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Pokémon Sun and Moon: new trailer showcases starter evolutions, Festival Plaza, more

As promised a couple of days ago, more details for Pokémon Sun and Moon were revealed today. As usual, it was done via a brand new trailer and a website update, which showcase the first evolution of the starters, the Festival Plaza, and more. It even reveals that the demo version will be released on October 18th!

Let’s start right away with the new trailer:

Pokémon Sun and Moon – New Pokémon

Today, The Pokémon Company finally revealed the first evolution of the three starters:

  • Dartrix (Rowlet’s evolution)

dartrixDartrix is extremely sensitive to other presences in the area and can detect opponents behind it and throw feathers to strike them without even seeing them. This Pokémon conceals sharp-bladed feathers inside its wings, showing astounding precision as it sends them flying in attack. And it goes beyond propelling its blade quills in simple straight lines—it can even bend these feathers to change their trajectories!

 

Revealing a certain snobbiness in its personality, Dartrix cares a great deal about its appearance, grooming its feathers in every spare moment. In truth, it’s also a bit of a birdbrain, with a tendency to bungle things up. Once it makes a mistake, it sometimes gets into a desperate struggle to gloss over the situation and ends up making a bigger mess than ever.

 

At times, this Pokémon feels so bothered by its dirty or ruffled feathers that it can’t focus on battle. When it loses its focus, it sometimes even retires from the battle on the spot! It’s up to each Trainer to help Dartrix overcome this troublesome stage. If this Pokémon is with a Trainer who helps it through, its strength will grow hugely!

  • Torracat (Litten’s evolution)

torracatThe bell-like object attached at the base of Torracat’s neck is a flame sac, an organ that can produce flames. Torracat’s emotions cause a rise in the organ’s temperature, and when the organ spits flames, it rings with the high, clear sound of a bell. Torracat attacks using the flames emitted from this bell.

 

Torracat’s mane serves as an excellent sensory organ, and it can sense what’s going on around it—even in the dark! It can also detect the presence of hidden enemies.

 

Torracat has a great love for battle and will attack so relentlessly that its opponents lose the will to fight. And yet it sometimes behaves like spoiled child in front of Trainers or Pokémon with whom it has built a relationship of trust.

 

The cat punch that this Pokémon can dish out with its strong forelegs is extremely powerful. It can bend iron bars and knock out large men with a single blow!

  • Brionne (Popplio’s evolution)

brionne

Brionne learns its dances by imitating the other members of its colony. It sometimes even learns dances from humans. This Pokémon is a hard worker and pours itself into its efforts until it has memorized each dance. As it dances, Brionne creates balloon after balloon. In battle, it first sends its opponent into disarray with its dancing, and then slaps its balloons into its target, causing the balloons to explode and deal damage.

 

Brionne can dance in perfect time with others, even if they have only just met. On moonlit nights, you can sometimes see throngs of Brionne dancing as one, in perfect fluidity.

 

Brionne always acts cheery and positive. Even when it’s feeling sad, this Pokémon doesn’t allow its sorrow to show. It’s said that Brionne will only reveal a sad expression to a Pokémon or Trainer to whom it has opened its heart completely.

It was also confirmed that Ash-Greninja would appear in the game, and isn’t just an anime-exclusive forme:

  • Ash-Greninja

ash-greninjaAsh-Greninja has powered up thanks to the strength of its bonds with Ash. This is the form Greninja takes when it has gained new power due to the miraculous occurrence known as the bond phenomenon. This can be brought on by the bonds between people and Pokémon. It seems that it has only known to have occurred once—several hundred years ago.

 

Ash-Greninja’s leg strength has been enhanced compared to an ordinary Greninja, making it difficult to see because of the speed at which it can move. It takes its enemies out in a flash! It becomes able to make giant Water Shurikens on its back, and it can throw them in rapid succession.

 

Greninja that can become Ash-Greninja have an Ability that no Pokémon has ever had before—Battle Bond. The Battle Bond Ability triggers this Pokémon’s form change to Ash-Greninja after it causes an opponent’s Pokémon to faint. When the battle ends, the Pokémon returns to its original Greninja form. This form is only for battles where it needs to break the limits!

Here’s some artworks for those Pokémon:

Pokémon Sun and Moon – Mega Evolutions

Introduced in Pokémon X and Y, Mega Evolutions are special evolutions that go beyond the regular evolution chain. They’re extremely powerful, but are also temporary, and can only be used once per battle. To unleash a Mega Evolution, you need to have a strong bond with your Pokémon, but also the right Mega Stone (to go along with the Key Stone the train wears).

There’s a Mega Stone for each Pokémon that can Mega Evolve, and you can get them from various people, shops, and more. All the Pokémon that could Mega Evolve in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire will be able to do so in Pokémon Sun and Moon. There will most likely be new Mega Evolutions, but nothing has been announced for now.

Pokémon Pelago

In Pokémon Sun and Moon, the Pokémon in your PC boxes will be able to enjoy some quality time at the Pokémon Pelago. There’s several islands where they can train, go explore caves, and more (check out the trailer above for an overview of the various islands to be found in the Pokémon Pelago).

If you send a lot of Pokémon to the Pokémon Pelago, you can develop the facilities, but also new kind of isles. This will allow you to train your Pokémon, have them bring back items (such as the brand new Ice Stone, spotted by Serebii), and more.

