Pokémon Database - News & Updates

Welcome to The Pokémon Database! We believe in making Pokémon information as clear and easy to digest as possible.

On this page below you'll find the recent Pokémon news and updates to this site. Delve deeper using the menu above to find detailed Pokédex entries, attack stats, evolution chains and our thriving community of awesome Pokéfans who'll answer your questions. And much more besides!

The Sword & Shield Expansion Pass has been released!

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 17 June, 2020

The Isle of Armor logo The first part of the Expansion Pass for Pokémon Sword & Shield - The Isle of Armor - has been released. We're updating details as quickly as we can, and will list appropriate pages below.

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Pokémon Presents reveals several new games

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 17 June, 2020

Pokemon Presents logo A Pokémon Presents presentation has just finished airing, and it revealed many new games and apps.

First up was Pokémon Smile, a game for children to assist in brushing their teeth. Following that was Pokémon Cafe Mix a puzzle game in which you take the role of a cafe owner and must fulfil their orders by tackling various puzzles. It is will be available for Nintendo Switch or smartphones soon, and is free to start.

Next was New Pokémon Snap - a follow-up to the N64 game Pokemon Snap from 1999. Pokémon live of various islands and you must take photos of them. The game is still in development and no release date was provided.

A recap of recent changes in Pokémon GO were mentioned. It was announced that Victini and Mega Evolutions will be coming soon to the game. Galarian Farfetch'd is also available now.

Finally, to celebrate the launch of the Sword & Shield Expansion Pass, Zeraora will soon be available in a special Max Raid Battle. If one million players beat it, a shiny Zeraora will be given out.

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New trailer for Sword & Shield DLC reveals Galarian Slowbro

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 02 June, 2020

A new video has been released by The Pokémon Company. It features various Pokémon that will be found in the upcoming Expansion Pass for Pokémon Sword & Shield, and reveals the launch date for the first part - The Isle of Armor - is June 17th.

The trailer starts with Galarian Slowbro, and then shows various adventuring through the Isle of Armor area. It's revealed that Urshifu has two Gigantamax forms - one red and one blue, for its Single-Strike Style and Rapid-Strike Style. More of the second part of the DLC - The Crown Tundra - is revealed.

Details on the new Pokémon and forms were also confirmed in a separate press release (artwork below):

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Galarian Forms with hidden abilities available via Mystery Gift

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 23 May, 2020

Four Galarian Forms from Pokémon Sword & Shield are available for players over the next four weeks! Galarian Mr. Mime, Ponyta, Corsola, and Meowth can be downloaded in-game using Mystery Gift > Get via Internet. A set of items can also be obtained each week.

Galarian Mr. Mime

The abilities and items are:

  • May 22nd to 28th: Galarian Mr. Mime with the ability Ice Body, and the items Lure Ball, Moon Ball, Heavy Ball, Dream Ball.
  • May 29th to June 4th: Galarian Ponyta with the ability Anticipation, and the items Level Ball, Fast Ball, Love Ball, Friend Ball, Beast Ball.
  • June 5th to 11th: Galarian Corsola with the ability Cursed Body, and the items Sweet Apple, Tart Apple, Chipped Pot, Cracked Pot, Sachet, Whipped Dream.
  • June 12th to 18th: Galarian Meowth with the ability Unnerve, and the items Exp. Candy L x100, Big Nuggets x50.

Be sure to get these gifts while you can!


Signature move for Zarude revealed

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 09 April, 2020

Zarude artwork A new exclusive move for the mythical Pokémon, Zarude, has been revealed: Jungle Healing.

Zarude learns this Grass-type status move at level 90. It heals the HP of Zarude and its ally, as well as curing any status conditions.


Gigantamax starters revealed in new Sword/Shield Expansion Pass trailer

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 26 March, 2020

A new trailer has been released for the upcoming Pokémon Sword & Shield Expansion Pass. It reveals the designs for the Galar starters' Gigantamax forms and their exclusive G-Max moves:

  • Gigantamax Rillaboom turns into a drummer with a full drum kit. Its G-Max move is G-Max Drum Solo.
  • Gigantamax Cinderace sits atop a giant fireball. Its G-Max move is coincidentally named G-Max Fireball.
  • Gigantamax Inteleon turns into a tall spiral shape. Its G-Max move is G-Max Hydrosnipe.

New trainer outfits and league cards will be available, and the trailer shows several interactions with Kubfu, the new Pokémon that will be your partner in the first part of the Expansion Pass, The Isle of Armor.

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Pokémon of the Year results announced and Zarude revealed

General News — 27 February, 2020

The Pokémon Company has revealed the results of Google's Pokémon of the Year vote that ran a few weeks ago. We'll get to that shortly but following the top 10 countdown they revealed a new Mythical Pokémon, Zarude.

