Will Pokémon Sword and Shield have gym battles?

While we haven't seen what a full on gym battle in the new Gen 8 games looks like, we did get a quick glimpse.

From what we saw in the announcement, Pokémon gym battles in this game take place in large stadiums that are full of cheering people. These stadiums are similar to soccer fields, and we see a trainer, dressed up in a soccer uniform, entering the grassy field of the stadium.

How these gym battles play out though, we don't quite know for sure yet. We do know that the new Dynamax system will work in the Gyms, so you will be able to grow your Pokémon to giant size to increase the epicness of the Gym battles.

We met our first Gym leader recently. Called Milo, he is the Gym leader of the Grass-type Gym and loves his Grassy Pokémon friends. Here's a direct quote from the Pokémon Sword and Shield website:

"Milo is one of the Gym Leaders of the Galar region. He has a kind heart and is well liked by the Trainers of his Gym. His credo is to always enjoy battles, and he specializes in endurance matches using Grass-type Pokémon."

When we take a look at the map of the Galar region, which is inspired by the United Kingdom, we can see at least five gyms in plain sight. However, previous Pokémon games have always had at least eight gyms and then the Pokémon League. So, perhaps there are some gyms that are hidden and need to be discovered in a play-through.

From a close inspection of the Galar map, we believe the visible gyms are the following types: Grass, Water, Fairy, Ground or Rock, and possible Ice or Dark.

The Grass one is pretty easy since it features a green leaf symbol on the building and was shown in the trailer.

Over on the east side of the region is a lighthouse, and the gym appears next to it. It has blue structures coming out of it, which is a pretty clear indicator of Water-type reigning supreme here.

On the west side, there appears to be a forest with a stadium located within. It's surrounded by mushrooms and has pink structures on the building, and we believe that this is a good sign of Fairy-type Pokémon.

To the south of the Fairy gym, there are mountains with a stadium building nestled within. With the brown coloring of this stadium, we're thinking it's either Ground or Rock type. However, with the mountains around it, Rock is more plausible. There was also a Lucario fighting a Tyranitar in a gym setting during the trailer, suggesting that Tyranitar could be one of the gym leader's Pokémon.

Finally, the gym that we see in the northeast area is surrounded by snowy mountains, which could suggest Ice type being used. However, the stadium's black features may also mean Dark type, which could be a first for the series. It wouldn't be unusual for this particular gym to also feature Ice/Dark dual types since that is a common combination (think of the Sneasel line and where Absol tends to appear).

Again, these are only five gyms that we know for sure will be in the game due to their appearance on the region map. Hopefully, there are three more that we need to discover on our own, and we're eager to find out what types those specialize in.