Pokemon Sword And Shield’s Pokedex Is A Smartphone That Can Do Many Things

We learned a wealth of new details about Pokemon Sword and Shield during the latest Pokemon Direct broadcast, from the games’ release date to their new Dynamax mechanic and more. One topic the presentation didn’t touch on was your Pokedex, but we’ve now gotten our first details about that as well thanks to the official Pokemon Sword and Shield website.

Just as in Pokemon Sun and Moon, your Pokedex in Sword and Shield contains a Rotom, a Ghost/Electric Pokemon that is capable of inhabiting electronics. However, rather than being its own dedicated device, it appears your Pokedex this time will be part of your character’s smartphone, which is fittingly dubbed the Rotom Phone. You can see how it looks below.

Interestingly, it appears the Rotom Phone has more functions than simply logging the Pokemon you encounter. According to the website, you’ll also be able to attach it to your bicycle, which will allow you to move faster and even cross water. During the games’ latest trailer, we can briefly see the player character pedaling across a lake using a water bike. It wasn’t clear if that bike was a separate item you needed to acquire or if it worked similarly to Sun/Moon’s Poke Ride feature, but the website makes it seem it’s a form your regular bicycle can take thanks to the Rotom Phone.

If that’s indeed the case, then it appears the Rotom Phone will effectively replace HMs, the special moves you needed to teach Pokemon in the past to navigate the region. Recent titles have been doing away with HMs, and it appears Sword and Shield will be continuing that trend. One of the new Gen 8 Pokemon, Corviknight, acts as a sort of taxi service and can ferry players back to towns they’ve previously visiting, much like the old Fly HM did.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launch for Nintendo Switch on November 15. You can catch up on all the other big news about the games in our Pokemon Direct recap. For more, be sure to check out our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-sword-and-shields-pokedex-is-a-smartphone-/1100-6467396/