Your quest to catch ’em all just expanded.
It’s a big week for Pokémon, with some pretty big news coming in ahead of Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) for both video and card games. The Pokémon Company International unveiled a new expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), Sun & Moon—Unified Minds, set to hit stores on Aug. 2. While that’s great news for card players, the highlight of the year for fans of the long-running video game series takes place on Nov. 15, when Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield arrive exclusively on Nintendo Switch.
On the TCG front, the new expansion will unleash eight new Tag Team Pokémon-GX cards, including Mewtwo & Mew-GX, Slowpoke & Psyduck-GX, Rowlet & Alolan Exeggutor-GX, and Garchomp & Giratina-GX, among others. The expansion also includes nine additional Pokémon-GX, more than 25 Trainer cards, and two new Special Energy cards. Select retailers will have pre-release tournaments for Pokémon Trainers who can’t wait to throw down some of the new cards. Participating shops will be listed on the official TCG site.
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield
This week, a new Pokémon Direct presentation hit the scene, dropping the full details on all the new game features and the Pokémon native to the Galar region. Of particular interest was the Dynamax phenomenon. In specific locations throughout Galar, Pokémon can assume a gigantic form during battle. Of course, there are some rules to this, but the general gist is that Dynamax Pokémon have moves that will turn into special Max Moves that are even more powerful. You can’t train these in your sleep!
Of course, no new game would be complete without new Pokémon, and there are a bunch — including new Legendary Pokémon Zacian and Zamazenta. First partner Pokémon include Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble, and species of the Galar region include Gossifleur, Eldegoss, Wooloo, Corviknight, and Drednaw. Any Pokémon encountered in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield will have its information registered in the Pokédex.
Game on, Pokémon!
Photos: The Pokémon Company International
