Pokémon Sun - Nintendo 3DS

Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon are the first 7th-generation main series Pokémon games. I have been a Pokémon Trainer for 20 years now, and the reason Im giving them a 4/5 rating is because while they do add significant improvements over the previous games in the series (X, Y, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire), Game Freak has also managed to frustrate players by making some highly questionable decisions and removing certain features from the 6th-generation that, for all intents and purposes, should have remained in Sun and Moon. Ill start with the good points first, then talk about the controversial ones afterwards. --- POSITIVES --- * Graphics have been improved, though this time its not as noticeable as the difference between Gen 5 and Gen 6, mainly because the games are still restricted to using the same 3DS hardware that X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were designed on. * Music is very addictive and reminds you of the type of songs used in the Hoenn region. Also, the music changes depending on whether its daytime or night, similar to Gen 4 and the Sinnoh region. * Battle Interface now displays much more information, such as the opposing Pokémons types, the opponents team, if a Pokémon is affected by a non-permanent status condition (confusion, infatuation, stat increases/decreases, weather effects, abilities, etc.). * The creation of Z-Moves allows for a plethora of new strategies, since they are guaranteed to break through the protection moves, like Protect and Detect. At the same time, they give a particular Pokémon an incredibly overpowered move that they would not normally be able to use, like giving Arcanine an Electric-type move with a base power of 170. But the fact that only 1 Z-Move can be used throughout the entire battle means you have to pick the right time to use it, and hopefully not waste it. * Sun and Moon finally fix the Day/Night cycle. For the past 16 years, ever since Gold and Silver were released back in 2000, Ive always questioned why in the games, morning starts 4:00 am ET and night time begins at 9:00 pm ET. This is in stark contrast to what typically happens in the world, especially during winter, when its pitch black until 7:30 am ET, and daylight only lasts until about 5:00 pm ET. In any case, Sun and Moon attempt to rectify this 16-year problem, with daytime starting at 6:00 am ET, and night beginning at 6:00 pm ET, giving 12-hour periods between each cycle. --- NEGATIVES --- * Triple Battles, Rotation Battles, Sky Battles, Horde Encounters and Double Wild Battles have all been removed and replaced by the Battle Royal and SOS Battles. Battle Royals are essentially 4-player battles where 3 players gang up on 1 other player in order to win -- not a very thoughtful or interesting concept. SOS Battles are regular Wild Battles, except the wild Pokémon can call for help and summon an ally, making it a 1 vs. 2 battle. In any case, if you were a fan of any of these 5 different battle formats that existed in Gens 4, 5 and/or 6, youre out of luck in Sun and Moon. * SOS Battles are annoying and frustrating, both for collectors and competitive battlers. For 20 years, weve been taught that in order to catch a wild Pokémon, you have to get its HP as low as possible before throwing a Poké Ball. The problem with Wild Battles in Sun and Moon though, is that the lower the wild Pokémons HP, the higher the chance it will call for help and summon an ally. It can even summon an ally in the same turn that it attacks you. When an ally is summoned, you cannot throw a Poké Ball. To make matters worse, when a wild Pokémon is knocked out, its partner can call for help again before the turn even ends. This can go on and on for several turns, and until youre lucky enough to reach a turn where the wild Pokémon does not call for help (or where the call for help fails), you wont even be able to throw a Poké Ball at all, making it take substantially longer to catch Pokémon. Now, while it is true that you can paralyze or put the wild Pokémon to sleep to prevent calls for help, remember that Electric-types cannot be paralyzed, and Grass-types are immune to Sleep Powder and Spore, so getting around this annoying mechanic is not as easy as it seems. SOS Battles also attempt to simulate the ease of EV Training in Horde Encounters, but the attempt is poorly executed. Every time you knock out a wild Pokémons partner in a SOS Battle, when another Pokémon partner appears, that new partner will have double the Effort Values it normally has. The doubling of the Effort Values keeps continuing through subsequent knockouts, so its possible to fully EV Train your Pokémon after knocking out roughly 7 or 8 partner Pokémon, but its not a guarantee. When a wild Pokémon calls for help to try and summon a partner, it may fail, resulting in a wasted turn. It may also summon a completely different partner Pokémon that doesnt give Effort Values to the same stat youre training in. For example, lets say youre trying to increase your Pokémons Speed stat -- Magikarp provides Speed EVs, but if it calls for help and summons a Gyarados (which provides Attack EVs instead), then youll have no choice but to run away and break the chain of doubling your Effort Values, making it take that much longer to complete your Effort Value training. * O-Powers have been removed entirely. Introduced in Gen 5 and improved upon in Gen 6, these special powers gave you an easier time catching Pokémon, increased your prize money and the EXP. Points you received from battles, and they even cut the price of in-game shop items by half. All of these helpful powers no longer exist in Sun and Moon. This, coupled with the fact that Sun and Moon use Gen 5s Level-Based Experience System (whereby if your Pokémons level is higher than the opponents level, you get less EXP. Points when defeating it), means it also takes a lot longer to level up your team, especially if youre trying to get them to Level 100. * Questionable decisions have been made regarding the games connectivity features. Unlike in X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, where the player could be connected online at all times during the game, Sun and Moon force the player to remain in the Festival Plaza area in order to be connected to the internet. This small, restricted area, reminiscent of Join Avenue in Gen 5, doesnt even have a PC for you to organize your Pokémon, yet its the only area in the game where you can go online to trade and battle with other players. A definite step backwards in comparison to Gen 6s online features. * There is still noticeable amounts of lag and frame rate drops during battles, even when using the New 3DS and New 3DS XL systems. When youre battling Totem Pokémon (essentially tougher versions of regular wild Pokémon), after you select an attack, it sometimes takes 4-5 seconds before anything happens. It makes you feel like youre battling an opponent over the Internet and youre waiting for them to make a move, except in this case, its just an in-game computer opponent. In Double Battles, you notice the lag when the camera pans out on an angle to reveal both trainers and both of their Pokémon on the field. Apparently, I read it may be a RAM issue -- between the trainers, their Pokémon and any animated effects currently happening in the background or on the field (like the blades of grass moving), even the New 3DS doesnt have the power to handle it all, graphically-speaking. * PC Box Management has been made less touch-intuitive. When you touch a Pokémon with the Stylus to select it, a menu appears that prevents you from selecting another Pokémon until you close the menu. This was never the case in Gen 6, but from what I remember, it was the case in Gen 5, from which Sun and Moons coding seems to be based upon. It makes it less touch-friendly and if youre just quickly looking at your Pokémon in the boxes, its once again faster using the circle pad on the 3DS, rather than the touch screen, because of this unnecessary change. * Pokémon Contests (arguably the best alternative competition to battling) have again been completely removed from the game. Theyve been replaced by a less-interesting Pokémon Snap picture-taking side game, which doesnt provide the same kind of longevity or replay-ability that Contests or the Battle Frontier did, and neither of them are present in this game. --- FINAL THOUGHTS --- Pokémon Sun and Moon make some significant improvements to the core series of Pokémon games, especially with regards to the new battle interface, but at the same time, Game Freak makes an equal amount of questionable decisions, removing previously good features and including frustrating new mechanics that are counter-intuitive to veteran players and newcomers alike. Unfortunately, if youre like me and want to stay part of the competitive battling community, you have no choice but to put up with the frustrating aspects of these games.