Here’s two examples of isles:

  • Isle Abeens: you can visit it from the start. Pokémon who visit it may sometimes chose to join your party. If you see a Pokémon with a heart icon, that means it’s taken a liking to you;
  • Isle Aphun: you need to develop it first. You can get some precious items from it.

Pokémon Sun and Moon – Festival Plaza

In Pokémon Sun and Moon, all the communication features can be found in the Festival Plaza (including battling, and even the Pokémon Global Link). You first need to progress far enough in the game to be able to use it.

In the plaza, you can welcome other people, take their requests, and more (those “people” are in fact players near you and those connected to the internet). You can trade Pokémon with them, battle, and more. And it turns out you can even customise the appearance of the Plaza thanks to various themes.

The Plaza is owned by Sophocles, who is also one of the captains.

By talking to people and taking on their requests, you get Festival Coins. Those can be used in goody shops where you can get deals on items, bouncy houses for your Pokémon to train in, and dye houses where you can dye your clothes new colours. The more Festival Coins you collect, the rank of your plaza rises: when that happens, you get a reward, and more things become available.

Finally, The Pokémon Company talks about missions, where multiple players can compete in order to complete a certain goal. You can play those missions:

  • in local multiplayer
  • in online multiplayer
  • there’s also special global missions (see below for more details)

Pokémon Sun and Moon – Demo

On October 18th, the demo version for Pokémon Sun and Moon will be released on the Nintendo eShop, in all regions. It will let players meet some of the Pokémon found in Pokémon Sun and Moon, but also Ash-Greninja which will be part of your team. Once you’ve completed the demo, you will even be able to transfer Ash-Greninja to the full version of the game (once it’s launched, obviously).

This Pokémon Sun and Moon demo will feature an original story, not found in the full game. It will be downloadable from:

  • Nintendo’s homepage
  • the Nintendo eShop

In both cases, you will not need any download code whatsoever. You will need about 3 100 blocks / 387MB of free space on your SD Card.

Pokémon Global Link

On November 18th, the Pokémon Global Link will reopen, after receiving a massive update. You will be able to sync your copy of Pokémon Sun and Moon, but as announced previously, service for Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire will end.

The Pokémon Company details the Rating Battles, where you can go and battle other players online. Instead of 3, the new version of the Pokémon Global Link will feature a total of 4 rules sets:

  • Single Battles: trainers send Pokémon into battle one at a time;
  • Double Battles: trainers send Pokémon into battle two at a time;
  • Special Battles: each season, there will be special rules available, different from Single and Double battles. During Season 1 (beginning on November 18th), you will be able to take part into Single battles, where Pokémon which are usually banned can compete: Solgaleo, Lunala, Ash-Greninja, and more;
  • Championships Battles: those use the official rules set for the Pokémon World Championships.

The official rules set is as follows:

  1. Double Battle format is limited to Pokémon that appear in the Alola Region Pokédex (excluding some Legendary and Mythical Pokémon).
  2. Use of Mega Stones is not allowed.
  3. Only Pokémon that can be obtained in Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon may be entered.

Talking of the Pokémon World Championships 2016, here’s a video with highlights from the 2016 edition:

The new version of the Pokémon Global Link will introduce a new battle time setting called “Your time”. Basically, each player has 60s per turn, and 10 minutes of “Your time”. If you run out of time, then it’s Game Over for you, no matter how many Pokémon you have remaining.

About restricted Pokémon, the Legendaries will be banned, as usual. As for Pokémon from Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire, they will be allowed once the Pokémon Bank has been updated to allow transfer from previous versions (in January).

Also, at a later date, Rating Battles and Live Competitions will get special rules to allow Pokémon from Pokémon Red Version / Blue Version / Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition.

Next, we have the Battle Teams: you can register Pokémon you often use there, and each team can have up to 6 Pokémon. You can have up to 6 Battle Teams, and one Pokémon can be registered to several of them.

But that’s not all: the Pokémon Global Link will feature “QR Rental Teams”. It will allow players to share their Battle Teams with other players, who will have to scan the relevant QR Codes to use them. It looks like you will even be able to take part in Link Battles and certain Rating Battles using a Battle Team you’ve rented.

Finally, The Pokémon Company details the Global Missions. Those are “limited-time events that give Trainers around the world a shared mission via Festival Plaza”, in Pokémon Sun and Moon. The first one will go live in late November, and its theme will be “Catch lots of Pokémon!” (more details about, including the number of Pokémon to catch, other goals to achieve, or the reward, will be revealed at a later date).

One thing to note is that  to see your global mission results reflected, you will need to register your game to the Pokémon Global Link first. Also, a special gift will be given out to all PGL members to celebrate the grand opening (it will be sent after the first successful Global Mission).

Pokémon Nintendo 2DS

On December 8th, Nintendo will release a special Nintendo 2DS in Japan, featuring some illustrations of Pikachu and the three starters. It will cost 10 584 Yen. Here’s some pictures:

Finally, if all those details, screenshots, and trailer weren’t enough for you, the next update will come on October 14th at:

  • Europe: 3PM
  • UK: 2PM
  • North America (EST): 9AM
  • North America (PST): 6AM
  • Japan: 10PM

Pokémon Sun and Moon (3DS) comes out on November 18th in Japan and North America, and November 23rd in Europe.

Lite_Agent

Founder and main writer for Perfectly Nintendo. Tried really hard to find something funny and witty to put here, but had to admit defeat.

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