Pokemon: Twilight Wings animated series debuts on YouTube

Fans of the Pokemon anime may be pleased to know that The Pokemon Company kicked off a new side series today. Dubbed Pokemon: Twilight Wings, this side series is set in the Galar region, the main setting for the latest Pokemon games, Sword and Shield. While the main characters from the anime don't seem to be present in this side series, there are some familiar faces for those who have already played through the Galar-based games.

The Pokemon Company explains today that Twilight Wings will be comprised of seven episodes in all, with a new episode being published to YouTube each month until the series wraps up this summer. Each episode will only run around five minutes, so with all the episodes accounted for, Twilight Wings should have a total running time of around 35 minutes.

The first episode, "Letter," introduces us to John, a boy who has been "hospital-bound from an early age." John is a fan of Leon, the Galar region's Pokemon Champion and one of those familiar faces from Sword and Shield. When John learns that Chairman Rose, who runs Galar's Pokemon League, is coming to visit the kids in his hospital, he writes Rose a letter asking him for an invitation to see one of Leon's matches in person.

We'll hold off on spoiling the rest of the episode, which you can watch via the video embedded above. Despite the fact that this is a Pokemon series, we don't see very much from the titular monsters. Instead, this first episode introduces us to the human characters that will be central to Twilight Wings.

This isn't the first time The Pokemon Company has launched these internet side series, as it did something similar with Pokemon Origins and Pokemon Generations. We'll let you know when The Pokemon Company publishes new episodes of Twilight Wings, so stay tuned for that.

Nintendo will charge for new Pokémon Sword and Shield content. Some fans aren’t happy.

(CNN) -- The "Pokémon Sword" and "Shield" games are getting new adventures, cuddly creatures and rivals to battle. But Nintendo isn't adding the content for free, and some fans are upset about the cost.

Fans will have to pony up $29.99 for an expansion pass. That's in addition to $60 for each original game. An optional online subscription service costs $19.99 per year.

Pokémon enthusiasts who want both "Sword" and "Shield" expansions will have to pay about $60 in total. New content is coming in June, and more will be added in the fall.

"It's a pretty steep price for a full Pokémon experience," Kori Selnes, 29, a Twitch streamer in Norway who has played Pokémon games for more than 20 years, including "Sword" and "Shield." She told CNN Business that she "used to love the franchise to bits, but the direction it's going now makes me not want to support the companies involved anymore."

Game Freak, which co-owns Pokémon with Nintendo, said in a Thursday announcement that it was the first time Pokémon games were getting a digital expansion instead of being released as standalone games. It's a new strategy for the franchise, although it has already been adopted throughout the video game industry. For example, Nintendo itself has sold expansions for the games "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" for $20 and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" for $5.99.

"The console games market is continually moving away from being a hits driven business that used to focus on the 'fire and forget' model of shipping a new game every year or two, to one that offers a long term service for a single game," said Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners who covers the Asian video games market.

While the Pokémon expansion will feature new regions, characters and more than 200 additional Pokémon, including legendary creatures, some fans complained that Thursday's announcement video on YouTube was thin on story details. More than 80,000 people tuned in to watch.

Dozens of gamers commented on YouTube that they would "go broke" or that their wallets were "crying." Others spammed the thumbs down emoji.

Last year, fans of the game were outraged that not all the Pokémon would be included in the new games. And after the games were released, many noted that the animations and gameplay appeared cheap and overly simplistic.

Some gamers said Game Freak hasn't done enough to convince them to pre-order the expansion.

"It's a major corporation trying to make as much money as possible with as little effort as possible. I'm just voting with my wallet, trying to convince others to do the same," said Jacob Hands, 21, from central Illinois, a FedEx package handler who has played Pokémon for more than 10 years.

Nintendo and Game Freak did not respond to a request for comment. The Pokémon Company declined to comment.

Still, some veteran gamers like the new updates.

"This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the price of the expansion is fair considering the extra content and story," said 26-year-old Australian Shisir Lama, who's known on Twitch as AuSLove. "I was never outraged to begin with and being outraged does not help anyone."

Technically, those who have already purchased the games can still obtain the 200 new Pokémon through digital updates that will arrive at no additional cost. But they'll need to find players who have bought the expansion and trade with them.

"By no means am I mad at it. In fact, it seems kind of genius," said Austin John, 31, of New Jersey, a longtime Pokémon fan who makes YouTube videos of the franchise. "There are going to be some people who are mad that it still doesn't have all the Pokémon, but some people will always be mad."

Nintendo also announced Thursday that the 15-year-old "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon," a Gameboy Advance title, is being remade for the Switch and will be released March 6. The company gave a February release date for Pokémon Home, a cloud solution for franchise fans to connect all their critters from past games.

