Pokémon Sword and Shield free gift Meowth: How to download special early-purchase bonus Meowth explained

Publish date: 2023-05-25

If you buy, or receive, Pokémon Sword or Shield during the first two months of its release, you'll have the opportunity to download a very special Meowth as an early-purchase bonus.

You can only download this Meowth between Friday, November 15th 2019 to Wednesday, January 15 2020.

What makes this Meowth special, and worth downloading, is that it has the ability to Gigantamax.

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How to get the special Meowth in Pokémon Sword and Shield

There are two important things you need to know before you download Meowth.

The first is that you can only download this Meowth once, so make sure you don't trade or release it by accident.

The second is that you can only download this Meowth from between Friday, November 15th 2019 to Wednesday, January 15th 2020.

If you miss this download window, then you can't add this special Meowth to your Pokémon team.

When you're ready to download Meowth, ensure that you're connected to the Internet.

Below we've outlined the steps you need to complete to receive the special Meowth:

  • Turn on Pokémon Sword or Shield.
  • Begin playing the game and open the X menu.
  • From the X menu, select the option for 'Mystery Gift.'
  • Now, select the option for 'Get a Mystery Gift' from this menu.
  • Next, select the option for 'Get via Internet.'
  • Your Nintendo Switch will now connect to the Internet. When they appear follow the instructions to select Meowth for downloading.

    • Make sure you save your game after downloading Meowth, because if you don't, then you will lose your Meowth.

    Once Meowth has been downloaded you'll be able to find it in either your Pokémon party or, if that's full, in one of your computer boxes.

    With it finally in the wild, here's how to start the Crown Tundra DLC and our full Pokémon Crown Tundra walkthrough. Plus, here's how to catch Calyrex, Glastrier and Spectrier, the Regieleki and Regidrago puzzle solution and Regirock, Regice, Registeel locations, details on how to catch Legendary Birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres in the Crown Tundra, the Ultra Beasts and Necrozma adventure, Dynamax Adventures, including the legendries you can catch on these adventures, and the new Crown Tundra Pokédex and returning Pokémon explained. For Isle of Armor players, here's how to find the Slowpoke, where to find Max Mushroom locations, and how to get Kubfu, become best friends and evolve it, plus all Diglett locations too! For the base game, here's info on the ability to transfer Pokémon to Pokémon Home, the Wild Area, lists of all TM locations and TRs, all Galarian forms and finally our main Pokémon Sword and Shield walkthrough for the whole game.

    Special Meowth Gigantamax ability in Pokémon Sword and Shield explained

    This Meowth is special for two reasons.

    The first is that it's the Kanto variant of Meowth, which you can't catch in the wild in the Galar region. The only way to receive it in-game is to trade with an NPC you encounter throughout your travels.

    The second is that this Meowth has the ability to Gigantamax.

    Only some Pokémon have the ability to Gigantamax, which allows Pokémon to both grow in size and increase their power.

    In their Gigantamax form, Pokémon also gain the ability to use a special G-Max Move, which is exclusive to them.

    This special Meowth will allow you to experiment with the Gigantamax ability very early on in the game.

    The downside, however, is that this Meowth is unable to evolve, making trading and then evolving a Kanto Meowth the only way to find a Kanto Persian in Pokémon Sword and Shield.

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