The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo announced new details for the Pokémon Sword Expansion Pass and Pokémon Shield Expansion Pass, downloadable content for the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. The first set of content, The Isle of Armor, will launch on June 17, 2020, and the second, The Crown Tundra, launches in the autumn of 2020. The Expansion Pass is available for purchase in Nintendo eShop. Newly discovered Pokémon, new Gigantamax forms, exclusive moves, and more were also revealed.
Watch the Pokémon Sword and Shield ‘Explore the Isle of Armor’ Trailer:
The Pokemon Company has revealed a new trailer for the entire Expansion Pass, giving us a better look at the new features coming to the game with the two DLC packs, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra.
Aside from the release date, we were also introduced to two new Pokemon from the Regi family – Regieleki (electric-type) and Regidrago (dragon-type). We were also introduced to Galarian Slowbro, a poison/psychic type with a new move, Shell Side Arm, which is unique to this form. We also learned more about the Galarian forms of the original legendary birds that we were introduced to earlier this year: Galarian Articuno is psychic/flying, Galarian Zapdos is fighting/flying, and Galrian Moltres is dark/flying.
The Isle of Armor will bring Gigantimax forms of all three final evolution starter Pokemon – Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon, adding powerful new G-Max moves to their skillset. The Isle of Armor will also add in Pokemon that did not appear in the main game, such as Azurill and Chansey. A series of new Pokemon will also be brought to the game across the Expansion Pass, including new legendaries such as Kubfu, Urshifu and Calyrex.
Here’s Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass’ image gallery. Click on any of these image thumbnails to see the full-size screens:
We’re still yet to learn about the release date for The Crown Tundra, the frosty second expansion pack which was revealed back in January.
The expansion pass marks a new step for the Pokemon franchise – which has previously preferred to release new versions of the same game, or semi-sequels.