This game was fun and engaging until I reached the post-game (which is what Id been most excited about). I tried to find a reasonable way to train up competitive pokemon to battle with my friends, but in the end we gave up on it because GameFreak had made it so difficult to raise competitively without a huge upfront of time in the Battle Tree and leveling up pokemon (with nowhere to level them up effectively). I hope the next pokemon game doesnt repeat the post-game experience or I might pass on future games.

Have to say for this to be such a special year for Pokemon, I am rather disappointed in Sun and Moon. For me the best game for Pokemon was ORAS. So much more you could do in that game. I dont care for the Poke Finder and miss the DevNax in locating pokemon. I miss the ability to go to a route or area and seeing what I might still need to get with regards to pokemon. I dont care for the limitations in fishing and even surfing. The biggest disappointment so far from what Ive seen is the inability to re-fight trainers to level up and gain more $$. I liked that in ORAS because I enjoyed working more than one team which is more time consuming with Sun and Moon because it lacks the ability to re-fight. ORAS had a lot to keep one busy until the next new Pokemon game release. I dont see this as being the case with Sun and Moon. And the ability to catch shiny pokemon is for me more frustrating. The new method of chaining is a pain. One other major thing I dont like about this new generation game...........we cant transfer between ORAS and Sun/Moon except through the Poke Bank which isnt even available until sometime in January. The one plus I do find with Sun and Moon is the way the HMs were handled. Now that was a cool change.

