Pokemon Sun

Genre: Turn-Based Monster-Collecting JRPG

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local Wireless, Online), Online Content Sharing

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Review:

Pokemon Sun, along with its counterpart Pokemon Moon, are the first games of “Generation 7” within the mainline Pokemon series, released in 2016 on the Nintendo 3DS. These family-friendly Turn-Based Monster-Collecting JRPGs are a less revolutionary entry in the series than Pokemon X and Pokemon Y were just a few years prior but these games still offer their own additions to the Pokemon formula, and have their own unique charm, as well

It is that unique charm that is one of the most noteworthy elements in Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon. Perhaps more so than any other mainline game in the Pokemon series thus far, these games have a distinct identity thanks to their setting of the Alola region, clearly directly inspired by Hawaii. Where Pokemon X and Y’s French-inspired trappings occasionally made themselves known over the course of the game, Pokemon Sun and Moon’s Hawaiian inspiration permeates every element of the game, from its locale to its characters, to even the game’s interface.

The visuals once again make use of the same cel-shaded 3D graphics that have been present in all the mainline Pokemon games on the Nintendo 3DS, though the environments this time feel a bit more natural and less rigidly artificial. What’s more, there’s a good amount of color here (even more so than prior Pokemon games), and a modern island design to the architecture that both really help to make the game pop visually.

The sound gets a touch of this as well. While the Pokemon sounds themselves still have the same simple, digitized voices as the prior games, and the characters still aren’t voiced, the music definitely has hints of Hawaiian inspiration at its edges, whether it’s the vocals in the intro, Welcome to the Alola Region, the light strings in My Home, the delightfully relaxed acoustics of Iki Town (Night), the great percussion in Iki Town Island Festival, and the bridge in Trainer Battle reminds me a lot of surf rock-style drumming. While the game’s themes are still very much in line with the Pokemon franchise as a whole, I still feel like this game’s music does an outstanding job mixing the series’ atypical style with its Hawaiian influences, and the result is in my opinion one of the best soundtracks in the series.

The gameplay similarly doesn’t really represent a huge leap forward in the series, but rather a game that takes all of the great elements that worked so well in Pokemon X and Y and adds some personality into the mix. Battles once again rely on the series’ superb mix of highly accessible simplicity with surprising depth behind the scenes, but new elements have been added, such as the new “Z-Move”, a super-powerful, highly-accurate move that can be used only once per battle. This seems somewhat similar to the Mega Evolutions of Pokemon X and Y, which can still be used here as well.

Other elements from prior games have been re-worked or re-imagined here. Pokemon Amie is no longer present, but in its place is the extremely similar Pokemon Refresh. Even the Pokedex gets a character-fueled upgrade with it being inhabited by an extremely chatty Rotom Pokemon, who points out the next place you need to go on the map and chats with you about the latest events in the game’s story. And speaking of reworked features, there are even some “Alolan form” Pokemon that are different versions of classic Pokemon with a new look, new elemental type, and a different move set.

There are other new gameplay elements here too, including a slew of new online and local multiplayer features. There’s a “Festival Plaza” where players can interact with other characters who show up due to StreetPass, and players can even connect with up to three others for new free-for-all battles. There are plenty of other new features as well, but… Is any of this a true game-changer? Well… no, not really. But it’s definitely nice that this game does not rest on its laurels.

However, perhaps more interesting is the way that Pokemon Sun and Moon breaks from the traditional Pokemon game structure with its Island Kahunas and Island Challenges, which take the place of the traditional Pokemon gym leaders and gyms. These challenges are a lot more varied than traditional Pokemon gyms, having you complete different sorts of tasks for each.

Overall, Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon do little to truly revolutionize the franchise. This is not a game-changer like Pokemon X and Y or Pokemon Silver and Gold were. But what it does instead is no less extraordinary – it creates a truly unique and memorable adventure within the framework of the mainline Pokemon games. As a result, this Hawaiian-style adventure can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its predecessors on Nintendo 3DS as a Pokemon game absolutely worth getting for any fan of the franchise.

tl;dr – Pokemon Sun (as well as its counterpart, Pokemon Moon) is a superb entry in the mainline Pokemon franchise of family-friendly Turn-Based Monster-Collecting JRPGs. It does little to truly revolutionize the Pokemon formula, but what it does instead is take the established formula and fill it with more life and personality than arguably any other entry in the saga to date, with its Hawaiian-inspired theme seeping into every element of the game. This may not be a groundbreaking entry in the Pokemon franchise, but it is one of the best entries in the Pokemon franchise.

Grade: A+

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