Create Abominations Against Nature With Pokemon Sword and Shield's Fossils

Pokemon Sword and Shield adds a unique and horrifying twist to Fossil Pokemon. Since the earliest days of the Pokemon franchise, players have had the ability to resurrect long extinct Pokemon using fossils and modern day science. While the scientists of the Pokemon world clearly never watched Jurassic Park, it seemed that these archeologists at least respected the dignity of these long-dead creatures and there were never any ill effects to re-introducing lost species into the modern day environment. At least, not until now.

Pokemon Sword and Shield, like many of its predecessors, have Pokemon that can only be obtained through the use of fossils. But while other Pokemon could be resurrected simply by extracting DNA from a single fossil, the Galar region's fossils are uniformly divided into "top halves" and "bottom halves." Players can combine the top halves and bottom halves in any combination, thus creating horrifying Frankenstein-like abominations that mix and match Pokemon parts like they were toys. One Pokemon has its head resting on what was once the tail of another Pokemon, while another Pokemon's skinny neck and head rests on the much larger torso of its other half.

Players can create Pokemon through the following combinations:

Arctovolt: Fossilized Dino, Fossilized Bird

Arctovish: Fossilized Dino, Fossilized Fish

Dracozolt: Fossilized Drake, Fossilized Bird

Dracovish: Fossilized Drake, Fossilized Fish

There is a real-world inspiration for these horrific abominations. The Crystal Palace in London famously had inaccurate statues of dinosaurs on display at their grounds for many years. The dinosaurs were incorrect in part because the early paleontologists responsible misassembled the bones, leading to mistakes like thumb bones being used as nose horns. While the statues were eventually corrected, it seems that Game Freak couldn't help but poke a little fun at the British scientists, and created some truly terrifying Pokemon. Hopefully, we'll see these Pokemon as Arceus originally intended at some point down the road.

Let us know what you think of these new Pokemon in the comment section or find me on Twitter at @CHofferCBus to chat all things Pokemon!