Pokemon Sword and Shield is the first mainline Pokemon game that launched on a home console instead of just on a handheld. That's thanks to Nintendo Switch itself, a hybrid console that merged Nintendo's home and portable console lines into being one and the same, which means a lot of the changes that came to this eighth generation of Pokemon revolve around reckoning with crossing both of those styles of play.
For instance, Pokemon Sword and Shield experiments with wild areas, where the more linear, classic-style routes fully open into huge areas with roaming Pokemon. On the other hand, battle changes play with the 'bigness' afforded by the move to Nintendo Switch, Dynamax and Gigantamax transformations taking the concept of Mega Evolutions from Pokemon X and Y even further, with huge gym challenges and battles that felt like set pieces. And, if you simply want to visit the Pokemon take on the UK, the Galar region, this is one of the best Pokemon games for doing so. Stick around and read on as we count down the biggest changes Pokemon Sword and Shield brought to the series with the eighth generation.
