With just two short weeks until the launch of Pokémon Sword and Shield, I want as few things standing in my way of playing them as possible. Good news then, as starting today when you pre-purchase the games on the Nintendo eShop, you can download them immediately, so you’ll be good to go as soon as they launch at midnight eastern time on November 15.
If you pre-purchase the digital double pack, though, it will only immediately install Pokémon Sword and then give you a code to redeem Pokémon Shield along with the other pre-order bonuses. So just know that if this is enticing and you’re planning on playing Shield right away, double pack owners may still have to download that after launch.
With both games coming in at 9.5GB, this extra time may also be useful in finding some good new microSD cards for your Switch. While those are downloading you can check out our thoughts from a recent hands-on with the games and our impressions on the latest information out of GameFreak.
Nathan lives in Colorado catching Pokemon on the Go and at home. He previously spent three months interning for Game Informer before coming back to Gaming Trend to spread the good word on video games. His real passion, though, is collecting different versions of the 3DS and other weird Nintendo garbage. It's a never-ending quest for less space in his house.
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