Pokémon Sword And Shield 18 Gyms Across Major & Minor Leagues.

Pokémon the series' standard of eight Gyms to find and defeat - until Pokémon Sun and Moon did away the idea altogether, of course - but Pokémon Sword and Shield look set to revolutionise the system all over again.

The new games there is 18 Gyms will be featured. They'll be split across 'Major' and 'Minor' leagues. Gyms will appear in each and some will differ depending on which version of the game you pick up. For example, Bea's Fighting-type Gym will appear in Pokémon Sword's Major league, while Allister's Ghost-type Gym will appear in Pokémon Shield's Major league. This news comes from Game Informer which has shared exclusive info on the games in its most recent issue.

It appears that the Gyms can be in different leagues each year in the Galar region. It isn't clear whether or not you'll be able to challenge all 18, There also happens to be 18 different Pokémon types in the game. Could there be one Gym for each type?

Plenty more fresh details have also been shared recently, including the fact that HMs won't be featured, around 1,000 people have worked on the new games, and that Sword and Shield will benefit from an optional autosave function. Series director Junichi Masuda has also confirmed that any "cut" Pokémon will return in future games.

What game will you be picking up?