Just to qualify some of the things I say, here’s my history with Pokémon. Blue was the first video game I ever played and first game I ever beat. I spent hundreds of hours on Silver, and remember the exact moment as a 6 year old that I beat the Elite Four. I completed the National Dex on Ruby (with a little help from my friend Game Shark). I’ve played every Pokémon spin off game. My brother and I put hundreds of hours into Stadium 1 & 2 as kids, and Pokémon Snap still sits in the Hall of Greats for me. When I got to high school and Diamond/Pearl came out, I was too cool for Pokémon. It’s for babies! I also missed out on Black/White for this reason. Sue me, we all had this phase.
As did every single one of us, when I got to college I realized it was okay to like the things you like, and all of my friends were back into Pokémon as well. I remember being so excited for XY in my Junior year of college. Nerd stuff makes you cool in college! My roommate and I rolled up to the Gamestop on release date and each bought a 2DS with X or Y (I got Y). It was so cool seeing Pokémon in 3D for the first time, but i have to admit that when I finished it 50 hours later it fell a little flat. Whatever, I was just glad to be back. I love this little fighting cactus, or whatever! Who remembers. I’ve been playing Pokemon Go every single day for the last 2 years. This franchise is close to my heart.
When Sun and Moon dropped, I got my pre-order ready. I upgraded to a New 3DS XL from my 2DS to prepare. And you know what? Not disappointed. Let’s get into it.
From humble beginnings, you’ll start your journey as a 10 year old (I know, I know) who has just been forced to move to Alola (Hawaii) from Kanto (Japan) because your mom has a new job. This heartwarming ad for SM is basically that story, and boy did I cry when I watched it. https://youtu.be/Byg1Ti15K_o
We’re all one just people, man. Pokémon, as the biggest franchise in the world, has a distinct honor of connecting people across races, nationalities, gender identities, orientations, and even language barriers. Trade, battle, work together. Pokémon is how I made many of my friends as a kid and even a few in college. The power of this franchise should not be underestimated, even if you turn your nose up at it. Remember that first month of Pokémon GO? That was the closest we will ever be to world peace.
______________________________________________________________
The Game
Of course the first thing we want to do when a new Pokémon game drops is get a look at those beautiful, beautiful starters. Pictured above, from left to right we have Rowlett, Litten, and Popplio. Personally, I’ve always picked the water starter, although I experimented with Treecko in Ruby (it was a phase). I know Popplio has gotten a lot of flak for being a literal clown, but wait until you see her final form’s Z-Move: https://youtu.be/S85tGtPHOSI
I couldn’t resist her siren song. I’m a proud father of a young, healthy Primarina.
Regardless of who you pick, this batch of starters is the best since Gen III, at least in my opinion. You’ll end up with either Decidueye, Incineroar, or Primarina, all pretty good designs. As is customary, here’s an absolute bop from the soundtrack of this game. Play this as you read for the sake of immersion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REC7daXbjho
After leaving home, you’ll experience the most beautiful region yet, Alola. Look, the map design itself was better in Gen III, sure, but no one can argue that the lushness of the tropical jungle makes Pokémon finally feel fresh again. The new Pokémon designs, for the most part, are really good and sometimes clever. I love Mudsdale so much. These are the best Pokemon designs since RSE, don’t @ me. Alolan Pokemon also were a great move. Alolan Exeggutor is a masterstroke for meme potential, and seeing an Ice Ninetales and a Ghost/Fire Marowak is just exciting for fans of the 1st Gen.
SM was a, well not a breath of fresh air, but a puff. More like how Link’s Awakening reinvigorated the Zelda series with new stuff rather than how Breath of the Wild tore it apart and rebuilt it from the ground up.
Mega Evolutions? Ugh, Mom, we’re on Z-Moves now.
