Pokémon Sword and Shield, the first eighth-generation main-series games, were released for the Nintendo Switch.
The paired role-playing games launched worldwide on November 15, 2019. They introduced the Galar region, a setting inspired by the United Kingdom, and featured the Gym Challenge, Dynamax battles, and Gigantamax forms.
Sword and Shield marked an important hardware transition for the core series. Earlier generations had appeared on Nintendo handhelds such as the Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS. The Switch combines handheld and home-console functions, allowing players to use the games in both portable and docked modes.
The games also began the series’ use of a downloadable expansion pass instead of releasing a separate enhanced edition. The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra expansions arrived in 2020. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee! had reached Switch earlier, but Sword and Shield were the first new-generation core games there.