Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are unbelievably similar to Sun and Moon. For the first 2/3rds of the game, the titles are the exact same. They’re not bad, but when taking into account just how little they change from the entries that released a year earlier, I cannot in good faith give them a score any higher than Sun and Moon’s review. These games are more of a definitive edition that adds some new story elements, Ultra Beasts, and increases the Pokedex count by 100.
NOTHING IN THE FRANCHISE IS EVER COMING CLOSE TO THIS ONE. and yes i realise a lot of this opinion revolves around nostalgia, but isnt that the case for every single pokemon fan's favourite game ever? ahhhhh i love alola so damn much and i am so happy these games exist to fully realise the devs' vision... i've played through it so so so many times... shoutout to when it was revealed hau was the final boss and i honest to god cried because i loved hau so much when i was 13
This was the first game to get me back into Pokemon, after taking a break after Black and White came out. I went through my unfortunate, "Pokemon is for kids, I'm not a kid I'm 13" phase after they did, and waned off the series, skipping the sequels to B/W, X/Y, and the initial S/M. As time went on, I knew I wanted to get back in, but didn't have a Switch at the time to play the most recent installment. I also had no clue where my 3DS was, so I may or may not have played this on an emulator at the time. And I loved it. Looking back, I can find issues with it. The rival can be annoying, it feels like you never leave the tutorial, and some side parts of the game feel drawn out. But I still owe this game for making me fall in love with the games again. It ran well for being on a 3DS and it was my first game in the 3D style, so I was enamored. It also has a ridiculous amount of Pokemon in it, which I loved. I didn't care for Z-Moves all that much, but I appreciate Game Freak weaving Megas into the game too. Post-Game was lovely, between Rainbow Rocket and the Battle Tree. Not my favorite by a long shot, but will hold a nice place to me forever.
This was the last game I really played with an irl friend of mine. I used to go over to his place and we'd play Pokemon, trade with each other and battle each other. It was great but life gets in the way, you move on from things you liked when you were younger, and you have to stress about more things than whether or not you could beat hacked shiny legendaries your friend found off wonder trade with the Greninja you trained to level 100 the week before. I can't really enjoy pokemon anymore the way I did when pokemon sun and moon dropped or when this game launched. I could play Pokemon with online friends but it just isn't the same as playing and shit talking with a guy halfway across the room, I mean how could it?