Pokémon Sun and Moon: What You Need To Know

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Source: Pokemon Sun and Moon

What was happening in the world twenty years ago? The hip hop world was still recovering from the loss of 2Pac, Damon Hill had just won the Formula One championship, and Dwayne Johnson was on the brink of his first WWF appearance as Rocky Maivia.

But it doesn’t matter what happened to those jabronis, because over in Japan, a game called Pocket Monsters Red & Green was making waves, and eventually became a common place on TVs and Game Boys around the world for many years. Fast forward to today, and Pokémon is now on its seventh generation, with the upcoming 3DS titles, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, scheduled for release next month. But if you cannot wait that long, there is a short demo available on the 3DS eShop. I’m here to tell you everything you need to know about these new games.

There are a lot of unconfirmed leaks, so I won’t be talking too much about anything that has not been officially confirmed. So let’s cut to the chase, and talk about what’s different, and new about Sun/Moon. There’s quite a lot to cover, so bear with me.

 

Plot and Gameplay

The plot formula has been essentially the same story since Red, Blue, and Green, with the only change being from Generation 2 onward, where the evil team’s plan involves a rare (Version Exclusive) Mythical Pokémon with immense power. Each new generation adds a varied selection of new Pokémon, moves, and occasionally a new elemental type, or battle style, to shake up the strategy of battling.

The interesting thing about Sun/Moon, is that they do away with the whole Gym badges, and Pokémon league thing, which have been a series staple. This time, each of the four islands in the new region have Trial Captains, who give you challenges, not always battle based challenges, to complete. At the end of each trial, you will have to face a Totem Pokémon. These Pokémon are larger, and stronger than others of the same species. They will summon an ally to help them fight, which in turn makes them an even more formidable foe. The final challenge for each island is against leader, or Kahuna. Once you beat the Kahuna, you will be able to advance onto the next island.

It’s not too different from what we are used to, but it’s a very different way of approaching progression, and feels much fresher than what we’ve been used to.

One thing I noticed while playing the demo, is how much more information you are receiving from the game on the field, and in battle. Doors you can go through give a little “Press A” prompt before you can enter. The Trial in the demo also showed me where I could interact with to trigger the PokéFinder minigame. The PokéFinder is essentially Pokémon Snap 2. You go to certain spots in the island and take photographs of the wild Pokémon. You then get these photos evaluated, and can unlock extra tools for photographing. It’s a shame this isn’t a full game on it’s own, but I feel like if enough people latch onto this, we can finally have a true sequel to Pokémon Snap that’s not Pokémon Go.

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Source: digitaltrends.com

In-battle information was a lot more involved too. Each move has a little “info” button next to it, so you can read the move’s description. Also, each move will show how effective it is before you use it. This is very handy for beginners, and may force other players to second guess their move choices more. One of my favourite inclusions is the feature where you can see how many buffs and debuffs you and your opponent has. This also includes accuracy and evasion buffs, which is handy against those Double Team and Sand Attack spammers. It also tracks your opponents moves as they use them, so the longer you’re in battle, the better you’ll learn about your opponent.

If you were a fan of Mega Evolution from the last generation, you might be disappointed to learn that this feature will not be explored further in Sun/Moon.

But what we have instead is a new Ultimate move, called a Z-Move. Z-Moves can be used once per battle. Any Pokémon can use a Z move, as long as they match the type of Z-stone. For example, in the demo you can give a Pikachu an Electric Z-Stone, and it will be able to use a super powered Electric move, once, in that battle. No other Z-moves can be used after the first use, so strategy and foresight is required. Certain Pokémon will have special Z-Moves too. There’s a really awesome, and somewhat hilarious, Snorlax Z-Move that sees the beast finally get up, do a huge running leap, and then Butt Stomping the opponent. Pikachu, Eevee, and Raichu have been revealed to get Z-Moves as well.

We were also given our first Pokémon ride in the demo. After you win the Totem battle, you get given a device that summons Pokémon you can ride on. We were given a Tauros, with an ability to smash through rocks blocking a path. This Tauros was not part of my team, but like the Latios/Latias in ORAS, you could call it at any time. We’ve also seen the player riding Charizards, Sharpedos, and the new Mule Pokémon in previous Nintendo media. Maybe this is their way of getting rid of HMs? Whatever the case may be, it was a lot more fun, and easier to use than what we were given in XY.