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Vote: What Are the Best Pokemon That Aren't In Sword and Shield?

With Nintendo's recent revelation that Pokemon Sword and Shield will be receiving an expansion pass -- a first for the series known for releasing enhanced versions - we also learned that 200 additional pokemon would be making their way to the Galar region over the course of both DLC packs, included with the $29.99 pass.Since not everyone from the National Dex will be making the cut - this begs the question, which pokemon should be added out of the hundreds that haven't been confirmed? We have developed a tool to crowdsource a definitive list of Most Wanted Pokemon (MWP) ... using math!

It's fun math though, we promise: In short, your picks will be counted, along with all the other participants, and then -- depending on which Pokemon win the most match-ups -- we'll post the winning list of Most Wanted Pokemon, ranked by popularity. We'll be revealing the list of MWP, Monday, January 20, so get your picks in before then!

For more information on FaceOffs, keep scrolling.What Is a FaceOff? As the name suggests, in a FaceOff we'll have one pokemon face off against another and it will be up to you to choose the winner. In this case, you're looking at two Pokemon and picking which one you'd prefer to be in the Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion.

It's possible to see the same Pokemon multiple times, especially if you keep clicking through the FaceOff. There are over 390 Pokemon here that get randomly paired up each time you pick a winner.

How do I know when I've clicked through everything? There isn't a surefire way to know that you've seen all the Pokemon included because they are matched up randomly. And, because there are so many combinations. Maybe you want to play until you get to choose Cyndaquil or maybe you just want Sandygast and Palossand to lose every time you see them. Keep clicking through pairs until you feel like you've adequately fought for your favorite Mons. We'll let math take care of the rest.Which Pokemon have you included? The Pokemon you see in this FaceOff are based on a process of elimination.

We've included all the Pokemon that are not included in the Pokemon Sword or Pokemon Shield base games or already confirmed/hinted at for the Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass. Please note that in instances where we've already seen a Pokemon that has an evolutionary line we've excluded the other Pokemon in said line. This means that Bulbasaur and Ivysaur are not in this FaceOff because we've already seen images of Gigantamax Venasaur.

How is this tracked? Every time you select a winner from a pair we get that information as a "point" in favor of that Pokemon. When we're done tracking this information the Pokemon with the most points will be ranked from most to least, leaving us with a tidy list of Most Wanted Pokemon.

This means you can keep clicking through for as long as you want, giving your favorite Pokemon a better chance of winning. And you can return to this FaceOff as many times as you want, while it remains live.

When will the results be posted? Once again, the results will be posted on Monday, January 20 at the top of an updated version of this article. So be sure to check back for the results!

For more on Pokemon Sword and Shield, be sure to check out our wiki guide. There, you can find everything you need to know about both Expansions including a working list of the Pokemon being added to Sword and Shield, all the legendaries, how to get Galarian Slowpoke, and much more.

Pokemon Direct: Everything Available After The Stream

The Pokemon Company revealed a ton of Sword and Shield news during last week's Pokemon Direct, but that wasn't all to come out of the presentation. As has become tradition, a variety of freebies are available right now following the Direct, including a demo for the newly announced Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remake.

To help you catch up on all the offerings, we've rounded up everything that's available after last week's Pokemon Direct below. You can also check out all the biggest news and announcements from the Pokemon Direct in our recap.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX Demo

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX launches for Nintendo Switch on March 6, but in the meantime, you can download a free demo of the game right now from the Switch Eshop. The demo lets you play through an early portion of the story, and any progress you make in it can be carried over to the full game when it releases. The title is also now available to pre-purchase. You can read more in our Pokemon Mystery Dungeon pre-order guide.

Pokemon Sword & Shield Update

A new update is now live for Pokemon Sword and Shield, which lets you get a small taste of the games' expansion pass content, even if you haven't pre-purchased the pass. After downloading the update, you can head to Wedgehurst station, where you'll run into one of the new characters from the upcoming Isle of Armor expansion. The character you meet will differ depending on which version you're playing: in Sword, you'll see Klara, while in Shield you'll meet Avery.

Free Galarian Slowpoke

The Sword and Shield update also adds a new Pokemon to the game: Galarian Slowpoke. All players will have a chance to catch this Pokemon, whether or not you've purchased an expansion pass.

Expansion Pass Pre-Order Bonuses

The expansion pass for Sword and Shield costs $30 USD and is available to pre-purchase now from the Switch Eshop. If you do pick one up, you'll receive a special bonus: a Pikachu uniform and Eevee uniform for your trainer. You'll get a code for the outfits via email after you've purchased the expansion pass, and you can redeem those codes in-game via Mystery Gift to claim the uniforms.

