Hello, everybody! The world waited nine months for the games - Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon - to release... and they DEFINITELY haven't disappointed! So let's get started on this review!
Pokémon Sun [2016, 3DS]
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo
Overview
Pokémon Sun and Moon are the first paired games in Pokémon's seventh generation, bringing to us 79 new Pokémon (or 81 if you count the Mythical Pokémon), bringing the total number of creatures to exactly 800 (or 802 counting the Mythical Pokémon.) The games tell the story of a young Pokémon Trainer who's just moved to the Alola region from Kanto (setting of the first games) and gets caught up in a mad plot to unleash the power of the mysterious Ultra Beasts on the region...
Plot (this is only a summary - there's SO MUCH to cover!)
You play as a Pokémon Trainer who's just moved to the Alola region - a region bathed in sunlight and based off of Hawaii. There are four islands, each with their own kahuna and a guardian Pokémon. Quickly, you meet the professor, Kukui, Melemele Island's kahuna's grandson, Hau and Kukui's assistant, Lillie - and her Pokémon partner, Cosmog.
Afterwards, you meet and fight two grunts from the region's evil team, Team Skull - a strangely and comedically over-the-top depiction of gangsters. Soon after this, you complete the first of Alola's seven island trials, each guarded by a Totem Pokémon - one that is much stronger than others of its species - and get a Z-Crystal for use with your Z-Ring as a reward. After this, you fight the kahuna, Hala, and get another Z-Crystal.
The same is done on the next island, Akala Island. Along the way, you and Hau meet Gladion, another member of Team Skull. A while afterwards, you come to the Dimensional Research Lab, where you meet Professor Burnet (who appeared earlier in Pokémon Dream Radar, a tie-in application for Black 2 & White 2), who is Kukui's wife and researcher of the Ultra Beasts, strange creatures with immense power. After defeating the next kahuna, Olivia - and Team Skull's admin, Plumeria, you're offered a trip to Aether Paradise, base of the Aether Foundation, a foundation who take care of hurt Pokémon. Strangely, Lillie refuses to go...
At Aether Paradise, you and Hau meet its president, Lusamine. But whilst everyone's talking, what seems to be an earthquake occurs. Just then, a portal opens - and out comes a strange creature of unknown origins! You battle it - but then it disappears completely. Lusamine is confident it is one of the Ultra Beasts - and begins to prepare Aether Paradise for the 'protection' of the Ultra Beasts...
On the next island, Ula'ula Island, you're taken up Mount Hokulani by Kukui to see Mt. Lanakila, where the Pokémon League is being built. After completing the trial there, you return to the island's main city, Malie City, and in the gardens, you fight against its boss, Guzma. After completing the next trial, Team Skull steal a child's Yungoos and demand that if you want it back, you must go to their hideout, Po Town, on your own. After beating Guzma there and returning to Aether House, where the child was, you discover that Lillie was kidnapped by Team Skull!
Gladion arrives and mentions that he thinks she's been taken to Aether Paradise, so you, him and Hau take the boat there - but not before you fight Ula'ula's kahuna, Nanu. Upon reaching Aether Paradise, you find that all of its employees are under orders not to let you pass! With the help of one of the employees, Wicke, you, Gladion and Hau make it outside... where you see Team Skull - they were working with the Aether Foundation all this time!
After defeating Guzma for the third time, you enter the building, where you find Lillie trying to talk sense into Lusamine - her mother! - who wants to use Cosmog's power to open the Ultra Wormhole to unleash the power of the Ultra Beasts on Alola... and succeeds in doing so! After fighting her, Lusamine and Guzma disappear into the Ultra Space, along with the Ultra Beast that Lusamine summoned... After returning to the main area, Wicke is overcome with relief that nobody is hurt and offers beds for the night, which everyone accepts.
This is where the story begins to diverge. From this point on, it is referring to Sun only.
The next day, Lillie decides that she needs to do more of Cosmog, who appears to be... dead. Gladion arrives and gives her the Moon Flute, one of the flutes needed to summon the Legendary Pokémon. You're taken to the final island, Poni Island...
After a bit there, you travel to Exeggutor Island, where you find the Sun Flute, the second of the two flutes needed to summon the Legendary Pokémon. You then trek through Vast Poni Canyon, which I suppose is akin to Victory Road in a few ways (because Mt. Lanakila contains no Trainers.) At the Altar of the Sunne, Cosmog - or should I say, its evolution, Cosmoem - is sucked out of Lillie's bag and evolves into its final form - the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo!
