One of the new features in Pokemon Sword and Shield, the latest and greatest installments in the iconic, long-running Pokemon franchise, takes a page straight out of Pokemon Go‘s book: raid battles. These Dynamax and Gigantamax battles can bring together multiple players, but that doesn’t always mean the best teams are formed. A common inclusion? An extremely bad Magikarp, and folks aren’t thrilled about it.
Videos by ComicBook.com
For those that might not be familiar with how the raid battles work, when online, other people — real people, not NPCs — can join up in order to take the large-and-in-charge Dynamax/Gigantamax Pokemon on. Up to four folks total can participate, but that’s not always how many folks are around or able to join in. As with when playing offline, NPCs can and do fill out the roster.
And one of them is apparently a little girl with a Magikarp. And given that these raid battles fail after four faintings, it’s perhaps the worst possible outcome when she joins up. Keep reading to see what folks are saying about all this!
Have you given Pokemon Sword and Shield a try already? Any trouble with Magikarp in raids? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!
ComicBook.com gave Pokemon Sword and Shield a 4 out of 5 in our official review. You can check out an excerpt of said 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, the first mainline Pokemon games not released on a handheld-only gaming console, is now available for the Nintendo Switch. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the Pokemon franchise right here, and all of our previous coverage of Death Stranding right here.
See! It’s the little girl!
This little girl really brought a magikarp to my raid smh pic.twitter.com/u6RBLI4FT2
— JMO (@MarciAlex801) November 28, 2019
The best two teammates have arrived
tfw you gotta do a 5 star raid battle solo and the game gives you a magikarp and a wobbofett pic.twitter.com/lJuXFnL82S
— a wild hpants appeared! (@hpantsu) November 28, 2019
Solrock also… isn’t great
Tfw no one joins max raid and I’m forced to fight with npc’s that use Magikarp with focus sash and Solrock that spams cosmic power pic.twitter.com/fkYQpCs3k3
— Sara 🎮 ⚔️Pokemon Shield🛡️ (@groznyj_grad) November 27, 2019
Little girl strikes again
This is a 5 Star raid and this chick brought a Magikarp. All right. #PokemonSwordShield #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/XEusT5PFm1
— Scrawlers 🌙 (@novascrawlers) November 27, 2019
It can be like fighting on your own
AAAAAGHHH almost had a heart attack with this one. First solo Lapras Gigantamax raid (5% chance!!) and the NPCs are carrying a Pikachu, Magikarp, and Wobbufet… we pulled through!! bitchhh I’m shaking#PokemonSwordandShield #PokemonSwordShield pic.twitter.com/IdALpBDyNe
— mac (@phlppdsqtd) November 26, 2019
Trash trash trash
I understand what people mean by the raid npcs being trash now. Wobbuffet and Magikarp are useless
— Aki ✴ Moonlight | R.I.P. Etika (@Phantom_Akizen) November 28, 2019
TRASH!
I don’t understand why the AI is just so bad in Raid Battles in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Like I try to fight a Gigantamax Pokemon, and the game thinks that it should give me NPC trainers that use Magikarp??
— Thatchner (@ThatchnerTweets) November 28, 2019
