Pokemon Sword and Shield just received its last major DLC last month, and the feedback for it was fairly positive. Sword and Shield’s Crown Tundra DLC brought a lot of things back to the game, including every single legendary that has been in previous games throughout the series.
Now, players in the US are going to be getting the opportunity to add a brand new legendary Pokemon to their teams. The Pokemon Company has announced that players can receive a Sword and Shield distribution code for the mythical Pokemon Zarude in the coming weeks by signing up to the Pokemon newsletter on the official Pokemon website.
Zarude has been silently sitting in the background of Sword and Shield for quite some time. Though Zarude was officially unveiled all the way back in February of this year, players have known about the mythical Pokemon’s existence since the game came out in November 2019 thanks to dataminers. For those who haven’t seen Zarude, it looks like a large, black and green colored monkey. Zarude is a Dark and Grass type mythical legendary Pokemon that can’t be caught normally throughout Sword and Shield’s main or post-game content.
As such, the only way players are going to get their hands on this Pokemon themselves is if they receive an official distribution code. Thankfully, players can add Zarude to Sword and Shield soon, according to The Pokemon Company. All players need to do is sign up for Pokemon’s official newsletter and opt in to email marketing on the official Pokemon website, and they can expect a US distribution code for Zarude in the coming weeks. Specifically, the Pokemon website says that players need to sign up by November 20.
Players may end up having to deal with some email marketing they may not want to deal with for a bit, but this appears to be the only way for US players to obtain Zarude for the time being. Still, this method is a lot easier than what players in Japan had to do to receive Zarude in Sword and Shield. Players in Japan received their codes as a pre-order bonus for ticket purchases for Pokemon the Movie: The Secrets of the Jungle or Pokemon the Movie: Coco as it’s called in Japan. At least players in the US can receive a distribution code for Zarude for free, despite having to sign up for the newsletter.
Players still have plenty of time to sign up for the newsletter before the codes starting getting sent out. However, players should be sure to sign up before it’s too late, as there’s no telling when Zarude will get officially distributed again. It remains to be seen whether or not Zarude will be a viable Pokemon in the competitive scene, but those players who are trying collect all the legendary Pokemon available in PokemonSword and Shield are going to want that distribution code.
Pokemon Sword and Shield are available now for Nintendo Switch.
