I know what you’re thinking. “More Pokémon Sword and Shield news? I say thee nay!”. Well tough luck chum because I say thee neigh.

With just a month and some change to go until Nintendo throws a new Pokémon at your face, there’s still plenty that the Big N is keeping hidden from fans who are hungry for details. No amount of Chansey steak is going to squash that appetite, but maybe some new tidbits of information can keep the hunger pangs under control.

During last night’s Nintendo Direct, two more of the Galar region’s Pokémon were revealed. I never thought I’d say this before, but never in my life have I ever wanted to drink a Pokémon so bad.

In some ways, Pokémon is a lot like FIFA. Come the end of days or when Half-Life 3 is made, it will still be with us. And we’ll have pocket monsters based off of garden furniture. In all seriousness, Pokémon Sword and Shield has something big to show off in terms of gameplay development. More on that in a sec. …

Pokémon Sword and Shield will be axing the Global Link website, folding the core functionality of that service into the Battle Stadium feature instead.

Pokémon Sword and Shield may be seeing the return of many series traditions after the Sun and Moon games introduced some radical overhauls, but no Pokémon game would feel complete without the introduction of a team of ne’er-do-wells to harass players. After the likes of Team Rocket and Team Skull, the next Pokémon game has its primary antagonists: Football hooligans. …

According to the same fans who presumably want to know why Game Freak can’t just do their job properly and create custom animations for each Pokémon and the attacks they can use which would result in literally thousands of unique animations, the models for this generation’s pocket monsters are lifted straight from the previous 3DS games. Not so!

When it comes to Pokémon game, having certain features which are unique to one of the two versions sold has been an age-old practice that only Nintendo can get away with. Most of the time, each new Pokémon game features a selection of wildlife that are exclusive to a particular cart, resulting in players socialising and trading amongst each other so that they can fill up their Pokedex. This year, Pokémon Sword and Shield is taking that idea a step further with version exclusive gym leaders.