Version exclusives can now be found in both Pokemon Sword AND Shield

A surprise event for Pokemon Sword and Shield has been revealed where trainers can get hold of species only found in the ‘opposite’ version of your game.

The event is called The Wild Area Event. Aside from trading, this presents the best opportunity for players to finally catch species which, until now, wouldn’t have been possible.

Every mainline Pokemon game since Pokemon Red and Blue has had species that are only available in each version. The motives for this have never been explicitly shared but it isn’t too far-fetched (see what we did there?) to suggest it’s to encourage players to both versions and also provide an incentive for trainers to interact with each other and trade.

Now though, Nintendo are breaking this tradition – albeit temporarily – to allow trainers to catch some of the opposing version exclusives. These will be available from now until March 25, 23:59 UTC.

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They won’t be simple to catch, however, as they can only be found in Max Raid Battles.

Which can you catch?

Trainers will be glad to know the popular Galarian Ponyta and Sirfetch’d are among those featured. You can catch the following in each game:

Pokemon Sword:

• Galarian Corsola (Level 17-40)
• Galarian Ponyta (Level 30-40)
• Indeedee Female (Level 60)
• Galarian Rapidash (Level 60)

Pokemon Shield:

• Galarian Darumaka (Level 17-40)
• Farfetch’d (Level 30)
• Sirfetch’d (Level 40)
• Indeedee Male (Level 60)

In truth, that does leave a lot of version exclusives still unattainable but we shouldn’t get greedy. You can always get the others through trading. Here is a full list of every version exclusive in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

With the current global health situation, plenty of trainers will be enjoying some downtime playing Sword and Shield. Try reaching out to the community if you’re still missing any of the version-exclusive Pokemon – there are always players that are happy to help.