Zarude

Zarude is Dark/Grass type and has the ability Leaf Guard. It's known as the Rogue Monkey Pokémon, is 1.8m tall and weighs 70kg. A video showing it in action has been released:

Now on to the Pokémon of the Year results. The top 10 are revealed in this video from Pokémon Japan and are listed below.

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Silhouette of new mythical Pokémon shown in CoroCoro

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 13 February, 2020

The latest issue of CoroCoro has leaked and it shows a silhouette of the new mythical Pokémon, which will be officially revealed on Pokémon Day - February 27th.

Update 15/02: the official site has published a clear image of the Pokémon:

Mythical Pokemon
The new Mythical Pokémon will be revealed on Feb 27th

The Pokémon will appear in the new anime movie, Coco, releasing July 10th in Japan. Interestingly, it has some similarities with a new character seen in the trailer for the film:

Mystery character

We'll bring you the official announcement as soon as it happens!

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Pokémon Day celebrations revealed

General News — 05 February, 2020

Pokemon Day logo The Pokémon Company today announced several celebrations that will be taking place on Pokémon Day - February 27th. We reported on some of these last week but more details have now been released as well as new features!

First up is a Pokémon of the Year poll. This is in collaboration with Google - searching pokemon vote brings up a banner with several categories, and a vote can be cast in each of the categories. It starts today and the categories are the different regions from the Pokémon games. The voting lasts until February 14th and the winner will be announced on the 27th.

Google Pokemon Day Vote

They further confirmed the reveal of a new Mythical Pokémon on Pokémon Day, and also officially revealed Gigantamax Toxtricity in Pokémon Sword & Shield.

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New mythical Pokémon to be revealed on Pokémon Day 2020

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 31 January, 2020

Pokemon Day logo The Japanese Pokémon website has announced various events will be taking place on February 27th, 2020 - aka Pokémon Day:

  • A special Max Raid Battle will be held in Pokémon Sword & Shield.
  • In-game events are planned for Pokémon GO.
  • There will be a new announcement for the mobile game Pokémon Masters.
  • A new mythical Pokémon will be revealed for Pokémon Sword & Shield, which will also appear in the next Pokémon movie Coco. It's unknown whether it will require the upcoming Expansion Pass for SWSH.

Pokémon Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the original release of Pokémon Red & Green in Japan - February 27th. This year Pokémon will be 24 years old!


Pokémon HOME to launch in February

General News — 28 January, 2020

Pokemon HOME logo The Pokémon Company has announced that Pokémon HOME, the replacement for Pokémon Bank, will be released next month. The app will be available for Nintendo Switch as well as smartphone and comes with several features for transferring and trading Pokémon.

  • There are two plans - Basic, which is free; and Premium, which costs $3/month or $16/year. With the basic plan up to 30 Pokémon can be stored in HOME at a time, while with Premium up to 6,000 Pokémon can be stored.
  • Using the Switch version, players can transfer Pokémon between HOME and Sword/Shield.
  • Pokémon can also be transferred to and from Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, however once a Pokémon has been transferred to another game (e.g. Sword/Shield) it cannot be transferred back to LGPE.
  • Pokémon can be transferred from Pokémon Bank. Players on the Basic plan will have access for the first month, but after that it's limited to Premium plan users only.
  • Pokémon can be transferred from Pokémon GO, though note this is a one-way transfer.
  • Pokémon can be traded using the mobile app, either with friends, using the GTS for specific requests or Wonder Box for random trades.
  • Pokémon HOME features a National Pokédex - any Pokémon transferred to HOME will be registered in the dex, including Mega Evolutions of Gigantamax forms. Pokémon can be searched for by ability and moves.
  • Players on the Premium plan have access to a Judge function, which appraises the stats of a Pokémon.
  • Points are accumulated for each Pokémon deposited in HOME. These can be converted into Battle Points for use in Sword/Shield or future games.

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Pokémon Direct announces Pokémon Sword & Shield Expansion Pass

Pokémon Sword & Shield — 09 January, 2020

The Pokémon Direct has just finished airing, which announced paid DLC for Pokémon Sword & Shield. There are two new adventures titled The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra, to be released in June and in the autumn respectively.

But first up was a port of the GBA/DS games Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team. The new version, for Nintendo Switch, is titled Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX. It will be released March 6th, 2020 however there will be a demo available today!

The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra logos

Next up was the big news: an Expansion Pass for Pokémon Sword and Shield. It will be paid DLC and includes two new adventures plus over 200 additional Pokémon not available in Sword/Shield. New Pokémon include Galarian Slowpoke/Slowbro/Slowking; new forms for Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres; new Regi Pokémon; Gigantamax forms of Venusaur, Blastoise, Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon; and new legendary Pokémon.

A new update for Sword/Shield has just gone live which allows Galarian Slowpoke to be encountered right now! It will require the expansion pack to evolve, however, updates to Sword/Shield will allow trading of any of the new Pokémon without the Expansion Pass.

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