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New gameplay features, Pokémon Bank information, Z-Moves and version-exclusive Pokémon announced for upcoming Pokémon games.

Press release:
London—20 September 2016—The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo revealed new information for the latest games in the Pokémon franchise, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, coming to Europe on 23 November and available exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.

Newly revealed Pokémon include:

Passimian
Type: Fighting
The Teamwork Pokémon Passimian attack by throwing Berries at their foes. They tend to live in troops of 20–30 Passimian, who all follow one leader. These tribes work in teams to train and improve their skills. This Pokémon has the Ability Receiver, an Ability which no previous Pokémon has had. With the Receiver Ability, Passimian can inherit the Ability of an ally who faints in battle. Passimian only appear in Pokémon Sun.

Oranguru
Type: Normal/Psychic
The Sage Pokémon Oranguru live in the solitary deeps of the Alolan forests and, in fact, were once known as ‘the people of the forests’. Oranguru hold a fan-like object made of leaves and are known to be kind to other Pokémon in the forest, often giving injured Pokémon medicine or hungry Pokémon food. This Pokémon can exclusively learn the new move Instruct, a move which can make the selected target use its most recent move again immediately. Oranguru only appear in Pokémon Moon.

The previously revealed Puppy Pokémon Rockruff can evolve into a different form depending on whether you are playing Pokémon Sun or Pokémon Moon.

Lycanroc (Midday Form)
Type: Rock
In the world of Pokémon Sun, Rockruff is bathed in profuse amounts of solar energy, and Solgaleo’s influence causes this Pokémon to evolve into Lycanroc’s Midday Form. This form is known for speedy movement which can confound its opponents. A very loyal Pokémon, Lycanroc Midday Form dodges opponents’ strikes whilst attacking with the sharp rocks of its mane. Lycanroc Midday Form can learn Accelerock, a new move unique to the Pokémon, which is guaranteed to strike first, damaging opponents by slamming into them very quickly.

Lycanroc (Midnight Form)
Type: Rock
In the world of Pokémon Moon, Rockruff is bathed in an abundance of lunar energy, and Lunala’s influence causes this Pokémon to evolve into Lycanroc’s Midnight Form. This Pokémon will sacrifice its own safety to strike down its foes. The stronger an opponent is, the more excited Lycanroc Midnight Form becomes, its eyes glowing with the thrill of battle. This Pokémon feels a deep trust towards a Trainer who can draw forth its true power.

Two new Pokémon-specific Z-moves were also announced for some fan-favourite Pokémon:

Pikachu
Exclusive Z-Move name: Catastropika
Pikachu’s exclusive Z-Move, Catastropika, is a super-powered attack move where Pikachu borrows its Trainer’s strength, wraps itself in extra-high-voltage electric power, and charges into its opponents. This is Pikachu’s most powerful attack.

Eevee
Exclusive Z-Move name: Extreme Evoboost
Eevee’s exclusive Z-Move, Extreme Evoboost, gathers together Sylveon, Jolteon and more – all of the eight Pokémon that Eevee can evolve into – and grants their powers to Eevee. This highly powerful move raises Eevee’s Attack, Defense, Sp. Atk, Sp. Def and Speed by 2.

The popular character-customisation feature makes a return in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. Personalise your character’s clothing, hairstyle and eye colour as you venture through the Alola region. Now, you can even dye your fashions to change their colour and make sure you pull off your favourite look whilst out adventuring.

The Pokémon Refresh feature lets you care for your Pokémon. After a battle, Pokémon can sometimes end up rumpled and dirty. Pokémon Refresh lets you clean them up, care for them, feed them Poké Beans and even cure status conditions like poisoning and paralysis that were inflicted on them in battle. Pokémon that have been looked after in Pokémon Refresh can grow very affectionate and will battle to the utmost for you. This means that sometimes they may avoid attacks from opposing Pokémon or even hold out when they’re on the verge of fainting. Take good care of all your Pokémon in Pokémon Refresh, and they will be great allies on your adventure.

The Nintendo 3DS downloadable software Pokémon Bank, an application that enables players to put Pokémon they’ve been on past adventures with into internet-based storage boxes, will be receiving an update in January 2017. This update will give the Pokémon Bank application compatibility with Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon and include a new National Pokédex feature. The Pokédex feature reads saved data from any compatible titles you connect to Pokémon Bank and collects information about all the Pokémon you have caught. You can then check out all of this information in the Pokémon Bank application and even see Pokémon that don’t natively appear in the Alola region. Poké Transporter will also be updated to make the Virtual Console versions of Pokémon Red, Pokémon Blue and Pokémon Yellow compatible with Pokémon Bank. This means that Pokémon that players have caught in the VC-original Kanto games will be able to be transferred across into Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon.

For more information, please visit Pokemon.co.uk/SunMoon.

About Pokémon
The Pokémon Company International, a subsidiary of The Pokémon Company in Japan, manages the property outside of Asia and is responsible for brand management, licensing, marketing, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, the animated TV series, home entertainment, and the official Pokémon website. Pokémon was launched in Japan in 1996 and today is one of the most popular children’s entertainment properties in the world. For more information, visit www.pokemon.co.uk.

About Nintendo
The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii U™ and Wii™ home consoles, Nintendo 3DS™ and Nintendo DS™ family of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.4 billion video games and more than 693 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii U, Wii, and Nintendo 3DS family of systems including New Nintendo 3DS™, New Nintendo 3DS XL™, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL™, Nintendo 2DS™, as well as Nintendo DS™, Nintendo DSi™, Nintendo DSi XL™, Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance™, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™ and Nintendo GameCube™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known household names such as Mario™, Donkey Kong™, Metroid™, Zelda™ and Pokémon™. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of Europe, based in Germany, was established in 1990 and serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in Europe.