[Sword & Shield] Gyms confirmed to return!

Gym's returning is a good call considering where the region is based on! I mean, trials were prefect for Alola but they wouldn't have fit this region very much, imo. Especially since they're definitely bringing in a sort of sport thing here within the region?

I don't mind gyms coming back (please dark-type gym loool!). But yeah, since some folks are slightly tired of gyms being the same puzzle and then battle, hopefully something different like a mechanic or maybe some kind of sports theme can liven things up.

while I'm still kinda eh on the idea of gyms returning, one thing I have to give credit for Game Freak for doing is at least designing them super well:

Happy we're back to gyms; it's just part of the winning formula.

I kind of want to continue the tradition of the Dark type snub just because the reactions will be funny.

AveeVaporGlitch said:

What if not all gyms are type but other stuff like one focuses on speed while another is triple battles

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This would be nice and would match a Sporty vibe if not a new type of contest. Although we already have 2 very sport like gyms now that I think about it, both from Kalos. Korrina's and Grant's.

I don't think they will go away from specific typing though. But having a theme instead of a type would be nice. So say if we got a Surfing Styled gym, it would be Balanced stats, but also water and possible flying types in the gym.

Super excited for gyms to be back. It is a staple in the main series that should not ever be replaced with trials again...no offense for trial lovers.. maybe they will do that in non-main series.

I am hoping that there are more than 8 gyms and gym leader side stories or characters. with the rumor of this including the pokemon war backstory, maybe the gym leaders do sidequests.

Yue Han said:

Happy we're back to gyms; it's just part of the winning formula.

I kind of want to continue the tradition of the Dark type snub just because the reactions will be funny.

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You are horrible

thedestinedblade said:

Finally time for our first dark-type gym!

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After 8 generations, why didn't 1 through 6 have any Dark gyms?

Gym Leader:
1. Water
2. Ground
3. Bug
4. Ghost
5. Normal
6. Fire
7. Fighting
8. Fairy

Elite Four
1. Psychic
2. Grass
3. Poison
4. Dark
5. Dragon

Usually when a gen is remade, at least one of the Elite 4 types is shared between the current region and the gen that is being remade. Hoenn shared Ice, Ghost, and Dragon with Kanto, Sinnoh shared Psychic with Johto, Kalos shared Dragon with Hoenn, and Alola shared Ghost (and Fighting, but only in SM) with Kanto. If Sinnoh remakes are happening then I expect at least one of the Galar Elite 4 members to specialize in either Bug, Ground, Fire, or Psychic types.

I'm thinking the 'stadiums' are the gyms, on the map theres 6 visible, one of those 6 being in the very top town and just having the pokeball logo we see on the jersey of the trainer and the 7th one, that can be seen in the direct is in the same town the starters are untroduced in. When they first show the city, you can briefly see the pokeball symbol. The 8th stadium/gym I have no clue where iy may be ^^;

RileyXY1 said:

Usually when a gen is remade, at least one of the Elite 4 types is shared between the current region and the gen that is being remade. Hoenn shared Ice, Ghost, and Dragon with Kanto, Sinnoh shared Psychic with Johto, Kalos shared Dragon with Hoenn, and Alola shared Ghost (and Fighting, but only in SM) with Kanto. If Sinnoh remakes are happening then I expect at least one of the Galar Elite 4 members to specialize in either Bug, Ground, Fire, or Psychic types.

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Thinking about it I'd chalk it up to coincidence. Assume 18 types (and note previous gens only had 17; Gen 1 meanwhile only 15!) The chance to not share any types would be the chance of any other typing, four times. I.e.:

(14/18)*(13/17)*(12/16)*(11/15)

It comes to about 33% - more likely to have something in common than not. Then you account for as said earlier less types until gen 6, Normal not really getting E4 representation... I don't think it's purposeful, especially given the lack of anything made about it in-game or reason to have it.

You know what would be awesome? Gyms with a different specialization instead of a type. I would love to see a Defense gym, or a Levitate gym, or an Explosion gym, or a Blue Pokémon gym, or a Heavyweight gym. So many options!

Apparently, according to a deleted NoA tweet, Gym Leaders have been changed to "Gym Masters".

RileyXY1 said:

Apparently, according to a deleted NoA tweet, Gym Leaders have been changed to "Gym Masters".

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That's...My first instinct is to say that that's stupid, but I guess it's not a super-important thing, so I'll try to reserve judgement on the new name at least until the game comes out. :/

Aleimon Thimble said:

You know what would be awesome? Gyms with a different specialization instead of a type. I would love to see a Defense gym, or a Levitate gym, or an Explosion gym, or a Blue Pokémon gym, or a Heavyweight gym. So many options!

