Tag: sun

Latest ‘Pokémon Sun & Moon’ Trailer Shows Off New Ultra Beasts, More!

by Derek Kraneveldt

Briefly: With just a few more days until launch, I’ve actually managed to stay pretty spoiler-free on the Pokémon Sun and Moon front at this point. I have no idea what Z-Moves are, and aside from seeing a few new forms of classic Pokémon, I’ve managed to avoid all of the trailers released for the game thus far.

That said, with launch fast approaching… I got antsy and excited and watched the latest trailer. I still don’t have a great idea of what’s going on, but the video does reveal some new Z-Moves for the new starter Pokémon, and even more Ultra Beasts.

And with that, I’m out until the 18th! Don’t spoil things for me! Take a look at the trailer below, and let us know what you think!

New Pokémon Sun And Moon Trailer And Major Gameplay Details Have Surfaced!

by Matt Rodriguez

A new Pokemon Sun and Moon trailer is available and it packs a punch! More details have been revealed on the two new legendary Pokemon, more footage of the Alola region, character options and reveals, and even a shocking twist on the Pokedex!

The name of Pokemon Sun’s legendary Pokemon is Solgaleo, with its signature attack being Sunsteel Strike and its ability being Full Metal Body. The name of Pokemon Moon’s legendary is Lunala with its signature attack being Moongeist Beam and its ability being Shadow Shield. Both Sunsteel Strike and Moongeist Beam are attacks that disregard the opponent’s abilities. However, Full Metal Body and Shadow Shield are different–with Full Metal Body, “a Pokemon’s stats will not be lowered by the effects of an opponent’s moves or Ability.” With Shadow Shield, “a Pokemon will take less damage from an attack that lands when the Pokemon has full HP.” These abilities sound all too familiar right? They sound like the exact representations of the Abilities “Clear Body” and “Multiscale” which are described the same way… ALMOST. The choice of name for these Abilities–“Full” and “Shield” as well as the verbiage “a Pokemon” instead of “THIS Pokemon” leads me to believe that these abilities may protect teammates as well. With recent major changes to Video Game Championships rules in 2016, such as the ability to use two legendary Pokemon in your team from a limited list, with double battles being VGC standard, this may fall well in line with that direction and I’m excited to see where it could take the metagame!  Their typings have also been revealed–Psychic/Steel for Solgaleo and Psychic/Ghost for Lunala… the secondary types remind me of the Sinnoh Legendary Pokémon, which happen to be Dragon/Steel (Dialga), Dragon/Ghost (Giratina), and the third–Dragon/Water (Palkia)… perhaps the third Legendary pokemon for sun/moon will be Psychic/Water? More information on Solgaleo and Lunala can be found on Pokemon’s website.

solgaleolunala

There’s some new footage on the Alola region as well. Although I’m sure the internet will find eggs in this footage, but what I’ve seen so far is a comparison to real-world scales. In other words, the scale between the character and buildings have been somewhat unrealistic in previous Pokemon games. However in this footage, a Mountain is so much bigger than the character, that it really makes the world appear infinitely more enormous and realistic. We are reminded of the many options available for character customization, such as the many different shades of skin, and some more details on Professor Kukui, his assistant Lillie, and your friend/rival Hau. I find the professor most interesting because he specializes in Pokemon Moves, which is something I have not seen in the past.

kukui

The last interesting tidbit is with the Pokedex! While in previous games these devices served little more function than electric encyclopedias, this new one is inhabited by the Rotom Pokemon, and with it comes benefits! They have just detailed on the Pokemon website that there will be a QR scanner built in. This can be used to capture information on Alola Pokemon habitats into your Pokedex, among your friends. We imagine this can be used to interesting effect for Augmented Reality promotional efforts for the Pokemon Company (Pokemon GO integration, anyone?).

rotompokedexpokedexqr

Please check out the video and let us know your thoughts! How do you feel about the new mechanics and reveals?

‘Pokemon Sun and Moon’ Details, New Pokemon and Release Date Surface In First Game Play Trailer

by Josh Jackson

Are you ready to catch em’ all for the seventh time!? The Pokemon Company has unveiled the first game play trailer for the upcoming Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, showing off its new region, starters, and cover legendaries alongside its worldwide release date.

