This morning’s Nintendo Direct revealed an enormous new detail for the upcoming Pokémon Switch games: monsters can now be giant through the power of Dynamax. To capture these, Pokémon Sword and Shield even has large Pokeballs that players must use to tame the hulking beasts.
Pokémon Sword and Shield will have huge Dynamax monsters
Big if true
The Pokémon Company
In many ways, Dynamax kind of looks like powering up monsters like Z-Moves — there’s even a special band that you’ll need to equip to do it. You can trigger Dynamax for three turns, and during that time, creatures will be able to hit enemies harder, with powered up versions of their moves.
Players will be able to team up with up to three friends to take on Dynamax critters in the wild via Max Raid Battles — but only one participant will be able to trigger their own Dynamax. According to the footage, the available Dynamax Pokémon will vary depending on the location and weather, and are found in the Galar region’s Wild Area.
Dynamax creatures will have access to Max Moves, which are souped-up attacks that are determined by a creature’s moves before triggering the power-up. Max Moves can tack on additional effects against enemies, such as lowering stats.
Gym leaders will naturally also have Dynamax monsters, and you’ll be required to bring your own big Pokémon to take them on. While these battles unfold, the stage will shake as the action is understandably gigantic.
My only question is: Dear Lord, what’s Wailord going to look like in Sword and Shield?
Pokémon Sword and Shield will be out Nov. 15 for Nintendo Switch.
Most Popular
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Netflix’s Lonely Planet, and every movie new to streaming this week
- I have questions about Travis Kelce’s character on Grotesquerie
- The best thrillers to watch on Netflix this October
- The new Vox Machina episode pulls in a crucial character from a different campaign
- Dozens of great books, graphic novels, and movies are buy 2, get 1 free at Amazon
