Pokemon Sword & Shield: Is There a GTS?

Pokemon Sword and Shield is familiar to previous games in so many ways but Game Freak has messed around with, and switched a few things up that players have gotten used to, as they are one to do every generation. If you’re here, you’re probably wondering if there is a GTS in Pokemon Sword & Shield, allow us to help clear that up.

GTS in Pokemon Sword and Shield

So for those that aren’t familiar or don’t remember exactly, the GTS stands for Global Trade System, and it was a menu or sometimes even physical location that players could go to trade with players all around the world since Gen 4.

You could put Pokemon up for trade and leave them there in exchange for another Pokemon that you wanted to trade for. You could also do mystery trades of sorts where you could just throw up a Pokemon and instantly trade with someone else not knowing what you would get.

It worked pretty well for filling out your Pokedex but unfortunately as of Pokemon Sword and Shield the feature is gone. Trading of course still exists in Sword and Shield but it works very differently than the GTS system.

By pressing the Y button shortly after the beginning of the game, you can enter a new screen that will allow you to request trades with other players and have matchmaking go on in the background while you play.

You can still wheel and deal but it’s not as simple as setting and forgetting it and having it automatically trade. You’ll need to work out a deal in live time.

Just make sure when you enter the Y-Comm, that you also press the Plus button so that way you can connect to the internet, otherwise you’ll just be working through these options locally.

You can also do quick link battles through the Y-Comm but Ranked battles are found via the VS option in the Menu.

There are advantages to this system, but the GTS system worked pretty well too and it’s odd that Game Freak would decide to remove it.

In any event, hopefully this clears up the question of whether or not the GTS is in Pokemon Sword and Shield. The GTS is dead and long live.. the Y-Comm?

Check out our Sword and Shield wiki guide for more tips, tricks and FAQs answered.