Pokémon Sun and Moon
and are 2016 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. They are the first installments in the seventh generation of the Pokémon video game series. First announced in February 2016, Sun and Moon were released worldwide on November 18, 2016, commemorating the franchise's 20th anniversary. Two follow-up games, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, were released for the same consoles on November 17, 2017.
The titles began development following completion of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, with increased emphasis on Pokémon interactions. Like previous installments, they follow the journey of a young Pokémon trainer, taking place in the Alola region—based on Hawaii—with the objective of the games being to complete the island challenge and thwart the schemes of Team Skull, and later the Aether Foundation, all while attempting to challenge various Pokémon trainers of gradually increasing difficulty. Sun and Moon introduced 81 new Pokémon species, and new features such as Alolan forms of previous generation Pokémon, powerful moves known as Z-Moves, alien creatures known as Ultra Beasts, updated battle and training mechanics, and improved polygonal 3D graphics. While largely independent of one another, the two games follow a similar plot, and while each can be played separately, trading Pokémon between the two games is necessary to complete the Pokédex. Pokémon may also be traded in from other games just like in previous installments.
The games received generally favorable reviews from critics, who welcomed the change from the formula used by prior Pokémon games and praised the gameplay of Sun and Moon while criticizing the lack of content beyond the primary plot. Upon release, the games became one of the fastest-selling games in Nintendo's history. To date, Sun and Moon have sold over 16 million copies worldwide, making them the third-best-selling Nintendo 3DS titles, after Mario Kart 7 and their predecessors, Pokémon X and Y.
Gameplay
Pokémon Sun and Moon are role-playing video games with adventure elements, set in the fictional Alola region, presented in a third-person, overhead perspective. The player controls a young trainer who goes on a quest to catch and train creatures known as Pokémon, and win battles against other trainers. By defeating opposing Pokémon in turn-based battles, the player's Pokémon gains experience, allowing them to level up and increase their battle statistics, learn new battle techniques, and in some cases, evolve into more powerful Pokémon. Players can capture wild Pokémon, found during random encounters, by weakening them in battle and catching them with Poké Balls, allowing them to be added to their party. Players are also able to battle and trade Pokémon with other human players using the Nintendo 3DS' connectivity features. As with previous games in the series, certain Pokémon are only obtainable in either Sun or Moon, with players encouraged to trade with others in order to obtain all Pokémon from both versions.New features
Pokémon Sun and Moon are presented in fully three dimensional polygonal graphics, like their predecessors, allowing for more interactivity with the overworld and more dynamic action during battles. However, the character models in Sun and Moon possess more realistic proportions compared to chibi-styled models used in Pokemon X and Y or Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Players are also able to customize their Pokémon trainer's appearance, choosing gender, skin tone and hair color at the start of the game and can later acquire outfits and accessories to change their character's appearance. Joining the previous generations of Pokémon are all new species, such as the new starter Pokémon; Rowlet, Litten and Popplio and the Pokémon that are, within the fictional Pokémon world, described as legendary, namely Solgaleo and Lunala.Pokémon Sun and Moon are the first entries in the series to be available in Chinese, both Simplified and Traditional, along with English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese and Korean, for a total of nine available languages. The games introduce variants of Pokémon introduced in older games with new typings and appearances, known as Alolan Forms. Alolan Vulpix and Ninetales, which are Fire types in other regions, are respectively Ice and dual Ice and Fairy types. Alolan Sandshrew and Sandslash, which are Ground types in other regions, are Ice and Steel types. Alolan Meowth and Persian, which are Normal types in other regions, are Dark types. Some Pokémon evolutions have gained dual typings as well, such as Alolan Marowak which is now a Fire and Ghost type and Alolan Raichu, an Electric and Psychic type. Throughout the game, players utilize a Rotom-possessed Pokédex on the bottom touchscreen, which displays a minimap containing markers for story objectives.
Pokémon Sun and Moon introduce a powerful new type of move known as Z-Moves which can only be used once per battle. Hidden Moves, which were used to navigate terrain in past games, have been replaced by specialized Pokémon that can be summoned at will. The "Poké Finder" is a function of the Rotom Pokédex which allows players to take photos of Pokémon in the wild, similar to Pokémon Snap. In addition, the two games' clocks are set 12 hours apart from each other, with Sun operating on the 3DS' time and Moon operating 12 hours ahead. Character customization as previously seen in X and Y returns in Sun and Moon. A new "Pokémon Refresh" feature enables players to care for and feed their Pokémon. Mega Evolution, a game mechanic first introduced in X and Y, returns in Sun and Moon. The Battle Tree is a location which allows players to battle or team up with Pokémon trainers, including Kanto region trainers Red and Blue. Players can trade or battle with other players online. From a location called the Festival Plaza, players can participate in "Global Missions", where people from across the world work towards a set target — such as catching 100 million Pokémon collectively.
