Pokémon Moon - Nintendo 3DS

I was skeptical when I picked up this game. I am a veteran of all the Pokemon games, from Red and Blue onward. I was disappointed in the direction that X and Y took the franchise, but GameFreak has gotten back onto the right path with this game. First: the gameplay changes. The gym challenge has been tossed and replaced with an island challenge, which combines traditional Pokemon battles with new mechanics that make each Island Trial unique. I wont spoil them here, but they were a breath of fresh air. Battles look great, the new battle screen has been redesigned for the better, and the movement is fluid. Second: the graphics. This game looks amazing. It as good as any 3DS game I have ever seen, and better in many ways. The animations are beautiful, the islands are gorgeous, and the new Pokemon look awesome. Third: the quality-of-life improvements. The PC in the Pokemon Center is easier than ever to use, the battle screen (as mentioned above) is the best its ever been, the backpack is better, HMs have been replaced with a new Poke-Ride feature that does the same thing but doesnt take up your moveslots, and there are a lot more variety of Pokemon early on than I am used to. Seriously, you can find over half of the Pokemon types by the end of the second route! Fourth: the story. This story is possibly (and probably) the best story of any Pokemon game to date. Its interesting, it flows well, it evokes emotional reactions in you, and it has several great surprises. Things I didnt like: The beginning tutorial takes a couple of hours to get through. As someone who has played these games for a long time, I felt like my hand was being held far too often at the beginning. And the number of cutscenes in the beginning of the game is ridiculous. It gets much better after that, but still, the first couple hours are a slog. Also, this game does not run great on the older 3DS models. It suffers from semi-frequent slowdowns in-battle. Even on the New 3DS models, there are occasional slowdowns in battles. Also, a lot of the new Pokemon in the game are slower than I am used to, which makes battles against old Pokemon a little frustrating. Overall, this is a worthy game to pick up. I had to knock off a star due to the game having some issues on older 3DS systems and the length of the beginning tutorial/cutscene spamfest. But other than that, it is an amazing game that I highly recommend to both fans of the series and anyone who wants to try out their first Pokemon game. It will not disappoint.

As someone who played Pokemon since the Pokemon Special Edition days, I can say that the changes in this game has the biggest changes to the series, ever. First of all, they got rid of gyms for the Island Challenge, like it or not, and honestly, Im mostly mixed on it. In one way, I find going through them a bit easy, of course I havent finished the yet so I cant say that for all the trials, but they can actually be a bit fun at times. Another change they had, which is another like it or not, are the Z-Moves replacing the Mega Evolutions. Personally, I would prefer the Mega Evolutions, and the Z-Moves arent always exiting, but to each his/her own. The level design is also less grid-like, which I didnt even realize that in the demo, but its definitely a step up from the older grid-like design, since what worked in the past, where we had d-pads on portables, are just aged concepts with analog sticks/pads on the system. Now, the game itself is still Pokemon in core concept, and some of the changes are a bit light compared to others, such as effectivness rating on your move lists for example, but one of the changes I cant believe didnt come sooner is Pokemon Refresh. If you played X/Y or Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, you mightve heard of a feature called Pokemon Amie, which is mostly, in my eyes, NintenDogs Pokemon Edition. It was one of those features I barely used, mostly cause I couldnt find a point in it, and even the effects felt small to me, even if it was for better exp, dodging moves, or just help in evolving certain Pokemon. However, with Pokemon Refresh, I feel like its in my best to use it, especially when you can cure status conditions. I always hated having to run to the nearest Pokemon Center to cure that one Pokemon. Now, its just more convenient to cure your Pokemon than it has been before, and it actually made me want to use the other features. Another feature I really like is Pokemon Ride. Why? Because no more HM Slaves. Its like the Soar feature in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, but with more options to go through obstacles and traveling faster, and again, no more non-removable HMs, freeing up your move lists for your favorite moves. There are also changes presentation-wise, such as trainers standing behind their Pokemon during battle and ACTUAL OPPONENT MODELS INSTEAD OF SPRITES. I kind of wish your opponent doesnt look a manikin after they lose, but its a step in the right direction. Even the new PokeDex can tell you the exact location of a Pokemon and gives you mission locations, via bottom screen. Overall, while there are more features and changes, I feel like these are great changes for the series thus far, making this game may favorite version of the game. Oh, and during daytime in real world, its nighttime in-game, because thats totally not the weirdest way of differentiating the version at all, but kept within theme anyway. Customization also comes back from versions X and Y, letting you make a more unique looking trainer than just identifying yourself as a Bug Catcher or Ace Trainer. Storywise, its the usual Pokemon affair. The only difference I can say is that your rival actually picks the weaker Pokemon instead of the stronger one, i.e. a fire-type Litten vs a Grass/Flying type Rowlet, but at least hes a cheery fellow. I also like the characters thus far, even the members of the crime organization youll fight most of the game, Team Skull, which has the most ridiculous members ever. Seriously, these guys are just hilarious, from their animations, the way they talk, to the boneheaded ideas they have, like stealing berries. Of course, I havent finished the game yet, and I likely wont put any spoilers on the review anyway, except for berry stealing, but I feel that this story, so far, is just the typical Pokemon affair, except with no gyms, and Im fine with that. As far as the Pokemon themselves, I think they look great. I even like some of the Alola Forms of classic Pokemon, such as Vulpix for example. Sure, there are some to make fun of, such as Alola Persian being compared to Garfield, and even Gumpshoos, in the head, reminded me of Donald Turmp when I first saw it (could be a coincidence, could be an office joke turned Pokemon, who knows). But for the most part, I feel like a lot of the designs are great, and I havent found too many designs to laugh at. I do have some small problems, though, I have, such as the removal of elements. For example, in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, you can sneak up on Pokemon, but on this version, thats not the case. While its a small thing, I actually liked this feature as it felt like actual Pokemon hunting. There is also, mostly in battles and mainly due to upgrades, a good amount of slow down, which wont affect your gameplay experience, but it shows how old the hardware is, especially when they got rid of 3D (for the most part) in the game, which caused slow down in the older 3DS Pokemon games anyway. You only get it while using the PokeFinder, a little camera minigame more or less, which is already laggy at best anyway. Im also not crazy about the change from Mega Evolutions to Z Moves, but thats just me. Overall, I highly recommend either Sun or Moon. Really, whether which version to get, if both isnt an option for you, really depends on the Pokemon you want, so I would research the differences, but other than that, there arent that many, and even then, the two games connect to each other. If you want to move your Pokemon from X/Y or Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, youll be waiting until January to do that, so keep that in mind when you purchase either one of them.

