How to get hacked Pokemon in Sword and Shield

There are many outstanding and imaginative Pokemon to be found in Sword and Shield. However, rather than having to catch them, players have found a way to get hacked Pokemon.

Hacked Pokemon are generally of the highest level, with the best possible stats, and come in the shiny version. This sounds fantastic, but a player should take caution when dealing with hacked Pokemon.

Nintendo has begun to implement methods of banning users of these Pocket Monsters in the online portions of the Sword and Shield games.

There are multiple different places a player can look to get a hacked Pokemon, and sometimes they are even randomly received via Surprise Trades.

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How to get hacked Pokemon in Sword and Shield

A hacked Zarude in Sword and Shield (Image via Game Freak)

Currently, the two main ways to get hacked Pokemon into the Sword and Shield games is for a player to either purchase them via a website or through the use of automated software programs on Twitch and Discord.

The first method is fairly self-explanatory; a player simply searches for the Pokemon they want to buy online, and the seller trades it to them once they receive payment.

The second method is a bit more interesting. A player can fully customize every aspect of the Pokemon they want by using programs on certain social platforms.

Players can easily look up the names of specific channels on Twitch and Discord that offer these services. They'll only need to follow the instructions, which are usually along the lines of inputting information on the details of what Pokemon they want and then typing in certain commands.

These commands prompt a bot to generate the Pokemon and trade it to the player's account.

Hacked Pokemon have become so popular that players of the Sword and Shield games have even been seeing them pop up frequently in online Surprise Trades. This, along with the use of these Pocket Monsters in online battles, has garnered the attention of Nintendo.

They have put a strict ban policy on players that are found using illegally modified data.