There’s no doubt that Galarian Ponyta stole the show in the Pokemon Sword and Shield 24 hour livestream but there were plenty of other species that made an appearance, too.
The face of Pokemon itself — Pikachu — was the first to show up on screen which, if nothing else, was an appropriate way to kick the stream off. This was followed by the sighting of several Morelull, the dual grass, and fairy-type. Its evolved form Shiinotic could also be seen later in the stream.
After nearly an hour, we got a glimpse of our third Pokemon — Swirlix. The Gen 6 Pokemon could be briefly seen floating in the background. Not a lot happened after that other than various rustling and Pokemon cries.
Two and a half hours into the stream though, we got our first sighting of a Gen 8 Pokemon — Impidimp. We have previously seen this species before but it has yet to be confirmed by the Pokemon themselves. It could be seen in gameplay from E3 2019 but does not appear on the list of new Pokemon on the Sword and Shield website — at least yet.
There was more of a lull following this (no, not the Pokemon) but a period of little to note. Approaching the four-hour mark though, we got a glimpse of Cottonee, another dual grass, and fairy-type. That meant in the first four hours we saw (in full) just five Pokemon with only one of them originating in the Galar region.
Clever Pokemon trainers had earlier identified as some of the cries as Phantump which they were proven correct on when the Gen 6 Pokemon appeared just after 12 hours into the stream.
There were also numerous sightings of what many believe to a Galarian Ponyta, which proved to be the ‘big reveal’ of the livestream. It concluded with a sighting of two of them playing together, curiously one had a tail and the other didn’t. Presumably these sightings mean that these Pokemon will indeed be featured in Sword and Shield itself.
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Two Galarian Ponytas!! Oh my… They’re so adorable!!! :eyes::starstruck: :sparkling_heart::unicorn_face::unicorn_face:#PokemonLivestream #PokemonSwordandShield #GalarianPonyta pic.twitter.com/nRLweDrJhH
— Zodıac :octopus: ゾディアック (@ZodiacAlchemist) October 5, 2019
Some trainers felt that, given the nature of the 24-hour stream, more details of the upcoming game should have been revealed. “We thought it would be someone playing the game. You gave us a screensaver,” one disgruntled fan commented on Twitter.
Another trainer took issue with the reveal of supposedly only one Pokemon, saying: “This could have easily been an hour long if it was just to reveal one Pokemon.”
It seems reasonable to take issue with this as some fans will have watched a lot of the 24-hour livestream and be justifiably disappointed with the relative lack of action. Some believed Pokemon were going to reveal one of the Galar region starter evolutions or maybe even another legendary species – Eternatus anyone?
Fortunately, Pokemon Sword and Shield is just over a month away from release so there should be plenty more details to come soon enough.