That’s right, Megas are out. Hot take: Z-Moves are fun. You do a dumb dance with your Pokémon, it uses a super-powerful attack, and then you can’t do it again the rest of the match. Megas always felt overpowered to me, and I like that any Pokémon can use Z-Moves. Plus, it’s a onetime attack so it’s good to get out of a tight situation in a gym battle.
Gym battles? Mom, gym battles are so 2015. We’re doing Island Trials.
That’s right, gyms are gone. They’ve been replaced with Island Trials, which are definitely not gyms. Despite my saltiness here, I preferred the format of Island Trials to gyms. You explore a small area, do a small side quest, battle some minion Pokémon, and progress to the boss battle: A Totem Pokémon. Totems are larger and more powerful than their counterparts with the main distinction of being able to summon minions during the fight. This turned out to work very well and provided wildly different levels of difficulty. WishiWashi provided a considerable challenge and actually KO’d my whole party the first time through. I had to fight Larantis FOUR TIMES before I was able to kill it. In contrast, I one-shotted Salazzle on the first turn. So… your mileage may vary. At the end of each Island you’ll fight a boss, the Island Kahuna, who again is somewhat of a challenge. Then you unlock a new mechanic to help you traverse the overworld. Yeah, like an HM -
Mom you’re embarrassing me! HM’s are dead. We have Pokémon Uber.
That’s right, HM’s are out as well. Gone are the days of wasting a move slot on a party member for Cut or Flash. We’ve now got a smartphone (I’ll get to the Rotom Dex in a bit) with the Poke Ride Share app, which calls to your aid different Pokémon to either solve environmental puzzles or help you cross difficult terrain. You unlock more as you go along, and it works well. SwSh has no HM’s and no rideshare either, the world is free of “cut trees” and “strength boulders.” Honestly, good move.
So those are the things that are different. How’s everything else?
The game is definitely a bit more difficult than XY, no question. Not to say that it’s hard, just harder than XY, which was a game a baby could play while asleep. EXP share is a team thing again, which sucks, but you can turn it off, which I did immediately.
There. Are. A. Lot. Of. Cutscenes. And you know me, I love those 9 minute unskippable cutscenes. This is probably the worst thing about the game, to be honest. There are cutscenes every 4-5 minutes in the story heavy parts, and they’re all about 5 minutes long. Pokémon has long sufficed on not really having a story, and when they said “this one is going to have a big story” they meant it. Usually you’d want them to spend more time honing a finely crafted story, but this seems like they just crammed 20 years’ worth of story into the game to make up for all the previous gens not having one. The story is fine and would actually qualify as good if not for such lengthy, arduous cutscenes. SM managed to produce the most memorable characters the series has had since GSC.
So let’s get into the characters. Professor Kikui is a hot young stud in the academic world, looking to prove himself. He has a flair for the dramatic, and I won’t say more than that to avoid ruining the best scene in the entire game. To round out the dynamic trio, you’ve got Lillie, the adopted daughter of Professor Kikui, and Hau, your dumb best friend/neighbor/rival who really just believes in everyone. Lillie and Hau act as companions on your journey, but they don’t actually walk everywhere with you. They just move around to each area/island as the story moves them, and I liked this system. It felt enough like having companions without feeling like I had to drag them everywhere. Then we have your real rival, Gladion, a smug blond Draco Malfoy-type who puts up an actual challenge when you fight him.
And then the Rotom Dex, your constant companion. Yes, your Pokedex talks to you. No, it doesn’t ever become more endearing. I like the ideas of companions in concept, and they really went half-assed with this one. We need a full fledged Navi if we’re going to go in on that, not a constantly buzzing cartoon phone that keeps sending you tutorial hints 80 hours into the game.
