RTTP: Pokémon Sun & Moon's 4th Anniversary

[Aleh]

​

Alola! Sun and Moon came out... 4 years ago already? Where does time go?

These (along with the Ultra versions) are definitely among my favorite games of all time, not even just Pokémon. They already feel so nostalgic, so I decided to start a new playthrough (again! sorry backlog).
They introduced a ton of new features for the series, such as Regional Forms of old Pokémon, the PokéRide system finally replacing HMs, SOS Battles and Totems, Z-Moves, and much more. Oh and top-tier designs like God Rowlet and Mimikkyu. But what stuck with me the most after the years has been the new characters and their stories, all revolving around one central theme of family. They're certainly my favorite cast so far: Lillie, Lusamine and Gladion (and his sick battle theme), Guzma and Team Skull, Kukui, his wife Burnett and the completely unrelated and mysterious Masked Royal, Hau and his grandfather Hala, Hapu, Nanu and Acerola, even Rotom and Nebby were actual characters this time around which is a first for the creatures themselves, and so on... watching them grow and interact in such a rich world full of traditions and a great sense of place felt like a breath of fresh air. The focus on personal and intimate motivations as opposed to the more abstract and wacky themes of previous games was amazingly executed. But we even got to see some of that with the introduction of Ultra Beasts so we got the best of both worlds really.

… Did I mention the music slaps?






Anyways, share your favorite memories, music tracks, or whatever you feel like ☀🌙

 

[ILikeFeet]

\
queen

 

[Saikyo]

The only good pokemon on 3DS

Fite me.

 

[kodax_shc]

2016 was a hell of a year for Pokemon

 

[Aleh]

\
queen

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If I'm getting cryogenically frozen by anyone, at least let it be her

 

[ILikeFeet]

let's not forget Best Mom's ™ theme

 

[Prophet Five]

I'm not the biggest fan of SM/Gen 7 but lately I've been wondering how I'd feel if they put them just like... uprezzed on the Switch and I realized I'd play them again.

I literally have all four 3DS versions (Living Dex will happen someday) sitting on my shelf and I've only played two of them. I'm what's wrong with me.

 

[Red]

It was good! But unfortunately I never finished it. Spent dozens of hours breeding and IV training and lost interest over time.

 

[Aleh]

I'm not the biggest fan of SM/Gen 7 but lately I've been wondering how I'd feel if they put them just like... uprezzed on the Switch and I realized I'd play them again.

I literally have all four 3DS versions (Living Dex will happen someday) sitting on my shelf and I've only played two of them. I'm what's wrong with me.

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Pokémon Stars was my dream and they broke my heart 😭
Now patiently waiting another 10 years for the 8k remake on Switch 3 Pro

 

[topplehat]

My favorite part was getting rid of HMs

 

[AnimaRize]

These were the second time pokemon felt it was going in the right direction in making the series feel fresh and unique while having a semi okay plot to back it up, the first being BW. The change up of the normal formula the not needing to collect all the badge like objects to complete the story since a 4th were optional, and interesting villain concept and leader. The idea of regional variants giving some old pokemon new life. Unfortunately unlike black and white, SM had way to many old pokemon and not enough new for my liking but that is a minor complaint. But these were good games and did not deserve the visceral hate they got.

 

[Deleted member 25140]

These games are so much better than people give them credit for. A world ahead of the boring XY.

Regional variants (and later evolutions) is the best addition to the series in years.

 

[Blade24070]

I was mad that they didn't make Grass and Electric E4 trainers so we could've had all new typings (we didn't need fucking fighting and ghost again).

 

[Serpens007]

I deeply loved S/M and US/UM. Loved the festivity feel of it, how fresh it is for a 20 year formula games, how great Pokemon designes where, how it shifted the VGC meta in 2017, etc. Really enjoyed those and yeah, I already feel nostalgic for them too. May re-play it

 

[Prophet Five]

Pokémon Stars was my dream and they broke my heart 😭
Now patiently waiting another 10 years for the 8k remake on Switch 3 Pro

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My Pokemon dream right now is Sinnoh Again. I adore Sinnoh and it's my second favorite region behind Johto. But like...

