As the Nintendo Switch goes into its later years, I find myself reflecting fondly on one of its earlier titles: Pokémon Sword & Shield, the entry that ushered in Pokémon‘s eighth generation. Despite the game releasing in 2019, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company saw fit to delay the publication of the game’s soundtrack until early 2024, publishing concurrently with the Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet soundtracks. Of these three, I think it’s taken me longest to warm up to this four-disc set, the Nintendo Switch Pokémon Sword・Shield + Expansion Pass Super Music Collection.
While many composers are credited for this soundtrack, the key pair are series regulars Go Ichinose and Minako Adachi. With each successive listen, I found myself recognizing how much these composers have grown from the sixth and seventh generations (X & Y, Sun & Moon) to Sword & Shield. Yes, many songs serve the functional, typical roles expected of any Pokémon game. Shop themes, jingles, some of the structure for gym and gym battle themes, and even motifs from previous games worked into Route and Town themes have their place. In some ways, I could argue the same regarding the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series.
What impresses me most here, then, is the way that Adachi and Ichinose develop a distinct soundscape for the British-inspired Galar region, helping the listener form an impression of the music of Sword & Shield and Galar in the same way the Hawaii-inspired Alolan region of Sun & Moon is a clearly identifiable soundscape. One of the key components of this soundscape arises in the game’s gyms and league tournaments, where the stadiums have clear parallels with UK and European Football (what we in the US call Soccer). In many of the gym, tournament, and character-specific battle themes in the stadiums, the music includes whistles, vuvuzelas, and crowds singing simple melodies or chanting in unison. From the “Exhibition Match” prologue music all the way up to the champion battles in the Final Tournament and ultimately Leon, the stadium-centric battle themes may be the cornerstone of this OST.
Even the game’s comic relief villain team, “Team Yell,” has an aesthetic akin to modern British football hooligans. Musically, the “Team Yell” character and battle themes, and the battle music for the characters Piers and Marnie, present an impressive cultural mix of British punk and hip-hop influence for listeners to enjoy. Personally, these themes are some of my favorites, especially disc 3, track 3 “Battle! (Gym Leader Piers)” and track 7, “Decisive Battle! (Marnie).”
Not every battle theme relies on the stadium environment, however. The “Wild Pokémon” battle theme, while still holding the trappings of a standard Pokémon battle track, has a melodic guild that does feel uniquely Galarian. The bright synth leads and solid tempo are common, but the orchestra hits and groovy bass lines feel fresh and new to the series’ Nintendo Switch debut, and across the whole of this soundtrack, there are small but meaningful ways in which the harmonic structure of this piece aligns with so many other Sword & Shield tracks.
And then there’s the lovely surprise of “Battle! (Battle Tower),” disc 3 track 28, composed by Undertale creator Toby Fox. Fox would later go on to write significantly more music for Scarlet & Violet, but he got his foot through the Pokémon door with this one track. And my oh my, it does not disappoint. The battle tower is a postgame area for elite battle matches, and even if you’re not ready to take on the battles there, you should give it a try at least once to hear this great music in context. Consider it a musical reward for clearing Sword & Shield. Seriously, we’re talking about taking the energy from Undertale battle themes (think Undyne, Asgore, Asriel) and packaging it in a synth-upgraded Pokémon soundscape. It’s Good with a capital G!
Of course, battle themes do not account for the entirety of the soundtrack. Some of the game’s environment and town themes strike me as perfunctory in nature: they “get the job done,” so to speak. Others, however, stand out as musical gems that can and should be enjoyed outside the context of the game. One of these, found early in the game, is “Slumbering Weald.” Here we find an up-tempo 3/4 jam with a meandering electric piano line, punctuated by these crazy-fast string ensemble hits. The song’s second part includes a synth lead that almost sounds like a howling wolf on its sustained notes (fitting, as legendary Pokémon Zacian and Zamazenta reside in these woods).
There are also some great character themes here. Though these themes tend to get eclipsed by their battle counterparts, one theme that stands legitimately against its battle theme counterpart is “Bede’s Theme.” Bede is a young trainer and, eventually, a gym leader who is all about style. He has a character arc through the game, including a switch in specialization from psychic-type to fairy-type Pokémon. For me, his complexity and his eventual shift to fairy type are well conveyed in this jazz brass-and-bass theme song. That walking bass is *so* Bede.
Up to this point, I have spoken about the music of Pokémon Sword & Shield proper: the base game, so to speak. This is the music from the first three discs. On disc four, we reach the “Expansion Pass” portion, made up of two DLC chapters: The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra. I think some of the best music is waiting for us on this last disc.
Working backward from the end, I have to give due praise to “Battle! (Legendary Bird Pokémon).” This new battle theme from Go Ichinose channels so much of what makes early Pokémon battle themes what they are and cranks it all up to 11. The fast, frantic, uncontrollable energy of the low catch rate, high flee rate legendary birds (Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres) in their new Galarian regional variants—it is all captured perfectly in this one piece of music. The percussion alone tells the story, but the crazy chromatic runs and atypical arpeggiations up and down the synth lead make it feel entirely like an endgame Pokémon battle. Bravo!
For environmental themes, I found The Crown Tundra to be the stronger of the pair. The title track, “The Crown Tundra,” and the accompanying town theme, “Freezington,” help keep the axiom alive that winter-themed game music tends to stand out as some of the best. Perhaps that’s why I prefer pairing my Calyrex with Glastrier (ice) instead of Spectrier (ghost), though this does nothing to change the musical quality of the game during their respective battle themes.
The Isle of Armor has some strong music too, though I was disappointed by the relative blandness of “Tower of Waters” and “Tower of Darkness.” As I recalled playing through this content years ago, I really liked the visual design and the choice to give Urshifu a subtype variant of water or dark. Musically, however, I don’t think these tracks stood the test of time. Where Isle of Armor does excel, of course, is in its character battle themes. The pseudo-rivals Klara and Avery have some good themes, but I am all about the dojo master Mustard. He has both a standard battle theme and his final story/challenging battle music “Battle! (Serious Mustard).” Serious Mustard is a truly epic piece that blends traditional Japanese instrumentation with, of all things, big band brass and jazz flute. This piece was a collaborative work from Hitomi Sato and Minako Adachi, and I can glimpse pieces of the series’ musical future in this track, both in Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet.
In summary, Pokémon Sword & Shield may not be quite as impressive as the two works that followed it, but it was a necessary and significant stepping stone from the 3DS Pokémon soundtracks to what we have now. And, within that large stepping stone, there are some great tunes to love and appreciate all on their own. I doubt I’ll be returning to this one for subsequent listens with the high frequency I have with, say, the Area Zero themes from Scarlet & Violet. However, I am glad this soundtrack is here as part of my Pokémon music collection, and I am certainly glad Nintendo finally got around to publishing a soundtrack for the retail market!