 

The New Pokémon

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Source: IGN

Let’s be real, though. The main selling point for any new Pokémon game isn’t the tweaks to the gameplay, or the story. You want more monsters to catch, and we definitely have a lot more interesting Pokémon this time out.

We’ll start with the starters. I’ve always chosen the Fire type, but out of the three this time, the Grass starter, Rowlet, is the winner. It’s a chubby little owl with a leafy bow-tie! C’mon! It’s leaked final stage looks amazing too; with it being a hooded archer. The cat Fire starter, Litten, looks alright too, but if the speculation about leaks are correct, it looks like it may end up being yet another Fire/Fighting. Time will tell, and I hope it’s just speculation. It would be an awesome Fire/Dark powerhouse. As for the water starter, Popplio… it’s sealed its fate as the one that’s left behind in the lab, as far as I am concerned.

While the Water Starter may have the raw deal this time, some of my favourite new Pokémon are water type. First, there’s Wishiwashi. Wishiwashi is a small, pathetic sardine-like fish. But there’s a twist. When it’s weak, it’s unique ability allows it to send out a signal, and a school of Wishiwashi group up and become this terrifying huge monster. Think of that scene in Finding Nemo. The official website says that even Gyarados fear it.

The other one I like, has an even better name, and an even funnier gimmick. I’m talking about the Sea Cucumber Pokémon, Pyukumuku. Its ability, Innards Out, is one to watch out for. When you make it faint, it will get one last hit on you by shooting out its insides, equal to the amount of HP it had on that KO hit. One hit KOs could be very costly for weaker party members. In one of the teaser videos, the player is seen to be picking them up off the beach and throwing them back into the sea, which coincides with its Pokédex information online. I like that these details are reflected in game, and I wonder if we’ll see more Pokédex details shown like this.

My third favourite new Pokémon is Mimikyu. It’s a Ghost/Fairy type, that looks like a crude Pikachu. It looks like this because of how popular Pikachu merchandise is, and because it’s lonely and wants to be loved. That’s the best Pokémon back story since Cubone! There are some other really nice, simple designed Pokémon this time too. The Red Pandas, the not weasel that looks like a certain US politician, the battery beetle, the dancing bird formes. There’s a lot to love this time.

But, we’re not done yet. Mega Evolution may be sidelined, but they have introduced a new variation of old favourites known as Alolan forms. For example, Vulpix , and Sandshrew live on a snowy mountain, so it makes sense that they became Ice Types in this region. Exeggutor got more sunlight, so it’s super tall, and is Grass/Dragon. Meowth was spoiled by rich nobles, so it became Normal/Dark. My favourite, after Alolan Professor Oak, of course, is the Surfer Raichu, who has gained the Psychic type too. Raichu needs more love, and I’m glad it’s getting some.

Don’t worry about all your hard work from the previous generation going to waste either. The Pokémon Bank is compatible with this generation. So you can transfer all your favourites to the new games.

Speaking of Alolan Professor Oak, we’ve been introduced to a lot of the NPC characters in the teasers. Not only that, they have teased that Ash Ketchum, and Blue will appear at some point. Blue has appeared before, but Ash is a character from the anime, and has never appeared in the games before. This is kind of a big deal. This is further hinted at when laying the demo. You start with a Greninja who has the ability Battle Bond. This ability transform Greninja into Ash-Greninja after it faints it’s first opponent. Completing the demo will allow you to use this Greninja in Sun/Moon. I’m loving the fan service here. Nice move, Nintendo.

 

Competitive Players

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Source: screenrant

The other main reason for playing Pokémon games, for some players, is the competitive scene. This time, it feels like Nintendo are paying attention to this.

Players can now register up to 6 teams, which can include the same Pokémon on different teams, to fight online. Not only can you use these teams, but they can be used as rental Pokémon by other players. This, not only is call-back to the days of Pokémon Stadium on the N64, but it means that you could potentially use Pokémon used by players in the World Championships.

I’m not a big competitive player myself, but this idea is really cool, especially if you aren’t one who puts in the time for Super Training. Speaking of which, there’s a new form of EV/IV training called Hyper Training, which is only available once you reach Level 100.

Pre-order either Sun or Moon (or both) now

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