There is an absurd amount of stuff in Pokemon Sun

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Poke Finder

Crucially, a huge amount of it has almost nothing to do with the core collecting/RPG loop - something Pokemon’s always been good at, of course, since the days of berry growing and Secret Bases. It makes talking about it pretty difficult, because cramming every element of the game into one bit of writing means you’d end up talking about everything and nothing, the PokeParadox in full effect. So let’s not talk about the main game at all - we’ve done that elsewhere - let’s talk about all those little details people haven’t been able to mention. Things like...Let’s get this out of the way - the Poke Finder is Pokemon Snap writ small, something even the were happy to agree with when I spoke to them. Trailers have so far only showed a glimpse of the feature, but playing it reveals a neat homage to one of the most fondly remembered entries from the series’ spin-offs.Approach set spots in the world, and the game will switch to a first-person view (and the option to turn on the 3DS’ 3D, which is unused in the rest of the game as far as I saw), where Pokemon will potter about before you, allowing you to take a few snaps, choose a favourite, then present it to an in-game social network that judges your work. The more likes you get, the more features you unlock - for instance, the ability to zoom in. Spots can have multiple Pokemon appear too - the first location initially has a Pikachu in attendance, but heading back for a second go revealed a wandering Meowth. With enough spots to visit, and enough visitors to spot, this could become a very welcome distraction.

Festival Plaza

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Pokemon Refresh

Revamped Pokemon Centres

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A Sexier Battle System

The new-found sense of style

And more...

This is a weird one, an entire mini-area tucked away under a button in the start menu (and only discovered because someone in our play session had to go to the toilet, then got curious when they came back to their paused game). If you’ve played Animal Crossing: New Leaf, think of it as a cross between that game’s Main Street and its StreetPass area, a roundabout of shops and services that upgrades itself the more you play and meet other players.It’s a strange mix of the idea of StreetPass - that simply being near other people can net you benefits - but coupled with the sheer reach of the internet. Battling or trading with other players sees them pop up in your Plaza, sometimes offering mini-missions to complete for coins to upgrade the stalls of your choice. My guess is that none of them will prove invaluable (one of them’s a fortune teller; make of that what you will), but it’s another neat bonus tucked away in the folds of the game’s fabric.Imagine X & Y’s Pokemon-Amie feature, but actually properly useful. Welcome to Pokemon Refresh! Like Amie, its primary draw is the ability to pet, feed and prod your treasured party members, but tucked between the Tamagotchi-like array of jelly beans to feed them are a set of tools - brushes, cloths, hairdryers and the like - that can be used to real benefit.Persistent status effects like paralysis or poisoning can now be healed for free by using the right tool. It takes longer than dropping an antidote, but it doesn’t cost you cash, and could be very useful in a pinch - say an electric gym. There’s also something oddly satisfying about wiping all the mud off of a filthy Slowpoke, but that might just be me.We’ve already seen Pokemon Centres and Shops combined into a single, all-purpose focal point for the help you need between bouts, but Sun and Moon throw in an extra service - cafes. Tucked in the corner, I found an old man with a selection of drinks and - in another Animal Crossing-y touch - little snippets of chilled-out dialogue to go with them.On the whole, he seems like a lovely chap, telling stories about his wife, or talking about the benefits of whatever drink you’ve chosen. That said, he did also say that the milk I chose would “make you wish your mother was a Miltank”, which feels wrong on several levels. I’m kind of hoping that this guy has an incredibly dark sub-story to discover.X & Y brought us better-looking battles, finally embracing the style Pokemon Stadium had us dreaming of in the ‘90s. Sun and Moon’s changes are less dramatic, but definitely welcome. On the functional side, attacks are now marked with “Effective” or “Super Effective” if their type matches the weakness of the opposing monster. On an aesthetic level, we now finally get to see the dark puppet masters of the Pokemon world, the Trainers, hovering around in the background, pointing fingers as they get their pets to Hydro Pump seven shades out of one another.You can read more about this in Kallie’s preview , but there’s definitely a greater sense of cinema to proceedings this time around. From dynamic cut-scenes that seem to be drawing more on the anime than the stilted text conversations of old, to more well-drawn characters and a story that seems to be about more than just good guys vs. bad guys, it’s better-able to draw you in.One particularly nice touch - in the traditional starter-picking scene, the Melemele Island Kahuna, who offers you your first monster, doesn’t simply hand you the Pokeball of your choice. After picking, there’s a short scene in which the Pokemon has to accept you. It’s unnecessary, and that’s what makes it lovely - a little look into the world, rather than just a 20 year-old game mechanic.With only a couple of hours under my belt, there’s plenty of little details I haven’t been able to explore. The Poke Pelago feature that has your Pokemon doing useful stuff even while they’re stored in your PC (still a weird concept), the QR code system that allows other players to help you track down undiscovered Pokemon, Poke Riding and, most intriguing of all, the fact that your character definitely has a dad, but no one will say what’s happened to him. I look forward to dying of old age with a 3DS still in my hands, trying to cope with all this stuff.