Aesthetically pleasing? Yes. You stop being excited about how great it looks after playing it for a couple of hours and seeing all the flaws. Seriously, there is no sense of accomplishment to this game period. Whoever developed it mustve just went, Hey, lets make this game easy for idiots. Dont bother grinding levels, you dont need it. The game tells you where to go and what to do. Cut scenes galore. I am also really irritated with how it tells you even what moves to USE in battle. Its always been about trial and error, and memorizing from experience how to battle. Besides isnt the whole point to pokemon to become a master trainer? You cant grow as a person much like you cant get better at a videogame if everything is handed to you on a silver platter. Now, the call for help feature....is such a tedious waste of time. Most people are not going to farm shinys for hours on end. And, as far as I can see, thats the only purpose it serves because I can kill everything just fine. It just eats up more of my day when my pokeball fails and another one drops from the sky and tells you that you cant throw it if two are on the field. If the island challenges were a little more difficult, you might actually get some satisfaction from obtaining a z-crystals. The game even gives you dire hits to waste on totem pokemon if you suck bad enough to need it. Your rival in the game is a joke and Gary would be ashamed of him. I read reviews of performance issues but I have a New 3ds so I cant really bi*ch about that. Festival plaza is super pointless other than the daily drawing where you can win an item. Poke pelago is actually implemented seemingly well. Honestly, I think this game is for children only. Teens and adults that are long time fans of the series are going to have much to gripe about. I see a lot of 5* reviews and just assume those people must be the ones you see at work or school that smile all the time and never get gloomy. Overall, its an okay game with untapped potential. I think its definitely a game people should try though your mileage may vary.

Id let my son tell you, but I havent seen him since I have it to him for his birthday . I hear cheers and chants, and a lot of omgomgomgomg. The few questions Ive asked have resulted in Its awesome Oh my g,momma. Its awesome Epic Totally booyah epic awesome son And a few others that I cant remember which order the words went in. In summation, my 8 year old is nuts for it. Or slowly mummifying because we just think hes playing the game...hmmm. Im gonna go check on him

I have not been a fan of any of the Pokémon games that came out after platinum but this one is really great. THE GOOD: The whole world is in a 3D view instead of a top down or mixed viewpoint. I think they did a really good job of implementing it because I hated it in xy. One of the things I hated about xy was all the new stupid Pokémon and the abscense of the original 150. However in this game the original Pokémon are abundant and I think they did a great job refreshing some of them with the aloa special looks. Having to complete challenges instead of gym matches is a refreshing mix up, and still decently challenging I never liked mega evolution. It just felt forced, and a little over powered. It really takes no place in this game and instead you get to use z powers which are a once per battle powerful attack of one specific type. I think this was a nice addition to the game, but still a little over powered THE BAD: I am playing on a new 3ds xl and have not had any issues but some of my friends with a regular 3ds xl have said that the game lags a bit in some of the bigger battles. Team skull is pretty cringey in the way they talk and try to act gangster. They dont really feel evil to me and just seem like a minor nuisance There are four islands and the entire first island is really just a giant tutorial All of the avatars are super feminine. As a guy I would prefer if I could make a guy that looked at least somewhat like a guy You dont really have a rival, your opponent chooses the starter weak to yours and is never really any trouble to defeat

