As Pokemon approaches the annual celebration of the long-running monster-catching franchise's anniversary, The Pokemon Company has already announced a whole slew of plans to celebrate the massively popular series' big day. The Pokemon Company revealed daily announcements earlier this week coming for many ongoing titles like Pokemon GO and Pokemon Unite leading up to Pokemon Day on the 27th and, now, Pokemon Sword and Shield have officially revealed that a trio of iconic Pokemon will be featured throughout the week in special Max Raid battles.
Pokemon Sword and Shield's Max Raid battles were one of the game's most highly-touted features leading up to its release in 2019, featuring towering creatures for trainers to take on in a group of 4 with either AI-controlled teammates or other players. Sword and Shield have often used Max Raids to accompany different events both inside and outside the franchise, such as featuring Eiscue raids during 2021's World Penguin Day and Magikarp raids for April Fools' Day. Now, with Pokemon gearing up to celebrate the franchise's 26th anniversary, The Pokemon Company has officially announced that Sword and Shield's celebrations will star the Kanto starter trio as Max Raids with their Gigantamax forms.
The official announcement from the Japanese Pokemon website reveals that Pokemon Sword and Shield will feature special Max Raid battles to celebrate Pokemon Day featuring the Gigantamax versions of Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise. Players will be able to challenge these souped-up starters starting on Tuesday and lasting through the end of the month with the event officially ending on Monday, February 28th. Players who defeat the Gigantamax starters will also be able to obtain Max Mushrooms which they can use to change Pokemon into their Gigantamax forms or revert to their normal forms.
The newest event for Pokemon Sword and Shield came as a surprise for many fans of the franchise as Pokemon has since moved on to the next title with Pokemon Legends: Arceus releasing late last month. Sword and Shield's last major update came with the Crown Tundra update in October and many assumed the developer was finished with Pokemon's eighth generation title as focus shifted to Arceus. Sword and Shield have continued to feature minor events since Crown Tundra's launch with many similarly featuring themed Max Raids for players to challenge.
While Pokemon Sword and Shield were met with criticism leading up to their release, the franchise's Galar region entries saw massive commercial success. Recently released financial data places Pokemon Sword and Shield as the second best-selling Pokemon titles, only falling short of the games that introduced Pokemon to the world in Red/Green/Blue. Between the recent popularity of Pokemon Legends: Arceus and the longevity of Sword and Shield, Pokemon has continued to prove its status as one of the highest-grossing franchises in gaming.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are available now for the Nintendo Switch.
