nintendo 3ds pokemon sun moon

it’s a good time to be a pokã©mon fan. the franchise is as popular as it’s everbeen with the anime wrapping up one of its best seasons, re-releases of the originalgames on virtual console, and a year-long celebration of the 20th anniversary. but all this pales in comparison to the excitementfor pokã©mon sun & moon, the seventh generation of the series, and the first real attemptto change up the formula. while past games have had changes and improvementsto the battle system, the bonus games, and the regions, the structure has ostensiblystayed the same. yet sun & moon offers a pokã©mon experiencethat’s both new and familiar, and i believe

that it’s the biggest strength of this game. things begin familiar enough with your charactermoving to the new alola region, a series of four islands with traditions wholly differentfrom anything experienced before. instead of the usual gym challenge, there’sthe island challenge. in it, young trainers become closer to theirpokã©mon and grow stronger by taking on seven trials and four grand trials around alola. it’s a different take that stands out becauseof the way it plays with the structure. no longer are you going town to town, expectingto help out with problems or finding a way to continue on so you can challenge the nextgym.

instead, you’re never quite sure what you’llbe doing next. you’ll have an idea of course, but the ordernever remains the same. it also helps that all of alola seems to bein on the island challenge. volunteers are there to guide you, peoplereminisce about their time taking on the challenge, and there’s a just a sense of communityabout the whole process that i never experienced before in previous games. but the best thing here is how it’s woveninto the story of sun & moon. i won’t divulge anything specific yet iwas continually impressed with how well it’s told.

there are actual characters here with arcs,strong personalities, and time given to make them stand out. and there’s honest to god theming goingon with this story with its focus on family and community. this is my favorite pokã©mon plot, by far,but once again, it’s the characters that stand out the most. the gameplay is just as strong though. there are new pokã©mon, new moves, and theregional variants, but that’s to be expected at this point.

the biggest addition are the z-moves. early on, you’ll receive the z-ring whichworks in conjunction with z-crystals held by your pokã©mon. there are different z-crystals for each typeas well as a few that are pokã©mon-specific. essentially, if a pokã©mon is hold a normalz-crystal, then any of its normal moves can be used as a basis for it. the attack animation is always the same, butthe properties of the attacks changes depending on the original move’s power and whetherit’s physical or special. they also work with status moves, but no specialanimation plays out, instead just increasing

how effective it is. z-moves feel balanced from my experience. they can only be used once per battle butcan turn the tide if used properly. and since they scale with the power of yourcurrent moves, and are affected by the same type strengths and weaknesses, it never feelslike a win button. the only issue is that the animations, ascool as they are, can get a bit dull if you end up using them a lot. i mentioned before how the island challengewas a bit more unpredictable in its structure. but it does have a flow.

each island has trial captains, and you mustclear their trial in order to face a totem pokã©mon. the totem pokã©mon is larger and strongerthan a typical pokã©mon of that type, plus they’re able to put out an sos so otherpokã©mon can come help for a two on one battle. once they’ve been defeated, you’ll berewarded with a z-crystal, though you’ll receive other z-crystals in other ways throughoutthe game. once all of the trials on each island is completed,players can challenge the kahuna in a grand trial that’s pretty much a gym battle. after defeating the kahuna, you’re ableto move on to the next island.

but again, there’s so much more varietyto this challenge. one trial may simply be hunting down hidingpokã©mon while another has you using the pokã© ride stoutland’s nose to find ingredientsor even watching a dance to see the differences. they’re not all treated seriously eitherwith some fun and silly moments. there’s a real feeling of positivity throughit all as you meet each of the trial captains and kahunas. honestly, it’ll be quite hard to returnto the standard gym battles because these short highlights helped mix things up justenough. again, different yet familiar.

a lot of the changes in sun & moon comes downto player convenience. the rotom pokã©dex provides a constant mapon the bottom screen that shows players exactly where they need to go to continue the mainstory. while i never needed the help to know wherei should go, it did give me an idea of how much i could explore before going to thatpoint. i enjoy being able to check everything outbefore i move on and accidentally stumbling into the next story bit is always kind ofa bummer. the rotom inside doesn’t do much else, usuallycommenting on the places you should go or a line about the latest event, but the pokã©dexitself, specifically the pokã©mon finder is

excellent. as long as a pokã©mon isn’t in a cave orbuilding, it’ll show the exact patch of grass and what time of day a pokã©mon canbe found making catching them all just little bit easier. a new screen will also appear whenever youcatch a pokã©mon. this provides the option to look at its statsand moves, compare it to your current team, and decide whether to swap them out on thefly or not. it’s a great tool for those looking forthe ideal team, but if it doesn’t matter to you, it can be switched off in the options.

