Eight of Ash's Pikachu Arrive in Sword and Shield: Here's How to Get Them

Pokémon Sword and Shield recently released the game’s second DLC, and The Crown Tundra has already improved on the game. In celebration of the new DLC, and the classic Pokémon anime, you can now get eight of Ash’s Pikachu!

For every player, you can redeem up to eight different versions of Ash’s Pikachu with each wearing a different cap from a different era of the Pokémon anime.

In order to acquire each version of Ash’s Pikachu, you’ll need to input a specific code to receive them via Mystery Gift in Pokémon Sword and Shield, each of which you’ll find below. You can find more details here on how to redeem a Mystery Gift.

Do you need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription?

While you don’t need a paid subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, you will need to have linked your Nintendo Switch profile to a Nintendo Account.

This means players who hope to get extra copies of Ash’s Pikachu will have to do some extra legwork by creating new Nintendo Accounts for each profile, complete with their own unique email.

All eight of the Pikachu are Level 25 and will know Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Iron Tail, and Electroweb. Each can learn Volt Tackle if you use the man on the left side of a standard Pokémon Center to remember the move.

The eighth and final Pikachu, which is wearing the World Cap, will come holding the item Light Ball, which boosts the stats of a Pikachu that’s holding it.

Players will only have until 30 November at 6:59am PST (2:59pm GMT) to redeem each Mystery Gift code and get Ash’s Pikachu, so make sure to use the codes so you don’t miss out on them.

Which Pokémon anime is each version of Ash’s Pikachu based on?

Pokemon Sword and Shield Ashs Pikachu TV 1

Before we get to the codes, which can be found below, some players may be wondering which version of the Pokémon anime each of these caps represents.

Original Cap Pikachu is based on the very beginning of the Pokémon anime, which first premiered in Japan on 1 April 1997 and in the United States on 8 September 1998.

Hoenn Cap Pikachu is based on Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, which was the sixth year of the Pokémon anime. It premiered in Japan on 21 November 2002 and in the United States on 13 September 2003.

Sinnoh Cap Pikachu is based on Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, which was the tenth year of the Pokémon anime. It premiered in Japan on 28 September 2006 and in the United States on 4 June 2007.

Unova Cap Pikachu is based on Pokémon the Series: Black & White, which was the fourteenth year of the Pokémon anime. It premiered in Japan on 23 September 2010 and in the United States on 12 February 2011.

Kalos Cap Pikachu is based on Pokémon the Series: XY, which was the seventeeth year of the Pokémon anime. It premiered in Japan on 17 October 2013 and in the United States on 18 January 2014.

Alola Cap Pikachu is based on Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, which was the twentieth year of the Pokémon anime. It premiered in Japan on 17 November 2016 and in the United States on 5 December 2016.

Partner Cap Pikachu isn’t based on a season of the series, but instead on Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You, which was released on 15 July 2017 in Japan and 25 November 2017 in the United States.

Finally, the newest addition to the canon is World Cap Pikachu based on Pokémon Journeys: The Series, which follows the events of Pokémon Sword and Shield. This newest and current version of the Pokémon anime premiered on 17 November 2019 in Japan and on 12 June 2020 in the United States.

All of the Ash’s Pikachu Codes for Sword and Shield

Now, for all of the codes to receive each individual version of Ash’s Pikachu. Remember that, to reduce confusion, the game removes a few letters from those available when inputting a Mystery Gift code, such as ‘O’ and ‘I’, and replaces them with ‘1’ and ‘0’, which is part of why the codes are a mix of letters and numbers, though, they usually spell a specific phrase.