Pokemon Sword And Shield Seemingly Reveal New Galarian Form [Update]

The 24-hour Pokemon Sword and Shield livestream turned out to be largely uneventful, but it did give us our first glimpse at another new Gen 8 Pokemon. A mysterious monster was teased throughout the entire broadcast, but only toward the end did we get a clear look at the new Pokemon, and it appears to be a Galarian form of Ponyta. [Update: The Pokemon Company has officially revealed the mysterious new Pokemon, and it is indeed Galarian Ponyta. This variant of the pony Pokemon is a pure Psychic-type that can only be found in Shield.]

As you can see in the images below, the new Pokemon bears a strong resemblance to Ponyta. However, its mane appears to be made out of purple clouds rather than fire, and it has a small horn atop its head much like a unicorn, which seems to suggest it's a Fairy-type.

While The Pokemon Company has yet to outright confirm the new Pokemon is indeed a Galar-exclusive variant of Ponyta, Ponyta's cry could be heard during the stream, lending credence to the theory. After the stream ended, Sonia, Professor Magnolia's assistant and granddaughter, said she'll "collect everyone's reports and create a summary for [her] gran soon," so we'll likely get official confirmation sometime this week.

A handful of other old Pokemon are also receiving new Galarian forms in Sword and Shield. Earlier this summer, we got a look at Galarian Zigzagoon and Weezing. A couple of monsters will also have new Galar-exclusive evolutions. Galarian Linoone will be able to evolve into a new Pokemon called Obstagoon, while Farfetch'd is getting a new evolution called Sirfetch'd.

Pokemon Sword and Shield launch on November 15. Until then, you can see all the new Gen 8 Pokemon revealed so far in our gallery. If you're interested in picking up a copy of the games, check out our Pokemon Sword and Shield pre-order guide.