It’s safe to say at this point that fans are divided over Pokemon Sword and Shield. In the months leading up to their launch yesterday, one of the biggest frustrations (and reasons Sword and Shield have been review-bombed) has been the fact that the games ditched the series’ National Pokedex feature, cutting down on the classic Pokemon that appear.
But not all of the fan-favorites are missing in the latest Pokemon RPGs. Amid all of the new Pokemon that players encounter in the Galar region, players can also come across one of the most classic of pocket monsters, the Generation 1 starter Charmander. This probably won’t come as much of a surprise, since it’s been known that its final evolution, Charizard, is among the Pokemon with the new Gigantamax forms, but that doesn’t tell players where they can find the tiny Fire-type lizard in Sword and Shield, or when.
How To Access Charmander
Just to be upfront, it’s not likely that players will be able to get their hands on Charmander during the games' main story. While it’s possible to encounter Charmander and its evolution line as boss Pokemon in Max Raid battles, the chances of that happening are very slim.
There’s only one surefire way to unlock Charmander, and that’s by completing Pokemon Sword and Shield and defeating the Galar Pokemon League champion, Leon. As the final boss of the games’ story, Leon sports a stacked team of Pokemon consisting of Aegislash (Steel-Ghost), Dragapult (Dragon-Ghost), Haxorus (Dragon), Mr. Rime (Ice-Psychic), Inteleon (Water), and Charizard (Fire-Flying), and all of them are level 64 or higher. He won’t be easy to beat, in short.
Where To Find Charmander
Should they beat the odds, defeat Leon, become champion, and watch the credits roll, players will then find themselves back in their house in their hometown of Postwick. They’re going to want to head from there to the home of Hop, Sword and Shield's rival character and Leon’s brother, and go up the stairs to Hop’s room (the one with a few dozen caps on the shelves). There, lying in the middle of the floor, they’ll find a Pokeball with a Charmander inside, along with a note from Leon saying that the vintage Pokemon is a gift.
Unfortunately, this gift starts off pretty weak, as it’s only level 5 when players find it. Also limiting things a bit is that, like Sword and Shield’s starter Pokemon, Charmander doesn’t have a Shiny form. But on the plus side, by this point players will still have access to a number of high-level battles with wild Pokemon and trainers throughout the Galar region. So long as they start these battles with Charmander before swapping it out, they should be able to boost its levels and get it into fighting shape in record time.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are available for the Switch.