the biggest and best change though is thecomplete removal of hms. instead, there’s the pokã© ride system whichallows you to summon specific pokã©mon whenever you want. tauros and sharpedo will smash through rockson land and sea respectively, stoutland can find hidden items, charizard flies you toprevious areas, and so on. it’s incredibly useful, very simple, andshould never be taken away. exploring everything in pokã©mon no longerfeels like a chore. another change is pokã©mon-amie, which hasbeen replaced by pokã©mon refresh. while similar, refresh is essentially morestreamlined.

gone are the mini-games to help increase apokã©mon’s affection. instead, it comes down to either petting themor feeding them new pokã© beans. however, after pokã©mon battles, an optionwill sometimes appear allowing you to clean your pokã©mon. they get dirty from using mud-slap or gettinghit by one, dusty from rock moves, or wet from battling in the rain. cleaning them will help toward increasingtheir affection, and it’s even possible to cure status ailments through the system. i found pokã©mon refresh much easier to managethan amie.

no longer did i have to play through simplebut repetitive mini-games in order to get the benefits of affection. instead, the option is there after a battle,and i could easily ignore it or use it and throw in a few extra beans or petting themfor a job well done. it felt natural and not overbearing or wastedin its use. pok㩠pelago is similar in that regard. while you only start with one isle that providesbeans, you can spend those beans to unlock more isles or develop them for better rewards. in addition to the bean-providing island,there’s one where you can grow berries,

one to send your pokã©mon to collect itemsincluding stones, one to train your pokã©mon, and one to increase their happiness. all of these are extremely useful though theytake time to unlock due to the limited amount of beans you can collect each day and thetotal pokã©mon requirement that some have. it’s a fun addition that rewards playersfor their time. it also changes up how the day care worksin that it’s no longer a day care but a nursery. your pokã©mon won’t level up while in thenursery. they only breed since the leveling is handledby the pokã© pelago where many more than two

pokã©mon can train at a time. these are changes that feel beneficial tothe player. each one matters and helps you along yourway no matter which one you focus on. then there’s the festival plaza where youcan earn festival coins to buy special items as well upgrade your plaza for different shopsthat you can choose from. it also serves as a hub for trading and battlingwith other trainers. unfortunately, i was unable to fully exploreits potential since its focus is so much online, but i found it simple to navigate and easyto use all the same. it’s something i’ll use more after theofficial release.

the same can’t be said about pokã© finderthough. this photo mode is interesting in that youcan take pictures of pokã©mon in the wild, but it doesn’t have much use beyond. if it is a new pokã©mon, they’ll be addedto your pokã©dex, but other than being able to save them to your sd card, the finder didn’treally attract me. it’s there to enjoy, but the mileage outof it will differ from person to person. all these elements come together in a waythat makes pokã©mon more accessible than ever. and the game simply looks great on the 3ds. the models are well detailed with the charactersemoting when they need to.

plus, simply having trainers on-screen withthe pokã©mon in addition to the battle arenas reflecting where you are adds to the experience. it makes you feel like a trainer. alola is a varied and beautiful region withplenty to explore and a lot of it that you want explore. it naturally pulls you in. the layout of each area is also subtly differentfrom previous games. there are often paths through the tall grassthat allow you to avoid wild pokã©mon. the grid-like structure is also gone, providinga freedom that was sorely lacking.

in a lot of ways, it feels like pokã©mon hascaught up with the times while still remaining a pokã©mon game. unfortunately, all these changes and extradetails seem to be pushing the 3ds to its limit. while sun & moon run smoothly during exploration,battles take their toll. single battles fare fine with the system beingonly slightly slower, but it’s during the totem pokã©mon fights and double battles thatthings grind to a halt. often, double battles had both sides of thetrainers freeze in place for a few seconds before the animations kicked in, but the slowdownnever really went away.

it’s an unfortunate blemish on such a polishedgame. however, this only happens with the old 3dsmodels. i tested these moments on my new 3ds to discoverthat the slowdown was almost entirely gone. it’s unfortunate that there’s a differenceat all, but i do recommend playing on a new 3ds if you’re able to. thankfully, the music is simply gorgeous. it captures the feeling of each environmentand every story beat perfectly. and it’s truly eclectic; ranging from harmoniousmelodies to the disjointed music of a haunted mall to the rap-inspired team skull themes.

it all clicked for me, and i highly recommendplaying with headphones on. taken all together, pokã©mon sun & moon isa wonderful game. there are light stumbles here and there withthe biggest being the slowdown on the old 3ds, but i still enjoyed every moment of it. the new pokã©mon are fun and interesting,the characters are memorable and sympathetic, and the adventure is classic yet surprising. i simply love this game and how it was ableto make changes that improved the experience while still remaining a pokã©mon game. to be honest, this is my new favorite generation,and i think pokã©mon has a bright future ahead

of it. thanks for watching and be sure to subscribeto gamexplain for more on pokã©mon and other things gaming.

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