Just like any release of a mainline game, Pokemon Sword & Shield was heavily speculated by fans prior to its release. Due to the incessant demand of fans to know more about the latest game, it's hard not for leaks to stay covered up and quiet. However, not all of the leaks leading up to the launch turned out to be true. Looking back, let's see which leaks spoke the truth and which ones were complete lies.
TRUE: 'Dexit'
Months leading up to the game's launch, there have been speculations regarding the number of Pokemon heading to the next generation. At first, it was hard to believe that older Pokemon will be cut off from the game because prior to Pokemon Sword & Shield, this idea has been unheard of.
However, the worst fears of trainers turned out to be true. As confirmed on the June 11 E3 Nintendo Treehouse presentation by Nintendo, only the regional dex Pokemon were coded into the game. This didn't only mean that you can only capture a limited number of Pokemon within the game's main story, it also meant that Pokemon from previous games could not be transferred to the new game unless they already are present within the Galar region.
In what would be one of the most heated gaming topics of 2019, the 'Dexit' issue would later lead to death threats from fans to GameFreak developers. Thankfully, the whole community wasn't overloaded with toxicity, as there were also fans who have vocally shown their support to GameFreak with their hashtag #IStandWithGameFreak.
Read More: [LEAKED] Reason Behind Pokemon Sword and Shield 'Dexit' Fiasco and Why You Should Believe It
FALSE: There Would Be 18 Gyms
The Pokemon formula has remained the same for the most part of the past two decades, so it's only natural for people to look for something new to change things up. GameFreak successfully did this with the Island Trials, which supplanted the Gym Challenge in Pokemon Sun and Moon.
However, GameFreak decided to return gyms in Pokemon Sword & Shield. To spice things up, GameFreak announced that the Galar region will have a 'major league' and a 'minor league', which led to many to believe that there are as many as eighteen gyms to challenge in Sword & Shield.
Unfortunately, this was not the case as Pokemon Sword & Shield only features eight gyms for players to challenge along their journey, the 'major league'. The 'minor league' that comprised the rest of the Galar region's competitive scene is only mentioned off-hand in-game, and can not be challenged.
On the bright side, Pokemon Sword & Shield featured the first-ever alternate gyms. Depending on the version of the game you choose. Shield lets you fight against the Ghost-type gym and the Ice-type gym, while Sword lets you challenge the Rock-type gym and the Fighting-type gym.
TRUE: Galarian Form
Just like in the previous game Pokemon Sun and Moon, which had the 'Alolan' form of some Pokemon, Pokemon Sword and Shield also featured new versions of some existing Pokemon species in 'Galarian' form.
What's different in Pokemon Sword and Shield is that some Pokemon in their 'Galarian' forms had new evolutionary lines, unlike in Alola, where these Pokemon simply had a different appearance and sometimes typing.
FALSE: Pokemon Starter Evolutions
Upon the release of trailers of Pokemon Sword and Shield, players began speculating what the new starters featured in the video would look like once they've evolved. Many were particularly concerned with Scorbunny's typing, fearing that it will lead to another Fighting/Fire-type once fully-evolved.
However, early leaks of the artwork of Pokemon starter evolutions turned out to be false. We're just thankful that these did turn out to be false, because the real versions of the Pokemon starters' evolution lines look way cooler than the ones in the leaks.
TRUE: Shiny-locked Starters
Another changed that leaks told us and also turned out to be true is the fact that the Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grooky you get at the start of the game will always be non-shiny. Unlike in older games where players could repeatedly load a save state until they get a shiny Pokemon, the ones in Sword and Shield have no way of becoming shiny no matter how many times you reset your game.
Well, this disappointment didn't really have the same effect as 'Dexit', so you won't see a lot of people focusing their anger over this, but there's another leak that turned out to be true, disappointing as it may be.
