Months have passed since Sword and Shield was released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch, but there are still a lot of little Easter eggs and discoveries that players have not found out yet. Until the expansion comes out this summer, fans have a lot of time on their hands to find all the little details.
So what have players discovered? From different forms of Pokemon to Birthday celebrations, here are hidden secrets in Pokemon Sword and Shield.
Updated on March 16th, 2022, by Allison Stalberg: While Pokemon Legends: Arceus has come out and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are on the way, Pokemon fans still play Sword and Shield for its battles, Pokemon, and little secrets that can still be discovered. By now, many players have their dream teams complete and will take any chance to use them around the Galar region. These little secrets that can still be discovered include solving riddles, unlocking more Pokemon forms, solving a mystery in a hotel, and battling the Morimoto NPC that is hidden in most Pokemon games.
19 The Turffield Riddle
One of the secrets of Sword and Shield is in one of the early towns players visit, Turffield. Up one of the hills, a little girl shares a riddle with the player. If the riddle is solved, the player gets a prized item: an Expert Belt. This Expert Belt is a held item that strengthens attacks that are super effective, so it is pretty useful to have.
To solve the riddle, the player has to seek three standing stones in the order of Grass, Water, and Fire, clicking each in that order. If the order is wrong then they need to start over by talking to the little girl again.
18 Items Respawn In Wild Areas
The vast land of the Wild Areas can be overwhelming at first. Once you get used to it though, it can be exciting to find and pick up the various items hidden around. A secret that is not told to the player is that items in the Wild Area actually will respawn after about a day.
In terms of what the respawn effects are, it does so for berries in trees as well as shiny items. Items that can respawn include Fancy Apples, Rare Candies, various pearls, Revives, Pokéballs, mushrooms, herbs, feathers, bones, Star Pieces, Honey, and Energy Root. So don't expect respawning TMs, but still collect what you can. Whatever you don't use, you can sell.
17 The Switch Console In The Game Should Match Yours
Previous generations of Pokemon games always had Nintendo consoles in the characters' room. It was always so, and it was a little clever way for Nintendo to promote their stuff.
In Sword and Shield, this fact is no different. Instead of a Wii or Gamecube though, your character has a Switch in their room. The hidden secret, though, lies in the color. Switch consoles come in different colors. If you look at your Switch and your characters' Switch, they should be the same color! If you are playing with a different Switch, the colors would be different.
16 Glowing Pokemon Have Better Stats
The glowing Pokemon players may meet on the road are worth a second glance. They actually have a lot to offer. While their level is typically higher than others in their area, and they give out Watts upon defeat, they also will have better stats. In fact, they tend to have at least two of their stats at perfect.
Players that care about IVs may want to catch a couple of these for breeding. Even for those who don't care about stats, it is just nice to know that these particular Pokemon would be a better asset to your team.
15 Gym Leaders Have Meaningful Jersey Numbers
Nintendo was pretty clever in how they turned Pokemon into more of a spectator sport in Sword and Shield. One major way they did this is by giving every Gym Leader and challenger their own sports jersey, complete with numbers on the back.
While players could choose their own numbers, some began to wonder if the Gym Leaders' numbers had any special meanings. The truth is, they do! In Japanese, all the numbers create little puns that suit the traits of the different characters. For example, Milo is a Grass-Type leader and his numbers translate to "veggie."
14 Polteageist's Different Forms
This is an easy detail to miss! The new Ghost-Type Pokemon, Polteageist, actually has two forms. The difference is minuscule, but it's a pretty interesting addition to the way Pokemon can be unique from each other.
The two forms are dependent on what kind of teapot the player uses on Sinistea to get it to evolve. There are two kinds of teapots, cracked and chipped. You can only see the difference if you look at its underside while it is Dynamaxed. If you can see an authenticity stamp, that means you got an antique! If not, then the teapot is counterfeit! Don't worry though, as there is no other discernible difference between the two forms.
13 There Is A Method To Berry Picking
Throughout Galar are berry trees, and they are imperative for curry ingredients as well as curing certain status afflictions. It is best to collect as many berries as you can. That means shaking trees a lot. However, you don't want to shake the trees too much either because a Pokémon may fall out of it and battle you. This will make you lose many of the berries that fell.
There is a technique to this that the game does not share. When shaking trees, pause in-between shakes to see how much the branches are wiggling. The faster the wiggles, the more likely a Pokemon is going to drop on the next shake.
12 You Get Birthday Surprises
It is not new for Pokemon to have some sort of feature on your birthday. Typically, you are congratulated at the Pokemon Center by the nurse. In Sword and Shield though, they got a little more festive. How does the game know your birthday? If you go to the Pokemon Center in Wedgehurst, a person will talk about horoscopes and ask for your birthday.
So on your birthday, two things will happen. First, the Pokemon Center will throw you a little party with a Pokeball cake and confetti. Second, if you decide to make curry, then a candle will appear on one of them!
