Pokemon Sword and Shield Receive Impressive Screenshots, Art, and Starter Details

Tomas Franzese February 27, 2019 10:02 AM EST

Following the reveal of Pokemon Sword and Shield, the first screenshots, art, and details about the starter Pokemon have been released.

About an hour ago, Pokemon Sword and Shield were revealed for Nintendo Switch by The Pokemon Company, Nintendo, and Game Freak. They take place in the brand new Galar region and feature three brand new cute starter Pokemon: the Grass type Grooky, the Water type Sobble, and the Fire type Scorbunny. Following the game’s official reveal, several screenshots and new pieces of art were released for the game.



Pokemon Sword and Shield’s first screenshots show a wide variety of things. While we don’t have any screenshots of the starters in-game, we do see Pikachu and Minccino in one of them. Outside of that, we see a few different town players can visit, ranging from countryside towns to industrial and snowy cities. We also get a glimpse at some of the cave, countryside, and tundra routes in Pokemon Sword and Shield as well as what getting into a battle looks like.

When it comes to the new art, we see the entirety of Galar, which seems to be more vertical in structure than previous regions; that being said, this makes the various kinds of environments and topography within Galar very discernible. The rest of the art focuses on Grooky, Sobble, and Scorbunny, giving us our first isolated images of them following their appearance together during the Pokemon Direct.

In addition, we’ve learned some more about the three aforementioned starters in the press release that went out alongside this reveal. Grooky is classified as the “Chimp Pokemon” and is said to be “mischievous and full of boundless curiosity.” Next is the “Water Lizard Pokemon” Sobble, who is described as a “stealthy” Pokemon that “shoots out attacks as it hides itself in water.” Sobble’s my personal favorite.

Finally, we have Scorbunny, who will also be known as the “Rabbit Pokemon” and has been deemed to be “bursting with energy” and “always running about.” While the starter designs for Generation 8 are all a bit quirky and unlike anything we’ve seen before, I’m still looking forward to seeing them in action.

You can check the game’s first screenshots and art below. Pokemon Sword and Shield are currently poised to arrive exclusively for Nintendo Switch sometime in late 2019.