Pokémon Sun - Nintendo 3DS

Ill start by saying Ive been playing pokemon games since red, blue and yellow and am a diehard fan of the series. There are a few things I really like about this game, but overall it is pretty mediocre. Pros : - the ride pager system is awesome. I love not having to lug around HM slaves - you can finally customize your characters appearance. There arent a huge amount of options but I still enjoyed it - rare pokemon are actually rare. I spent about 2 days fishing before I was able to catch a dratini. - lots of breeding system improvements. The breeder no longer levels your pokemon, so no worries about them ruining your prize fighter. And now that natures have hidden effects aside from stat changes I can actually hatch eggs in minutes. Its pretty great - this one could be a pro or a con, but now after you fight a pokemon once the game will tell you which attacks are effective or not. Its convenient but honestly learning your type advantages is such a major part of battling its like having training wheels on. There were times I liked it but overall it felt very handicapped to me. Cons: - I have no idea why so many reviews on here praise the storyline. It is so bland and boring. It basically amounts to my mom is mean help me un-brainwash her. Its probably fine for the younger audience, but for pokemons 20 something fans I doubt many will enjoy it. - WAY. Too. Many. Cutscenes. I seriously wanted to throw my ds the first 2 hours of the game. You cant go more than 5 steps without being stopped for very meaningless chatter. (Lets go eat this masala! Omg this island is great!) - the characters are extremely topical and boring. I was not invested in a single one, I only wanted their conversations to be as short as possible so I could go back to exploring. The pokemon thieves in this game, team skull, are so cringey. Im embarrassed everytime one shows up throwing their arms around. - rival game is weak. I know this isnt the first game to do this but I still hate it. Your rival is super friendly and kind, and to make matters worse he actually picks the starter pokemon that is weak against yours. I miss the days where your rival talked smack and gave you a run for your money. You know, like an actual rival and not some nice kid you routinely smack down in battle - the totem pokemon trials are very odd and make no sense. Im sure they added them to fit the tropical theme but they were so easy and weird. I wouldve much preferred the classic gym courses. - I wouldve been more okay with the map if all the locations werent given such silly names. They all run together for me and I have to Google a buildings location everytime I need to visit one because its very difficult to tell the difference from one city to another - the E4 members are all Kahunas that youve already encountered with the exception of one girl with no explanation of how she managed to get lumped together with the rest. It felt very random and lazy - this is probably my biggest complaint as it basically renders the game unplayable post championship. There is no good way to level your pokemon after the E4. While they have the battle tree you have to defeat red or blue before entering, and unless you just wanna grind E4 over and over and sit through all that cutscenes you literally have no way to level up aside from grinding random encounters. Its pretty unbearable Overall, 2.5/5

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.

I was very disappointed with Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, but Im still a Pokémon fan so I HAD to order this game. Im happy to say the bad taste went away completely! I feel really excited when I play this game, discovering new Pokémon and forms! The story is interesting and the characters are all likeable so far. The new mechanics are great and well implemented. I LOVE to ride Tauros, I thought I was gonna miss my bike but hell no! Also the trials are entertaining, I dont miss gym leaders at all. One in particular made me laugh a lot. Also you get to see Pokédex descriptions everytime you get a new Pokémon, either from capturing, evolving or trading, which is great. Some of the descriptions are pretty cool or even creepy! I only wish we had Pokémon Bank already, my dear friends from previous games are waiting for me there. If youre a Pokémon fan, youll LOVE this game!

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.

What can I say? Great new addition to the Pokemon line. Ive been playing these games since Red/Blue first arrived and I had started to get a little weary of the same formula. Now, Im not one to suggest that GameFreak/Nintendo changed it up greatly, but it was a very pleasant discovery to learn that this game had changed the rather predictable pattern of the past games. The new features are pretty awesome and as a pokemon fan, it was a lot of fun. If youve never played a pokemon game and want to, either this or Moon would be a great starting point. Hours of fun. If youre like me and have played all the previous pokemon games, you can look forward to some well-thought and cleverly designed features that really are enchanting and add new play-ability to the franchise.

Havent played a pokemon game since Ruby. The story was really different, there arent badges in this one. There are some other pokemon abilities you can unlock using Z moves which was new. The island has a very relaxing vibe to it. The difficulty is very easy, I think most people would have a breeze playing it. Wonder Trade is where you can trade pokemon with anyone in the world. You pick a random pokemon and you get a random one from someone else. Pretty cool when you get something good!

If you like Pokemon you will love this . The improved way of getting stuff done easier. I hate how they messed up fishing. You have to a group of rocks to fish and it has to have bubble to get any thing but crappy fish Pokemon. The start of the game is slow getting thought and boring but once you get through that it is great. I dont like that some Pokemon can only get when a certain Pokemon calls for help. I hate that you cant throw a pokeball when their is more than one Pokemon in the field. Also that some Pokemon can evolve in one area near the end of the game and that some have to be female. Female that you need are hard to get for those. The map seem clunky.

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!

If youve been away from Pokémon for a while like I have, this is the best time to jump back in. Pokemon sun breathes a huge revitalization back into the series, with new features like the ride pager and a breathtaking new region. The new graphical updates in Sun are miles ahead of X and Y and make them look bad in comparison (in a good way)! On top of all the new and shiny, you have the classic pokemon series with brand new animations that are absolutely phenomenally animated. While the post game may be slightly lacking, and the S.O.S battles need a little work, this title will get you hours and hours of game time, and provide you with a new interesting story and take on the pokemon world!

Did you know there are no more HMs in this game? Yeah, there are no more HMs. If youre not a fan of long (2 minute or so) cutscenes, I wouldnt recommend this generation of pokemon. But if youre craving to have cutscenes in a pokemon game to make it much more of a story-based RPG, then this has ya covered. The first few hours (depending on how fast you get through the intro) are pretty hand-holdy, but they mostly let go and let you explore afterwards. Its a great starting/restarting point in the series, and they dont to expect you to know everything about pokemon.