I don't know how popular this was or is (I'm not very tuned in with the fandom or players on this board for a few reasons) but even though I didn't like BW very much I thought BW2 were stellar. I love the idea of revisiting places as sequels, etc - just maybe not immediately following their initial releases.

But something like "Dusk and Dawn: Sun and Moon Ten Years After" would be interesting to me if they showed a good progression of time and changes. I think BW2 was pretty cool with that (and obviously GS in a way but those weren't 100% focused on Kanto's, well, evolution) and would like to see my favorite places essentially years later but with new stories inside. It will never happen and I'm probably being blacklisted as I type this but it is what it is.

 

[gardfish]

I'm not sure where I'd rank the Gen 7 games among the series, but the totem Pokemon fights are legitimately the best boss battles in the series to date. Some really clever encounter design there that, on occasion, required some strategizing beyond the typical "press the super effective move" of your typical gym leaders.

 

[Aleh]

My Pokemon dream right now is Sinnoh Again. I adore Sinnoh and it's my second favorite region behind Johto. But like...

I don't know how popular this was or is (I'm not very tuned in with the fandom or players on this board for a few reasons) but even though I didn't like BW very much I thought BW2 were stellar. I love the idea of revisiting places as sequels, etc - just maybe not immediately following their initial releases.

But something like "Dusk and Dawn: Sun and Moon Ten Years After" would be interesting to me if they showed a good progression of time and changes. I think BW2 was pretty cool with that (and obviously GS in a way but those weren't 100% focused on Kanto's, well, evolution) and would like to see my favorite places essentially years later but with new stories inside. It will never happen and I'm probably being blacklisted as I type this but it is what it is.

Click to shrink...

Same here for Sinnoh! Is it even a coincidence the best regions are directly linked together in many ways? Alola to Sinnoh and Sinnoh to Johto. Great stuff.

I would love sequels to every gen in general, though there is something about plain remakes that I really like too. I'll be happy either way lol

 

[AnimaRize]

My Pokemon dream right now is Sinnoh Again. I adore Sinnoh and it's my second favorite region behind Johto. But like...

I don't know how popular this was or is (I'm not very tuned in with the fandom or players on this board for a few reasons) but even though I didn't like BW very much I thought BW2 were stellar. I love the idea of revisiting places as sequels, etc - just maybe not immediately following their initial releases.

But something like "Dusk and Dawn: Sun and Moon Ten Years After" would be interesting to me if they showed a good progression of time and changes. I think BW2 was pretty cool with that (and obviously GS in a way but those weren't 100% focused on Kanto's, well, evolution) and would like to see my favorite places essentially years later but with new stories inside. It will never happen and I'm probably being blacklisted as I type this but it is what it is.

Click to shrink...

I actually thought BW2 was worse than BW because for the uniqueness that BW tried to do BW2 retread and brought it all back to pokemon status quo. The evil team instead being a moral battle between two people on whether pokemon battles are a good thing now just evl team bent on world domination, entire region filled with new pokemon and left the old pokemon post game allowing the new pokemon to take the spotlight completely reversed in bw2 and its back to the main game sharing old pokemon taking away from the new ones. it's my major problem with the gens 6-8 the new pokemon barely get a spotlight because they barely make a 3rd of that game's roster. Black and white felt like a step in the right direction bw2 felt like 2 steps back leading into the current problems for pokemon like the older gen pandering

 

[toilet_sandpaper]

I got a 3DS to play those games, well later in life of the platform. I had mixed felling with them. Playing X then Sun kinda burned me on Pokémon. Unforntunally the 3DS Pokémon games are alway trying to be annoying to the player and had little content. They really made me lose my interest on Pokémon games, I haven't tried the Switch games yet.

 

[ILikeFeet]

aside from the shitty level design and the problems that Pokemon still has with agency and difficulty options, the biggest disappointment was the fact we never fought Motherbeast Lusamine. B2W2 already established non-pokemon fights, so I don't understand why GF is so reluctant on doing them again. then again, I can say that about GF and a lot of things

 

[Apollo]

Great games. Alola is my favorite region to date, the characters were great and it has my favorite set of starters.

