This time around, the discrepancy between titles got political: Shield was designated for bottoms and Sword for tops. When a new Pokémon game is released, there are typically two separate titles of the same game, each of which features a different set of Pokémon. “I’ll get Sword and you get Shield,” he advised confidently. Both he and I decided the first games we’d play were Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. Last year, during my recovery from a painful surgery, my boyfriend purchased me a Nintendo Switch so I could entertain myself while bedridden on Oxycodone.