3DS: Pokemon Sun and Moon

Pokémon Sun and Moon brings perhaps the biggest changes to the game yet, creating a different experience for older fans. The game is set across the four islands of the Alola region, which is inspired by the islands of Hawaii. Some of the changes to the game are subtle, while others are groundbreaking, creating the freshest Pokémon game in years.

The most drastic difference is the removal of the classic gym system. Instead of battling a gym leader in each major city, you work to complete trials for captains on each of Alola’s four islands. After you’ve beaten the various captains you face the Kahuna of each island, before ultimately facing the Pokémon League to become the first champion of the Alola region. 

The trials are quite fun, providing a mix of puzzles and battling that feel true to the franchise. The Elite Four are a real challenge, offering a new mix of types that puts your team to the test. An interesting new mechanic is also interested to encourage re-playability. After you become champion the final battle of the Pokémon League is changed to a new challenger for the title. This challenger can vary from your main rival, to old acquittances and quite surprising cameos. Its a nice way of keeping the Pokémon League fresh each time you fight it, but this could be pushed even further in future games by altering the Elite Four for each encounter. 

As is standard, Pokémon Sun and Moon bring some new additions to the Pokedex. There’s a few interesting typings within the new Pokémon, including the fire/poison type Salandit and its female only evolution, Salazzle. The panda-based Bewear is a mix of cute and tough, and may be one of my all time favourites. 

As well as brand new Pokémon, Sun and Moon also introduce the idea of regional forms, giving a new spin on classic Pokémon. It is stated that Pokémon have evolved differently in the Alolan region, giving Pokémon new appearances and typings. These are a bit of a mixed bag. The Alolan Raichu has a very cute design, and its electric/psychic typing is quite unique. The new forms of Ninetails and Sandslash which are ice types look incredibly cool and are quite useful against dragon types. However many of the other designs feel a bit lazy, with typings that don’t make much sense. In particular the new forms for Grimer and Muk are just bizarre, whilst the hair of Dugtrio looks in serious need of haircuts. Nonetheless they do give new prevalence to perhaps forgotten Pokémon.

Another big change for this generation is they have finally removed HMs, which have been an annoying feature since the original. The HMs, or hidden machines, were essentially fighting moves that you had to give to Pokémon to allow you to traverse various environments or complete puzzles. You were required to have most of these HMs on your team to get through the game, and they took up one of the four move slots with quite useless moves. Thankfully Sun and Moon removes this from the very start, replacing it with registered Pokémon. Now you call forth Pokémon to surf across water or move boulders, and don’t need to keep them in your team. It gives you a lot more freedom and choice over who you keep on your team, and which moves you can give to them.

Sun and Moon is the first game in the franchise to use completely 3D graphics, with it being the best looking game to date. Battles in particular look fantastic, with the backgrounds being unique and affected by the surrounding area. Previous games used a simple environment which varied depending on whether you were in grass or water but otherwise was the same for each battle. Trainers are also shown behind the Pokémon during battles, which creates more of a sense of connection between trainer and Pokémon. Your trainer is also more customisable than ever, allowing you to create a trainer that looks more like yourself. 

It’s amazing how the Pokémon franchise has been able to thrive for so long, with the same basic premise. Yet somehow each game is able to remain fresh, due to the little reinventions Game Freak brings to each generation. It’s telling that even returning to Pokémon Alpha Sapphire after a few days playing Sun feels like a significant step back in both graphics and gameplay.