As soon as I watched the Pokémon Sword and Shield trailer, specifically once the logos appeared at the end, I was almost certain that every man and his dog on the internet would be talking about a connection between this game and another particular Pokémon title. The weird thing is, apart from a single Reddit thread that I found by minato994 that came out recently, the community is oddly quiet on this one.

So what am I talking about? Well, dear viewer, I have the theory that Pokémon Sword and Shield is somehow connected to Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. And yes, this theory is almost purely based on the Sword and Shields logos, and more specifically the colours of said logos, resembling that of Diamond and Pearls.

So, before I sound like a nut job, let’s throw out a few premises:

1. Logo Colours (and colour order) for Sword and Shield resemble Diamond and Pearl
2. There is a remake for Gen 1,2 and 3 but not one for Gen 4’s Diamond and Pearls
3. There has been a considerable amount of time since a generation has received its first remake with 4 entries and 5 years since the Gen 3 remakes Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
4. There has been a considerable amount of time since the release of the original game with 11 entries and 13 years since Diamond and Pearl released.
5. If there is a Gen 4 remake coming out soon It would be a weird and confusing marketing strategy for Nintendo and Game Freak to reuse Diamond and Pearl’s colours in the presentation of their next Pokémon release.

Therefore, while I wouldn’t bet any money on it, there is a good chance, with both ample timing and astatic correlation, Sword and Shield are somehow directly connected with Gen 4’s Diamond and Pearl.

Did I lose you? Do I still sound like a nut job? I’m glad I can’t hear your answer.

To review: Pokémon Sword and Shield’s blue then pink colour scheme is a very weird thing to pull off when there is an eagerly anticipated remake that is also blue then pink. And sure, while there are quite a few other Pokémon titles that are thematically based around the colour blue, what other Pokémon game is based around pink? And furthermore what generation is based around Blue then Pink, and specifically in that order?

Then consider the fact that Red and Green came out in 1996, followed by a western release the next year to have a remake in 2004, 8 years after its original Japanese release; The Gen 2 games came out in 1999 to only be followed up with a remake a decade later in 2009 and Gen 3’s Ruby and Sapphire released in 2002 and was remade for the 3DS in 2014, 12 years later. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are the next releases in line, coming out originally in 2006, and now the year is 2019.  It is now a full 13 years since the Gen 4 games came out and we literally know nothing about the supposed big remake. While the time between each generation and its remake have scaled up with the pool of new entries into the series, it’s still ample time for a Gen 4 remake. So maybe as Game Freak, who quite literally said they are hoping to surprise players in 2019, might blow our minds by making Pokémon Diamond and Pearl be apart of Sword and Shield. And it’s not even like Game Freak hasn’t done this kind of thing before with Gen 1’s Kanto region being featured in Pokémon Gold and Silver as Gen 2’s end Game. So it is very possible that we will be getting Gen 4’s Japan inspired Sinnoh region alongside Sword and Shield’s England themed Galar region.

While Diamond and Pearl being part of Sword and Shield is far from confirmed, a remake of Gen 4 would be a second Gen 4, right? And Gen 4 * 2 =  Gen 8, therefore Gen 4 remake = Gen 8, which is Pokémon Sword and Shield. Game Freak and Nintendo, absolutely genius. Guess I need to go out and buy a Switch for this game now.

Anyhow, I think that was just a bit of fun. While I personally have my doubts that we will be tossing a Master Ball at Dialga or Palkia in 2019, don’t be surprised if we get the chance to do so in late 2019 with the release of Pokémon Sword and Shield.

Cheers.