Connectivity
Pokémon caught in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire can be transferred to Sun and Moon. The games are also compatible with Pokémon Bank, an online Pokémon storage system introduced during the previous generation of Pokémon games. In a special Pokémon Direct on February 26, 2016, Tsunekazu Ishihara from The Pokémon Company announced that Pokémon caught in the Virtual Console versions of Red, Blue, and Yellow are transferable to Sun and Moon via Pokémon Bank. Compatibility with Pokémon Bank was initially planned to be available at the games' launch but was delayed and later became available on January 24, 2017. Tomy also released a peripheral interactive toy resembling a Z-Ring, which synchronizes with the use of Z-Moves in the games.Plot
Setting
The games take place on a tropical archipelago, a group of islands known as the Alola region. Joe Skrebels of IGN describes it as "Pokémons take on Hawaii". During an interview at E3 2016, Shigeru Ohmori noted that Game Freak staff took trips to Hawaii to conduct research for Sun and Moon.The leading scientist in the Alola region is Professor Kukui, whose name comes from the kukui, also known as the candlenut, the Hawaiian state tree, continuing the trend of Pokémon professors being named after trees. Team Skull is the name of the villainous group in Alola. The Aether Foundation is an organization which studies Ultra Beasts, mysterious creatures from another dimension. Though Professor Oak does not appear in Sun and Moon, his cousin Samson Oak takes his place.
Story
The player starts off as a youngster moving from Kanto to Alola's Melemele Island with their mother. After meeting Lillie and rescuing her special Pokémon she calls Nebby, the player obtains a starter Pokémon from local Professor, Kukui, and embark on the island challenge, a coming-of-age custom spanning trials across Alola, along with local youngster Hau. Unlike in previous games, trials involve battles with powered-up Pokémon followed by battles with each island's Kahuna upon completion of an island's trials. Throughout this the player encounters Team Skull, a gang of people who quit the island trials whose members include their leader Guzma and enforcer Gladion. The player will also encounter the Aether Foundation, an organization aiming to shelter Pokémon from various threats.During a visit to Aether Foundation's base, Aether Paradise—a very large floating structure—, a mysterious creature called an Ultra Beast emerges from a wormhole but retreats before it could be defeated or captured. Later, after the player has defeated Team Skull at their base, Gladion reveals that Team Skull had been working for Aether Foundation, kidnapping Nebby to use its powers in summoning Ultra Beasts. The player then proceeds to battle through Aether Paradise with Hau and Gladion's help, eventually defeating Aether president Lusamine, who is revealed to be Gladion and Lillie's mother. Despite this, Lusamine and Guzma manage to open an Ultra Wormhole, with the former overclocking Nebby's powers, transporting them to Ultra Space. This causes Nebby to evolve into a cocoon-like form while Ultra Beasts are unleashed on to Alola's islands, forcing the island Kahunas and guardian deities to fight them.
Proceeding to the final island, the player and Lillie perform a ritual to evolve Nebby into its final form — Solgaleo or Lunala depending on the version — at the island's Altar. With Nebby's newfound power, the player and Lillie travel to Ultra Space and find Lusamine who, not wanting to be rescued, allows herself to be taken over by the Ultra Beast they encountered earlier, forcing the player to battle her in self-defense. After defeating the crazed Lusamine, the player returns to Alola and ascends Mount Lanakila to challenge the newly-formed Alola Pokémon League Elite Four. In the last match, they defeat Kukui to become Alola's first Pokémon League champion. In the credits, the player battles Melemele's guardian deity Tapu Koko after a celebration, with Lillie and Lusamine departing Alola for Kanto the following day.
After becoming the champion, the player is contacted by two members of the International Police: Anabel and Looker. The player assists the two with handling the wild Ultra Beasts that Lusamine let loose into Alola in a series of quests. Following the final quest, Looker reveals that he saw another Ultra Beast, although Anabel dismisses this. If the player then travels to Ten Carat Hill, they will encounter Necrozma.
Development
Game director Shigeru Ohmori stated that the choice of Sun and Moon as title was inspired by the two celestial bodies’ metaphorical representation of human relationships. Hawaii was chosen as the basis for the game's region following the title's determination, due to its clear nights and plentiful sunshine. Development started immediately after Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire was completed and Ohmori kept his game director position. Since the games were to be released on the franchise's 20th anniversary, Sun and Moon were developed comparatively from scratch with the application of more radical changes than its predecessor. Separately, he also mentioned that the games' intended to place more emphasis on the Pokémon and the nature of the games, in addition to the player's interactions with them.The first Pokémon of the seventh generation to be designed was Jangmo-o. Regarding the various other designs of the generation, Ohmori mentioned that “or the 20th anniversary, we wanted to have a lot of special surprises… we wanted a funny element”. Pokémon from Red and Blue were the only ones to receive Alolan forms—according to Ohmori, this was as a special surprise for long-time players and simply due to the older Pokémon being more recognizable. Following the trend between newer generations of the main series, the designers of Sun and Moon focused on the motions on the full 3D models from X and Y in order to create livelier creatures.
