Many Pokemon fans have been upset over Sword and Shield not including all of the past Pokemon. That makes sense considering the series has been advertised by the phrase “Gotta catch ’em all” for over 20 years. While fans have to settle for “Gotta catch half of ’em,” they will be delighted to know that the new Pokemon that have been introduced in the Switch exclusive are absolutely delightful. They are some of the best new designs that we have seen from Game Freak in several years, and there are plenty of twists on familiar pocket monsters as well. While it may not have every past pocket monster, the 10 coolest Galarian Pokemon might make up from it. Check out the 10 coolest Pokemon unique to Sword and Shield below.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Grookey’s evolutionary line
While Scorbunny and Sobble’s evolutions are questionable, Grookey is pretty cool throughout. They keep a traditional drum theme going as the tiny money evolves into Thwackey, which has two sticks it uses as drum sticks. The final evolution is Rillaboom, a monstrous gorilla that comes with his own wooden drum that it uses to attack foes with. Not only does this create some unique attacks for the starter, but it gives me major Donkey Konga vibes. Anything that is reminiscent of those underrated GameCube titles is a big plus.
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Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Mr. Rime
This is cool, but only in a nightmarish way. It is difficult to make up a reason why The Pokemon Company decided that Mr. Mime needed a regional variant or evolution, but they’ve turned that old man-looking weirdo into something even scarier. His new evolution is called Mr. Rime, and he has the creepiest mustache as well as some weird faces on its body. It looks like a big music note, which could be where the name comes from.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Yamper and Bolthund
Oh, Yamper. Easily the cutest pocket monster introduced this generation, this electric dog has the important ability of ball fetch. It’s based off the Welsh Corgi and joins Growlithe, Lillipup, and Rockruff as puppy Pokemon. It eventually outgrows its tiny legs and evolves into Bolthund, a much larger, yet still adorable, electric dog.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Cufant and Cooperajah
We already had an elephant-like Pokemon in Phanpy and Donphan, but these new creatures are a great celebration of Indian elephants. Cufant is absolutely adorable and shows off all of the charm that baby elephants have, while Cooperajah is a massive pocket monster that looks to pose quite the threat.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Galarian Ponyta
They have finally turned the fire-based Ponyta into a unicorn! This Galarian form is gorgeous to look at and its Rapidash evolution is even more majestic with a fully-grown horn. This psychic Pokemon doesn’t have any fire properties like its original form, but it looks to be just as interesting. Out of all of the new forms for existing pocket monsters, this is the best redesign yet.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Applin, Flapple, and Appletun
One of this generation’s dragon-types is the cute Appletun. It starts off as Applin, which is essentially an apple whose leaves are eyes, and evolves into Flapple, which sees the creature break out of its apple-like cocoon and start flying (although its Gigantamax form sees it go back inside the apple), or Appletun, a dragon whose body looks like a really delicious apple pie. It’s a weird design that is really fun through all of the evolution parts.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Galarian Zigzagoon and Obstagoon
Maybe it is due to it being a raccoon, but Zigzagoon has never gotten the respect it deserves in the Pokemon community. It has always been adorable, and now it finally is getting some fanfare after its black and white-colored Galarian form. Galarian Linoone is more of the same as it’s just like the regular form, however, it does have the ability to evolve into the newly introduced Obstagoon. This turns the tiny raccoon into a gigantic badass, as it stands on two feet and looks like a gang member you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. It’s a twist that nobody was expecting, and shows that Game Freak has plenty of creativity left despite designing hundreds of pocket monsters over the past 20 years.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Arctozolt and Dracozolt
There are a couple of things you can count on in each new generation of Pokemon: there’s going to be a new dragon, some cool legendaries, three starter Pokemon, and two fossil pocket monsters that can be brought back to live. This iteration’s fossil Pokemon are Actozolt and Dracozolt, two interesting electric types with very different forms. Arctozolt is electric and ice, and you can see its frozen body, while Dracozolt is an electric dragon. Both are interesting twists in the design and their evolutions (Dracovish and Arctovish) go one step further as they lose their electric properties and become water-based fish monstrosities. It’s the type of weird designs we haven’t seen a ton of, and it makes you wonder if the scientists are doing the right thing by bringing these extinct creatures back to life. Maybe they should be allowed to rest in peace.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Sirfetch’d
Farfetch’d and his adorable leek stalk is one of the coolest Pokemon from the first generation that never received an evolution. Thankfully, Sword and Shield are changing that as we are getting the awesome looking Sirfetch’d. His leek has now become a full-fledged sword, and he even has a shield made out of leaves. If any one Pokemon sums up this generation, it’d be this tiny, yet dangerous, bird.
Coolest Galarian Pokemon | Purrserker
Meowth has been through a lot over the past couple years. First, we saw new Alolan forms that saw Meowth and Persian turn grey. Now, we have Galarian forms that turn Meowth and his new evolution into a creepy looking monster. The new evolved form is called Purrserker, and it looks like the cute cat has emerged from hell. There’s also a hilariously long Gigantamax form of the regular Meowth, so fans of the cat will be very happy with Sword and Shield.
