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18 Amazing Things to Get You Excited for Pokemon: Sun and Moon


On November 18, 2016, we are set to get the new Pokemon: Sun and Moon game. The game marks Pokemon’s 20th anniversary and the trailers and details we’ve gotten for it show there’s plenty of reasons to get excited about the new game, so let’s go into them! Be sure to talk about what gets YOU hype about the game in the comments.

  1. The Alola Region

    The glimpses of gameplay show the game is based in a tropical locale and if there was any doubt that this region was based off Hawaii, the Japanese trailer for the game dispels them.

    In the trailer, we see a young Japanese boy moving to Hawaii. He’s shown playing a classic Pokemon game on his plane ride over. Like many children who locate to a new country, he struggles to adjust and is unsure about socializing, but when Pokemon: Sun and Moon comes out, he notices a group of children playing them (including one boy who was previously kind to him during his class introduction). He asks to play along with the boy and they are able to use Pokemon to connect.

    Many people have praised the trailer as heartwarming, saying it captures what makes Pokemon important to many- you are able to meet and make new friends through the game and connect with other people. The message of cross-cultural communication is also nice.

    The region being based on Hawaii follows the trend of previous Pokemon games. While at first, all Pokemon games were based on regions in Japan, the Black and White games took place in a region based on the United States and X and Y’s region was based off of France.

    Another nice tie-in to the Hawaiian theme is the name of the apparent Pokemon professor (you can see him in the trailer, showing he cares not for safety regulations as he simply wears a lab-coat over his bare chest. Many have taken to calling it the “ab-coat”). He is named Kukui, which is the state tree of Hawaii. 

  2. Pokemon Starter: Rowlet

    The Pokemon trailer showed all the cute little Pokemon starters, and the most popular by far has been Rowlet. This round little owlet with a bowtie is the first grass/flying starter Pokemon ever.  Its attack “Leafage”, is also a brand new one! The attack is shown in the trailer, and it appears to be spitting three green orbs that explode into leaves when hitting their target. Rowlet is shown to be able to rotate its head in various ways, as befitting its owl-ness and its stated to be able to see in the dark and be a stealth attacker. Rowlet can shoot the razor-like leaves that are part of its feathers from an opponent at a distance. Rowlet’s ability is said to be “overgrow”. It has been speculated (or potentially leaked) that Rowlet might change to a ground type.

  3. Pokemon Starter: Litten

    Litten is the Fire starter for this generation and also happens to be a cute (if perpetually done-looking) kitty. Many have speculated that it will evolve to be a dual fire/dark-type Pokemon thanks to its black and red appearance. Fire/ground type is also possible.  Litten’s starter attack is Ember. Like with the other Pokemon, this is pretty different from previous generations, whose starter attacks tend to be the generic “tackle”.

     Litten is described as cool-headed and not outwardly emotional, contrasting its firey abilities. Litten’s attack is a little gross, but creative- it will lick itself and then hack up flaming hairballs. Also apparently, when it sheds its fur, it erupts into a beautiful blaze! The trailer shows that Litten’s fur flames up a little when it attacks, and we can only assume the effect will get bigger and more glorious as it gets more powerful. Its ability is said to be “blaze”.

  4. Pokemon Starter: Popplio

    Popplio is the starter Pokemon who’s getting the least attention, but many have already started to be the fan of this underdog- or undersea lion, as it were. Popplio is this generation’s water-starter and its appearance is a little clown-ish, big red nose and all, which fits the fact it seems to be performer at heart.

    It’s a speedy Pokemon, described to be both hardworking and playful. Like Litten, its attack is a little gross but also fun- it snorts water bubbles out its nose and spins them and is even shown as entrapping opponents in them.

    Like the other Pokemon, it has an element-specific starter move- “water gun” rather than tackle. Its ability is listed as torrent, which presumably has something to do with a torrent of water.  It’s been speculated it evolve to be a water/fighting type.

  5. Pokemon: Magearna

    Besides the legendaries and the starters, the only new pokemon that has been revealed for Sun and Moon is Magearna. This Pokemon is set to play a major role in the next Pokemon movie as well. Magearna is a Steel/Fairy type and is one of the few human created Pokemon. It was actually created 500 years ago, before any other artificial Pokemon (such as Mewtwo) were said to be created. As a mythical Pokemon, it is rarely seen. Magearna can fold up to resemble a Pokeball and can produce flowers.

