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After waiting since the announcement from the Pokemon Direct, we now have a first look at Pokemon Sun & Moon. And there are two different trailers to be found on the Internet at the moment (North America/Europe and Japan), and they gave me (and hopefully you) some idea of what to expect.

And I shall name you… Jibanyan.

Starting with the starter Pokemon the usual theme remains (not shocking that there’s no fourth option). Our Grass starter is Rowlet, the Grass Quill Pokemon that is Grass/Flying like Tropius. An owl Pokemon would be a hoot to have since it can use its leaf-features as an attack. It does, however, have a major weakness to ice so hopefully no monster will bust out the Ice Beam anytime soon. Next we have Litten, the Fire Cat Pokemon that can use its own hairballs as flaming projectiles. While it’s not known at the moment if its later evolution stages will offer a dual type. I’m going to predict that (based on its color scheme) that it’s going to be a Fire/Dark Type at level 36 or so.

And finally we have Popplio, the Sea Lion Pokemon that can form balloons (purely made of water) from its nose. This Water Pokemon is the cutest of the three but like anything cute, it may lose it in later stages. If these are the types that will stick with them throughout their evolution. Then these starters will come in second, with having mono types with Johto taking the lead. Though having one type isn’t that bad. Working with a Pokemon’s single element is a bit easier to cover than two.

Which Pokemon will you pick to start this new adventure?

Next we have the region, and it is indeed Hawaiian inspired. Alola is designed with tropical scenes and modern buildings. Along a path featured in the trailer, there are stone structures (which might be mentioned this story’s lore). The Strange Souvenir certainly matches the theme of Alola but will we see the souvenir or anything like it again during our new adventure?

Aloha Alola!

With the player characters, we are back to having choices of which kind of trainer model to run around with. Unlike the previous games, the over-world will have full-sized models instead of smaller representations of them. Not only will the full-sized models be used around the field, but in a fashion similar to Pokemon Revolution trainers will be right behind their Pokemon as they battle. Furthermore, It could be possible that opposing trainers will also have their character models present in battles as well instead of a static image. And while not shown in detail trainer customization might return. There are a few frames where the male trainer has a different shirt that leans towards its return but then the difference could be something that was changed during development.

Left: A black striped shirt. Right: A blue striped shirt as seen in most of the trailers.)

Finally, we have the box cover legendaries and some thoughts about their design have crossed my mind. When I saw them, I noticed they had some golden parts to them much like Arceus. It could be just my mind marking down similarities. However, since quite a few Pokemon were responsible for crafting this world, it could be possible that they could have a similar significance. Speaking of their designs, they’re pretty damn cool. They’re simple so they’re easy on the imagination as well as fan art. And they match their respected game logos (much like Xerneas and Yveltal). The “visor” part of their eyes are also a nice feature; it’s like behind their eyes, there’s another galaxy. And strangely (this may be just me) the Sun version’s legendary looks like the King Liger mech from the Zoid series.

pokemon sun and moon the-path of dawn and twilight

Will you walk the path of dawn or the path of Twilight?.

And that is what we currently know about Pokemon Sun & Moon. The Pokemon Company may release more details before or during E3. Nevertheless, I am still psyched about the upcoming titles after watching them. And both Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon will be released on November 18th, this year. So, train on people!

Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.