20 years ago, in 1996, the first Pokémon games, titled Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green were released in Japan. It undoubtedly sparked a cultural revolution across the world and reinvented the role-playing genre in terms of accessibility and freedom. It has since become the second best-selling gaming franchise in history, alongside its expansion into a trading card game, a television show, merchandise, movies, and of course new generations of video games that bring about new Pokémon, new gameplay mechanics, and new fun for upcoming generations of children and adults across the world. However, many passionate fans felt as though the Pokémon franchise was beginning to wear thin, and change was needed to stimulate renewed interest in the series. Luckily, this year saw the promotion of Pokémon's 20th anniversary, filled with exclusive merchandise and special events, alongside the release of Pokémon Go, bringing people outside of their homes to catch their favorite original Pokémon. However, for those actively following the series, the anticipation is at its peak for the new main installments in the Pokémon video game franchise: Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon. Fans are hoping that the Game Freak, the masterminds behind the franchise, mixed up the typical formula in a way that keeps them engaged with the series.

Well, I am extremely pleased to inform everyone that Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon are not only entertaining experiences, but that Game Freak has listened. They have taken the reception to the franchise as of late and strived to improve the experience for everyone. It changes enough mechanics that I became hooked instantly, and it blends new and original ideas with nostalgia and history that the games are instantly accessible to the newcomers and veterans. These are truly fantastic games in almost every regard, and it highlights a fresh beginning for the franchise.

*This is a NON-SPOILER review. No story-related details that have not been disclosed beforehand will be included, and any new Pokémon that weren't revealed will not be mentioned.

The Narrative

At the beginning of the game, your trainer, named whatever you choose him/her to be, has just moved from the Kanto to Alola, a region filled with Hawaiian inspiration and reference, to begin a new life. After encountering a girl named Lillie, and Cosmog, a mysterious nebula Pokémon, your journey to become a Pokémon Trainer is imminent. You will choose from the three starter Pokémon of Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio, and embark on the island challenge that acts as a rite of passage for upcoming trainers once they hit the age of 11. Along the way, you will encounter the thugs of Team Skull, the Aether Foundation dedicated to protecting hurt and endangered Pokémon around the region, alongside several other personalities as you pursue the dream of becoming the Island Champion.

For the most part, most of the exposition found in a typical Pokémon game remains here. However, I found the story to be much more character-driven, focusing on developing and establishing them in the story. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of the details I could find regarding my favorite characters, including the passion-driven Professor Kukui and the rebellious Gladion. Even the grunts for Team Skull were infused with personality and identity, constantly rhyming their way through every situation, no matter how perilous or comedic. It is quite refreshing to have an evil team whose primary goal is not world domination, like previous generations have featured.

There are quite a few twists to experience in the narrative, and most of them are quite surprising considering the circumstances. There are shocking revelations, interesting betrayals, and expansion on the lore of the entire Pokémon franchise that makes the narrative feel intertwined with past Pokémon games.

The Gameplay

By far the most interesting component of any Pokémon, the series became well-known for its turn-based battle system, alongside a vast amount of pocket monsters to capture in order to battle with them or fill up or "catch 'em all!" That core formula remains intact, yet several significant changes have been made to improve the experience for everyone playing while satisfying long-time followers of the franchise.

PokéRide

By far one of the most satisfying additions to the formula has to be PokéRide, a new service that allows you to call on the assistance of several Pokémon to traverse the region, whether it be by land on a raging Tauros, by sea on a mellow Lapras, or by sky on a soaring Charizard. The idea of riding Pokémon at your own will has already appeased so many fans. However, the significance of this addition lies elsewhere.

In fact, this finally means that Hidden Machines are gone

Hidden Machines, or HMs, were items that could be used to teach certain moves, such as Cut, Fly, Surf, to Pokémon that specifically assisted them when exploring the region, similar to PokéRide. However, these moves were permanent once taught, and a Pokémon could not forget these moves by normal means. This meant that players would typically have an "HM slave" on their party whose moveset was full of these attacks so that they wouldn't waste moveslots on other Pokémon. With PokéRide, the functions of HM are satisfied at your fingertips, and no longer will team members need to worry about the invasiveness of HMs during the main campaign.

