When a new pair of mainline Pokémon games comes out, how do you decide which version to get (first)? Do you have some sort of mechanism, or is it just a whim?
And, on a related note, Grass monkey, that funky monkey, GRASS MONKEY! asks:
Are you getting Sword, shield, or both?
So, I eventually went with Shield, and this time, as in most previous generations, whim is probably the best way of describing it. I’ve always avoided pre-release hype material previously, so I’ve never known anything about version-exclusive Pokémon when choosing. This time, I did look at the list of officially confirmed version-exclusives, but there wasn’t much to choose between them, for me. I like Tyranitar, but I also like Hydreigon; I like Sirfetch’d, but I also like Galarian Ponyta. The box legendary is sometimes a guide for me – I picked Sapphire because I liked Kyogre and Moon because I liked Lunala – but I have trouble choosing Zacian or Zamazenta; they’re both… fine, I guess? I’m coordinating with a friend to get opposite versions, but she couldn’t decide either, so that was no help; I wound up picking first (Jim the Editor doesn’t have a Switch and probably isn’t going to get either one, at least not any time in the next few months). Honestly “which version?” has never really seemed like all that big of a deal to me; there’s always something I want from the other one, no matter which I pick, and these days I tend to experience any story-related differences between the two in a very unusual way because it happens as part of my research when I go to write about them. I’m certainly not going to buy both; that’s just rewarding Game Freak and Nintendo for continuing to make one game for the price of two, and I don’t think there’s any compelling blog-related reason to get both.
Pokémaniacal 
Shield here as well, and it was mostly the same. I mean, usually I picked based on the box legendaries, but… I don’t care about either of this? I’m splitting a double pack with a friend and he was like, “You pick first,” and I ended up pretty much randomly picking Shield.
Then Sirfetch’d was announced and I was like “backsies?” and he was like, “Nope, too late.” So yeah. I’m getting Shield and trading for Sirfetch’d ASAP. I otherwise didn’t have strong feelings either way, both looked fine and the boxed legendaries came down to, “do I want a wolf with a giant mane or a wolf holding a sword?”
Honestly… that sword looks just like a regular sword, can’t the shield one just steal the sword and become the ultimate life form?
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Shield for me too! I made a dark pact long ago with one of the Lords of the Abyss (my sister) to always get the second game of a pair whenever there’s new Pokémon games (i.e., Pearl, Black, Y; she always gets the first).
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I have decided to go with Shield in the end but only because I love the Galarian Ponyta line and want it in my team.
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Eh, I haven’t actually gotten an official Pokemon game since Actual Diamond (stupid Telefang bootleggers), and I’m not about to buy the two additional games I’d need to in order to transfer whoever I’m allowed to so…
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Oh, and on the Twitter: yeah, missing sleep makes you useless the NEXT day so working through the night ends up being a bit of a wash, but people do it anyways.
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