When you arrive in Ultra Space thanks to Solgaleo's power, you meet up with Guzma, who explains what's going on with the Ultra Beasts and Lusamine - and that she's too far gone to have sense spoken into her. You then meet up with Lusamine, who continually insults you and Lillie. Lille's response? She snaps. She snaps at her mother about how people and Pokémon aren't just things for her to own - they're alive! You think Lusamine finally has some sense knocked into her...
The plot re-merges at this point.
But no. She releases the Ultra Beast - Nihilego - from its Beast Ball... and merges with it for her last battle! All of her five Pokémon have aurae surrounding them like the Totem Pokémon and Nihilego itself. But she is defeated, Ultra Space escaped and the Legendray Pokémon captured - and you travel onward to Mount Lanakila, where at the top, the Pokémon League awaits.
At the League, you defeat the Elite Four and sit on the seat for the Champion. Professor Kukui arrives to congratulate you... and mentions he wishes it was that easy. Yes - that idea they had back in 1996 - for the Professor to be the Champion - finally came true! And just like with their idea of the battle against Professor Oak, he uses the final form of the starter that nobody picked.
You defeat Kukui and gain your rightful title of Alola's first Champion - and return home to a festival. Midway through, Lillie suggests to go to the Ruins of Conflict, beyond where you first met her. There, you fight - and can even capture - Tapu Koko, the guardian deity of Melemele Island.
The next day, Lillie is leaving for Kanto. She says it's for Lusamine - and for herself, letting her get stronger. (She had been letting Lusamine know gently, of course - about what she did wrong.) So she leaves on the boat... and then the credits roll. The end!
I give this plot...
11/10
Yes, it's that score again! This game's plot is IMMENSE. It's rivalled in quality only by the plot of Pokémon Black and White and it's what happens when Game Freak completely outdo themselves!
Gameplay
Pokémon Sun and Moon bring a whole set of new gameplay mechanics to the table. To explain all of Pokémon's gameply mechanics would take an eternity, so I'll just explain what's new in bullet points.
- Instead of HM moves, you now have the Ride Pager - now you don't HAVE to have a specific kind of Pokémon in your party! Tauros breaks rocks, Stoutland sniffs for hidden items, Charizard flies, Mudsdale gallops across rocky terrain, Lapras surfs, Sharpedo surfs fast and breaks rocks and Machamp pushes heavy rocks.
- The grid-based movement of previous games is completely removed. All movement is now done with the Circle Pad.
is used to quickly call on Ride Pokémon. - Z-Moves! If you have the right Z-Crystal, your Pokémon can use super-powerful moves. However, only one Z-move can be used per person per battle.
- League Title Defence! A minor thing, but after beating the game, if you challenge the League again, when you get to the end, you can challenge one of a number of characters for your place as Champion!
- 79 new Pokémon - from the owlet Rowlet to the otherworldly Necrozma.
- 77 new moves and 41 new Abilities, each with interesting effects!
- Festival Plaza - like Join Avenue from Black 2 and White 2 but better!
- Battle Royal - a four-player free-for-all!
- SOS Battles - wild Pokémon with allies!
So for all of the new content, I'd give...
11/10
Yep, this review is ridiculously positive. After all, there's no reason why it shouldn't be!
Replay value
After you beat the main story, you can help the International Police with the capture of all of the Ultra Beasts. After that, you can explore the areas of Poni Island that you couldn't previously, culminating in the Battle Tree, Sun & Moon's obligatory battle facility. There, you can fight against Trainers as standard and can also fight against well-known Trainers from previous games like Wally and Cynthia.
You can also buy Mega Stones for all the Pokémon in the Alola Pokédex there. I do wonder why you can't buy Mega Stones for those that aren't in the Alola Pokédex? Hopefully we'll be able to get them in the next main series Pokémon games of the seventh generation...
I'll give this section...
9/10
I am looking ahead at this, and I think all of the tournaments and online battling possibilities are quite high. But despite that, it does need some work in the offline post-game region.
So, taking into account all of the scores that I gave this game, I give the following rank to Pokémon Sun:
Sun and Moon are amazing games - an excellent re-imagining of what Pokémon could be like if a few things were tweaked. I look forward to the next main series games - what'll they hold?
Anyway, that's all from me today. See you next week on this blog - a week closer to Christmas!! Bye for now!
Anyway, that's all from me today. See you next week on this blog - a week closer to Christmas!! Bye for now!