikachu are adorned with Ash's hat from the animated series, and there are several of them. The promotion is ongoing, and new codes will be given out for Mystery Gifts of these Pokemon. Two of the Pikachu are now available to get using the Mystery Gift feature in-game. The codes for the Pikachu are P1KACHUGET and 1CH00SEY0U.
Also announced during the presentation, Pokemon Home is finally getting Pokemon GO integration. Game Freak is looking to have the implementation of this done by the end of the year. When live, players will be able to transfer Pokemon from Pokemon GO to Pokemon Home, and doing so will spawn Meltan in Pokemon GO and unlock a special Gigantamax Melmetal in Pokemon Home. Currently this is the easiest way to get these two Mythical Pokemon for those not hardcore into Pokemon GO. According to Serebii, this process will have a cooldown that can be subverted by paying PokeCoins in Pokemon GO.
Release Date
Lastly, one of the biggest announcements of the stream was the release date for The Crown Tundra. The DLC is scheduled to launch October 22. In November, Game Freak will be releasing a special packaged version of Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield that will include the base game and the Expansion Pass for those players who are late to the Galar region.
For those that haven't already, it's worth checking out the new Pokemon music video that debuted alongside the Crown Tundra trailer today, animated by Bones Inc. and performed by Bump of Chicken. Any die-hard Pokemon fans are sure to catch some feelings with this one.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are available now for Nintendo Switch.