The Pokémon Direct Offers a Remake of POKÉMON MYSTERY DUNGEON and DLC for SWORD and SHIELD Offering 200+ New Pokémon
This morning was the first Pokémon Direct of the year, and we got quite the announcements! First, it was revealed that we were getting HD remakes of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games for Nintendo Switch. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team will be combined into Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX, which will offer improved graphics that honestly remind me of the 100 Acre Woods levels in the Kingdom Hearts games. This will be available on March 6 with a demo available later today. You can also pre-purchase the game later today.
Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Passes are the other big thing that was announced. These passes are DLC that you’ll be able to purchase and it is being compared to Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. It looks like we’re Galar Slowpoke and evolutions, new customization options for characters, and even new Pokémon including Venasaur and Blastoise (both of whom will have pretty cool Gigantamax forms). The Galar starters are also getting Gigantamax forms.
The Isle of Armor is the next chapter of the story with a new, more tropical location that we’ll be able to explore. The theme for this chapter was labeled “growth.” On the island, we’ll find a dojo for training with our Pokémon and meet Mustard, who was Leon’s mentor and will now be your new mentor. Depending on your version, you’ll also gain a new rival. In Sword, you’ll meet the Poison-type user Klara while in Shield, you’ll meet Avery, a Psychic-type user. You’ll also gain a new Legendary Pokémon named Kubfu who is a Fighting-type Pokémon. He’ll be able to evolve into Urshifu who has two distinct styles. Single-Strike Style Urshifu is Fighting/Dark, and Rapid-Strike Style is Fighting/Water. Both styles will have a Gigantamax form as well. They’ll also bring new mechanics into the game including the return of turning apricorns into Pokeballs! This will release in June 2020.
The Crown of Tundra is the second chapter of the DLC. Here, players will find a very cold and snowy area instead of a more tropical climate in the Isle of Armor. The theme here is “exploration.” Additional Pokémon are being added including Calyrex, a new Legendary. It is Psychic/Grass and looks like a weird reindeer. In the Crown of Tundra, the Regis will be making their appearance, and it looks like two new Regis are also becoming a thing. Players will also gain access to a new cooperative mode where you explore caves and meet old Legendary Pokémon who Dynamax. It appears that there may even be some Galar forms for the Legendary Birds. Many of these will also be catchable. We were also promised new Battle challenges in-game, but they didn’t expound upon that. It will be available in fall 2020. Sword and Shield will offer different versions of these expansions with unique Pokémon and characters.
Over 200 more Pokémon are being added to these expansion passes. Game Freak will be providing free updates around the release time of the expansion passes to allow everyone to use the Pokémon added in them. This will allow users to trade these new Pokémon from these new areas or import them through Pokémon Home which will release in February 2020 or simply trade with their friends.
A new update is going out today as well that will introduce your new rival from Isle of Armor and a Galarian Slowpoke you can catch. It can’t evolve until you get an item from either the Isle of Armor for Slowbro or Crown of Tundra for Slowking. When you purchase the game, you’ll also gain new bonus items that look like new uniforms with either Pikachu or Eevee on them.
I’m very excited to learn more about these expansion passes, and they sound like fantastic additions to the game. You can pre-purchase the Expansion passes later today for $30.