    It has a rabbit-like appearance, which likely references the Japanese moon rabbit story considering the game it’s debuting it. Its appearance was also likely based on a karakuri puppet- these are traditional Japanese mechanized dolls.

  6. The Legendary Pokemon

    The Legendary Pokemon for the games look beautiful. Both of them are true to the titles of the game. The representative of Pokemon: Sun is a lion-like creature with a blazing mane that resembles the sun with glowing eyes and star-field patterned head. The Moon representative is a blue and gold bat-like creature who can form a large circle like the moon and also do a majestic attack that makes its body glow in a distinct pattern.

  7. Character Customization Returns

    Character customization was absent from the Pokemon: Omega Ruby and Sapphire games, which is understandable because these games were a remake of the original Ruby and Sapphire, which had one set look for each protagonist. But with Sun and Moon, it seems they’ve definitely returned- we see our male protagonist wearing different colored shirts and shorts at various points in the trailer, which means we can assume we’re able to change our character’s clothes. And…

  8. More Skin Tone Options

    The character customizations have been expanded! X and Y was notable as the first Pokemon game that allowed you to choose a darker skin color for your character, but many noted that there were only three option- pale, peach and a not-very-dark brown. With Sun and Moon, this has been expanded to four options- light with light hair, light with dark hair, medium brown and deep brown/black. 

  9. Available in Chinese

    For the first time, a Pokemon game will be available in both traditional and simplified Chinese. The lack of Chinese releases before was likely down to the Chinese ban on foreign game consoles, which was recently lifted. Now China will get to play with the rest of the world. In addition, the games will be available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Korean and, of course, Japanese. 

  10. The Pokemon bank

    Nintendo has comfirmed that with the Pokemon bank feature, players will be able to bring their pokemon from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as well as X and Y into Sun and Moon. This also goes for Pokemon from the new releases Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow. 

  11. Cars and Trucks

    Early on, concept art for Sun and Moon showed designs for cars and trucks and even showed Pokemon being loaded into trucks! In the trailer for the game we can see cars and trucks going by the protagonist on the street- in X and Y, cars were a rare sight, usually only seen on bridges or as taxis in the city. Will trainers be able to load Pokemon into cars or interact with them in other ways? That remains to be seen!

  12. New Pokemon spotted

    Unidentified new Pokemon can also be glimpsed briefly in the trailer. One of them is a brown, fourlegged Pokemon on the grass. We also know a new bird Pokemon is being developed, thanks to seeing its schematics.

  13. Trainers and Spectators Seen in Battle

    The trailers have confirmed that visuals of the Pokemon battles are going to be a little different this time around.  In the previous two games, you did not see your opposing trainer or your player character standing there during the battle, only your Pokemon. However, a screenshot from the trailer not only has the rival shown during the battle, but also shows people standing on the sidelines of the battle. Will the people watching be important? Will we see our rival react as the battle progresses? We'll have to see!

  14. You Can Pick Up Pokemon

    The game trailer also shows the trainer character picking up his starter Pokemon as he chooses it. Having your trainer character shown directly touching and interacting with Pokemon in this way is a first for the games, and leaves open the possibility of more adorable trainer and Pokemon interactions.

  15. More Realistically Proportioned Characters

    In the previous Pokemon games, you only saw your characters with normal human proportions during cutscenes like music videos and clothes changing. While walking around, they were more super-deformed, which large heads and tiny bodies. The trailers for this game show the player character having more normal human proportions even in the overworld. In addition, characters are different heights, whereas before most characters were roughly the same height.

  16. A More Detailed View

    The images of gameplay in the trailers show larger line-of-sight for the camera and larger areas compared to previous Pokemon games, as well as more detailed graphics and more unrestricted movement. 

  17. The Possibility of More than One Rival

    It has been speculated that there may be more than one rival character in this game, similar to X and Y. Some screenshots showing the trainer character facing off against the rival show the rival using a Pokemon that is weak to the trainer character’s starter Pokemon, when usually the rival character picks one that is strong to the player’s starter. The exception to this rule is when there are multiple rivals. 

  18. Potential Synching

    There have been flurried rumors that this game might have the option for the player character to synch or fuse with their Pokemon. There is nothing to substantiate these rumors, but being able to combine with your Pokemon would certainly be a cool new option for the 20th anniversary.

     

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