What Tuesday’s leak means for the Sword and Shield Expansion Pass

On Tues Jun 2, 2020, the new expansion pass for Pokemon Sword and Shield leaked the information fans of the franchise have been waiting for. With less than a couple weeks away, the first DLC will be action-packed for trainers to explore on their own!

The time has almost arrived for Pokemon fans to rejoice as the first expansion pass in the Pokemon franchise will be available for the Nintendo Switch titles of Sword and Shield. This was reminded to the players of the franchise with a video released by Nintendo that would normally air during their time at Nintendo Treehouse.

This video contained a great detail of information that answered plenty of questions for trainers, and of course creating new ones. The anticipation for trainers to get started on the first part of the expansion pass with the Isle of Armor is only the beginning of what trainers are looking forward to.

Extended Pokedex in the Galar Region

The video begins with a Galarian Slowbro asleep from the camera angle when the player is in Pokemon Camp mode. The sequence of everything that the expansion pass includes follows after the leak of the Galarian Pokemon awakens.

The mystery to what the evolution of Galarian Slowpoke would look like, but it still left questions unanswered; like what is the type of Pokemon for Galarian Slowbro? What will Galarian Slowking look like? How does a player evolve their Slowpoke to obtain one if not each of these new forms? Of course, the leak in Tuesday’s clip did not want to give everything away. The rest is left for the trainer to figure out when making the first encounters on the Isle of Armor.

The video continued with what is the most important demand for trainers in the expansion pass: adding more Pokemon that were left incomplete from the Galarian Pokedex. Since the announcement of the games a year ago, the franchise faced a great deal of controversy for leaving out the National Pokedex for the first time in the game’s history. The expansion pass being released had a target goal of putting a great deal of that controversy to rest. The first minute of the video includes Pokemon that were not available before in Galar. This big reveal will motivate any Pokemon collector to finally catch the Pokemon they wanted to see from prior games of the franchise. Advertising this in the video drives more players to be motivated to purchase the expansion pass to access even more Pokemon on their Sword and Shield game file.

Another lingering surprise that fans were relieved in seeing was the debut of final evolutions and their Gigantamax forms of the Kanto starters. With the importance of Charizard has with the main plot of the Pokemon Sword and Shield, it was only a matter of time that Blastoise and Venusaur would join finally accompany their fellow Kanto starter Pokemon.

The video shows the player’s character interacting with another NPC that has both Bulbasaur and Squirtle alongside the opposing trainer. The next scene shows both Pokemon in their final evolved stages in full G-Max form using a signature finishing move. Dedicated Pokemon fans since the first generation games would be pleased to finally interact with these original Pokemon. It is a key cornerstone of what will be available in the expansion pass.

Kubfu and Urshifu and their Fighting destiny

The storyline that involves the new Pokemon, Kubfu, and how the player raises the Fighting-type Pokemon took up a good half of the following minute. The trainer will be taking this Pokemon to two different paths to see what final evolution Kubfu will evolve into; Urshifu. Urshifu will evolve into Single or Rapid Strike Style depending on training Kubfu in the Tower of Darkness of the Tower of Water. The variety of training this new Pokemon varies with the player’s battle strategy, but make the Pokemon more desirable to the collector who would love to own one of each.

The remainder of the video left details regarding the second DLC that is part of the expansion pass with the Crown Tundra that featured the next legendary Pokemon, Calyrex. The story of the Crown Tundra will focus on the player’s interaction with this legendary Pokemon and its importance to Galar. The remainder of the video featured what other older Pokemon will be featured in this part of the game, followed by encounters with Legendary Titans, the legendary Pokemon of the Hoenn region.

The video also hinted at more interaction of other legendary Pokemon from prior games. Every single version mascot legendary Pokemon was featured in a G-Max raid. This is exceptional for new players that have not played the older games and even better for older fans who are looking to add to their collection in Pokemon Home.

New and Old Legendary Pokemon coming to Galar

It is even more exciting for trainers to look forward to being the new legendary Pokemon that they would want to catch as soon as possible. The Legendary Titans are including two new members that will be a part of their collective. Regieleki and Regidrago will be the two new legendary Pokemon that will also have a contribution to the plot in the expansion pass. That is not the only alternate form of legendary Pokemon.

The Legendary Bird Trio will have alternative forms in the Galar region. Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres will have Galarian forms and different type than their Kanto forms. The Galarian Bird Trio will be Psychic, Fighting, and Dark (respectively in the same order) with their unique abilities that enhance their power.

The remainder of the video showed major events in the plot that will take place in both parts of the expansion pass. The DLC will play in favor of two new rivals that will be type experts, with Klara in Sword who is a Poison-type expert, and Avery in Shield who is a Psychic-type expert.

Both trainers will have ambitions of becoming gym leaders in the Galar region and will carry another storyline in the expansion pass. The player’s starter Pokemon will also gain a G-Max form for the final evolution of whatever Pokemon they chose. There was also important detail of a doubles match that the player is challenged by Leon and Raihan, which also displayed more Pokemon that were not available in Sword and Shield.

The video ended with the pricing of the expansion pass for both DLCs for each local region. For the expansion pass for the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra will cost $29.99 in the Nintendo eShop. The shortcut to purchase the expansion pass is available on the pause screen. The final advertisement for anyone who pre-ordered the DLC will be given exclusive clothes from the Galar region that the player can change into. For the trainers who love accessorizing their character in the game, that promotion caters to them specifically.

The release of part one of the expansion pass will happen on Jun 17 with the Isle of Armor. Trainers are more than excited to make this purchase and play what more Pokemon has to offer to its dedicated players and fans.