Pokemon Sword and Shield: How to Get Ash Hat Pikachu

During today's presentation on the Pokemon Sword and Shield expansion pass, The Pokemon Company revealed the return of Ash Hat Pikachu to the games. Players will be able to get eight different versions of the electric mouse Pokemon wearing various versions of Ash's hat from the series. The first of these versions is available now and can be acquired through the code "P1KACHUGET." This version of Pikachu is wearing the hat that Ash wore in the earliest seasons of the anime series. Over the coming days, the other versions of Ash Hat Pikachu will similarly be released, but no dates for the other versions have been confirmed, at this time.

Ash Hat Pikachu has been previously made available, but those that missed out on the promotion the first time around will now be able to add this version of Pikachu to their games. In addition to the previously released versions of Ash Hat Pikachu, one of the eight versions will feature Ash's hat from Pokemon Journeys, which has never been offered, previously. Notably, Ash Hat Pikachu has its original trainer listed as "Ash." This will also mark the first time that this version of Pikachu has been available in Sword and Shield.

While the Pokemon anime has been around since the the franchise's earliest days, tie-ins between the video games and the series tend to remain far between. Most notably, Jessie and James have appeared in Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon: Let's Go, and Ash's Greninja was offered as a previous promotional tie-in.

Today's presentation offered a lot of exciting news for Pokemon fans! In addition to the return of Ash Hat Pikachu, a released date was revealed for Pokemon Sword and Shield The Crown Tundra, and new information was finally provided on the Pokemon Home connectivity with Pokemon Go. That particular feature is expected by the end of the year, and this should be exciting news for fans of Niantic's mobile game. Previously, only Pokemon from the first generation could be transferred to Pokemon: Let's Go and then moved over to Home.

Pokemon Sword and Shield is available now, exclusively on Nintendo Switch. The Crown Tundra DLC expansion will release on October 22nd. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

Do you plan on downloading Ash Hat Pikachu? Are you a fan of these types of tie-ins with the anime? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!