English
Gamereactor
news
Pokémon Sun/Moon

Pokémon Sun/Moon detailed by Nintendo at E3

New Pokémon, and plenty of new intel.

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ

The moment arrived that all Pokémon fans have been waiting for, more Sun and Moon information. At Nintendo's Treehouse Live event we got a look into some live gameplay from the next generation of Pokémon, along with some teases and suggestions of possible story and features for the new game.

It started with all the footage that we have already seen, introducing the new starters, the Alola region and some of the supporting characters. Sam and Terry from Nintendo were joined by game director Shigeru Ohmori and game producer Junichi Masuda.

One of the questions that came up was why call the games Sun and Moon, to which Ohmori and Masuda the spoke about how important the Sun is to life on this Earth and that this region is really full of life. They also spoke about the legendaries, Solgaleo and Lunala. They said that the new legendary Pokémon will tie in with the story in a whole new way, never seen before in a game.

The third legendary from the X and Y Pokemon games, Zygard, was also discussed and is said to also be playing a part in this new story.

They then moved onto speak about the new Alola region. Saying that it is made up of four natural islands and one man made, and that it is "teaming with life force," fans will have to wait and see what that means.

The starters we've seen were discussed and the producers said they wanted to make their movements more "cute, so much so that you want to reach out and touch them." The player models have also been changed, making the sizing more realistic, and their walking when travelling through tall grass slower and more obvious.

During the gameplay we got a look at a lot of new content, to do with battling and new Pokémon.

First thing to note was the way in which the player will now be seen stood behind their pokémon and can be seen giving commands. The makers said this will give players an even greater sense of the scale of the pokémon. When in battle if the player looks at the bottom screen they will be able to see 2D sprites of their pokémon and their opponent, by tapping these the player can see what status changes have occurred, including lowering attack for example. You will also be able to see how effective each your pokémon's moves are on the opponent.

The new pokémon we saw in the trailer appear to be similar to other low level early game pokémon that we have seen in other games. The first is Yungoos, "it's always hungry, and whenever it's hungry it also gets very aggressive." We don't see what type this new pokémon is, but from previous games we assume it is normal. The other pokémon we see is a Woodpecker pokémon called Pipeck, it is normal and flying, can peck up to 16 times per second. We don't get a look at the new rotom pokedex, but it is mentioned, and confirmed that it won't be a rotom pokedex until later in the game.

There was also footage of a couple of trainer battles, showing that all opponents now have fully rendered 3D models before, during and after battling. Along with this players will notice that as you approach a trainer, shadows will appear around the border of the top screen indicating that battle approaches.

As the footage goes on we saw some more of the story, by being introduced to Hala, who is just referred to as a very strong pokémon trainer on the island. He is the one who gives you your pokémon and sets up a battle between you and your rival.

Your new Rival is called Hau, and it appears that he will have the pokémon that is weak to the starter you pick, which is different from other games. This leads to speculation that Hau isn't your rival, but this is yet to be seen. More is said about Professor Kukui's mysterious assistant, and it was revealed that she will be seen a lot on the player's adventure. The final character mentioned, and whispered about between the creators, was Tapu Koko. It has not yet been revealed who this is, but the hosts said we should remember that name.

The final thing we saw was an all new online battle mode called Battle Royal. In this you go up against three other trainers. All of you pick three pokémon to battle with, and use one at a time. The difference is that you're all battling at once, so you're taking on three other trainers at once. The first to faint loses that round and the winner at the end is whoever has KO'ed the most pokémon in regards to how much they themselves have fainted. This will no doubt completely change the way in which competitive battle is played.

That is everything that happened at the Pokémon Sun/Moon gameplay showcase.

Pokémon Sun/Moon

Related texts

0
Pokémon Sun/MoonScore

Pokémon Sun/Moon

REVIEW. Written by Juan A. Fonseca

"Be it the story, visual style, setting, creatures, combat, or even the fan service, this game delves deeper into the RPG genre and it's better for the shift."



Loading next content