Pokémon has become more than a franchise over the years, 20 years that is. That means that I spent more than 1/3rd of my life trying to catch them all. It has been a wild ride with lots of changes and additions to the well known formula. Pokémon Sun and Moon were promised to be the culmination, the pinnacle of Pokémon; It would all come together in this celebration of Pocket Monsters. But is it truly the game we deserve after 20 years of loyalty?

‘Member Red? ‘Member Blue?

First of all a glass of member-berries; I have been a trainer since blue came out back in the 90ies. “‘member Mewtwo?” “‘member OP Dragon type?”

I have played at least one or two games per generation. But fear not, I am not a genwunner at all. I have applauded every new game with joy. Of course some Pokémon designs are less good or make less sense than others and there has been a bit of charm loss when they swapped the sprites for 3D models, but if Gamefreak never made that jump we would be arguing about the lack of 3D models instead. You know I’m right. Innovation is key to the survival of a franchise and at the same time you have to remain loyal to your roots as not to lose the former fanbase. It’s a difficult task that sometimes demands for drastic changes. Some for better, other for worse. But again these are all subject to personal opinions and we’re not going to venture into that pit of snakes, let’s go to the all new Alola region instead!

Welcome to Alola! A heartwarming, welcoming new island group that forms the new region of this very particular adventure called Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon! Now right off the bat I want to stress the key differences between the two versions. I know it doesn’t say so on the box anymore but Sun and Moon both take place in Alola yet they are alternate “versions” of each other and are set 12 hours apart. This is made clear by the night time in Pokémon Moon that will occur during the real life daytime and vice versa for Pokémon Sun. I went with Pokémon Moon first because I wanted to see Alola primarily under the beautiful starry night sky. And I don’t regret my choice. Everything is so much more mysterious under the gorgeous starry sky box. And I find this glistening scenery more fitting for the mystic lore that the Alola region houses.

Kukui, the man who rings the bell yet steps inside your house before you open the door, just like any RPG player would do

You start out getting a video message from Professor Kukui. He is the Pokémon world’s leading professor on Pokémon moves. Since a couple of gens the games have always introduced a new professor specializing into that generation’s gimmick (for the lack of a better word). Last gen we were introduced to Mega Evolution, this time it’s all about Z-moves unlocked by the Z-crystals that make your team bathe in Z-power! A lot of Z’s! But I’ll elaborate further in a short while. Kukui seems to be a well respected entity on the starting island you and your mom just moved to. The moving boxes are not yet unpacked and Kukui already bursts through your door! He wants you to come to the village to meet everyone and get your very first starter Pokémon. I went with Rowlet after a deep gaze into its false innocent eyes. Rowlet is based on a Hawaiian owl that went extinct, hence the ghost typing of this starter later in its evolutionary line. Not that I am into the macabre or anything, I just always go for the grass type starter! To my surprise Hau, a friendly rival chose Popplio, the water starter, that has a disadvantage to my grass type bird. A very weird change that hasn’t happened in 20 years until now… This was just one of the many changes I noticed in these new games! The real surprise comes later! Once you meet everyone you, Hau and Lilly head off on your first adventure. I have to say that in the first hours of the game there is a lot of “hand holding” and restricted areas you can’t go to yet. This is something that has become a bit of a pain in the recent Pokémon games and for veterans like me it’s a bit unnecessary and it slows the pace of the game significantly. I do understand that there are a lot of new players coming to the series and that Sun and Moon will be their very first generation, the first big step into the series… But still, it pains me a bit that there is no way to skip this very elaborate tutorial. I mean there are trainer tips on virtually every road.

Trials are like gyms, but more fun and immersive

The hand holding diminishes once you reach your first trial. You are immediately introduced to the Alolan variants of Kanto Pokémon and it is fun to see more than the obligatory regional bird, rodent and bug. The new Pokémon are not bad at all though! I found that Yungoos is quite the omnipotent partner on my team especially since you get the Normal type Z crystal early in the game as a result of your first trial! The four islands will feature multiple trials and one Grand Trial on each Island. Think of the gyms that we used to have in previous games but different, with more variation. Some of the trials are even hilarious, wait until you meet “Photobombing Hiker David”! Guaranteed meme material! The trial system is another big change to the franchise and it doesn’t feel forced at all within the heartwarming lore and atmosphere that drips off the Alola region.

