Who's that Pokemon? Pokemon Sword and Shield gets a cryptic teaser for a new Pokemon

Pokemon Sword and Shield
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Update: 

We've been keeping a close eye on the glitchy Pokemon who appeared on the official Pokemon Sword and Shield website, but the mysterious pixelated figure (who folks believe could be Farfetch'd or maybe Cubone) still hasn't been revealed. The official Pokemon Company posted a tweet that seems to finally address the teaser since it was posted last week. "We’ve got our hardest working Pokémon Trainers on the case and hope to have the issue resolved shortly," the tweet says. Ooh. Hopefully this indicates the reveal will be incoming very soon. 

Original story: 

The Official Pokemon company has posted a cryptic teaser for a new Pokemon coming to Pokemon Sword and Shield. Taking a different twist on their classic silhouetted who's that Pokemon gag, a pixelated, distorted image of a new Pokemon has appeared with a description that's partially blocked out. When you follow the link on the Tweet and go to the official website, you can spot the image on the page. Once you click through, it'll take you to the blurred out image of the mysterious Pokemon.

After a lot of squinting and rotating, it does look like some kind of bird, and many are already speculating that it's a fancy Galarian take on Farfetch'd. There have been some great ideas about what it might look like already. One of the best takes so far is the below rendition that shows a rather fly looking Farfetch'd bird with a leek-like spear and shield. Folks have dubbed it "SirFetch'd," and frankly we're so on board with the design. It's not such a farfetched look, after all. 

The page states that it's a fighting Pokemon with the ability Steadfast, but what's even more intriguing is the description at the bottom of the page. While it's partially blocked out to keep us guessing, the description says that "only [redacted] that survived many battles can attain this [redacted]." How interesting. The Pokemon will also retire from combat for an as yet unknown reason.

We've had a load of different Gen 8 Pokemon revealed so far, including the adorable Polteageist teapot Pokemon, the stripey Kiss tribute band Galarian forms, and our new fluffy friend Wooloo. We'll be keeping our eye on this Pokemon to find out just what it'll look like and if it really is a new Farfetch'd form coming to the Galar region.

Want to know more? New Pokemon Sword and Shield features include more trainer customisation, Pokemon Camp and a ghostly tea Pokemon.

Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at 12DOVE. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.