Shiny Eiscue Event Now Live In Pokemon Sword And Shield For A Very Limited Time

A new Max Raid event is underway in Pokemon Sword and Shield, but it's coming to an end soon. To celebrate World Penguin Day, the penguin Pokemon Eiscue is appearing in Max Raid battles across the Wild Area, Isle of Armor, and Crown Tundra until today, April 25, and you'll even have a chance to find a Shiny variant.

Eiscue is normally one of the version-exclusive Pokemon only available in Pokemon Shield, but it will appear in Max Raids across both games throughout this event. You may also come across a Shiny Eiscue in five-star Max Raids, but its appearance rate is very low, so you'll need to be persistent and check as many Raids as you can if you're hoping to catch one.

The Eiscue Max Raid event runs until 4:59 PM PT / 7:59 PM ET / 11:59 PM UTC on April 25. Before you can participate in the event, you'll need to refresh your Max Raid dens. You can do this either by connecting your game online via the Y-Comm, or by selecting Get the Wild Area News from the Mystery Gift menu.

In addition to the Eiscue Max Raid event, Sword and Shield players can claim another free item this weekend. The Pokemon Company is giving away a free Weakness Policy via Mystery Gift until April 26. The code for the free item was revealed during the Pokemon Players Cup III Global Finals, which are being streamed this weekend on Twitch.

There are a few new Pokemon games on the horizon. New Pokemon Snap, the long-awaited follow-up to the N64 Pokemon spin-off, releases for Nintendo Switch next week on April 30. Nintendo recently shared a lengthy overview trailer for the game that provided a closer look at its environments and new mechanics.

After that, remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are slated to launch on Switch in late 2021. Unlike other Pokemon remakes, these are staying very faithful to the originals, featuring the same chibi art style and top-down perspective as the classic DS games. Then in 2022, Game Freak is releasing a new Pokemon adventure set in ancient Sinnoh called Pokemon Legends: Arceus.