The Pokémon Company confirms there are not 18 Gyms in Pokémon Sword and Shield

The folks at Game Informer recently made a trip to Game Freak’s Tokyo headquarters for this month’s cover story, which happens to be Pokémon Sword and Shield. They had a chance to chat with the game’s director, producer, planning director and art director, picking their brains on the direction of the series and what they hope to accomplish with the upcoming Nintendo Switch titles. Among the topics discussed include Max Raid Battles, The Game Informer Show, the new autosave feature, controversy surrounding the National Pokédex, the decision to exclude HMs, a twist to the Exp. Share item, competitive mechanics, certain elements that are no longer exclusive to breeding and the amount of Gyms that can be found in Galar:

“In the Galar region, Pokémon Gym Battles are popular sporting events, and the 18 different types of Gyms that exist in Galar contribute to the background setting of the story in Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. In each game, Trainers must collect eight Gym Badges to complete the Gym Challenge and earn the opportunity to participate in the Champion Cup.

“Over the course of the main story, Trainers will challenge eight Gyms, which are all in the Major League. Which Gyms appear in the Major League and Minor League will differ between Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. For example, depending on the version of the game, Trainers will be able to challenge different Gym Leaders, such as Bea or Allister.

“Each version will have eight Gyms and eight Gym Leaders that Trainers can battle for a traditional Gym Challenge experience that fans have enjoyed throughout the Pokémon video game series.”

The original quote from Game Freak director director Shigeru Ohmori is as follows:

“From an actual gameplay and experience perspective, there will be certain gym leaders that will be different depending on which version you’ve played. In terms of the setting itself, the background to the story is there’s like this Japanese-style J-1 and J-2, like minor league and major league kind of concept. There are 18 different types of gyms in the story, and depending on the version, which gyms are in the minor league and which gyms are in the major league are different. For example, in Sword, the fighting-type gym will be in the major league, but in Shield, the ghost type. The idea is that every year, the Galar region is playing and which gyms make it into the minor league versus the major league changes. Of course, as always, there’s a difference in the kinds of Pokémon you can encounter.”

Source: Game Informer