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Pokémon Sword/Shield Games' 'The Crown Tundra' Expansion Launches on October 22
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The Pokémon Company revealed during a livestream on Tuesday that "The Crown Tundra," the second of two expansions for the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield Nintendo Switch role-playing games, will launch on October 22. Additionally, all-in-one versions of the games that include both expansions will ship on November 6.
In the expansion, the new character Peony will appoint the player as an Expedition Chief to investigate a snowy landscape and Pokémon den. Every Legendary Pokémon to appear in the main series Pokémon games will be available in the new expansion through Dynamax Adventure. Players will form groups of four to explore caves and battle Dynamax Pokémon. In the Galarian Star Tournament, players will form teams with characters they previously encountered in the games.
To celebrate the expansion's launch, eight different Ash's Pikachu variants will be available for the games via passwords released in "various places."
New Pokémon in "The Crown Tundra" will include Galarian forms for Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres. The new Legendary Pokémon Regieleki and Regidrago will debut in the expansion.
The livestream also announced that the connectivity between the Pokémon GO game and the Pokémon Home service is slated to launch this year. The connectivity will allow players to transfer Pokémon from Pokémon GO to Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. Transferring Pokémon will allow players to receive a special Melmetal that can Gigantamax.
The Pokémon Home service cloud-based service launched for the Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices in February. The service is also compatible with Pokémon Bank, Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!, and Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!.
"The Isle of Armor," the first of two expansions for the Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield Nintendo Switch role-playing games, launched on June 17.
The Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield games shipped worldwide for the Switch on November 15. The games sold more than 6 million copies in their first week to break the records for highest first-week sales of a Switch game and the fastest Switch game to reach 6 million units sold. The games won the Best RPG Award at Famitsu Dengeki Game Awards 2019 this past April.
The starter Pokémon in the games' new Galar region are Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble. New Legendary Pokémon include Zacian and Zamazenta. The games also added Gigantamax forms, Dynamax and Max Raid Battles, Poké Jobs, the Battle Stadium, Surprise Trades, and Pokémon Camp.
The games inspired a series of seven five-minute net anime shorts titled Hakumei no Tsubasa (Pokémon: Twilight Wings) by Studio Colorido (Typhoon Noruda, Penguin Highway, Fastening Days). The first episode debuted on YouTube on January 15.
