If you’ve been an avid Pokémon player for the 20+ years it’s been on Nintendo consoles, you’re probably already very well-versed in the routine that kicks off when beginning a new game’s adventure. Meet some characters, talk to the Professor, pick your starter, and so on. Well, Sword & Shield is setting out to change a bit of that very formulaic setup: it looks like you’ll soon be able to skip the tutorial that walks you through how to catch Pokémon.
GameSpot’s Kallie Plagge recently played the Pokémon Sword & Shield demo and she gave some insight on the ability to opt out of the familiar walkthrough. After choosing her starter for her adventure, Kellie noted that the in-game mom gave her character five Poké Balls along with the usual pocket money. She left and caught some Pokémon on the way to meet the rival and his brother — Hop and Leon, respectively — with the latter being the Galar Champion, the person who was supposedly responsible for teaching Kellie how to catch Pokémon. Instead of running through the tutorial, however, Leon took notice of how she’d already caught ‘mon on the way over and simply moved on to the next part of the conversation.
Kellie made sure to note that, hopefully, the small adjustment wasn’t just created specifically for the demo version. Having the option to fully skip past the information that many players already know by heart creates a much smoother experience all around. It’s nice to know that the large world of Galar could become available to venture throughout sooner in-game, rather than being forced to walk through the ever familiar Trainer steps.
Pokémon Sword & Shield releases for Nintendo Switch in less than one month, on November 15th.
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Written by Lauren Ganos
Creative Director, Managing Editor
Designer and writer by day, gamer by night, Lauren dreams big when it comes to creative endeavors. Perhaps that's why she's taken on the roles of creative director and managing editor for Nintendo Wire. If she had a video game superhero alias, it might just be The Visionary, a true keeper of imaginative order.
