Pokemon Direct reveals new Pokemon and Dynamax feature

A new Pokémon Direct has just finished airing and revealed lots of information on the upcoming games, Pokémon Sword & Shield! Last things first, the release date was revealed at the end of the Direct as November 15th 2019.

A new trailer was shown during the Direct and included the first in-game footage of the starters (Grookey, Scorbunny, Sobble). Then we saw our first glimpse of new Pokémon:

Three of the new Pokémon revealed

• Gossifleur (left) is Grass type and can have the ability Regenerator or a new ability Cotton Down, which lowers the opponent's Speed when it attacks Gossifleur.
• Wooloo (middle) is Normal type and can have the ability Fluffy or Run Away.
• Drednaw (right) is Water/Rock type and can have the ability Strong Jaw or Shell Armor.

Additional Pokémon shown were:

• Eldegoss, the evolution of Gossifleur. It stays Grass type and keeps its abilities.
• Corviknight, a raven-like bird. It is Flying/Streel type and can transport the player to previous towns.
• Zacian and Zamazenta, the two legendary Pokémon. They are both wolves - the former holds a sword in its mouth, while the latter has a shield as its mane.

Between all the cities in the Galar region is something called the Wild Area, a vast wilderness where many different Pokémon can be encountered, depending on the weather or location.

The latter part of the trailer shows a giant Gyarados. It's revealed that this is a new phenomenon known as Dynamax. Pokémon using Dynamax increase massively in size and boost their power. It can only be used once per battle, but the Pokémon will revert to normal after 3 turns. Additionally, in the Wild Area 4 trainers can connect to take part in a Max Raid Battle against a Dynamaxed Pokémon, which appears to be similar to Raid Battles in Pokémon Go.

Some new characters were also revealed including Leon, the greatest trainer in the Galar region; his younger brother Hop who is your rival; Professor Magnolia who specialises in researching Dynamax; and her granddaughter Sonia.

Here is the trailer that debuted during today's Direct: