Pokémon Sword and Shield

Pokémon Sword and Shield marked the main Pokémon series' debut on a home console and, at the same time, the first fully 3D open environments in mainline games. The story takes trainers to the Galar region, inspired by Great Britain, where the challenge for the league also becomes a journey full of gym battles taking place in front of a roaring crowd in giant stadiums – enabled by the new Dynamax mechanic, which temporarily enlarges a Pokémon to gigantic proportions and, in even rarer cases, transforms its appearance through Gigantamax. The football-like, sporting atmosphere of the whole league gave the series a new flair: gym battles feel like sold-out matches, complete with fans, uniforms, and anthem-like songs.

The open Wild Area was a novelty for the series: a sprawling meadow full of randomly roaming wild Pokémon and changing weather that affects which species appear, plus a free camera the series hadn't known until then. This is also where cooperative Max Raid Battles are focused, in which four players team up to take on a single giant Pokémon. The game also introduced new Galarian forms of familiar Pokémon adapted to the local environment and expanded the Galar League's roster of trainers with more distinctive personalities, including rival Hop and champion Leon.

The release was accompanied by controversy over the so-called Dexit – for the first time in the series' history, it wasn't possible to transfer all Pokémon from previous generations, which divided the fanbase and sparked debate about how far the series can grow. Even so, the game sold exceptionally well, and two expansions, Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra, added new areas, legendary Pokémon, and characters. Sword and Shield showed where the series could head on more powerful hardware and paved the way for even more open successors. The side mode of cooking curry at the campfire added an unexpectedly beloved pastime, letting players spend time with their team outside of battles.