Pokemon Sword and Shield is getting a bunch of adorable hat-wearing Pikachu

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Pokémon Sword and Shield's next expansion, The Crown Tundra, is releasing next month, and to celebrate, Nintendo is bringing a handful of familiar friends to the series' latest release. A horde of anime-inspired Pikachu will be heading to the game, alongside the chance to obtain every legendary pokemon that has ever featured in the main series.

In today's presentation, Pokémon Company president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed that eight special Pikachu are heading to the game, each sporting some classic Pokémon headgear. Each version of the iconic yellow creature is wearing one of anime hero Ash Ketchum's baseball caps from the TV series.

To acquire your fashionable Pikachu, you'll need to find passwords that Nintendo will be sharing over the coming days, then submit the code via the in-game mystery gift menu. To start off your collection, the first password is already available - to acquire Pikachu wearing Ash's original cap, the code is P1KACHUGET.

Ash's Pikachu isn't the only new arrival in The Crown Tundra. Ishihara says that the new game will grant the opportunity to capture "every legendary pokémon that's appeared in the main series of Poémon games so far." Some legendaries will be limited to either Sword or Shield, but you'll still be able to trade them between the most recent games. To find most of the legendaries, you'll need to head into the Dynamax dens that Sword and Shield players should be familiar with.

All of those returning Pokémon will be available when the Crown Tundra DLC releases on October 22, but if you'd prefer to streamline the entire process, you can buy a special edition of the games that come bundled with their respective DLC passes in November.

If you're still exploring the last DLC, here's where to find all the Isle of Amor Diglett locations.

Ali Jones
News Editor

I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.