Small changes are better than big changes

The Alola region seems to be filled with lore such as the mighty protector Tapu deities on the islands and the Kahuna’s wise guidance. People seem to live in harmony and it has this very relaxed vibe to it. There are souvenir shops and even tourists to battle that have Pokémon from other regions to spice up the game. The game references other regions as well and stresses its differences as if you hadn’t noticed just how different these games are! Virtually every menu has been streamlined, be it on the PC box system, during battles or in your game menu itself. Actions have been assigned to the many buttons on your 3DS/2DS and are not hidden in submenus anymore. It’s faster and more functional. If you happen to catch a new Pokémon when already carrying 6 Pokémon you will be prompted to a screen asking if you want to add it to your team and swap it with another one that will be sent to the PC. If you happen to do so it even asks if you want to remove the item from the to-be-boxed Pokémon. These seem like small changes but during the main game it’s a very welcome addition. Another thing I noticed that had a small update was the screen prompt when a Pokémon learns a new move. You will not be stuck accidentally pressing B after already having said NO to learing the new move. Formerly this input mistake would take you back to the beginning of the move learning screen again… Yet another small yet very streamlining change.

XY&…Z POWERS!

The battle system is still turn based and I would gladly burn my hand on a Charmander’s tail if Gamefreak ever decided to change this, since it is the very core of the main Pokémon games. What they did add however is going to flip the entire meta game on its back! The addition of the Z bracelet, Z crystals and Z moves is something that will have a heavier impact on the game’s competitive scene than Mega Evolution had! You can give any Z crystal to any Pokémon that has a corresponding typed move to the Z crystal you make it hold. For example, my evolved Rowlet became a Dartrix (nicknamed Arrogeist) with the following four moves: Razor Leaf, Tackle, Astonish and pluck. Since I gave it the Normalium Z crystal to hold I can arm the Z crystal for the following normal move: Tackle. Instead of the physical attack with a power of 40 my normal tackle becomes the Z move called “Breakneck Blitz” which is a physical move with 100 attack power. I can only use it once per battle yet it makes a “weaker” move like “tackle” something you could keep far into the game. Now a question that I had when seeing this in action was; “what if the move is not an attacking move?” So I gave my Gumshoos Normalium Z to hold and its ‘odor sleuth’ had become a “Z odor sleuth”. Its effect stays the same yet at the same time it raises my attack stat by 1 stage. I call it right now; Z crystals will have a significant effect on the meta game and in competitive matches! Any Pokémon could have any Z crystal as long as its moves match the crystal’s typing! This is much less predictive than the Mega Evolutions were and in my opinion it offers more variation and excitement to the battling system!

It looks great! Yet sometimes it doesn’t…

Now we need to talk about the Donphant in the room… The graphics! While some think that this is the best visual representation of the series others find it less “familiar” and more generic. I found it weird at first seeing the realistic body proportions of the characters but it grew on me quite fast and before writing this review I had a quick play on Omega Ruby just to check how it feels going back after a decent amount of hours playing Sun and Moon. Well weirdly enough I found the “chibi” style that I loved thus far as going a step back… I like the new proportions in Sun and Moon! What bothers me though is that up close the 3D models of the characters in the overworld look great! The way the camera moves and plays with the new visual style during cutscenes is top notch! But when you get further from some models it becomes a bit “pixely”. Of course the 3DS is not endorsed with the latest in graphical performance especially the screen itself. It’s still a great system but the age is starting to show. I mean the game looks great and you don’t really notice the dated hardware until you look at the trainers from further away in the overworld. During battles when the camera pans you can clearly see a well modeled crisp looking duo of Pokémon yet the trainers in the background lack a bit of detail. Until the camera focusses back on the trainer models that is! Another instance where you clearly feel that Sun and Moon are pulling every last bit of processing power out of the hardware (maybe even a bit beyond its capabilities) is when you have a double battle. There’s a total of 4 Pokémon to animate plus the trainer models! There’s a bit of a framerate drop and a loss in speed especially when using the Z power in double battles. I can’t tell if this happens on a New 3DS as well since I haven’t been able to get mine in time for this review but I guess we all know why they completely dropped the 3D option in Sun and Moon. That’s right there’s no more 3D, not during battles, not even during cutscenes. But let’s be honest; who uses 3D nowadays, it was a nice gimmick for games that actually used it for gameplay reasons (Super Mario 3D World) but in Pokémon I’d rather have better gameplay additions than the battery draining 3D effect. So I didn’t mind too much about the 3D in the main game. What bothered me was the small yet noticeable drop in FPS during double battles. Luckily it’s a turn based RPG! Somehow I did miss the 3D effect in one small portion of the game; When using the Pokémon Finder! I would have liked to have a depth effect using this device to snap pictures in this small yet fun tribute to Pokémon Snap! It all comes together?!

