In their latest Nintendo Direct on February 26, 2016, Nintendo officially announced two new upcoming Pokémon games for their 3DS line of handhelds, called ‘Pokémon Sun And Moon’. The games take place in the tropical, Hawaii-inspired Alola region and pretty much follows the same plot as the previous games, with the main character (the gender can be chosen by the player) getting their first Pokémon and setting out on a journey to become the regional Pokémon Champion. Speaking of the region, Alola looks amazing; littered with palm trees, beautiful beaches and a quaint summer feel to it, it truly feels like a tropical paradise.
On the technical side of things, Game Freak seem to have made some drastic changes to the game engine, which seems to be a modified version of the engine in X & Y (the previous entries in the franchise), and the end product looks much refined and amazing: character models have been improved extensively and animations of both the characters as well as the Pokémon are more fluid than ever before, and walking/running/cycling doesn’t seem to be restricted like the grid-like movement in X & Y. Character customization does makes a comeback from the previous game though, so you can personalize your character as to how you want. Overall, it indeed is a step up from X & Y.
Now let’s talk about the part that I’m sure you all have been waiting eagerly for: the little critters themselves. Sun and Moon’s starters consist of the Grass & Flying type Rowlet, the Fire type Litten and the Water type Popplio.
The cover mascot Pokémon of Sun and Moon are Solgaleo and Lunaala respectively with the former based on a lion and the latter being some kind of a bat. Other than their names, no other info has been revealed about the legendaries yet.
Pokémon Sun & Moon are expected to release in Japan, North America, and Australia on November 18 and in Europe on November 23 of this year. You can check out the trailers for the game below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmzDL1l3Fag
Traditionally, its mostly the first title in the Pokémon duology of games that have sold well, so similarly in this case, Sun might get the upper hand at sales than Moon, however in my opinion both look awesome.
