Pokemon Shares Special Art to Celebrate the Launch of Sword and Shield

The latest and greatest generation of Pokemon has officially arrived with Pokemon Sword and Shield for Nintendo Switch! This marks the first time that the mainline series has released on anything but a handheld gaming console, and fans were both nervous and excited to see the franchise make the jump. Regardless, they are here now, and Pokemon’s celebrated the launch of the two games with some very special art, courtesy of Game Freak.

The art, which you can check out below, features a number of Galarian Pokemon as well as Dynamax/Gigantamax versions of classic ones in addition to the two generic trainers. There’s a little bit of every new aspect of Pokemon Sword and Shield included here — curry, starters, jerseys, and so on — and it makes for a cheery little piece of art.

What do you think of Game Freak‘s celebratory art? Are you already playing Pokemon Sword and Shield? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

ComicBook.com’s review of Pokemon Sword and Shield gave the new games a 4 out of 5, overall. You can check out an excerpt of our review below:

“Once the dust settles from the controversies stirred up over the summer, Pokemon Sword and Shield will be looked upon by fans fondly. This is a great Pokemon game, one that, at times, pushes up against its self-imposed limitations and teases a new path for the Pokemon franchise. The real question coming out of Pokemon Sword and Shield is whether the Pokemon Company will build upon the newest innovations seen in the game and strive to keep the Pokemon franchise exciting and relevant, or if they’ll just retreat to familiarity and disappoint a fanbase looking for reasons to keep playing for decades to come. Pokemon Sword and Shield is a half-step forward for the Pokemon franchise — we’ll see if they put the other step forward with their next set of games, which could be critical to keeping some of its more jaded fans.”

Pokemon Sword and Shield are now available for Nintendo Switch. This marks the first time a mainline Pokemon game has released on anything not considered a “handheld” Nintendo console, though the Nintendo Switch does, er, switch back and forth in its original model. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Pokemon Sword and Shield right here.