Apart from these small graphical hiccups the game looks oh so beautiful, I feel like the devs at Gamefreak even used a more vibrant color palette than they did in ORAS and X&Y. The colors are less washed out as they were in these games. Everything is colorful and shiny and it all screams ‘holiday’ and good feeling all around. There’s new battle animations, move animations, and you can even interact with any Pokémon after a battle to groom them by drying their fur when they got hit by a soaking water attack during said battle. There’s so much attention to detail! there are small yet significant changes in the overworld, during and after battles, in the lore etc. You can see actual trainers looking around for battle, the screen will squint with vignette outlines when you get close to a trainer. Wild Pokémon attack you when you pick up berries at the bottom of the palm trees, they can attack you from above. Things like the aura around a totem Pokémon just makes them so much more fierce looking! All these small additions just make it feel right! But the more drastic changes like the removal of the classic gyms, the Z-moves are just the beginning; I haven’t talked about the HM’s yet; I Don’t have to… they’re gone!

Instead of the HM’s I proudly present you the ride Pokémon! These are very helpful Pokémon you can borrow using your pager and they all have different functions; as seen in the demo Tauros will break through rocks but when venturing in the water you will be able to ride on Lapras. And no need for the item finder any longer; mount Stoutland and use his olfacoceptive skills to find hidden treasure around the overworld. Later in the game you will be able to fly with charizard to any place you’ve visited before. Another nice detail is that when you enter a battle while mounting a ride Pokémon your character will be wearing the Rider Outfit during said battle, just another detail adding to the immersion.

And what would a holiday region be without the option to dress as sunny as you want to?! You can customize your main character through the many boutiques and hairdressers around Alola. Every shop has different items ranging from shoes to hairclips, themed shirts to flower dresses etc. Sun and Moon revolve around your story and although the emphasis on style is not as strong as it was in X&Y it is still a great relief that the vast customization options are back in Sun and Moon!

“The Pokémon series itself has been shaken through a mixer and the resulting cocktail is a refreshing, colorful and daring adventure that ventures away from some of its core conventions but stays true to its roots!”

There’s weird stuff going on in Alola…for you to find out!

I deliberately haven’t talked about the story too much because I don’t want to spoil anything. Like every Pokémon game there is an evil team and this time around it’s the hilarious Team Skull. They dress like Californian street gangs and they are a lot of fun through dialogue and interaction. Further down the story things get more serious but these guys are sure to be remembered! Since Black and White the series have taken a deeper dive into the lore of the Pokémon world. Sure there was lore back in RBY through Platinum, but I feel like story wise the series took a more serious approach around the BW series. The lore is not just hidden anymore, it’s right in your face nowadays! Sun and Moon have a decent amount of lore and story to tell with compelling characters that are driven by different motivation and it all feels natural. Nothing feels forced into place and it feels like a well thought out plot. Although I have a feeling these games could resemble even more to BW than you think. Just a gut feeling though.

Now in our preview I put another Donphant on the table: The “type effectiveness assist” during battles. To my surprise I did not find a way to get rid of it, it’s not in the options! I get it, with the additions of the new types and balancing some other older ones it has become a bit difficult to keep track of the type advantages these last gens. And yes for the more casual player or new fan to the series it might come in handy to know the grade of effectiveness of your attacks on a particular foe. But this addition to the battle screen takes away the entire thought process that made these games so rewarding! You had to do the math yourself! Taking dual typing into account or even abilities and items… This thought process by the player is what makes the battles so intense! Your knowledge against that of the opponent! But now it just smears the move selection screen making the thought process obsolete! I hope that Gamefreak fixes this by making it an optional addition you can turn off if you wish to do so! Please hear our prayers Gamefreak! We don’t ask to remove it, just make it optional.

Conclusion:

Now… The verdict. Is this where it all comes together? Well it could be! It feels fresh and innovative but it does add some weird gimmicks and makes some radical changes that should be optional instead. There is a lot of streamlining in the menus, a welcome update! Another downside for some: a lot of hand holding in the first part of the game could’ve been avoided with an optional tutorial as well. It’s clear that Sun and Moon take everything out of the hardware and in some occasions even try to go beyond it; resulting in some graphical hiccups, but the Pokémon series itself has been shaken trough a mixer and the resulting cocktail is a refreshing, colorful and daring adventure that takes away some of its core attractions but stays true to its roots! Pokemon Sun and Moon were well worth the anticipation and are indeed a celebration of a 20 year old franchise that seems to take a fresh turn towards a new yet familiar path for the future of the series! Grab your flip-flops and your pokéballs; adventure awaits, Alola awaits!

8.5/10

(Pictures were taken offscreen, these are not representative of how the game actually looks. The actual game looks way better even though I talked about some issues, it is a very pretty and colorful game!)