Pokemon Sun gives a twist to the Pokemon series that was much needed. Theres enough familiarity for the 20 year fans to give us the nostalgia of traditional Pokemon games, but also enough of it is different to make it a fresh experience. Ive been playing Pokemon since Pokemon Yellow, and this game by far is one of the best in the series. Alola immerses you like the very first generations did, and I never felt like I wanted out of any particular area. All of the areas were enjoyable, and it never felt forced. The graphics are about the same as X and Ys, and Omega Rubys and Alpha Sapphires - but also has a bit of a style change on the menus. The characters are no longer in a chibi-like style, and are actually full-sized characters this time around. Controls are tighter and more responsive than previous games, and you feel like you have full control of your character. The music is also pretty diverse and has a wide range of likable OST. The performance issues that were in the past two installments have also carried over to this game (lag during battles), unfortunately. One of the main downfalls of the game is that its either too easy or too difficult. Its never an in between struggle. If you spend time leveling up your team, youll one hit everyones Pokemon. If you dont take the time to level your team up, youll struggle very badly against Pokemon the same level as you. This is a struggle that all of the newer games seem to have, and Im disappointed that it carries over to this game as well. Speaking of difficulty, the puzzles in the game werent challenging at all, if you can even call what they had puzzles. The Pokemon games puzzles have been lacking since the first few titles, and Im afraid that they were lacking even more so in puzzle difficulty than they were in X and Y. I found myself solving all of the puzzles on the first or second try, and never felt the need to think about them and plan them out like I have in the older games. Coming to the story however, the story was amazing. X and Ys story was lackluster and boring, but Sun and Moons story was a very much needed addition to the Pokemon franchise. I actually felt attached to the characters, and I will remember them vividly (which is more than what I can say for X and Ys characters), especially Hau, Lillie and Nebby, whom you travel with throughout the entirety of the game. Overall, I would give this game a 4/5 stars. The major flaws with this game in my opinion were the difficulty levels and the post-story once you beat the game. I would highly recommend this game to long-time Pokemon lovers, and to first time Pokemon players as well.

If your just an average customer purchasing a 3DS game to open immediately and play, A-A Sales is a 5 star seller. If your a collector like myself and have purchased from this seller for the original US region games that they advertised in the pictures, you’ll be disappointed. They sent me two 3DS games that are what many people refer to as the “world versions”. They are technically US versions, just with additional languages installed, but still it’s not what they advertised. The original copies of the game have more of a collectible price, these are not quite as collectible. Also one of the games had a huge sticker from a retail store on the plastic wrap seal which will be difficult to remove without damaging the seal. I will say the games physically are in great condition. Again not a bad product, just advertised incorrectly.

I love this game! It was easy to finish to say the least. I could have finished it within two days, but I extended it to three days. Though, Im only giving it a four stars because of that along with some of the Pokemon didnt thrill me, though, I did enjoy the story-line and to say the least, Lillie was my favorite. She had the better story-line according to my book, but overall, it was a game that I was happy to have bought when it was on sale. Thanks Nintendo!