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'Pokémon Sword and Shield' DLC: List of Confirmed Returning Pokémon

The lack of a National Dex in Pokémon Sword and Shield has been a topic of debate since last June, but the upcoming Expansion Pass will bring a lot more Pokémon from past generations into the Galar region.

Both the Isle of Armor in June and Crown Tundra in the fall will collectively introduce more than 200 older-generation Pokémon to Sword and Shield.

It should be noted that players don't have to pay for the Expansion Pass to gain access to these returning Pokémon either. Game Freak confirmed that an update will be pushed out when Isle of Armor is released, allowing trainers to obtain these Pokémon via trade or by transferring using Pokémon Home.

While the number of returning Pokémon is currently unknown, various sources like the official Pokémon Sword and Shield site have confirmed a number of these older Pokémon that trainers will have access to in June and later in the fall.

Here's the latest list of returning Pokémon coming in the Sword and Shield Expansion Pass separated by parts.

ISLE OF ARMOR

The Isle of Armor portion of the Sword and Shield Expansion Pass brings back some old favorites of the Water variety. It also features some key Pokémon from prior generations that had a big impact on the competitive scene, including the Talonflame and Volcarona lines.

Fan favorites like the Psyduck and Zorua lines will also return in June. Here's a rundown of the confirmed returning Pokémon in the Isle of Armor. This list will be updated with more names as they're confirmed leading up to release.

Psyduck

Golduck

Magnemite

Magneton

Magnezone

Happiny

Chansey

Blissey

Hosea

Seadra

Kingdra

Azurill

Marill

Azumarill

Zorua

Zoroark

Larvesta

Volcarona

Fletchling

Fletchinder

Talonflame

Dedenne

Rockruff

Lycanroc

CROWN TUNDRA

As for the Crown Tundra, the Legendary Pokémon of past generations are back. Just about every rare Legendary will be available in Sword and Shield when this portion of the Expansion Pass is released in the fall.

On the non-Legendary front, popular Pokémon like the Zubat, Nido and Electabuzz lines return. But Metagross and Garchomp, two pseudo-legendary Pokémon, will have trainers happy to see some of the most powerful Pokémon in Sword and Shield.

Here's a full list of returning Pokémon coming to Crown Tundra. This list will be updated with more confirmations as we receive them.

Nidoran (female)

Nidorina

Nidoqueen

Nidoran (male)

Nidorino

Nidoking

Zubat

Golbat

Crobat

Elekid

Electabuzz

Electivire

Smoochum

Jynx

Spheal

Sealeo

Walrein

Beldum

Metang

Metagross

Gible

Gabite

Garchomp

Cryogonal

Amaura

Aurorus

Legendary Pokémon

Articuno

Moltres

Zapdos

Entei

Suicune

Raikou

Ho-Oh

Lugia

Regirock

Regice

Registeel

Groudon

Kyogre

Latias

Latios

Rayquaza

Uxie

Azelf

Mesprit

Dialga

Palkia

Heatran

Giratina

Cresselia

Tornadus

Thunderus

Landorus

Xerneas

Yveltal

Zygarde

Tapu Koko

Tapu Lele

Tapu Bulu

Tapu Fini

Pokémon Sword and Shield is available now. Isle of Armor will release in June and Crown Tundra will release in fall 2020.

What do you think of the returning Pokémon with the Sword and Shield Expansion Pass? Which Pokémon do you hope return that have yet to be revealed? Let us know in the comments section.

People Are Mad About Pokémon Sword And Shield’s New Expansion Pass/DLC

Pokemon Sword and Shield

Credit: Game Freak

Vocal gamers are, as a whole, a conservative bunch. It’s possible that they lean a little bit that way from a political perspective, but that’s not really what I’m talking about here. They’re just suspicious of change in a general way, especially when it comes to beloved franchises trying something new. Such is the case with Pokémon, which is one of the oldest franchises to have developed a powerful and relatively insular fanbase: change is hard, and Pokémon doesn’t usually change. And recently, we got some change.

Here’s the change: way back with Pokémon Yellow, the franchise established what became a tradition. It would release two games to begin a generationâ€"itself a pretty weird thing to doâ€"and later it would release extra games that were essentially the same basic thing as the original games with some added enhancements. Sometimes this was a single “third version”, as is the case with earlier games, and later there would be upgraded version of each game in the generation: see Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon. It’s the sort of behavior that would be considered ridiculous from anyone else, but the Pokémon franchise sort of got grandfathered in.

That is, until now. The recent Pokémon Direct confirmed that Pokémon Sword and Shield would be keeping only part of Pokemon’s absurd release strategy, the one where it releases the same game twice, at the same time. But for new content, it’s now moving towards the industry standard idea of just selling new content as DLC for a fixed price tag. And so we’ve got the expansion pass, which will add the Isle of Armor and the Crown Tundra for $30 total. That means that not only do you not have to buy a whole new game to get the new content, you can access the new content with your existing save file.

