New gameplay mechanics revealed at Pokemon World Championships

The Pokémon World Championships kick off this weekend and at the opening ceremony, Junichi Masuda revealed various new gameplay mechanics in Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield. A video has been released of these updates:

• Galarian Weezing has a new ability, Neutralizing Gas, which cancels out the abilities of all Pokémon in battle.
• Corviknight has a hidden ability, Mirror Armor, which reflects any stat-lowering effects.
• A new move Breaking Swipe, which hits multiple opponents and lowers their attack.
• A new move Steel Beam is listed on a screenshot of the online battle interface. It's presumed to be the English name for a move that was part of a naming competition in Japan. A Pokémon loses 50% of their HP when using this move.
• A new held item Room Service which lowers the Pokémon's speed during Trick Room.
• A new held item Eject Pack which switches out the Pokémon if its stats are lowered.

Neutralizing Gas in action, cancelling out Storm Drain

Also revealed were some new Dynamax mechanics:

• Moves that cause flinching such as Fake Out will not cause a Dynamax Pokémon to flinch.
• The Protect move cannot full protect the Pokémon from Max moves, however Max Guard (which comes from any status move) does fully protect the Pokémon.
• The Max Knuckle Dynamax move deals damage and increases the Attack of all Pokémon on the user's side of the field.
• Using a Max move also appears to cancel the effects of barrier moves like Aurora Veil.
• Pokémon caught in Max Raid Battles may have their Hidden Ability.

Finally, the Battle Stadium is the new online competition feature, which requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. There are several different formats such as Ranked Battles, Casual Battles, Rental Teams and Online Competitions.