There are two major institutions in play here – Team Skull and the Aether Foundation. That’s right, Pokémon has factions now. Too bad you can’t join them! Team Skull is, well, amazing. They are definitely the best evil team we’ve had since Team Rocket. They’re dumb, funny, and have amazing music. I personally have a Team Skull cosplay that’s a big hit. They’re led by Guzma, who comes off as kind of an ass, but I guess that’ll happen when you are the head of an evil team of thugs. One of my favorite sections of the game was Po Town, a village that Team Skull basically invaded and took over. The Aether Foundation is just a ton of science fiction tropes in a shiny chrome laboratory trying to break the laws of reality for the sake of progress. If you are familiar with Fallout, this is the Institute to a tee. They’re doing research on a weird phenomenon called Ultra Beasts. Their leader, Lusamine, looks awfully familiar…
This game is also a lot more anime than the previous ones, which works fine for it. You can see they dove even further into the anime aesthetic in SwSh, and it works well there. Lillie has a pet Cosmog named Nebby, who is quite obviously a legendary Pokémon. The plot of the game revolves around the bad guys, Team Skull, trying to obtain Nebby and you trying to keep Nebby is his goddamn bag for five fucking minutes. While being annoying in that he keeps getting kidnapped, Nebby is charming and cute, and I grew to love that little bastard.
The world is broken up into four islands, each one more tropical than the last. Mechanically it just is a way of locking off the game until you progress the story, but each individual island is fairly open, so you can kind of explore that any way you’d like.
Once you beat the Elite Four equivalent, there’s a bit of post-game and it’s not bad. The post-game of XY, Delta Episode, was the highlight of the game and made me hopeful for something crazy in SM. Alas, nothing to write home about. There’s a final boss battle at the end which is very cool, followed by access to the Battle Tower. This is again not the Battle Frontier, just an endless roulette of trainers. It’s fun, and I’ve spent a few hours fighting doubles in the tower, but it could have been way more entertaining.
Sun and Moon don’t quite provide the big reimagining the series desperately needs, but they at least try something new. The new Pokémon designs feel fresh, as does the tropical nature of the region. There are a lot of references to Gen I, which feels pandering but probably did its job getting old fans back into the series. The characters are interesting and memorable, but the story is weighed down by 5+ minute unskippable cutscenes all the way through, ruining what would otherwise be an above average JRPG story. The bosses in this game are difficult and will actually defeat you here and there (sometimes requiring multiple tries even for the best trainers) but the difficulty of regular trainers in the overworld remains a bit too easy. SM rectifies a few of the traditions that have been holding back Pokemon since RSE, and it’s absolutely worth a shot to experience a new, beautiful world.
As did every single one of us, when I got to college I realized it was okay to like the things you like, and all of my friends were back into Pokémon as well. I remember being so excited for XY in my Junior year of college. Nerd stuff makes you cool in college! My roommate and I rolled up to the Gamestop on release date and each bought a 2DS with X or Y (I got Y). It was so cool seeing Pokémon in 3D for the first time, but i have to admit that when I finished it 50 hours later it fell a little flat. Whatever, I was just glad to be back. I love this little fighting cactus, or whatever! Who remembers. I’ve been playing Pokemon Go every single day for the last 2 years. This franchise is close to my heart.
When Sun and Moon dropped, I got my pre-order ready. I upgraded to a New 3DS XL from my 2DS to prepare. And you know what? Not disappointed. Let’s get into it.
From humble beginnings, you’ll start your journey as a 10 year old (I know, I know) who has just been forced to move to Alola (Hawaii) from Kanto (Japan) because your mom has a new job. This heartwarming ad for SM is basically that story, and boy did I cry when I watched it. https://youtu.be/Byg1Ti15K_o
We’re all one just people, man. Pokémon, as the biggest franchise in the world, has a distinct honor of connecting people across races, nationalities, gender identities, orientations, and even language barriers. Trade, battle, work together. Pokémon is how I made many of my friends as a kid and even a few in college. The power of this franchise should not be underestimated, even if you turn your nose up at it. Remember that first month of Pokémon GO? That was the closest we will ever be to world peace.