 

[King Kingo]

I respected Sun and Moon for changing up the formula and Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon had a nice evil-leaders boss rush that was enjoyable.

 

[Tiamant]

I really didn't like these entries and they made X&Y retroactively good. Even then, there were some positives:

The good:

-Getting rid of HM's and finding a good substitute.
-There was an actual difficulty curve and some nice optional challenges
-Music was good
-Alolan forms were a nice addition that didn't clash with the universe logic *ahem megas*

The bad:

-Atrocious online system that could have been good if they just iterated on the PSS
-Terrible pacing with interruptions every 5 steps. The island setting did not help with this at all
-Low amount of new pokémon , and mostly were 1-stagers, form changes or a ton of legendaries a la gen IV. To put into comparison, SW/SH had slightly more pokémon but they felt like way more because instead of all that they were smart and made more 2 and 3 stage lines, galarian forms and didn't make like 25% of the pokedex legendaries.
-Z-powers. Just Game Freak trying new gimmicks again
-The art style was bland. This was especially noticeable with the trainer models.

The closest a mainline game has been to a 6/10 for me.

Basically Sword and Shield reverted most of the bad decisions and had a gimmick not as bad as Zpowers while removing megas.

 

[Fnnrqwin]

The first Pokémon games with better original versions than enhanced versions.

Great story as far as Pokémon goes, and one of the best overall environments and aesthetics (characters, locations, and Pokémon themselves). Very strong games that are made much less replayable by the endless interruptions.

Wish they'd just port them to the Switch with some kind of upscaling.

 

[neoJABES]

Sun/moon was my first return back to the Pokémon world since Sapphire on GBA. Loved my play through of it!

Picked up Sword for cheap a few weeks ago, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[brinstar]

These are my favorites right after B/W. Lusamine was such a queen

 

[MP!]

remember pokemon stars?

 

[Shoes]

Great games and was very refreshing compared to the standard gym battles of the past. I gotta go through US at some point, I put so much time into regular Moon that I was burned out by the time the Ultra versions arrived

 

[Rockets]

SuMo are the best Pokémon games since BW and BW2

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Of all the 3DS Pokemon games, S/M were certainly my favorite, no part because the story was actually competent and it had endearing characters like Lillie, Gladion. Hau was also great.

 

[Aleh]

One thing that doesn't get mentioned often is how many little details and scenes the games had, like the touching one at the cemetery, the Pikachu wedding, the Machamp costume guy, the various Skull Grunts dialogues, and then all of the cool quests added in USUM. Some truly hilarious gems in there

 

[KillstealWolf]

The only good pokemon on 3DS

Fite me.

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Hey hey, we got Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon.

Ok, that's it though.

Ultra Sun and Moon may have more content but I don't like some of the story alterations that game makes (Espicially all the Ultra Recon Squad stuff, blegh. I was prepared to call them the worst villain team ever, then Macro Cosmos showed up).

Sun and Moons character cast has a lot of charm, and unlike Sw/Sh actually get to be fleshed out and interesting characters as well instead of just having good designs and that's it. There's still some things that annoy me about the game (Have you heard about KANTO guys?) but Sun and Moon probably has been my favourite mainline pokemon title since Gen 5.

 

[King Kingo]

The Tapu's are also some of the coolest and culturally inspired Pokemon to date with amazing competitive viability and banging theme tune.

 

[DrHercouet]

remember pokemon stars?

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Oh god, I do. And Pokémon Eclipse at some point too! The "Pokémon Stars will be the 3rd version and it will release on Switch" was my dream. Also, this game looks next to amazing when upscaled! 3DS was really the era of "amazing potential, okay execution"

 

[MegaRockEXE]

This is the game that got me back into the Pokemon series after missing out from gens 4 to this. I really enjoyed it. I think I put about 400 hours into Sun.

 

[Gaardus]

my favorite part was being held by a machamp

 

[aett]

The only mainline Pokemon gen that I never completed. I tried both the original and the Ultra versions, but I found them both extremely dull. I don't think it's necessarily the game's fault so much as this was when I was growing tired of the Pokemon series/formula. Some great Pokemon designs, though.