I was as excited as anybody else for a new Pokemon game, especially after X and Y - my favorite games in the series since the original Ruby and Sapphire. However, this game seems like a pretty mixed bag so far. As of this writing, I am not finished with the game, so if my opinions change as I get further, Ill update this review to reflect that. The first thing you may notice is the sheer level of dialogue in this game. It took me almost a half hour of playing to get my starter Pokemon. Why did it take so long? There was just so much dialogue to wade through - and not even interesting dialogue. Half of the stuff it forces you to read is vapid nonsense that feels like filler. I was hoping that it would calm down a bit with the dialogue as I got further, and while it did calm down a little, its still very intrusive. I miss the days of the earlier gens, where the professor gave you a Pokemon and sent you on your way. The next thing I noticed was how much easier this game seems. Just like in Pokemon X and Y, the Exp Share acts as an Exp All, making the leveling of your Pokemon go SO much faster. This might not sound like a bad thing, but when you dont use a Pokemon for an entire town but its still the same level as your most actively-used Pokemon, it just isnt as fun anymore. On top of that, the trainer battles arent any more difficult than wild Pokemon encounters. I grinded out a couple of levels from wild Pokemon early on, and am STILL over-leveled because of that. Its almost as if the game wants you to just skate through everything. Another really annoying feature is Pokemon calling for help. In theory, it sounds cool - Pokemon call for backup, and it makes for more tense/interesting fights, you get more exp per battle, and its just kind of neat. In practice however, it makes me want to throw my 3DS at the wall. Now imagine, youre weakening a Pokemon and it calls for help. You KO that pokemon, and set your sights on the new one. However, before you can do any sort of damage to it, it calls for help. Now you get two attacks landed on you. You manage to weaken one and knock it out, only for backup to be called immediately. This might not be as bad if calling for help took up the enemy Pokemons attack (like switching Pokemon or using an item) but it doesnt - it happens between attacks. This leads to all sorts of annoying situations, such as one that my friend described where he was facing a Magby. It trapped his Pokemon in Fire Spin, used smokescreen to reduce his accuracy to nothing, and then called for help. He could barely attack the Magby, couldnt switch Pokemon, and if he managed to take one out another one replaced it. If the Fire Spin ended, a new one took its place. There seems to be no limit to how many times help can be called for, so as long as their call for help doesnt fail, they can do it endlessly - until you KO both Pokemon, anyways. You also cant catch a Pokemon while there are two out, which creates a whole new frustrating situation where you weakened one Pokemon enough to capture, and it called for help. By the time you take the new one out and are allowed to capture the other one, it calls for help again, leaving you to do the whole process over again. Maybe this doesnt sound so bad reading about it, but by the 5th or 6th time help is called for, youll be ready to pull your hair out. Its not all bad, however. The game has finally FULLY embraced 3D (graphics, not stereoscopic 3D - which there is none of in this game), and it controls like how JRPGs have controlled since the PS1 days. X and Y allowed movement outside of the grid-based design when using the roller skates, but in Sun and Moon EVERYTHING has abandoned the grid. Environments look and feel a lot more natural now, and there are a nice variety of camera angles to go along with this new development. There are also a lot of more streamlined gameplay features that reduce tedium. For example, if you catch a Pokemon with a full party, the game gives you the option to send one of your party Pokemon to the box instead of the one you just caught. You no longer need to go all the way back to town to use the cool new addition to your squad that you caught. You can also heal status conditions outside of battle through a system known as Pokemon refresher. This also makes the game easier, which I didnt like, but I feel like the convenience of not having to constantly run back and forth to a PKMN Center to heal your poisoned Pokemon outweighs the slightly lower difficulty that results. This seems to have replaced the Super Training from X and Y, which comes as a bit of a disappointment to me. I really liked that feature - it made training our Pokemon easier, and gave us some halfway decent mini-games to play. Speaking of mini, we also have a mini-map too now, which is nice. I really wish we had that in Diamond/Pearl, because I always got lost in that mountain in the very center of the map. Of course, there are a bunch of new Pokemon to explore. I mean, at this point we have around 800 - the thrill of a brand new Pokemon isnt as high as it used to be. Actually, for some Pokemon I cant remember if they showed up last generation or not. Still, there are plenty of new Pokemon to play around with, which is always great. On top of that, some of the older Pokemon got a fresh makeover - ranging from simply a color swap to a brand new design all the way to having a new type configuration. There are also a couple of new things that they did in order to spice things up. The biggest change is the fact that Gym leaders are gone, and in their place are island trials. Gyms have been a staple of Pokemon games since day one, so its a bit weird to not have them. However, its time to face the fact that the Pokemon formula has barely changed since day one. Expanded, sure. But changed? The core premise is fundamentally the same, so its nice for things to get changed up a bit - even if the replacement trials are generally easier than the Gyms were. HMs are gone, too. At the end of the day, this is another new Pokemon game. It has a nice, new coat of paint and some new features, but its not all that different from what weve been playing all along. On top of that, this is probably the easiest Pokemon game to date, and there is simply far too much dialogue. Of course, being as beginner-friendly as it is, newcomers and less experienced gamers may enjoy this more. Ive been playing since the original Red and Blue on the Game Boy, so Pokemon is like an old friend to me. Theres still too much pointless dialogue though. (For the record, my favorite games in the series are Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire, and X/Y)

I had this game pre-ordered for the longest time, and I was extremely excited when it finally arrived. I opened it right away and started playing. Having played Pokémon games in the past, I could say this game is like no other. The new features theyve introduced in the games only enhance game play. The Alola region is beautiful and Im so happy with how the game turned out. The storyline is written very well and it takes a while to play the whole thing. Any Pokémon lover is going to like this game. The only downfall Ive realized is that the game takes quite long to load, in battles, and when saving the game. Other than that, no complaints!