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Hey, maybe it's foreshadowing this! So, Gym Leaders use specific Types (except Blue, I guess), and Gym Masters have more open-ended specializations.

EmTheGhost said:

That's...My first instinct is to say that that's stupid, but I guess it's not a super-important thing, so I'll try to reserve judgement on the new name at least until the game comes out. :/


Hey, maybe it's foreshadowing this! So, Gym Leaders use specific Types (except Blue, I guess), and Gym Masters have more open-ended specializations.

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A Grass-type Gym is visible in the trailer. It is highly likely that gyms will still specialize in types.

I wished Pokémon did away with mono type gyms for a gen and went with like for example the gym leader study feline Pokémon so her team would be idk delcatty persian and pyroar or someone who breeds dogs so he has a growlith furfurou etc. and if not that more gym leaders like blue that comes at you with his best mons.

Here's a listing of how many gyms there are of each type (Wallace and Juan, Drayden and Iris, and Koga and Janine count together, the Striation Gym jointly counts as Fire, Water, and Grass, and Lenora and Cheren are counted separately, despite giving out the same badge, because their gyms are in different locations):

Bug: 3
Dark: 0
Dragon: 2
Electric: 5
Fairy: 1
Fighting: 3
Fire: 3
Flying: 3
Ghost: 2
Grass: 4
Ground: 2
Ice: 4
Normal: 4
Poison: 2
Psychic: 3
Rock: 4
Steel: 2
Water: 5

Here's the statistics for the actual Gym Leaders themselves, which have some differences:

Bug: 3
Dark: 0
Dragon: 3
Electric: 5
Fairy: 1
Fighting: 3
Fire: 3
Flying: 3
Ghost: 2
Grass: 4
Ground: 2
Ice: 4
Normal: 4
Poison: 3
Psychic: 3
Rock: 4
Steel: 2
Water: 6

Water has the most Gym Leaders and is tied with Electric for the most Gyms, while Dark currently has yet to receive a single Gym.

Now, here's the statistics in terms of Elite 4 members in the series:

Bug: 1
Dark: 3
Dragon: 3
Electric: 0
Fairy: 0
Fighting: 3
Fire: 2
Flying: 1
Ghost: 4
Grass: 0
Ground: 1
Ice: 2
Normal: 0
Poison: 1
Psychic: 3
Rock: 1
Steel: 2
Water: 1

Ghost has the most Elite 4 members of any type, with 4, while Grass, Electric, Normal, and Fairy have yet to receive a single Elite 4 member.

Mikachu said:

I'm thinking the 'stadiums' are the gyms, on the map theres 6 visible, one of those 6 being in the very top town and just having the pokeball logo we see on the jersey of the trainer and the 7th one, that can be seen in the direct is in the same town the starters are untroduced in. When they first show the city, you can briefly see the pokeball symbol. The 8th stadium/gym I have no clue where iy may be ^^;

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There is a red stadium in the London like city, but it is unknown whether it is a gym or a post game battle facility.

I just have to get this off my chest: Trials are just Gyms outside (don't try to pretend SM's Electric or Dragon Trials were any better than Gym puzzles of past), and just because the Captains all joined together and ate Mallow's soup doesn't make them "deep" or "engaging" characters. The Gym Leaders of BW and B2W2 all help the player during the story (not just in N's Castle) to deal with Team Plasma. There's really no reason to assume that Gyms or Gym Leaders are inherently worse than Trials or Trial Captains when our best instance of NPC usage is still from the games that used Gyms. And I'd argue gen 5 integrated the Gyms best into their cities as well (by being practical, such as the local restaurant, being part of the museum, roller coasters in the city's theme park, etc.); there's no guarantee Sword/Shield will implement the Gyms and their Leaders as successfully, but at least there's precedent for success from Gyms.

LatchoDives23 said:

After 8 generations, why didn't 1 through 6 have any Dark gyms?

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To be fair, gen 1 couldn't have a Dark-type Gym. But I really hope we see one now; if USUM can completely break game balance by allowing Inkay to be obtainable in the early routes, we can see a Dark-type Gym without worry.

jfuze174 said:

I wished Pokémon did away with mono type gyms for a gen and went with like for example the gym leader study feline Pokémon so her team would be idk delcatty persian and pyroar or someone who breeds dogs so he has a growlith furfurou etc. and if not that more gym leaders like blue that comes at you with his best mons.

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I'd love for them to do this, but the Dark-type fan in me wants a Dark Gym before they branch out and completely abandon the type. But this kind of thematic-based (rather than Type-based) team-using will majorly benefit the challenge of the games.