For the past week or so now, there have been a decent number of leaks coming out on the new game. A lot of people have been avoiding spoilers like the plague and, while I can understand doing that for something like wanting to find out about new species of Pokémon on your own while playing, there have definitely been some things revealed that made me question wanting to get the game. So I thought I'd list some things here that could technically be considered spoilers, but that I think people generally wouldn't mind knowing about before hand, and which people may even WANT to know about before deciding to get the game. For the people who have decided to get the game, aren't sure what starter to get, but are worried about being spoiled on other dex entries, here are the starter evolutions, all divided into their own spoiler tag: Spoiler: Starter Evolutions Spoiler: Grookey 2nd stage Thwackey, Grass type Spoiler: Grookey 3rd stage Rillaboom, Grass type Spoiler: Scorbunny 2nd stage Raboot, Fire type Spoiler: Scorbunny 3rd stage Cinderace, Fire type Spoiler: Sobble 2nd stage Drizzile, Water type Spoiler: Sobble 3rd stage Inteleon, Water type And now onto the list of the new changes, features, bugs, and so on that you can expect to see in the game. This list is subject to change as new information is discovered, so be sure to check back regularly to stay up to date. Spoiler: Good features There are a TON more trainer customization options than there have been in the past (down to being able to change gloves, even), and also you're given a ton of money at the start of the game and have access to a boutique pretty early on, so you can do a decent amount of customization right from the start. Music for this game is pretty awesome, as it usually is in Pokémon games, and even includes a battle theme composed by Toby Fox. Spoiler: Part of Toby's song if you're interested No one knows where this song can be heard yet. It's now possible to spectate local competition matches through a LAN connection. Spoiler: Bad/Weird features and changes Pokémon aren't the only things that have been culled in gen 8, there are also a fair number of moves that no longer exist. If a Pokémon is transferred with a move that no longer exists in the game, you'll get the message "This move can't be used" along with the recommendation that the move should be forgotten. The Z moves and the moves specific to Pikachu and Eevee from the Let's Go games were a given, but in addition to this, there is also the full list below of moves that have been removed from the game. (It's a lengthy one.) Spoiler: List of all removed moves Karate Chop, Double Slap, Comet Punch, Razor Wind, Jump Kick, Rolling Kick, Twineedle, Sonic Boom, Dragon Rage, Meditate, Rage, Barrier, Bide, Mirror Move, Egg Bomb, Bone Club, Clamp, Spike Cannon, Constrict, Kinesis, Barrage, Bubble, Dizzy Punch, Flash, Psywave, Sharpen, Spider Web, Nightmare, Feint Attack, Foresight, Return, Frustration, Magnitude, Pursuit, Hidden Power, Smelling Salts, Assist, Refresh, Snatch, Secret Power, Camouflage, Mud Sport, Ice Ball, Needle Arm, Odor Sleuth, Silver Wind, Grass Whistle, Signal Beam, Sky Uppercut, Water Sport, Miracle Eye, Wake-Up Slap, Natural Gift, Embargo, Trump Card, Heal Block, Wring Out, Lucky Chant, Me First, Punishment, Mud Bomb, Mirror Shot, Rock Climb, Magnet Bomb, Captivate, Heal Order, Ominous Wind, Telekinesis, Flame Burst, Synchronoise, Chip Away, Sky Drop, Bestow, Heart Stamp, Steamroller, Rototiller, Ion Deluge Relevant to the last point, apparently single-use TMs are back. Not all TMs are single use, but apparently a lot of the good ones are. It seems like you can buy multiples, but it's really expensive to do so. Apparently these are actually supposed to act like a replacement for move tutors, but they also include moves like Thunderbolt and Earthquake. Volume control is locked behind a key item that you get by talking to an optional PC. Yeah. Obviously you can still control the volume on your switch or TV, but if you want to adjust the sounds of the Pokémon cries, the music, or anything else specific like you could from the start in LGPE, no, you have to get an in game item to do that first. You can't catch Pokémon that are above a certain level threshold if you haven't progressed far enough in the game yet. Yeah, the obvious thing to do would be to just scale the level of the mons you find to the number of badges you have, but no, instead you can still encounter a higher level mon, you just can't catch it. Hopefully no one runs into a shiny and are prevented from catching it because of this. Edit: Apparently it's coded into the game to make it impossible for a Pokémon that's too high of a level to catch to be shiny. (Thanks to Wizard for pointing this out.) It's still kind of a weird design choice, but I'm willing to give them props for thinking that one through! Wild areas are just as empty as everyone worried they would be. Random weather effects sometimes cut off at weird points and look really jarring, and can also do weird things like harsh sunlight at night. The background for indoor battles is just essentially a blank white background with some white tiles as a floor, which apparently looks nothing like any of the building interiors where those battles take place. Spoiler: Other notable changes/features You can't soft reset for shinies of most Pokémon you would be able to reset for in previous games. Legendaries are all shiny locked/event exclusive, starters are also locked, but you can still breed for shiny starters. (Not putting this under bad changes since it's not too different from how things were done in gen 7) The GTS is gone. So far there's speculation that it might be integrated with Home. This is speculation, but worrying speculation, since if Home ends up being a subscription-based thing like Pokémon Bank, that would mean you need to pay actual money in order to trade Pokémon. (Not immediately listing this under a bad change since it's still a lot of speculation.) I've also heard a rumor from a few people that there are about 30 Pokémon coded into the game that aren't listed as available. There are theories of them being a possible DLC that you'll have to pay for, but there's no evidence that this is definitely the case and it's entirely possible that it'll be based on event distribution or that it could just be junk code for Pokémon that were originally intended to be added, but were removed last second. Right now, there's no way to tell for sure and this might not actually mean anything, but I figured I would post it just in case to clear up any misconceptions that might be linked to this. Edit: These seem to be transfer-only Pokémon, which means that the dex is slightly larger than we previously expected it to be! (Thanks to Uber-Dan for pointing this out.) Spoiler: Known glitches (most likely will be fixed eventually) There