I’ve been playing Pokemon Shield (for that Galarian Ponyta) since it released for the Nintendo Switch on November 15th, 2019 and loving it so much! There are new features that we’ve discussed here, including Cooking, Camping, Dynamaxing, Max Raids, along with 8th generation Pokemon for the Galar Region (94 new Pokemon).

Other new changes include: using your bike to get around (rather than Pokemon), no more HMs, Flying Taxi system early-on (fast-travel), a mix of random encounters and visible Pokemon on your map, being able to access your Pokemon Boxes anytime (not just at the Pokemon Centers), customizing your League I.D. card, finding Pokemon with better stats (yellow auras), spinning your joystick to strike a pose (and to evolve Milcery), and much more! What you may not know is how to obtain certain Pokemon and certain things about the Wild Area which you can read about below!

How to Get Mew

The Poke Ball Plus first released for Pokemon GO to help catch more Pokemon faster. When you take your Pokemon for a “stroll” and come across a Pokemon you can catch, the Poke Ball Plus will light up and vibrate in your hand. If you haven’t bought and used one already, you can do so for Pokemon Sword and Shield and receive Mew! Mew is inside all Poke Ball Plus toys and you can transfer it to either Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu or Sword/Shield only once. Just connect to the internet, connect your Poke Ball Plus to your Switch, and go to your Mystery Gift menu. There’s no other way to obtain a Mew in-game. Keep using your Poke Ball Plus because you can obtain free items every time such as Great Balls, Ultra Balls, and Stardust.

The Difference Between Dynamax and Gigantamax

These new phenomenon for Pokemon Sword and Shield may have you a bit confused early on. Dynamax Pokemon will appear in Gyms and in Max Raids which are basically just larger versions of Pokemon that have better stats and special moves. For the Gigantamax Pokemon, there are only a small number of Pokemon that not only become better and larger, but have a distinctive new look and can use G-Max moves. I’ve provided a list below, although there may be some version exclusives.

• Pikachu (free gift for playing Let’s Go Pikachu)
• Eevee (free gift for playing Let’s Go Eevee)
• Meowth (limited-time Mystery Gift)
• Charizard
• Butterfree
• Machamp
• Gengar
• Kingler
• Lapras
• Garbodor
• Corviknight
• Orbeetle
• Drednaw
• Coalossal
• Flapple/Appletun
• Sandaconda
• Centiskorch
• Hatterene
• Grimmsnarl
• Alcremie
• Copperajah
• Duraludon

If you’ve read this article here, then you know there is currently an event where certain Gigantamax Pokemon are more likely to appear. When you see a glowing red light from Max Raid dens that shoot upward, there’s a Pokemon in there. When you check to see which one it is, there’s only a silhouette and type. If you’re good at recognizing silhouettes, you’ll notice a slight variation in the Gigantamax ones. They are harder/rarer to find and they will sometimes avoid capture. Therefore, make sure to bring Ultra Balls with you and that you are at a high enough level to fight a 5-star battle. To literally speed everything along, make sure to speak to the NPCs in the Wild Area that will trade Watts for bike upgrades.

If you’re not sure if you have a Pokemon that can Gigantamax, you’ll see in your Pokemon’s summary that there’s a large pink/red X in front of their name. Also, don’t forget to claim your free Mystery Gift Meowth as you only have until early January 2020!

There are Rarer Shiny Pokemon to Catch

Catching Shiny Pokemon are hard enough as it is because there’s only a 1 in 4,096 chance you’ll find them with a different color. Now, if you’re a Shiny collector, you’ll have to spend even more time in the grass fighting the same Pokemon as there are even rarer Shinies to find! What you need to look out for if you’re not sure about the color difference is to look for shiny flying squares coming from the Pokemon once you’ve entered a battle with it. This is opposed to the usual yellow stars. See below for an image of an adorably Shiny black sheep Wooloo.

How to Cook Curry and Joining Other Players

If you go into your Y-Comm and switch your Local Communication for Internet, you’ll be able to see players from all over the world in the Wild Area. Talk to them to get either free items that you can sell or ingredients to cook with at your camp. You’ll need to shake some Berry trees to add to your dishes and the rarer the berry, the better the dish.

It’s hard to know exactly what makes a higher ranking dish since there is no recipe book, but if you play the cooking mini-game well (sparkles above pot, throw heart in when you hit the light-green circle), choose several Berries in keeping with the flavor of your ingredient choice, and also increase the amount of Berries used, you should be able to at least get a ranking high enough to fully heal all of your Pokemon. Here’s a list of flavor types:

• Spicy: Tanga, Cheri, Tamato
• Dry: Leppa, Chesto, Passho, Chilan, Kebia
• Sweet: Salac, Pecha
• Bitter: Coba, Rawst, Aguav
• Sour: Salac, Aspear, Wiki, Iapapa, Colbur
• Neutral: Sitrus, Lum, Hondew

When you’re online, you might see another player’s tent, If you enter it, you’ll get the chance to cook together which is really helpful if you’re trying to make better curry. Don’t forget to play with your Pokemon before leaving your tent as they will gain a lot more EXP this way. When you “unlock” more curries, you can go and talk to the Camping King before entering Motostoke and he will give your more toys to play with your Pokemon.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything and how you’re enjoying the game!