Story does NOT = Cutscenes. And yet, the people over at Gamefreak felt it necessary that you can barely take four steps in this game without having to sit through and spam A repeatedly to get through cutscenes. Its the worst slog of any Pokémon game since it doesnt even let you really play--you keep getting interrupted. Also, the setting of the game wears out its welcome. From the Hawaiian names and words, to the endless island setting, youll encounter similar environments all the way through. Third, the tenor of the game is the more childish and immature and meandering of all mainline Pokémon games. Even though in prior Pokémon games you played a kid, those games werent SOLELY for children (much like Mario is for everyone, not just children). But this Pokémon game was the most immature patronizing one yet. From your stupid pokedex AI partner saying yeehaw partner or boy Ive got a bad feeling about this, to your mindless dumb friend sputtering the dumbest dialogue lines Ive seen yet in a okémon entry constantly repeating over and over and over again about having fun, this game just assaults the player with mindless dialogue and characters. Yes, Pokémon games dont exactly have deep meaningful themes or characters, but at least some of them like N or Lance or Blue or Professor Elm are somewhat interesting. Here theyre all just painfully cookie cutter and soulless. Having constant smiles and yelling about having fun isnt actually the way to bring about fun. Another mistake was some changes with gameplay. In response to many gamers who consider Pokémon rules (i.e. Which elements are super effective against which) gamefreak decided to flat out TELL you which moves were super effective and which werent. This was a horrible decision. Instead Gamefreak shouldve displayed which elements the Pokémon themselves were, and then the player could DEDUCE the type matchups over the coarse of the game. Most of us longtime fans were able to figure this out when we were 8; it ruins the experience to have had it changed now. Instead of having interesting music, a halfway decent story (through situations and characterization and dialogue) Pokémon Sun takes what Pokémon fans have--for some reason--been asking for (cutscenes) and shoves it down the players throat. True story in games isnt meant to be brought out by mandatory cut scenes with completely cloned smiles and laughs from everyone. Instead its shaped through atsmosphere, trials, and NPC choices. But this game instead subjects you to the mindless cookie-cutter smiles. Furthermore, the game asks you to input your own dialogue choices, which are all of course completely meaningless and bring about no differences, I have no idea why gamefreak even added the option. There are just a couple improvements in this entry that should be pointed out: 1) no wasteful HMs. While they did serve a gameplay purpose back in the day, its high time we get rid of their burden 2) the (same tiresome) Hawaiian areas do look great, as do the battle environments 3) most importantly, the map tells you where to go. While this wasnt needed in actually good concise older Pokémon games where it could be intuited on whats needed to be done next, latest Pokémon games dropped the ball in making that clear, so map waypoints are a big help. I sincerely regret paying for this game, and of all the Pokémon games I own (I have one from reach generation) this will be the only one I never replay. Yes the graphics are better, and yes there are more new Pokémon, but in almost all other respects, this is the worst mainline Pokémon game. In making everything childish and happy and mindless, Gamefreak has ripped out any semblance of identity or soul that was present in the more traditional gym trainer games. If youll excuse me, Ill be going back to better previous games.

Ive been a poke-fan since childhood. Ive looked forward to all the new GB-DS-3DS games over the years. This particular game, although awesome, leaves me saddened. There are no Pokemon Gyms! No League! The storyline seems like a combination of Pokemon Ranger & Yo-Kai Watch. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing, its just very different, more childish! Moves now have super effective, not effective, etc description on them, which dumbs it down a little, and it makes sense if theyre trying to reach a much younger audience (5-8 y.o). I know my 6 y.o loves that it tells him which moves work best! Not to mention the dramatic change in appearance in Pokemon like Rattata & Grimer! I do like the game, and will always be a Poké-Fan, I guess I just dont deal with change all too well :P!