appears to be a glitch, possibly only on digital copies of the game, involving autosaving that can delete all of your saved data, not just for Sword and Shield but for all games saved on your switch. Regardless of whether you have a digital copy or a physical copy, play it safe for now and disable autosaving. Edit: This seems to be happening specifically with ex-FAT format SD cards. (Thanks to Shadria for sharing this!) It also seems that it doesn't actually delete save data. The saves will appear to be gone at first, but will reappear after rebooting the game. However, it will delete the actual game data on the SD card, meaning you'll have to redownload all of your games again if the glitch occurs. There have also been some rumors that this is only happening on modded switches or hacked games, but it's been confirmed to happen on unmodified switches/games too so be careful. Apparently there are some weird background issues. Sometimes when entering into a battle, the background will be the wrong one for the setting where the battle takes place. In addition to weird background glitches, there are also some glitches with music sometimes not playing, both in battles and in towns, with one instance being during the battle against the legendary Pokémon. I debated putting this one in, but I think it's important to prevent misinformation. There are rumors of game-breaking bugs that sometimes end in hard-locks/crashes that were recorded on streams. These streams were recorded using hacked games. Currently it's believed that the hacks were used for things such as duplicating items, not to intentionally break the game to make it look glitchier than it actually is, but it is possible that these crashes and other bugs were caused by the hacks not playing nice with the game code. (It is also possible that there was malicious intent behind it from the start, but I'm willing to give the ones responsible the benefit of the doubt.) -------------------------------------- Thanks to Duo for suggesting putting the starter evolutions in the thread, and also to Shadria and Dawn for posting these last two points in this thread. Uber-Dan also included a pretty good link, but when I checked it before making these updates, the site it linked to was down.
I found a page with more stuff. Some was already said here but other stuff wasn't. Link: (spoiler warning): https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1636611-pokemon-sword-and-shield
May I also add that besides the backgrounds sometimes messing up, music has been reported to not work all the time too. The legendary (box art boys) theme has many reports of not playing, leaving the event/battle in eerie silence (and apparently it happens for some towns as well). I also have yet to hear where/how Toby's song plays despite several people already beaten the game and filling in the dex. Part of me is hoping that either no one has found it yet, or they're keeping it secret but another part is fearing it's also broken like the legendary theme.
Well... most of these tidbits are a bit disappointing. Although I'm sure the background thing will probably be fixed in a Day 1 patch or something.
It seems like the more I find out from the leaks, the less I want to buy the games. I don't think I'll be buying them this time around, at least not right away.
Another thing I think worth mentioning is this: Spoiler There have been an additional 30 something Pokémon found within the game's code that cannot be encountered in the games. There is the possibility that these will be part of a paid DLC expansion - given current trends, it is more likely that most of them will be, rather than free content. This could mean an additional narrative expansion, or it could not. Just bear in mind that, for the "full" experience of these games, you may have to pay extra. Or there may be free content after launch. Interpret this how you will, but I think it worth knowing.
I've updated the list with a couple more points, including starter evolutions for people who are getting the games and a couple of positive points and clarifications. Sorry it's been so negative so far, most things that could be considered positives are either too subjective, spoilers-y, or there's just not enough information on to make a good addition to the list. I'm really interested in being able to camp with your Pokémon, for instance, but no one's really talking about that.
Spoiler According to Serebii these are transfer ony Pokémon and consist of starters from gen 1 and 7, legendary/mythical Pokémon from gen 1, 5, and 7, Jitachi, Meltan, and Melmetal.
There have been some more updates, including clarifications to previously made points as more information is coming out. Since there are a lot more people with access to the code now and people will start getting the games today/tomorrow, the original post will probably have a lot of edits made to it throughout today, so be sure to check back for updated information. I'm probably going to work on reformatting this post soon since it's starting to get kind of lengthy just so it's better organized and easier to read.
Huh. This is the first time since Gen 1 where I outright liked all three Starter Evolutionary Lines. Except Sobble. I still don't like Sobble, but I do like its evolved forms. I also like how they made Grooky a drummer. But since Scorbunny is the first Fire-Type Starter line I have no problems with since Blaziken (Infernape was all right I guess), I think I'm sticking with my original choice (Scorbunny) for now, and then I'll just try and get the other starters ASAP.
A major glitch has been added under the glitch tab. This one is game breaking, so make sure to check that out.
@Wolf Expert People are now saying it's not just Autosave causing it, there have been reports of people getting this massive glitch without Autosave on! No idea if it's digital only at this point either so everyone be super freaking careful while playing (or wait until a patch is made) ITS DUE TO A ISSUE WITH THE SD BEING 'exFAT' FORMATTING. IF YOUR CARD IS exFAT IT CAN HAPPEN. @Wolf Expert
I remember something similar happening with Smash bros Ultimate where counterfeit SD cards old on Amazon caused corrupted saves. It's possible this may be the same thing happening.
@Uber-Dan Possibly but people with store bought SD Cards/non-hacked Switches have reported this as well. Switch doesn't have good drivers for exFAT SD cards so this can happen with digital games (or re-wiring houses according to a report from a few months before SwSh). Homebrewers discovered this first as, you know, hacking does cause weird things to happen- but something with SwSh's digital copy is also triggering the same crash/ 'corruption'. The problem isn't as bad as originally thought as save files are safe within the Switch's NAND/OS- you just have to re-download all your digital games (if they're still available).