Gigantamax Pikachu Pokemon Sword & Shield Pokemon Day Max Raid Dated

Gigantamax Pikachu is heading back to Pokemon Sword and Shield. However, people will only have a very limited window of opportunity to catch one. The official Japanese Pokemon website revealed a Pokemon Day Max Raid event  Between February 26-28, 2021, the special Pikachus will show up. If a million people fight them, extra items related to the Expansion Passes will be doled out. [Thanks, Serebii!]

Here’s how the event will work. During those three days, the Gigantamax Pikachu will appear more frequently in Wild Area dens. (Make sure you refresh your game by choosing “Get the Wild Area News” in your menu!) You can then fight and have a chance of catching Pikachus with the ability to Gigantamax.

The Crown Tundra and Isle of Armor element comes in via the participation reward. As pointed out by The Pokemon Company and Serebii, the goal is for over a million people to all return to Pokemon Sword and Shield to catch a Gigantamax Pikachu. If that happens, everyone will get 100 Armorite Ores and 100 Dynite Ores between March 2-15, 2021. The Armorite Ore can be used as Isle of Armor currency to do things like teach Pokemon moves or reset EVs. As for Dynite, you can use it at the Crown Tundra to unlock Dynamax Adventures or get items.

Gigantamax Pikachu is one of the more rare Gigantamax characters. This is because it and Gigantamax Eevee both originally only appear if you have a Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Eevee! save file on your Nintendo Switch. However, it does occasionally appear during special events.

Pokemon Sword and Shield are available for the Nintendo Switch. Pokemon Day is February 27, 2021.