Despite the successes of Pokémon Go, the developers stated that it did not affect the development of Sun and Moon, although it did improve public awareness of the franchise in general and that they were working to develop interactivity between the app and the main series. Ohmori added that during the development of Sun and Moon they "completely redesigned the system, and actually ended up pushing the 3DS even further to what thought was the most could draw out of it." With a team of around 120, the games took about three years to develop, which is comparable with other new-generation games. Later on, Kazumasa Iwao, who was responsible for the battle systems in Sun and Moon, was recruited as director for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.
Music
According to composer Junichi Masuda, who co-produced the game, the soundtracks used in Sun and Moon were based off traditional Hawaiian music styles. However, while it utilizes their core rhythms, Alola's music employs "completely different" melodies while still invoking a tropical island feel. On November 30, 2016 the, a four-disk soundtrack containing 169 songs, 160 from the games and 9 special tracks, was released in Japan. The international release, known as Pokémon Sun & Pokémon Moon: Super Music Collection, was released on iTunes on the same date.Promotion and release
On February 25, 2016, the existence of the two games was leaked when Nintendo's trademarks for them were found on the website of the European Union Intellectual Property Office. IGN pointed towards the recent introduction of a new Pokémon, Magearna, as indication the two games would be revealed. The games were officially announced the following day in a Nintendo Direct presentation that also commemorated the franchise's 20th anniversary. The games launched with support for nine languages. On May 10, more information on the games was released through a new trailer, including new Pokémon, box art, and release dates. Pokémon Sun and Moon released in Japan, North America, and Australia on November 18, 2016, and in Europe on November 23, 2016. A comic based on Pokémon Sun and Moon launched alongside an edition of CoroCoro Comic on September 15, 2016. Early purchasers of the games received a special Munchlax holding Snorlium Z, enabling it to use an exclusive Z-Move unique to Snorlax, Munchlax's evolution, via a wireless distribution event. A Japanese trailer was unveiled on September 8, 2016. A Pokémon Sun and Moon-themed New Nintendo 3DS XL was released on October 28, 2016.Similar to Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, a special demo was released on October 18, 2016. On October 27, 2016 during Nintendo's Financial Briefing, they stated the demo had been downloaded more than 3.5 million times, being the most popular and fastest "selling" demo in 3DS history. Pokémon Sun and Moon were the most pre-ordered games in Nintendo's history. The games were also the most anticipated 3DS releases in 2016, according to Nielsen Game Rank.
Days before their release, the games' files were leaked on to the Internet, giving software pirates access to the full game, including online functions, before their release. Nintendo took action against those who used the Internet features, banning users involved from not only using the online features of the games—even if later playing the genuine release—, but also from accessing other 3DS online services, such as the eShop and Miiverse.
Reception
Critical response
Pokémon Sun and Moon received a score of 87/100 on Metacritic based on 84 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". This placed Sun and Moon as the 5th and 6th highest-rated 3DS games in 2016, and the 19th and 20th on the console of all time. The move from the gym system received widespread praise from critics, some of whom saw the change as a major step towards future developments of the franchise.Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the pair a 38/40 rating. Writing for video game review site IGN, Kallie Plagge gave the games a 9/10, and said that they "switch up the formula to create an engaging adventure that improves on its predecessors", in addition to praising the streamlined battle interface and other mechanics. Many critics praised the story as one of the best in the franchise, Ollie Barder from Forbes highlighted how the story and characters were nicely done, while Alex Donaldson of VG247 remarked that the story drew him in deeper, saying "I remain more engaged in this story than in any other Pokémon tale yet". Alex Olney of Nintendo Life said that "the plot in Sun & Moon is the deepest and most ambitious Game Freak has dared attempt", he also called them the best Pokémon games ever produced, commenting that Alola's design felt natural and organic, praising Game Freak for successfully balancing additional mechanics without alienating existing fans. Chris Tapsell of Eurogamer said the games were "the best generation in more than a decade". They earned an "essential" ranking from the site.
On the other hand, Tapsell also remarked that the first few hours of the games included too many tutorials and protected gameplay. Jeremy Parish of USGamer assessed that "Z-Moves feel underwhelming" taking "way too long" despite being the most engaging campaign the series has offered in a long time, while Polygons Allegra Frank criticized their linear gameplay and lack of content beyond the primary storyline although the games had "the most memorable Pokémon journey in years".