One of Nintendo’s biggest franchises on handheld consoles is headed to the Nintendo Switch, Pokémon. Nintendo announced the newest installation to the Pokémon franchise — named Pokémon Sword & Shield — during a Nintendo Direct in February. It is the first game in the franchise to not be in any of Nintendo’s handheld consoles. Upon this news breaking out, fans immediately clamored for more.

During E3, Nintendo did not have additional details into the game. The only good news is that attendees are able to play a demo of Pokémon Sword & Shield during the convention and Inven got to play the demo on the show floor.

Striving for Cuteness

One thing that Nintendo representatives mentioned before the demo was that there are six playable Pokémon, three of whom are the starting Pokémon — Sobble, Scorbunny, and Grookey. The other three Pokémon was the sheep-looking Wooloo, flying-type Corviknight, and probably the cutest Pokémon to date, Yamper.

Yamper is one of the newest Pokémon for this generation. It is an electric-type Corgi Pokémon with four abilities featured in the demo: Play Rough, Spark, Crunch, and Wild Charge.

Yamper’s short and stout feature rivals Wooloo as the cutest Pokémon in the newest installation. Its abilities in the demo was Defense Curl, Double-Edge, Take Down, and Cotton Guard. For those unfamiliar, picture Wooloo as a big, puffy cotton ball. Now, put Yamper and Wooloo side-by-side. Who would you vote for as the cutest Pokémon?

Bigger is Better

What emphasized both Pokémon’s cuteness was the feature in the demo called Dynamax — it is a command that enlargens the player’s current Pokémon on the field. Not only does the Pokémon appear larger in size, but their attacks also deal more damage. Dynamax only lasts for three turns.

Also, the demo took place in a basic gym going through different trainers until you face the gym leader. Other than the new Dynamax feature, combat did not stray from past Pokémon games. The player picks a Pokémon’s ability from the menu screen — although the demo did not display any item usage — and the Pokémon attacks the opposing Pokémon.

What? Pokémon is evolving?

What’s different in this game is that each attack is fully animated meaning the game shows Pokémon physically attacking the opposing Pokémon. Since Final Fantasy 7 Remake features an evolution of their combat system, it would have been nice to see Nintendo evolve the combat system in Pokémon Sword & Shield. They could have used what was in Pokken and tailor it for Sword & Shield.

Another dynamic that was added to battles though are climate changes. During the fight with the gym leader, the opposing Pokémon, Drednaw, used an ability that made field started pouring rain. It affected how the battle was moving forward. Drednaw continued its onslaught to Yamper, and Yamper eventually fainted. Eventually, Grookey came to the rescue to finish the fight and win.

There were no additional details from Nintendo in regards to Pokémon, but expect more details to come as the game inches closer to its release date of November 15, 2019. See more information about Pokémon Sword & Shield on their website.

RELATED: E3 2019: Pokemon Fans Wage War Against Its Creators