______________________________________________________________
The Game
Of course the first thing we want to do when a new Pokémon game drops is get a look at those beautiful, beautiful starters. Pictured above, from left to right we have Rowlett, Litten, and Popplio. Personally, I’ve always picked the water starter, although I experimented with Treecko in Ruby (it was a phase). I know Popplio has gotten a lot of flak for being a literal clown, but wait until you see her final form’s Z-Move: https://youtu.be/S85tGtPHOSI
I couldn’t resist her siren song. I’m a proud father of a young, healthy Primarina.
Regardless of who you pick, this batch of starters is the best since Gen III, at least in my opinion. You’ll end up with either Decidueye, Incineroar, or Primarina, all pretty good designs. As is customary, here’s an absolute bop from the soundtrack of this game. Play this as you read for the sake of immersion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REC7daXbjho
After leaving home, you’ll experience the most beautiful region yet, Alola. Look, the map design itself was better in Gen III, sure, but no one can argue that the lushness of the tropical jungle makes Pokémon finally feel fresh again. The new Pokémon designs, for the most part, are really good and sometimes clever. I love Mudsdale so much. These are the best Pokemon designs since RSE, don’t @ me. Alolan Pokemon also were a great move. Alolan Exeggutor is a masterstroke for meme potential, and seeing an Ice Ninetales and a Ghost/Fire Marowak is just exciting for fans of the 1st Gen.
SM was a, well not a breath of fresh air, but a puff. More like how Link’s Awakening reinvigorated the Zelda series with new stuff rather than how Breath of the Wild tore it apart and rebuilt it from the ground up.
Mega Evolutions? Ugh, Mom, we’re on Z-Moves now.
That’s right, Megas are out. Hot take: Z-Moves are fun. You do a dumb dance with your Pokémon, it uses a super-powerful attack, and then you can’t do it again the rest of the match. Megas always felt overpowered to me, and I like that any Pokémon can use Z-Moves. Plus, it’s a onetime attack so it’s good to get out of a tight situation in a gym battle.
Gym battles? Mom, gym battles are so 2015. We’re doing Island Trials.
That’s right, gyms are gone. They’ve been replaced with Island Trials, which are definitely not gyms. Despite my saltiness here, I preferred the format of Island Trials to gyms. You explore a small area, do a small side quest, battle some minion Pokémon, and progress to the boss battle: A Totem Pokémon. Totems are larger and more powerful than their counterparts with the main distinction of being able to summon minions during the fight. This turned out to work very well and provided wildly different levels of difficulty. WishiWashi provided a considerable challenge and actually KO’d my whole party the first time through. I had to fight Larantis FOUR TIMES before I was able to kill it. In contrast, I one-shotted Salazzle on the first turn. So… your mileage may vary. At the end of each Island you’ll fight a boss, the Island Kahuna, who again is somewhat of a challenge. Then you unlock a new mechanic to help you traverse the overworld. Yeah, like an HM -
Mom you’re embarrassing me! HM’s are dead. We have Pokémon Uber.
That’s right, HM’s are out as well. Gone are the days of wasting a move slot on a party member for Cut or Flash. We’ve now got a smartphone (I’ll get to the Rotom Dex in a bit) with the Poke Ride Share app, which calls to your aid different Pokémon to either solve environmental puzzles or help you cross difficult terrain. You unlock more as you go along, and it works well. SwSh has no HM’s and no rideshare either, the world is free of “cut trees” and “strength boulders.” Honestly, good move.
So those are the things that are different. How’s everything else?
The game is definitely a bit more difficult than XY, no question. Not to say that it’s hard, just harder than XY, which was a game a baby could play while asleep. EXP share is a team thing again, which sucks, but you can turn it off, which I did immediately.
There. Are. A. Lot. Of. Cutscenes. And you know me, I love those 9 minute unskippable cutscenes. This is probably the worst thing about the game, to be honest. There are cutscenes every 4-5 minutes in the story heavy parts, and they’re all about 5 minutes long. Pokémon has long sufficed on not really having a story, and when they said “this one is going to have a big story” they meant it. Usually you’d want them to spend more time honing a finely crafted story, but this seems like they just crammed 20 years’ worth of story into the game to make up for all the previous gens not having one. The story is fine and would actually qualify as good if not for such lengthy, arduous cutscenes. SM managed to produce the most memorable characters the series has had since GSC.
