Five years ago on November 18, 2016, Pokemon Sun and Moon came out for the 3DS. The location of Alola was based on the United States' Hawaii and a lot of new concepts were introduced such as regional variants, z-moves, and the Festival Plaza. Nestled in-between the Pokemon X and Y and Pokemon Sword and Shield generations, Sun and Moon have many reasons to be considered the best of the three latest main games for its unique Elite Four, villains, and new Pokemon designs.
With new Pokemon games on the horizon like Pokemon Legends: Arceus and the Diamond and Pearl remake, this is an excellent time to look at past Pokemon games and what truly set some apart from others. Sun and Moon sit between two generations that changed the way Pokemon games are played, but they hit the sweet spot in terms of gameplay and design.
What Makes Sun And Moon One Of the Best Generations
In terms of the region alone, Alola was a winner for its close relationship to nature and its Hawaiian-inspired culture. On Reddit, many fans noted that Alola felt very cozy and the way islands were groups gave it biodiversity and diversity of people that felt richer than previous games. Many listed Alola as one of their top favorite regions of all, and some did note that part of that fondess was for the introduction of regional variants.
Sun and Moon introduced one of the most popular new trends of all in recent Pokemon games, and that is the region-variants, many of which were hits such as Alolan Ninetails, Alolan Exeggutor, and Alolan Raichu. Due to how successful it was, this is a design choice that seems to be planned to continue in all future Pokemon regions, with a new variant of Zorua recently announced for Pokemon Legends: Arceus serving as proof.
Outside of region variants, the new Pokemon introduced in the game are beloved by the fan community. Mimikyu is now one of the most popular Pokemon of all time, and the starter Pokemon had some of the best designs compared to X and Y and Sword and Shield. Other fan favorites of the generation included Cutiefly, Rockruff, Cosmog, Bewear, Morelull, Palossand, and Pyukumuku.
An important change that Sun and Moon introduced that Sword and Shield kept was getting rid of HM moves. These Pokemon moves were not so popular in battle but had to be taught to Pokemon for players to get around trees, rocks, and water. Sun and Moon introduced Poke Rides, which let players call upon a Pokemon not on their team to help them instead. This eliminated an old frustration of the games, one in which players would often dedicate a single Pokemon to using HM moves and never use them for anything else.
Sun and Moon have had the best story compared to most of the games. The characters were pretty unforgettable characters including a shirtless Pokemon professor, a bored cop whose home is filled with Meowths, and a street gang founded by a man who failed his Pokemon journey. Both the allies and the enemies had more life to them than in previous games. Hau and Lillie, the protagonists' friends, have very different personalities and thoughts on battles, and Lillie in particular goes through a lot of change due to her unique relationship with the main villain of the game. Team Skull is a favorite villain team of fans, as they are likable for their leader actually caring about his grunts and have the simple goal of being misfits who want money to support themselves.
Five Years After Pokemon Sun and Moon
Three years after Sun and Moon, Sword and Shield became the most recent Pokemon games but they lacked some of what made Sun and Moon special. Most of all, the writing quality fell downhill in terms of villains, allies, and plot. Team Yell seemed to be a weaker echo of Team Skull, though Marnie and Piers were fan-favorites with excellent designs. Teammates like Hau also were a weaker echo of characters like Lillie. The greatest hindrance of all though was what fans call "Dexit," where a ton of Pokemon are missing from the National Pokedex. Fans also had mixed feelings about the open wild areas, some feeling like the area felt too empty and lifeless compared to previous titles.
This five-year anniversary does make fans think about where Pokemon is heading, and often about how they miss older games. Sun and Moon will only be getting older moving forward, but it will hopefully keep inspiring the games to stick to region variants, strong writing, and memorable characters.
Pokemon Sun and Moon are available now on Nintendo 3DS.