Pokémon Shield (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.3.2 Update + DLC

Pokémon Shield is 2019 a role-playing video game developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch console. They are the first installments in the eighth generation of the Pokémon video game series. First teased at E3 2017 and announced in February 2019, the games were released in November 2019. The games were accompanied by a downloadable content (DLC) expansion pass consisting of Part 1—The Isle of Armor (released in June 2020) and Part 2—The Crown Tundra (October 2020).

GAMEPLAY

Pokémon Shield is a role-playing video game with adventure elements. They are usually presented in a fixed camera, third-person perspective, although sometimes they also allow free camera movement. The player controls a young trainer who goes on a quest to catch and train creatures known as Pokémon and win battles against other trainers. By defeating opposing Pokémon in turn-based battles, the player’s Pokémon gains experience, allowing them to level up and increase their battle statistics, learn new battle techniques, and evolve into more powerful Pokémon. The player can capture wild Pokémon through wild encounters by weakening them in battle and catching them with Poké Balls, adding them to their party. The player can also battle and trade Pokémon with other players via the Switch’s connectivity features. As with previous Pokémon games, certain Pokémon are only obtainable in either Sword or Shield, and the player must trade with others to obtain every Pokémon from both versions.

Sword is set in the Galar region, which consists of numerous cities and towns connected by a route system. There is an open world area in the center of the region known as the “Wild Area”. Random encounters with wild Pokémon typically occur in tall grass or bodies of water along routes or the Wild Area, and they might chase or run away from the player depending on their disposition. The player occasionally battles notable trainers in cities, towns, along routes, and in the Wild Area. The driving force bringing the player to travel around the Galar region is to participate in the “Gym Challenge”, an open tournament to decide the greatest Pokémon Trainer (the Champion) in the region. Eight of the game’s cities and towns are homes to stadiums housing “Gym Leaders”, powerful trainers specializing in certain types of Pokémon; beating a Gym Leader will grant the player a “badge”.  After collecting all eight Badges, the player will be allowed to participate in the “Champion Cup”, where they will face off in a single-elimination tournament against the previously faced Gym Leaders and other trainers in the Gym Challenge. After they emerge victorious, the player will face the reigning Champion of the Galar region.

PLOT – SETTING

Sword and Shield are set in the Galar region. The region is inspired by the United Kingdom, with its many landmarks resembling places such as Bath, Somerset, and York. Within the Galar region lie countryside towns featuring cottages and Victorian architecture to the south. There are also Industrial Revolution and steampunk references. Many of the region’s towns and cities feature Pokémon Gyms stylized like football stadiums, showcasing the games’ Dynamax and Gigantamax mechanics Snow-covered mountains dominate much of the northern areas of the region. Encompassing a large portion of the south-central part of the region is the Wild Area, an open-world area with numerous roaming Pokémon species. Weather in the Wild Area changes regularly.

PLOT – STORY

Similar to many previous games in the Pokémon franchise, the player travels across the region to become the strongest trainer, fighting eight powerful trainers called Gym Leaders and eventually the region’s Champion. The player and their best friend, Hop, receive one of three starter Pokémon: Grookey, Scorbunny, or Sobble from Leon, Champion of the Galar region and Hop’s older brother. Afterward, the two explore a forest called the Slumbering Weald but are driven off by a powerful Pokémon. During their subsequent visit to the region’s Pokémon Professor, Magnolia, and her granddaughter Sonia, they convince Leon to endorse them to take part in the Gym Challenge.

After traveling to the next city to register for the Gym Challenge, they encounter rivals Bede and Marnie along with Team Yell, a devout group of hooligans who act as Marnie’s unintentional fanbase and are determined to stop anyone else from completing the Challenge. The player also meets Chairman Rose, who, in addition to endorsing Bede as a Gym Challenger, presides over the Galar Pokémon League and the region’s main energy company, Macro Cosmos. As their quest continues, the player assists Sonia in her research on two Legendary Pokémon who saved Galar from an ancient crisis called the Darkest Day and deduces that they are the same Pokémon previously encountered in the Slumbering Weald.

After beating the eight Gym Leaders, including Piers, Marnie’s older brother and the leader of Team Yell, the player makes their way to Wyndon where they win the Champion’s Cup, earning an opportunity to battle Leon. Hop and the player then head to a hotel to meet with Leon, but he does not come. With help from Piers, Marnie, and Team Yell Grunt they get the keys from Chairman Rose’s guard and make their way to Rose Tower. They reach the top of Rose Tower and battle with Rose’s assistant, Oleana, and find Leon who is talking to Rose. Rose reveals his intentions to trigger the Darkest Day to solve a power crisis “thousands of years in the future.”

Leon, Hop, and the player head home. The next day, before the battle between the player and Leon can commence, Chairman Rose awakens the legendary Pokémon Eternatus in an attempt to harness its power to provide unlimited energy to Galar, purposefully triggering a second Darkest Day. The player and Hop return to the Slumbering Weald and secure the aid of the legendary Pokémon, Zacian, and Zamazenta, through a sword and shield they find in the ruins, to defeat Chairman Rose and Eternatus, after which the player catches Eternatus and Rose’s hands himself over to the authorities. Three days later, the player faces and defeats Leon in a battle and becomes the new Champion of the Galar region.

NEW FEATURES

The games introduce several new features to the series, which include cooperative raids, the Wild Area, and the temporary transformations Dynamax and Gigantamax; Dynamax allows Pokémon to transform into gigantic sizes, and Gigantamax which is limited to selected Pokémon additionally alters Pokémon’s physical appearance and replaces their Dynamax Max Move battle technique for the exclusive G-Max Move. The Wild Area is a fully explorable open-world area with free camera movement and dynamic weather, which has implications on which Pokémon species appear at a given time.

A new mechanic called “Poké Jobs” tasks the player’s Pokémon with completing requests, such as assisting in construction or cooking, to gain experience or rare items. Pokémon Gyms returned in the games after being absent in Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The games have version-exclusive content such as certain Pokémon and Gym Leaders. A new ‘Camp’ mode allows the player to interact and play with their Pokémon as well as cook different types of curry to provide them with bonuses. New customization options for the player character have been added, like outerwear and other accessories. Similar to Pokémon Sun and Moon, many Pokémon previously introduced in older games reappeared in regional form in the games, gaining new types, statistics, appearances, and evolutions.