SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 5 — Nintendo revealed a scattering of new features for November’s pair of Pokemon games, Pokemon Sword & Shield, during September 4th’s Nintendo Direct video, ranging from an in-game Pokemon Camp to new creatures Polteageist and Cramorant.
Due to release for Nintendo Switch on November 15, 2019, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield will let players hang out and play with their Pokemon at a Pokemon Camp, where they can also visit other players’ camps and cook meals together.
According to a brief video montage, cooking a tasty meal involves selecting the right ingredients, making sure there’s enough heat under a campfire pot, stirring the stew, and adding a good dose of kindheartedness.
Up to four players can participate in a community cook-out together.
An in-game recipe book looked to have at least 100 meal types and was shown open on the page for curry dishes, where around 50 curries appeared to be available for preparation.
The Pokemon Company also previewed some of the character customisations that will be available to players of Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, the franchise’s first core entries on the Switch after the two Pokemon: Let’s Go! spin-offs arrived in 2018.
As well as purchasing various mix-and-match outfits with in-game credits, players can look forward to visiting an in-game hairdresser to pick from a selection of styles; there, they can also choose eyebrow type and eye and lip colouration.
And in addition to collecting the Pokemon of Sword and Shield, players can collect League Cards — large-portrait business cards carried by other contenders in the game’s Pokemon League.
Of course, players will also be able to design their own Pokemon League Card using a range of backgrounds, effects, frames, and character poses and expressions.
Those cards will then be shown ahead of each Pokemon match.
Included among the game’s new wave of Pokemon creatures will be Polteageist, a tea kettle inhabited by a cheeky purple ghost, and Cramorant, a watery bird that can launch fish at opponents.
A new core Pokemon franchise entry on the Switch has been anticipated since the March 2017 console’s announcement and is expected to propel hardware sales to new heights.
Sword and Shield arrives after the series elected to spend longer on Nintendo’s previous portable console, the Nintendo 3DS, through 2017’s remastered Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon; the Switch’s Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! launched in 2018 as remakes of 1998’s Pokemon Yellow and shifted 10 million copies in six months.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is currently the Switch’s best-selling title, having passed 17 million copies sold, with Super Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on 14 million sales, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on 13 million units sold.
Nintendo had shipped 36 million Switch consoles to retailers by the end of June 2019; it launches a more affordable Switch Lite edition on September 20. — AFP-Relaxnews