Poké Pelago

This new feature allows Pokémon stored inside PC boxes to head off to several islands in order to find new items and level up. You can develop these islands through the use of Poké Beans to make the facilities more useful along your journey and hold a greater capacity of your pocket monsters

Honestly, I really like the premise of this new feature. For the first time, the Pokémon that go unused during the story actually contribute to you in a material way, gathering items and berries that can be used for future use.

Battle Royal

The new battle mode involves a free-for-all format where four Pokémon are battling against each other, except they are able to freely attack any other Pokémon as they wish, while the other three participants can also attack anyone.

Personally, I like the concept of the Battle Royal, since it mixes up the strategies needed to succeed, and it is a good battle format that strays away from the typical Single and Double battles commonly seen throughout the game. However, I found that fighting against the CPUs in the game to be frustrating, as they often aimed at you to take you out without thinking through their course of actions. Feeling as though every player was ganged up against me was somewhat disheartening regarding the difficulty and it felt completely unfair.

Z-Moves

By far the biggest mechanic introduced into these installments of Pokémon. Throughout your journey, you will come across Z-Crystals of various types, which will allow the player to power up their attacks in battle. To activate them, you must have a Pokémon hold a corresponding Z-Crystal that matches the type of any of their moves. They must then activate Z-Power and select a move to use it with. Z-Moves can come in the form of catastrophic attacks or insane stat-boosts, and therefore can only be used once per battle.

The unique aspect of Z-Moves is that any Pokémon can use these moves, opening up the playing field for weaker Pokémon to shine competitively. This contrasts sharply with Mega Evolution, which gave certain Pokémon stat boosts and redesigns to either make them more viable or break their limits, skewing the competitive playing field. Now, with Mega Evolution taking a much smaller role in these games, Z-Moves are the new standard, and I'm delighted that it is.

Due to the hundreds of possibilities that Z-Moves create, there will be more diverse teams and greater experimentation among the millions of players with the game. During my experience, I wanted to catch all sorts of Pokémon and test out different movesets with different Pokémon to see what was effective, all while rotating the types of Z-Moves between them. The mechanic offers interesting potential for the future of Pokémon, and and I hope they stick around for years to come.

The Presentation

To put it generally, the games are a massive step up from the previous generation. The models of all the characters are now closer to that of an actual person rather than the smaller, chibi-like models. In addition, the layouts of traversable area have been completely revamped, as they are no longer restricted to a grid-based map, and everything even seems bigger than before. There are now open-ended areas to explore and new secrets to uncover with these changes. The colors are vibrant and in abundance, despite the 3DS's weaker processing power and 240p screen.

In Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, the region explored is Alola, which consists of four primary islands, each with their own diverse land masses, geographic features, etc. However, it is clearly inspired by the real-world state of Hawaii, and it shines through in this title. For the first time, these Pokémon games feel as though they've built a breathing, living world with a culture and a passion.

The battles look pretty good, and the models for all 800+ Pokémon are faithfully carried over. However, I found that when multiple Pokémon or trainers are on screen, battle animations become extremely choppy, and the frame rate dips dramatically. Even playing these games on a New Nintendo 3DS XL, which is supposed to have more processing power than the original models, I still experienced these issues.

The Soundtrack

Once again, many of the tracks are influenced by Hawaiian music and traditions, and several themes for the overworld reflect that. However, there are also distinct themes for Team Skull and the Aether Foundation, which are extremely catchy. For the most part, I enjoyed every composition piece presented, from the battle themes to the remixes of past themes.

The Conclusion

Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon took me for an amazing ride from start to finish. They successfully revitalize the series for veterans of old and introduce a new audience to a stunning universe filled with Pokémon of all shapes and sizes, and a beautiful region to explore. Enough changes to core mechanics and enough new features were included to make the games feel quite fresh, yet it plays more heavily on the nostalgia of the earliest generations than any other installments in the Pokémon franchise. With the 20th anniversary looming and a bright future ahead, there's no doubt that it's an amazing time to be a Pokémon fan.

Score: 93/100