Releasing on November 18, each version returns with its tried and true turn based combat, which will surely come with another hundred or so Pokemon to catch, train and battle. What’s most exciting to me however, is that the new region seems to be in full 3D. In other words, while X and Y was the first foray into full 3D characters and game play for the main series, traveling was still largely from a top down perspective, save for a handful of special areas. This time, the world already looks so much bigger in scale since the environments have an actual layout that doesn’t revolve around the grid based map that every past game has revolved around. Just think of the new lands we’ll be able to explore while catching all those new Pokemon!

Speaking of which, the trailer gave us our first glimpse at the three new starters and the version exclusive Legendary Pokemon. Featuring Rowlet, a Grass/Flying owl, Litten, a fire kitten, and Popplio, a water type sea lion, one of these three will be the first Pokemon we claim as we begin our new adventure. Let’s talk about these new guys for a minute… Is it just me, or do they look more like fan art? I don’t usually favor Grass Types, but Rowlet looks the most interesting to me, especially with its 180 head spin. Popplio is cute, but uninspired, while Litten… It looks more like a Route 1 catch than a starter. Let’s just hope it doesn’t evolve into a Fire/Fighting type. As far as the Legendaries, we don’t have any specific information on them outside of their box art, but the Sun Pokemon looks like Wildfire from Skylanders decided to walk on four legs, and I’m looking forward to Moon telling us why Lugia went on to skin Cresselia and wear its coat.

Take a look below and watch the full trailer for yourself, then tell us what you think! Which starter are you leaning towards, and are you siding with Sun or Moon this time around? Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know!

The Sun Is Shining For New Confirmed ‘Pokémon’ Titles!

by Matt Rodriguez

In the latest Nintendo Direct, those cryptic Pokémon Sun/Moon trademarks that surfaced yesterday have been confirmed as a new Pokémon game for holiday release!  We’re excited because this would be the second time that the Pokémon company would break its own pattern (two main titles, a remake, and a third title).  The first time would be during generation five, where they released direct sequels to their games (Black 2/White 2) instead of a third game, and there were no remakes that generation.  Of course, this point is moot if we get a “Pokémon Z” between now and Pokémon Sun/Moon.

They mention in the direct that all of the games up until now have been cumulating to this one game, specifically marking each trademark game of its generation, so it’s pretty safe to assume that Pokémon Sun/Moon is generation seven, although only time will tell for sure.

How excited are you for Pokémon Sun and Moon?  Please let us know in the comments!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qBHfd2NtJs

The Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow 3DS eShop Releases Will Support Pokemon Bank!

by Josh Jackson

During today’s Pokemon Nintendo Direct, the big news was the official confirmation of Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, an announcement that would have surely had a bigger impact if it wasn’t leaked yesterday. While this is exciting news for sure, the shock of the announcement being eliminated if you were anywhere near an Internet connection, combined with a lack of footage or details outside of a 2016 release window, left me craving a groundbreaking surprise.

Well, we got one! In the closing moments, we were reminded of how we were never able to transfer our Game Boy and Game Boy Color monsters over to the Game Boy Advance, which would go on to be transferable all the way up to the 3DS. That changes with the release of tomorrow’s Red, Blue, and Yellow remakes, because the eShop titles will fully support Pokemon Bank, where your favorite nostalgia monsters can be stored, and eventually transferred into Sun and Moon when they are released.

One of the major questions floating around once the eShop ports were announced was whether or not those Pokemon would be able to be transferred to the new games. The silence regarding the matter made us think that these characters would be confined to their native generation once again, especially since the mechanics have drastically changed since 1996. Fortunately for us, this is clearly not the case.

But with this answer comes new questions. Only Sun and Moon were mentioned as compatible games, so does that mean we can’t move them into other Pokemon Bank compatible games like X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire? What’s going to happen if we transfer one of the glitched level 300 Pokemon? With unlimited EV points in Gen 1, how will that affect their use in future games? And will they be assigned natures once they make the move? We have no way of knowing for now, but if nothing else, here’s to hoping we’ll FINALLY get to play the Surfing Pikachu mini game in the West, and eventually transfer the freak of nature into our new games. Now I just need to figure out how to move that truck so I can finally get Mew…

All I know for sure is that $5 a year for Bank is more than worth it. What are you most excited about from this morning’s presentation? Are you hoping your MissingNo. will materialize in 3D? And are you dreaming of dominating the tournament scene with your overpowered pocketed monstrosities for Gen 1? Share your thoughts in the comments, and continue to check back with us for more Pokemon news as we approach its 20 year anniversary!