Pokemon Sword And Shield First DLC Is Now Available: How To Buy

Today's a big day for the Pokemon faithful of the world. Not only did The Pokemon Company reveal a new Pokemon Snap game for the Nintendo Switch – a huge surprise on its own – but today also marks the release of the first expansion for Pokemon Sword and Shield. The Isle of Armor is out now, so if you've purchased the Sword and Shield expansion pass, you're able to download it and get to playing.

The Isle of Armor was revealed earlier this year, alongside a second expansion, The Crown Tundra, that will be available later this year. Both expansions serve up new areas to explore and add a number of Pokemon to the Galar Pokedex – by and large, these new Pokemon seem to be returning creatures that didn't make the initial cut for Pokemon Sword and Shield.

A couple of weeks back, The Pokemon Company revealed new details about The Isle of Armor. The expansion will feature a new legendary Pokemon called Urshifu, who can switch between two different forms and fighting styles. We'll also see the addition of Galarian Slowbro, Gigantamax Venusaur, and Gigantamax Blastoise, so those of you who were bummed to see that the Charmander line made it into Sword and Shield while the other Kanto starts did not have reason to be excited.

In celebration of the launch of The Isle of Armor, players will be able to participate in a Max Raid Battle featuring the mythical Pokemon Zeraora. If one million players participate in this battle between today and June 28th, The Pokemon Company will hand out shiny Zeraora, so this is definitely one event to participate in.

You can pick up the expansion pass for Pokemon Sword and Shield from the eShop today. The pass – which includes both The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra – is available for $29.99, with Game Freak planning to launch The Crown Tundra launching at some point before November 30th, 2020.