 

[Ramsay]

The worst Pokemon game, and the only Pokemon game to be legitimately awful.

Even Sword and Shield were merely poor.

 

[Prophet Five]

I actually thought BW2 was worse than BW because for the uniqueness that BW tried to do BW2 retread and brought it all back to pokemon status quo. The evil team instead being a moral battle between two people on whether pokemon battles are a good thing now just evl team bent on world domination, entire region filled with new pokemon and left the old pokemon post game allowing the new pokemon to take the spotlight completely reversed in bw2 and its back to the main game sharing old pokemon taking away from the new ones. it's my major problem with the gens 6-8 the new pokemon barely get a spotlight because they barely make a 3rd of that game's roster. Black and white felt like a step in the right direction bw2 felt like 2 steps back leading into the current problems for pokemon like the older gen pandering

Click to shrink...

There's a lot I don't care for in regard to BW but that's too much for me to type out right now and this isn't the topic for it. BW2 is seriously one of my favorite entries in the franchise which shocked the hell out of me because I was pretty close to skipping it after not clicking with Unova at all. But I'm very glad I didn't.

Same here for Sinnoh! Is it even a coincidence the best regions are directly linked together in many ways? Alola to Sinnoh and Sinnoh to Johto. Great stuff.

I would love sequels to every gen in general, though there is something about plain remakes that I really like too. I'll be happy either way lol

Click to shrink...

YESSS. Team Sinnoh! dozensofus.gif

I like remakes too, yeah, so like the idea of Sinnoh with an even more developed Wild Area implemented (somehow) from Crown Tundra's design perspective makes me wanna shout from the highest peak. But places like, say, Kalos? I enjoyed Gen 6 but I also can't say it wasn't lacking in a lot of ways. And without the 3rd version to potentially correct the issues... I'd love a chance to revisit Kalos later down the (victory) road and see what has changed there / improvements to the world etc.

Of course, all of this is hypothetical and the games would have to be good on their own but like... I think about Hoenn and what if there were unintended consequences from how the player stopped the Weather Trio? What if parts of the region -did- dry up and others flooded and it changed the landscape/wildlife/whatever? If anyone here played World of Warcraft: Cataclysm they remade the world of Azeroth (which some people liked and didn't) but like kinda that situation on a smaller scale. A dragon doesn't have to break through the Elemental Plane to cause chaos and destruction while changing the face of the world but thinking about it that's a pretty Pokémon-esque story already, lol.

 

[Rainy]

I really loved Sun and Moon.

 

[Euler007]

The worst Pokemon game, and the only Pokemon game to be legitimately awful.

Even Sword and Shield were merely poor.

Click to shrink...

Didn't want to be the first negative poster but I completely agree. I had maybe 7-8 X/Y playthroughs, roughly the same for ORAS. I found SM totally unreplayable, way too much hand holding and filler between actual pokemon gameplay. For somer reason I bought US thinking they streamlined the long narrative part and it was the exact same, gave up on it 2 zones after the first city on the first island. Didn't bother with Sh/Sw.

 

[Unicorn]

The only good pokemon on 3DS

Fite me.

Click to shrink...

Worst ones since Ruby/Sapphire.

 

[Aleh]

There's a lot I don't care for in regard to BW but that's too much for me to type out right now and this isn't the topic for it. BW2 is seriously one of my favorite entries in the franchise which shocked the hell out of me because I was pretty close to skipping it after not clicking with Unova at all. But I'm very glad I didn't.



YESSS. Team Sinnoh! dozensofus.gif

I like remakes too, yeah, so like the idea of Sinnoh with an even more developed Wild Area implemented (somehow) from Crown Tundra's design perspective makes me wanna shout from the highest peak. But places like, say, Kalos? I enjoyed Gen 6 but I also can't say it wasn't lacking in a lot of ways. And without the 3rd version to potentially correct the issues... I'd love a chance to revisit Kalos later down the (victory) road and see what has changed there / improvements to the world etc.