So let’s get into the characters. Professor Kikui is a hot young stud in the academic world, looking to prove himself. He has a flair for the dramatic, and I won’t say more than that to avoid ruining the best scene in the entire game. To round out the dynamic trio, you’ve got Lillie, the adopted daughter of Professor Kikui, and Hau, your dumb best friend/neighbor/rival who really just believes in everyone. Lillie and Hau act as companions on your journey, but they don’t actually walk everywhere with you. They just move around to each area/island as the story moves them, and I liked this system. It felt enough like having companions without feeling like I had to drag them everywhere. Then we have your real rival, Gladion, a smug blond Draco Malfoy-type who puts up an actual challenge when you fight him.
And then the Rotom Dex, your constant companion. Yes, your Pokedex talks to you. No, it doesn’t ever become more endearing. I like the ideas of companions in concept, and they really went half-assed with this one. We need a full fledged Navi if we’re going to go in on that, not a constantly buzzing cartoon phone that keeps sending you tutorial hints 80 hours into the game.
There are two major institutions in play here – Team Skull and the Aether Foundation. That’s right, Pokémon has factions now. Too bad you can’t join them! Team Skull is, well, amazing. They are definitely the best evil team we’ve had since Team Rocket. They’re dumb, funny, and have amazing music. I personally have a Team Skull cosplay that’s a big hit. They’re led by Guzma, who comes off as kind of an ass, but I guess that’ll happen when you are the head of an evil team of thugs. One of my favorite sections of the game was Po Town, a village that Team Skull basically invaded and took over. The Aether Foundation is just a ton of science fiction tropes in a shiny chrome laboratory trying to break the laws of reality for the sake of progress. If you are familiar with Fallout, this is the Institute to a tee. They’re doing research on a weird phenomenon called Ultra Beasts. Their leader, Lusamine, looks awfully familiar…
This game is also a lot more anime than the previous ones, which works fine for it. You can see they dove even further into the anime aesthetic in SwSh, and it works well there. Lillie has a pet Cosmog named Nebby, who is quite obviously a legendary Pokémon. The plot of the game revolves around the bad guys, Team Skull, trying to obtain Nebby and you trying to keep Nebby is his goddamn bag for five fucking minutes. While being annoying in that he keeps getting kidnapped, Nebby is charming and cute, and I grew to love that little bastard.
The world is broken up into four islands, each one more tropical than the last. Mechanically it just is a way of locking off the game until you progress the story, but each individual island is fairly open, so you can kind of explore that any way you’d like.
Once you beat the Elite Four equivalent, there’s a bit of post-game and it’s not bad. The post-game of XY, Delta Episode, was the highlight of the game and made me hopeful for something crazy in SM. Alas, nothing to write home about. There’s a final boss battle at the end which is very cool, followed by access to the Battle Tower. This is again not the Battle Frontier, just an endless roulette of trainers. It’s fun, and I’ve spent a few hours fighting doubles in the tower, but it could have been way more entertaining.
Sun and Moon don’t quite provide the big reimagining the series desperately needs, but they at least try something new. The new Pokémon designs feel fresh, as does the tropical nature of the region. There are a lot of references to Gen I, which feels pandering but probably did its job getting old fans back into the series. The characters are interesting and memorable, but the story is weighed down by 5+ minute unskippable cutscenes all the way through, ruining what would otherwise be an above average JRPG story. The bosses in this game are difficult and will actually defeat you here and there (sometimes requiring multiple tries even for the best trainers) but the difficulty of regular trainers in the overworld remains a bit too easy. SM rectifies a few of the traditions that have been holding back Pokemon since RSE, and it’s absolutely worth a shot to experience a new, beautiful world.