I've been a Pokemon fan since the first game came out in the 90's, but I fell off the franchise wagon for a while for whatever reason. After the release of Pokemon Sun I decided to get back into it, and I'm glad I did! Pokemon sun is a fun game. It's an excellent addition to the Nintendo 3DS library, and it's a great Pokemon game all around. So, today I'm going to do a review of this title.
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If you've ever played a Pokemon game before the mechanics haven't changed too much. You'll be able to jump in very quickly and get started on your new journey. If you somehow haven't ever played a Pokemon game no worries there either. The game play is easy to understand for newbies to the franchise or even for smaller children. Like every other Pokemon game your first goal is to acquire a Pokemon partner.
This is one place where I was a little underwhelmed. In every other game the starters are some of the coolest Pokemon you can get, but in this title I found them a little meh. In the end I chose Popplio. It has the best special attack score of the three. Fortunately, there's now more Pokemon than ever so even if you don't care for the starters you can quickly replace them with one of over 800 other creatures. Popplio has since been swapped with Totodile, my go to Gen 2 starter Pokemon!
Now comes the second thing I dislike about this game the super long tutorial phase! I understand some people might need some more help, but this isn't my first Pokemon rodeo, and the hand holding was kind of annoying. It would be nice if there was a way to skip boring tutorials like in the first game. In Pokemon Red or Blue you could choose to skip whether you wanted to learn how to catch Pokemon in Pokemon Sun and Moon it's not an option. YOU GONNA LEARN.
Fortunately, once that is out of the way I don't really have any other complaints about Pokemon Sun. The game is quite enjoyable for players of all ages. It stays true to the original Pokemon format, but there's still some new things for you to play with as well. Let's take a look.
One of my favorite things about the game is the Aloan Pokemon, and the reason I was so eager to play this particular new Pokemon title in the first place. Raichu is my favorite Pokemon, and I was both surprised and delighted to see that they had made a new version of it for Pokemon Sun and Moon. The story goes that because you are on an island the Pokemon evolved differently there than on the mainland.
This gives old favorites both new looks and new types! My favorites are Raichu, who is now electric/psychic, Cubone, who is fire/ghost, and Muk who is poison/dark. There are several more pairings with new types, but I have been using these on my team. This also added an unexpected challenge for me. While in the past I had types memorized there are now so many more Pokemon, and even the old ones have new types which means it takes a little more work for me to know which attacks are most effective.
The other interesting change in Pokemon Sun and Moon is something called SOS battles. When you encounter a wild Pokemon in the game they will have the ability to call another Pokemon for help. While this doesn't initially sound too interesting there are lots of cool things that can happen when an SOS is initiated. For starters, some Pokemon, such as Pichu, can only be caught this way. They will never appear on their own without first being called by a Pikachu. Take note that you should avoid using status conditions when trying to initiate an SOS battle as they can prevent the Pokemon from calling for help.
You can also stack these encounters to make it easier to acquire Pokemon with better stats, hidden abilities, hold items or even shiny Pokemon. You'll need a higher number of encounters in your chain for certain things to happen, but shiny Pokemon are by far the most difficult. This can take a chain of 70 or more! If you want a shiny you will be spending a lot of time doing this. I've yet to get a shiny in Pokemon Sun.
Another small part of Gen 7 I enjoy is the Island Scan feature. This will require you to scan QR codes in order to get points. (You can just google Pokemon QR codes to get them.) Once this point bar is full you'll be able to use Island Scan. This will cause a wild Pokemon to appear in a specific place on the island. You'll then have one hour to go to that location and capture it. Apparently, the Pokemon is one that is assigned to the island you're on, and the specific day instead of being random.
You can use Island Scan once per day to track down rare Pokemon like Marrill, Totodile, or Togekiss. This also might be the only other time I've used QR codes outside of crypto currency. I actually like this feature a lot, and it gives you a fun new way to catch some cool new Poke buddies. This feature is not random, but based on the island you're currently on and the day of the week.
In past Pokemon games the story was that you were on a Pokemon journey, and in order to progress you needed to defeat gym leaders. While I love the legacy format of Pokemon games this did get a little boring at times. The gym leader almost always had Pokemon of the same type. This meant that once you learned their weakness you could quickly steam roll them with many times, just one Pokemon who had a type advantage and collect your badge. They've changed up the format a little bit in Pokemon Sun and Moon. There are no more gyms. Instead there are things called "trials". I was a little iffy on this a first, but they turned out to be pretty fun.
Where gym battles had gotten a little repetitive for me previously the Island Trials are all different. In one challenge you'll have to play scavenger hunt in a forest for ingredients. In another you'll need to complete a Pokemon audio quiz to progress. Yet another challenge will have you snapping pictures of mischievous ghost Pokemon. These challenges always end in a battle with a supped up totem Pokemon you'll have to defeat as well, and you'll be awarded a shiny new Z crystal for your efforts.
Using these crystals gives you access to something call Z Powers. These are super powerful attacks you obtain by using a Z crystal as a hold item. Think of it as a TM that does not require a move slot. You will essentially have five attacks, but a Z Power can only be used once per battle. I personally don't care for Z Powers as I find them too powerful. Typically I will not use them unless I have no other suitable hold items for a Pokemon. I also find the animation to be a little cheesy and time consuming for my tastes.
While I'm not big on the Z Power addition there is a change I do love called Pokemon rides. When I first found out that HMs had been removed from the game I had a mini heart attack. What!? How can they do that?? At that point I was only thinking about how much I liked surf, and the fact that HMs were basically infinite use TMs. Back in the early Pokemon days TMs could only be used once, but now it turns out they can be used as many times as you want. This means losing HMs doesn't cause me as much pain as I thought.
There's also the added benefit of not having to teach your Pokemon any crappy moves that can't be deleted, but are needed for small portions of the game. While surf was pretty awesome, and I didn't mind teaching that to my Pokemon there were others that were just plain bad. I'm looking at you flash. Pokemon Rides lets you effectively use "HM moves" for story content without having to waste one of your attack slots! As you progress through the game different characters will reward you with ride pager additions. By simply hitting a button you can call a number of Pokemon to help you do things like fly to a previously visited cities, surf the waves to secret areas, or smash up some rocks that might be in your way. It's a big improvement, and I'm glad they did it.
Visually, Pokemon Sun/Moon is a beautiful game. There's a wide variety of scenery and cool places to explore. If you're a fan of the Nintendo 3DS 3D feature you'll be disappointed to find that 3D is not enabled for this game at all. Truth be told I mostly play with the 3D off for many games as it hurts my eyes a bit, and I even find it distracting at times for some titles. Sometimes I do enjoy watching cinematics in 3D though, and some people may be upset to find it doesn't have it. My partner plays in 3D 90% of the time, and is in love with that feature.
That being said, as a Pokemon veteran I find this new title a fun and exciting installment in the series. It remains true to the original format without being repetitive. There's a lot of interesting new activities including new Pokemon to find, new places to explore, fun mini games, and lots of end game content to keep you busy once the story is finished.