Of course, all of this is hypothetical and the games would have to be good on their own but like... I think about Hoenn and what if there were unintended consequences from how the player stopped the Weather Trio? What if parts of the region -did- dry up and others flooded and it changed the landscape/wildlife/whatever? If anyone here played World of Warcraft: Cataclysm they remade the world of Azeroth (which some people liked and didn't) but like kinda that situation on a smaller scale. A dragon doesn't have to break through the Elemental Plane to cause chaos and destruction while changing the face of the world but thinking about it that's a pretty Pokémon-esque story already, lol.

Click to shrink...

I think ORAS set up a good precedent in regards to spicing up what was already there. Cardboard cutout characters like Wally, May/Brendan, Steven, and the evil Teams got infused with a ton of personality and some places got major upgrades (Sea Mauville is a great example). Doing the same to DPP and even XY is not quite the same as a sequel but it's pretty close at least in terms of things I felt needed improvements the most

 

[Prophet Five]

I think ORAS set up a good precedent in regards to spicing up what was already there. Cardboard cutout characters like Wally, May/Brendan, Steven, and the evil Teams got infused with a ton of personality and some places got major upgrades (Sea Mauville is a great example). Doing the same to DPP and even XY is not quite the same as a sequel but it's pretty close at least in terms of things I felt needed improvements the most

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I agree! I think the remakes did a good job of expanding RS a lot (and it's another gen I don't particularly care for). I'm just more fantasizing about the idea of a return trip with that kinda stuff than a remake. Either way, I'll be fine. Clearly, I'm going to buy them no matter what at this point, lol.

 

[Nali]

Moon rapidly became my favorite campaign in the series between the characters and the difficulty, and I don't see them topping it any time soon.

 

[Sams]

By far the worst games to try to relay in the series. So much handholding that kids probably go board with it. I really enjoyed xy/ oras and go back to them occasionally. These games and their sequels are a complete bore. I loved so many of the designs in this game and the region was a nice change but damn the handholding.

 

[Roliq]

I actually thought BW2 was worse than BW because for the uniqueness that BW tried to do BW2 retread and brought it all back to pokemon status quo. The evil team instead being a moral battle between two people on whether pokemon battles are a good thing now just evl team bent on world domination, entire region filled with new pokemon and left the old pokemon post game allowing the new pokemon to take the spotlight completely reversed in bw2 and its back to the main game sharing old pokemon taking away from the new ones. it's my major problem with the gens 6-8 the new pokemon barely get a spotlight because they barely make a 3rd of that game's roster. Black and white felt like a step in the right direction bw2 felt like 2 steps back leading into the current problems for pokemon like the older gen pandering

Click to shrink...

Pretty sure the main reason people really like BW2 is because of the nostalgia given by the Pokemon Tournament

 

[Dark Mantonio]

I'm only an occasional Pokémon player (every 4-5 years) and Sun was the one I ended up playing during that period.

Really liked the setting, I played during winter in Michigan so it was like a mini vacation.

And the addition of regional forms was really fun. Of all the "gimmicks" in recent years that was the best, imo.

 

[Tabaxi]

The best mainline games since Gen 5.

I am disappointed it took until Sword and Shield and its DLCs to drop the 3rd game model. Because Sun/Moon's story, world building and characters with some of USUM's QOL improvements and expanding the Ultra Recon Squad and Rainbow Rocket parts into a fleshed out DLCs would've made them even better. The major flaw in Gen 7 for me is that Sun/Moon and USUM each feel like incomplete inexperiences that lack each other's strengths.

 

[Aleh]

The best mainline games since Gen 5.

I am disappointed it took until Sword and Shield and its DLCs to drop the 3rd game model. Because Sun/Moon's story, world building and characters with some of USUM's QOL improvements and expanding the Ultra Recon Squad and Rainbow Rocket parts into a fleshed out DLCs would've made them even better. The major flaw in Gen 7 for me is that Sun/Moon and USUM each feel like incomplete inexperiences that lack each other's strengths.

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I agree with this, Sun and Moon really missed the boat not being Switch games with DLC. It would have basically fixed almost everything and then some