The Pokémon Company today revealed additional details about the second part of the expansion pass for Pokémon Sword and Shield, called The Crown Tundra. The Expansion Pass was revealed at the start of the year, with the first part, the Isle of Armor expansion, being released in the summer. The Crown Tundra expansion will arrive on October 22, roughly three and a half weeks from today.
In a YouTube presentation, CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara showed off a new trailer for The Crown Tundra, giving fans a better look at some of the content in this snow-covered area. The presentation confirmed that all legendary Pokémon from previous games will be returning in the expansion, specifically through a new feature called Dynamax Adventures. In this mode, players can team up locally or online to explore dens, where they need to make their way through a series of Dynamax battles and potentially find one of these legendary Pokémon at the end.
The trailer also revealed a new feature in the expansion, the Galarian Star Tournament. After adventuring in The Crown Tundra, players will be able to participate in a tournament, teaming up with various characters found in the original Sword and Shield games, as well as in the Isle of Armor expansion. Other characters will team up as well, with different combinations depending on who the player teams up with. It's unclear what rewards will potentially come from this, however.
To celebrate the release of the second part of the Expansion Pass, players can obtain special Pikachu wearing different hats worn by Ash in the Pokémon anime series. These Pikachu will be distributed through Mystery Gift passwords over time, and the first one is available today, featuring the hat from the original series. More codes will be posted on this page, and you can claim them using the Mystery Gift option in Pokémon Sword and Shield, even if you didn't buy the Expansion Pass.
The presentation also revealed news about Pokémon HOME, the cloud storage service that allows players to store up to 6,000 Pokémon, trade, and see additional information about Pokémon, moves, and abilities. Later this year, the service will add support for the mobile title Pokémon GO, allowing players to transfer creatures from that game into Pokémon Sword and Shield.
As a reward for transferring Pokémon from GO into HOME, players will be able to activate the Mystery Box in Pokémon GO, which allows them to capture the creature Meltan. At the same time, a Mystery Gift will show up in Pokémon HOME, containing a special Melmetal (Meltan's evolved form) that is capable of Gigantamaxing, which is the first time this creature can be legitimately obtained in the games.
As mentioned above, the second part of the Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass, The Crown Tundra, will be available on October 22. If you have yet to buy the base games, however, a new edition including the Expansion Pass will be available in retail stores on November 6. You can read our review of the game if you're on the fence about buying it.
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