11 The Hotel Room Mystery
This little quest is hidden in Circhester, where players get either their Rock or Ice Badge. In the town are hotels and one of them has a room full of NPCs trying to solve the mystery of who ate all the berries in the lobby's basket. Solving the mystery will reward the player with Wide Lens.
Wide Lens is a held item that boosts a Pokemon's accuracy. This is one out of a couple of hidden objectives in the game. This particular one is quite easy.
10 Square Shinys
Shiny Pokemon have been the source of player obsession for a long time. They are no different in any way, except they are a different color. They are super rare and veteran players can easily go through all the games without seeing one.
In Sword and Shield, there is a new kind of shiny, and it's even rarer than the original. The color is still different in the same manner, but this time they sparkle with square symbols when they first appear. This has made the community call them "square shinies."
9 You Can Make Battles More Difficult
Since Pokemon is more than 20 years old, a lot of players have grown up but are still loyal fans. Due to being adults though, the games have proven less of a challenge. In order to not take away from their younger fans but give older fans an option for a higher difficulty, Nintendo made a change.
If you go into settings, you can change whether you have the option to switch out your Pokemon or not in the middle of a battle. By turning that option off, you will find battles much more challenging.
8 You Can Use Fainted Pokémon In Max Raid Battles
We have a feeling this was not supposed to be a secret, but the game never outright tells you that you can do this!
Max Raids do not care if your Pokemon have fainted. You can use them, and they will appear in the battles with all of their health. That's it! No need to constantly visit the Pokemon Center. Hopefully, you already figured this out, because it is quite the time and potion-saver to know this.
7 You Can Spin And Strike A Pose
If you spin around as fast as you can in one place, your trainer will start spinning a bit like a ballerina. Once you let go, she or he will strike the same pose at Champion Leon.
While it may just seem like a cute little trick, this is actually an important thing to know for evolving certain Pokemon. This mechanic is actually used to evolve a Milcery into an Alchremie and how you do the spin dictates what design the Alchremie will have (however, you have to have Milcery also hold a type of Sweet to make the evolution work).
6 Alcremie's Many Forms
Along with the spin and evolving Alcremie, the different forms are a secret all of their own. Experimenting with different spins such as clockwise, counterclockwise, slow, and fast determine the color/flavor and the sweet they hold determines their decoration and eye color. They are one of the Pokemon with the most forms.
Colors/flavors include vanilla, strawberry, matcha, mint, lemon, strawberry swirl, chocolate swirl, and rainbow swirl. Treats include flowers, clovers, strawberries, hearts, and stars. There are 63 different looks of Alcremie.
5 There Are More Customization Options Than You May Think
Players love customization, and Nintendo knows this. They slowly have introduced more and more ways to customize your character in Pokemon games. In Sword and Shield, there are a lot more options.
All players know you can customize your character, but did you know that you can also customize your tent and bike gear? Well, just the colors. The way to do it is a little odd, as it changes based on what Pokemon you have at the front of your party while talking to certain NPCs in the Wild Area.
4 You Can Unlock More Camp Toys By Completing The Curry Dex
Who could have predicted that we would have another Pokedex, but it filled with curry instead of Pokemon in a base game?
If you already filled your Pokedex, the curry dex is next! By filling it, you actually get to unlock more toys for your Pokemon to play with while camping. As you fill the curry dex, talk to the camp master in the wild area and he typically gives you a new toy for every five new curries you have made.
3 You Can Flip League Cards For Extra Information
League Cards are a sweet detail to Galar's culture, as they are much like baseball cards but with Pokemon trainers and Gym Leaders. As go players go through the story, they collect more and more of these and even get to make their own.
Some players did not release until way later that a lot of cool information about the trainer is on the back of their trainer card if they flip it over. There are more to the cards than just a picture and signature.
2 Morimoto's NPC
Game designer and programmer of Pokemon, Shigeki Morimoto, has had many in-game cameo appearances in the Pokemon game series. He has appeared in Black, White, their sequels, Sun, Moon, their Ultra versions, Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, and Brillant Diamond and Shining Pearl. In the games, he has been a Coach Trainer, Veteran, and regular Trainer.
In Sword and Shield, Morimoto can be found in Hotel Ionia in Circhester as a police officer. If the player becomes the Champion of Galar, they can do a double battle with him. Like in other games, he will award the player with an Oval Charm. This item increases the chances of a Pokemon egg appearing at a Pokemon Daycare.
1 There Is A Ghost Girl In Hammerlocke
Ghosts are not new to the Pokemon universe. We don't just mean Ghost-Types but actual ghost people. They have appeared in previous games, and Sword and Shield has them as well. There is a ghost of a little girl in Hammerlocke who will give you an old letter to give to a boy he likes. Once you find the boy though, you'll see that he is an old man and the girl died many years ago. If you return to where she was, she is gone.