New Pokemon Sword and Shield Event Swaps Around Version Exclusives

Ever since Pokemon hit the scene, Game Freak has shipped multiple versions of each game generation to encourage player trading. However, the company is temporarily throwing that design philosophy out the window thanks to the latest event in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

First reported by Serebii.net, the “Pokedex Completion Event,” as many are calling it, will see numerous rare Pokemon from Sword crop up in Max Raid Battles in Shield and vice versa. While not all version-exclusive creatures will participate in the event, players will still be able to catch plenty of monsters they normally couldn’t receive without trading.

According to Serebii’s handy list, Pokemon Sword owners will be able to catch Ponyta, Rapidash, Corsola, Oranguru, Mandibuzz, Shield’s Indeedee, and Gigantamax Gengar. Meanwhile, Pokemon Shield players can get their hands on Farfetch’d, Sirfetch’d, Darumaka, Passimian, Braviary, Sword’s Indeedee, and Gigantamax Machamp.

The event will also feature plenty of non-exclusive Pokemon such as Karrablast, Shelmet, Accelgor, Escavalier, Pincurchin Snorlax, and Gigantamax Snorlax. Moreover, each Max Raid Battle will feature rare rewards such as fossils, so trainers can also catch a Dracozolt, Arctozolt, Dracovish, and/or Arctovish if they complete enough raids.

The Pokedex Completion Event will run from today until March 26th. Players who are missing some version exclusive Pokemon are encouraged to participate in as many Max Raid Battles as possible, because you never know what you will encounter.