Pokemon Sun & Moon review!

 

Doing the same thing over and over again is supposedly the definition of insanity. Then again, that only applies if you expect a different result.

As someone who has played practically every Pokemon game, including the supplementary double-dip versions such as Crystal, Emerald and Platinum, I guess you can say that I’m crazy for Nintendo’s pocket monster juggernaut. I mean, here I am in 2017 — a grown man — playing another Pokemon game with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. If the throngs of folks who swarmed downtown Reno during the release of Pokemon Go was any indication, I’m not the only one either.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon for the Nintendo 3DS.

Now in case you missed my review from last year, I Absol-utely loved Pokemon Sun and Moon, pun so totally intended. Thanks to a new presentation that replaced the top-down camera with a 3D one, some quality-of-life improvements and a fresh mechanic that replaced gym battles with island challenges, Sun and Moon had a sense of newness that I haven’t felt in a Pokemon game since the jump to Ruby and Sapphire.

At the same time, what was once new ultimately becomes old. In the case of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the question now is whether its new features are enough to warrant a return trip to Alola for veterans of the previous game.

As I started my journey once more, the first thing that I noticed is just how similar Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are to their predecessors. As someone who plays a lot of games, I tend to have a short institutional memory for many of the titles that I go through. Apparently, my brain makes room for new game information by dumping out old ones, especially as the years go by in between my playthroughs. Familiarity with the controls is usually the first go, which is eventually followed by story details.

In the case of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, however, there was a definite sense of deja vu all over again while I revisited the same areas and relived the same plot points for the story. Maybe it’s because Sun and Moon came out just a year ago so the memories are still relatively fresh in my mind. Regardless, I couldn’t shake off this “been there, done that” feeling as I was re-introduced to familiar characters like the protagonist’s mom, Prof. Kukui, Lillie, Tapu Koko and Kahuna Hala.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon for the Nintendo 3DS.

Then again, Pokemon is a franchise that does a lot of repeat business so it’s imperative that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon include some new features as well. At the top of the list is an expanded role for Necrozma, who gets prime placement on the games’ alternate covers via fusion with mascots Solgaleo and Lunala to form its Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings variants.

Eagle-eyed trainers will also notice colorful patches known as Totem Stickers scattered about on the sides of buildings and other locations, which can be used to acquire special Totem Pokemon. These Pokemon are typically larger and have different weight parameters than their regular versions and can only be acquired by gathering a certain number of stickers, starting at 20 and going all the way up to 100.

For mini-game lovers, each island now has a Mantine Surf course that lets you ride across the sea while doing tricks and avoiding obstacles. The goal is to beat the high score for each course, ultimately netting you the all-popular Surfing Pikachu (i.e. a special Pikachu with the Surf move) as a reward. Folks who miss the classic gym battle mechanic, meanwhile, will be happy to know that you can now do daily battles at the Malie City Gym, which reward you with experience as well as a Surge Badge. There’s also a Battle Agency feature that allows you to fight using rented Pokemon to earn Festival Coins and Rare Candies.

Players who finish the game are rewarded with more beefed-up post-game content, including a new Fairy-type trial as well as the return of familiar villains from past games. These bad guys actually join forces to form the supervillain group Team Rainbow Rocket, which is a neat addition for folks who have played the different generations of Pokemon games.

For completionists, the game throws in an extra nostalgic treat by letting you catch previous Legendary Pokemon such as Mewtwo, Rayquaza and a whole bunch more via the expanded wormhole mini-game.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Moon for the Nintendo 3DS.

Admittedly, all those new features still might not be enough for folks who played the heck out of Sun and Moon and are pining for a new story and entirely different generation of Nintendo’s pocket monsters. While Sun and Moon felt fresh to me, for example, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon felt like rehashes of the previous game, albeit more fleshed out and with more stuff to do. Folks who want to play and enjoy every iteration of Pokemon regardless will still enjoy Ultra Sun and Moon, even if it repeats a lot of the content from the previous pair of games. Otherwise, you’ll definitely want to think a bit before jumping into this one.

The main exception, of course, involves newcomers or even Pokemon veterans who did not get to experience Sun and Moon. If that’s the case, go ahead and add an extra point to the final review score and get this game for sure. If this is truly the last mainline Pokemon game for the 3DS, then it’s a worthy way to end an era for the popular Nintendo and Game Freak franchise.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon encourage a visit to Alola to catch ‘em all once more, but your mileage will vary based on your past experience with the previous titles. If you’ve never played the original Sun or Moon games, then Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon is the definitive version of the series’ seventh generation and a must-have for your Pokemon gaming collection. If you played the heck out of Sun and Moon, however, then the new features might not be enough to warrant a return trip. Still, it’s a worthy swan song for the series on the 3DS.