Pokémon Sword and Shield/What's New

Pokémon-related changes

• 80 new Pokémon have been added, as well as 13 Galarian forms of Pokémon from previous generations.
• A few Pokémon have had their stats altered.
• Wild Pokémon encounters are now a mix between generations 1-7 and Let's Go's mechanics. There are overworld Pokémon, but walking into tall grass will sometimes generate shaking grass spots, if you walk into one of these you will be able to encounter wild Pokémon. The encounter tables are separate for grass encounters and overworld encounters.
• New items have been added, with special attention to Nature Mints. These will change the stats that are altered by a Pokémon's nature, but will not actually change its nature (for breeding purposes). This means that you can have, for example, a Pokémon whose nature is Modest but its affected stats are +Atk and -SpAtk, instead of the contrary. These do not require level 100 to be used.
• Hyper Training is back, and still requires the Pokémon to be level 100 to be used.
• Dynamax has been added. It is a phenomenon that allows a Pokémon to become massive for 3 turns. This raises the Pokémon's HP stat and allows it to use super powered versions of its regular moves, similar to Z-moves, for the duration of those 3 turns. However, Dynamax can only be activated in specific places.
• Mega Evolution and Z-Moves have not been included.
• There are 401 Pokémon in the game. Pokémon that are not in the game cannot be transfered in from previous games.
• Mew is the 401st Pokémon, and can still be obtained through the Pokéball Plus, just as in Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee.

Move changes

• Some moves are completely absent from the game.
• However, some new moves have also been added.
• Some minor changes have been made to some previous moves, such as King's Shield only lowering the opponent's Attack by 1 stage if hit, instead of 2.
• Max Moves, moves that can only be used by Dynamax Pokémon, have a much higher base power and cause specific effects when used (for example, stat changes for one of the sides of the battle or setting up weather). There is one Max Move per type, which can be Physical or Special (just like Z-Moves), as well as Max Guard, which replaces any Status move.
• G-Max Moves are special Max Moves that can only be used by Gigantamax Pokémon. Each Gigantamax Pokémon has its own move, and these moves have special effects that cannot be triggered by any Max Move.

Other changes

• The format of the Pokémon League has been altered from an Elite 4 to a tournament style, much like the anime.
• Shiny hunting has received an overhaul, though breeding with the Masuda method still works as before, with the same odds. Without modifiers, the odds of finding a shiny are still 1/4092.