It seems like a win, but people are upset. Pokémon Sword and Shield have been a flashpoint for a while now, both due to specific controversies and, I suspect, the general idea that this long-standing franchise was continuing to open up to the broadest audience it’s had since Red and Blue. And so that general spirit of controversy continues to this expansion pass, and people are complaining that we’re not getting the upgraded version(s) that we used to. Like I said, a certain stripe of gamer is deeply conservative, and that’s what we’re seeing here. If you use a game franchise as a source of comfort and stability through two decades of your life (there’s nothing wrong with doing that, I do that), it can make any change feel that much scarier.

It’s tough to see, because it makes it that much harder to change old franchises. But it’s still a positive change for the series: I basically never bothered with the upgraded versions, starting with Yellow. But DLC inside of a game I already own is another matter, and so I’ll jump into the Isle of Armor feet first.

There’s another side to this controversy that feels like a misunderstanding more than anything else. People were originally upset that Game Freak was trimming down the Pokédex for these games by not allowing players to transfer all old Pokémon into the new games. That gets a little better with the expansions: Game Freak is adding in 200 old Pokémon, free for anyone that wants to transfer them over from elsewhere. People have said that there’s a paywall for the new creatures, but that’s not really true: you only need the expansion pass if you want to catch them. Everyone else can access them through trades and transfers, which is basically how it’s worked with the expanded Pokédex for years.

I expect this all to blow over pretty soon. That’s the issue with catering to hardcore fans: you need to do it to some degree, but the people that complain about the shift to an industry standard release concept are also the people that will buy the new expansion pass without asking, every time.

Nintendo will charge for new Pokémon Sword and Shield content. Some fans aren't happy

Fans will have to pony up $29.99 for an expansion pass. That's in addition to $60 for each original game and an online subscription service that costs $19.99 per year.

Pokémon enthusiasts who want both "Sword" and "Shield" expansions will have to pay about $60 in total. New content is coming in June, and more will be added in the fall.

"It's a pretty steep price for a full Pokémon experience," Kori Selnes, 29, a Twitch streamer in Norway who has played Pokémon games for more than 20 years, including "Sword" and "Shield." She told CNN Business that she "used to love the franchise to bits, but the direction it's going now makes me not want to support the companies involved anymore."

Game Freak, which co-owns Pokémon with Nintendo, said in a Thursday announcement that it was the first time Pokémon games were getting a digital expansion instead of being released as standalone games. It's a new strategy for the franchise, although it has already been adopted through out the video game industry. For example, Nintendo itself has sold expansions for the games "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" for $20 and "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" for $5.99.

"The console games market is continually moving away from being a hits driven business that used to focus on the 'fire and forget' model of shipping a new game every year or two, to one that offers a long term service for a single game," said Daniel Ahmad, a senior analyst at Niko Partners who covers the Asian video games market.

While the Pokémon expansion will feature new regions, characters and more than 200 additional Pokémon, including legendary creatures, some fans complained that Thursday's announcement video on YouTube was thin on story details. More than 80,000 people tuned in to watch.

Dozens of gamers commented on YouTube that they would "go broke" or that their wallets were "crying." Others spammed the thumbs down emoji.

Last year, fans of the game were outraged that not all the Pokémon would be included in the new games. And after the games were released, many noted that the animations and gameplay appeared cheap and overly simplistic.

Some gamers said Game Freak hasn't done enough to convince them to pre-order the expansion.

"It's a major corporation trying to make as much money as possible with as little effort as possible. I'm just voting with my wallet, trying to convince others to do the same," said Jacob Hands, 21, from central Illinois, a FedEx package handler who has played Pokémon for more than 10 years.

Nintendo and Game Freak did not respond to a request for comment. The Pokémon Company declined to comment.

Still, some veteran gamers like the new updates.

"This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think the price of the expansion is fair considering the extra content and story," said 26-year-old Australian Shisir Lama, who's known on Twitch as AuSLove. "I was never outraged to begin with and being outraged does not help anyone."

Technically, those who have already purchased the games can still obtain the 200 new Pokémon through digital updates that will arrive at no additional cost. But they'll need to find players who have bought the expansion and trade with them.

"By no means am I mad at it. In fact, it seems kind of genius," said Austin John, 31, of New Jersey, a longtime Pokémon fan who makes YouTube videos of the franchise. "There are going to be some people who are mad that it still doesn't have all the Pokémon, but some people will always be mad."

Nintendo also announced Thursday that the 15-year-old "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon," a Gameboy Advance title, is being remade for the Switch and will be released March 6. The company gave a February release date for Pokémon Home, a cloud solution for franchise fans to connect all their critters from past games.