Pokémon Sword and Shield

Pokémon Sword and Shield are the first entries in the series' Eighth Generation, taking place in the UK-inspired region of Galar. One major change setting these games apart from the others is the complete absence of data for any Pokémon not in the Galar Dex (with some exceptions), with Game Freak citing balancing issues as the reason why it would have happened sooner or later.

Sub-Pages#

Development Info Prototype Info Prerelease Info Unused Pokémon DataWe're sorry, fellow Shiny hunters. Unused ItemsArceus really wants to have its plates back! Unused AbilitiesAre Mega Evolutions balanced? Unused TextOh no! It seems that the forces of the universe don't want you to read these messages. Unused Move DataThese moves are not allowed in the Galar region. Unused Trainer DataLet's assert some dominance!

Unused Audio#

A short jingle which never gets used anywhere in-game. This Track may have been intended for the Rotom Rally, as the official Soundtrack lists contains this on Disc 2, Track 27, as ロトムラリーでゴール！ ("Reach Goal in Rotom Rally!"), but remains not heard when actually reaching the goal in an Rotom Rally.

A short arrangement of the Gym Leader theme. It is likely that this was supposed to play in a cutscene, as the song does not loop.

An unused arrangement of Eternatus' theme.

Unused Graphics#

Early Screenshot#

Present in the game's files is an early screenshot of Pokémon X and Y depicting a Pikachu fighting a Chandelure. Unlike the final game, there are no outlines on either model, and the UI has been lifted straight from Pokémon Black and White, although the Pokémon names are using a different font. Oddly, there is no notation of genders next to the Pokémon levels.

This image would soon surface as a fully-playable prototype in a source code leak of X and Y.

Placeholder Graphics#

An handwritten image of the kanji character 川, titled "col_kawa".

A nondescript circle placed with the Pokémon type icons.

A placeholder TM type label, with Hiragana translating to "dummy".

Two images found with the graphics that denote the language of a Pokémon's origin game (again with Hiragana translating to "Dummy").

Present with the status affliction graphics is a label reading ダミー_状態異常 ("dummy_abnormal condition").

Unused/Unseen Models#

Applin's Body#

Despite never going out of its apple, Applin has a fully-modeled and textured body underneath it. Applin's body would later be seen in-game for the first time in New Pokémon Snap.

Allister's Face#

Despite never taking off his mask, Allister has a fully-modeled and textured face underneath it. His face can be seen in-game via a rare version of his League Card, though.

Gym Challenger Trainer Classes#

All Fifteen Type Specialist Gym Challengers that can be encountered during a Champion Tournament have models based off their original Trainer Classes that are never seen in-game. The Challenger models are listed before the unused variants, for instance tr0114_00_seedWater1 for the Gym Challenger followed by tr0115_00_seedWater2 for the unused Trainer Class model (in this example Vega, who's based off the Lass). There are some notable differences between the Champion Tournament Gym Challengers and the unused standard Trainer Class models that allude to the latter being built off earlier models for their respective Trainer Classes. These include:

• Yue wearing different contact lens.
• Kent wearing a somewhat earlier hat model and has different eye shapes.
• Vega's hair does not cast a shadow onto her face and her eyes were made slightly longer.
• The shading on Cher's Knee is unfinished.
• The bottom of Icla's hat is unshaded in the Gym Outfit model.
• Dunne's left eye being a flipped version of his right eye.
• Theemin's bowl hat using a texture reminiscent of that found in the prototypes.

seedNormal1 (Used)	seedNormal2 (Unused)

seedSky1 (Used)	seedSky2 (Unused)

seedWater1 (Used)	seedWater2 (Unused)

seedPoison1 (Used)	seedPoison2 (Unused)

seedGround1(Used)	seedGround2 (Unused)

seedSteel1 (Used)	seedSteel2 (Unused)

Unused Shirt#

inn0009_00_tshirt is an unused shirt featuring a crudely-drawn Pikachu. Presumably a placeholder of some sort.

Oddities#

Meltan's evolution status#

To do: Second paragraph isn't necessary.

While Meltan and Melmetal are officially an two-stage evolution line, and are able to be obtained in the game via transfer from Pokémon GO with Pokémon HOME, Meltan cannot evolve into Melmetal outside of Pokémon GO. Because of this, the game considers Meltan as not being able to evolve. This means it cannot gain a boost from the item Evolite, which gives a defense and special defense boost to Pokémon that can evolve.

On the contrary, in Scarlet and Violet, Ursaring, another Pokémon that has an evolution (Ursaluna) that it can currently only achieve in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, is treated as being able to evolve and is able to obtain the stat boosts from Evolite, even though the Peat Block item is unobtainable in the game.

Version Differences#

To do: Incomplete.

Version 1.1.0#

• In this version only, using Fairy Lock with animations enabled crashes the game immediately. This is a regression from the original release, where Fairy Lock worked correctly. Since no Pokémon can legitimately learn Fairy Lock in this version, this bug can only be seen by calling Fairy Lock via Metronome.

Version 1.1.1#

• The Fairy Lock glitch described above was fixed.

Version 1.2.0#

Version 1.2.1#

• Basic legality checks were added for Max Raid battles received from other players. In the previous versions, it was possible to use cheating devices or other hacks to spawn Max Raids with glitch Pokémon and invite others, allowing them to catch the glitch Pokémon. These glitch Pokémon could then be used to duplicate items and Pokémon in an extremely similar vein to the Missingno. glitch from Generation I, even giving the exploit the unofficial title "Missingno raids".

Version 1.3.0#

Version 1.3.1#

This version fixed two bugs:

• If a Pokémon used Toxic by being targeted by Instruct, or by the Magic Bounce ability, any move used on the same turn was guaranteed to hit, even if the opposing Pokémon was in the semi-invulnerable turn of moves such as Fly or Dig. This bug was carried over all the way from the Generation VI games.
• If a Pokémon used Rollout or Ice Ball and broke a Mimikyu's Disguise or an Eiscue's Ice Face, it would increment the move counter but not the damage multiplier. If the Pokémon then completed Rollout/Ice Ball successfully, the final damage multiplier that would normally be applied to Rollout/Ice Ball was instead applied to the next move used.

Version 1.3.2#

• A bug was fixed related to the inclusion of Kyogre and Groudon in the Expansion Pass Part 2. The developers neglected to remove the check that prevents the moves Trick and Switcheroo from switching the Blue Orb/Red Orb away from or to Groudon/Kyogre. Because these items do not exist in the game's coding, the game instead checks if either the user or the target have no held item instead. This was fixed.