Feels short compared to ORAS or X/Y. They keep adding customization but then no matter what you do your character looks like a little moron. Most of the Alolan Pokemon variants are embarrassing. Its like they went with all the worst ideas the designers had. What if Dugtrio had long blonde hair? What if we made Meowth a gay stereotype? What if Persians head was like 3 times normal size? These are the questions that will be answered in Pokemon Sun/Moon. The difficulty spikes near the end of the game, meaning you have to grind for hours to be strong enough to beat bosses. Pokemon Bank doesnt yet support Sun/Moon so you wont be able to import any of your strong Pokemon to help with this until January 2017. All that aside, its still a Pokemon game. Its fun to run around trying to catch the ones you want. Its fun to battle other trainers, though it gets tedious as in all the games. The story is pretty meaningless as always. I will say theres been significant improvement to the music and graphics since X/Y/OR/AS. Some of the songs are even good, rather than just irritating. Its a bit disappointing that you have to ride whichever pokemon are handed to you as ride pokemon and cant use your own, and there are a few other things youll find lacking after a bit, but its still a decent Pokemon game.

I logged so many hours within the first month of owning this game! I opted for Moon mainly because my nickname is Sun and I needed some balance in my life. As an old-time player of Red/Yellow/Blue, Moons gameplay keeps the original style in-tact while introducing better alternatives; for example, no longer do you have to rely on Pokemon solely for HM use - you will always have all the HMs at your fingertips as you progress through the game! It keeps the online capability and clock-dependency of previous games, which can be a little weird if you choose Moon because your in-game time will be offset by 12 hours (day when its night, vice versa). A personal favorite capability of Moon is Poke Pelago which lets you make the best use of the time that youre being a responsible adult and doing work instead of playing Moon. You can train up Pokemon or let Pokemon collect items for you to pick up when you return which is determined by how much you decide to give them treats. Its not necessary to use Poke Pelago to complete the game, but it does allow for better time management. All in all, I havent really been fond of the newer games since Im more of a casual gamer, but Moon is a lovely bridge between casual and serious gaming. Ive definitely had friends who take the game to the next level and create a Pokemon team to be reckoned with, but I prefer to play on my own terms. Moon allows for both types of gamers and I have found myself going back to the game every couple of days with enthusiasm. Oh, and Nebby? Please get in the bag.

The game was fun. Flaws of the game: Super training has been removed. I dont see the o-powers either. EV training takes more time. Battle tree is very hard. Red blue, Cynthia and other known characters are there, so why did they ruin it by making it more difficult. The stupidiest part is how game freak never allows you to change your cloths in your own home/room, that is by far the stupidest. How are we suppose to level up quickly if you cant even rebattle trainers. Hell! Even the highest the wild pokemon are 40-50 in level. Once you beat the game if you rebattle the elite four they are going to be stronger. This is hard for pokemon you are trying increase their levels. The antagonist is a beautiful woman that looks kind and compassionate but goes rogue later on, I was like WTF?? Is game freak runing our of ideasideas or what? What the hell was game freak thinking? Positives: More player customization. IVs are better to analyze now. Music isnt that bad. Poke pelago. Better graphics. Game freak needs to step up their game, otherwise they are going to lose a lot of fans. It makes me wonder why I even bother buying these games anymore.

Totally agree with the other 5 star-reviews. Incredible that this game runs on the same hardware like XY and OrAs. Graphics is awesome and I really like that the music is more atmospheric (reminds me of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon sometimes, really like it). I play the Pokémon series since the beginning and this game was really refreshing. They tried something new and it was nice. Althought Im more the competitive player who always spend a lot of time to breed and train in the postgame, Ive really enjoyed the story. One of the biggest improvements: The apricorn balls are back (and they gave a us the Beastballs)! Okay, its really sad that they just gave us one of each per game, but male Pokémon of same species and genderless Pokémon can inherit they ball on their offsprings too now. I may sound like a total nerd, but for me, this is awesome. People who have balltism too can relate to that. I really like to breed/catch my Pokémon in a ball that matches their design/color. Ive created a facebook group where people can trade they special breedjects: check it out and help to spread the balltism -> Pokemon Balltism-Exchange!

It was actually really great. Bought it used and it worked great aftrr i deleted previous user.