Pokemon Sun

 3DS
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1265 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 868 out of 1265
  2. Mixed: 186 out of 1265
  3. Negative: 211 out of 1265
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  1. FireDragon
    Nov 18, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have been with the Pokémon franchise since Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and I must say, the main series have gotten better over years! It was not until X and Y where I thought Game Freak finally revolutionized the series with 3D models and big beautiful landscapes to the point of making it great to play again. They finally changed the game for the better! However, it was not until I played Sun and Moon, where, overall, the games have changed the formula of the series in such a dramatic way, that it was not the way I was hoping for Generation 7 to turn out to be. With that being said, I have listed the pros, where the games did well on, and the cons, where the games did poorly on.

    Pros

    + The new forms for some of the Pokémon are fun to use

    + The Festival Plaza is pretty entertaining and a good way to get items

    + You're now able to heal status ailments by taking care of your Pokémon after battle

    + HMs are replaced with the more efficient Pokémon Pager system

    + Trials and Kahunas provide an interesting twist to the standard gym battle formula

    + The graphical upgrades make trainers and Pokémon look better and more interesting

    + Ability effectiveness now appears on the move select screen

    + A map on the bottom screen shows where you're at and where your next objective lies can be pretty helpful

    + Battle mechanics offer a new and fun touch

    + Does experimental things with formula

    + Riding Pokémon lifts the move limitations throughout your adventure

    Cons

    - Daycare only breeds eggs and no longer levels Pokémon

    - Very few Pokémon in game and no Pokémon Bank until January

    - Serious frame rate drops during totem battles and double battles

    - A lot of unnecessary cut scenes slow down the game. (I love cuts scenes normally but some of them feel pointless. There are quite a few cut scents that comprise of people only waving at you.)

    - No room to explore freely until almost the third island, everything is extremely linear

    - Alola Pokémon seem to have a low encounter rate

    - Not a lot of variation in Pokémon. Many places just have the same Pokémon with one new Pokémon added into the mix

    - Your dialogue choices almost have no impact what so ever

    - Your character's expression almost never changes which is a bit jarring when other characters are
    visible upset.

    - Double Battles chug rather harshly

    - More linear and easy going
    - Story less intriguing than expected and, at times, can be nonsensical and uninteresting - Z-move animations are way too long can and be boring to watch after several times From an overall standpoint, Pokémon Sun and Moon had many great points about it. However, the big changes to it feel as if Game Freak is trying to reboot the Pokémon series, even though it is already great. Instead of these big changes, why not just keep the gyms and add more Post-Game content to the new games? Taking pictures of Pokémon, challenges and trials from different characters, and fun minigames all feel like optional activities that you could do by yourself, but you are forced to do them in Pokémon Sun and Moon. Because of this, I did not enjoy the game, and I felt like they changed too much to the new generation. The game has its great and beautiful moments, but it also has it tedious and monotonous moments as well. * Now remember this clearly. This is just my opinion. Please do not feel offended by it. Thanks for reading my review and I hope you have a wonderful day!*    … Expand
  2. ke
    Nov 20, 2016
    1
    Why this game is pure garbage:
    1. Endless dialogs without any meaning
    2. horrible low fps
    3. still narly never in 3D
    4. Zero anti aliasing
    5. **** music
    6. Horrible long loading times
    7. Moore cutscenes than a telltale game
    8. Still much to easy
  3. randomnessiswow
    Nov 18, 2016
    4
    There are SOOO many cutscenes. I played for an hour, and literally 30-45 min of it was cutscenes. In addition, the load times are brutal, as every time you enter/exit a cutscene THERE'S A LOAD TIME. Furthermore, they found a way to make the training school required, which... I mean, just kill me.
  4. RealPokeGamer
    Nov 18, 2016
    3
    Pokémon Sun is one of those games that changes the face of a successful franchise in a bad way. Although it is a very fresh and innovative Pokémon game in the saga, it lost all hope when the developers took the most important part, Pokémon Gyms, out of the game. Without any badges to get, this tedious adventure lasts more than 30 hours with the least favorite story of the series. ThePokémon Sun is one of those games that changes the face of a successful franchise in a bad way. Although it is a very fresh and innovative Pokémon game in the saga, it lost all hope when the developers took the most important part, Pokémon Gyms, out of the game. Without any badges to get, this tedious adventure lasts more than 30 hours with the least favorite story of the series. The designs of the Pokémon and scenarios are very wacky, strange, and queer, and the graphics look alright and decent. The soundtrack is the worst of the Pokémon series, terribly depending on versions and sounds of other regions. What a disgrace. Without a doubt, the worst game in the Pokémon franchise.… Expand
  5. bigcheese53535
    Nov 19, 2016
    0
    This game feels more like some weird spinoff to the anime series than a mainstream Pokemon game. There's so many pointless cutscenes and dumb tutorials....it doesn't feel like a Pokemon game. 5 Hours in and I just can't play it anymore. Super boring compared to the other games.
  6. SteelDragon
    Nov 19, 2016
    1
    Big disappointment to me. The framerate issues and the lack of difficulty make this game feel as if they were antagonizing the older Pokemon fans while they let the younger fans depend on long tutorials and boring cutscenes.
  7. SkullShards
    Nov 19, 2016
    1
    The entire first hour/hour and a half is a cut-scene driven tutorial. You are forced down linear paths and need to skip through relentless exposition in order to get to the meat of the game. I found myself thinking at about the 1 hour mark, "It would be more fun to just play Blue or Gold again...". And now I am forced to watch the Pokedex blink at me every 3 seconds.
  8. labarith
    Nov 18, 2016
    1
    Cons:
    (old?) 3ds load times are ridiculous.
    TOO MANY CUT SCENES. I've played the game for an hour, and most of that has been me taking 2-3 steps and entering a new cut scene. Pros: It looks good. End of the day, you're going to buy this if you like Pokemon. But this is the first main-series Pokemon game to be legitimately unfun. Not "boring" or "slow" or "repetitive," but just    Cons:
    (old?) 3ds load times are ridiculous.
    TOO MANY CUT SCENES. I've played the game for an hour, and most of that has been me taking 2-3 steps and entering a new cut scene.

    Pros:
    It looks good.

    End of the day, you're going to buy this if you like Pokemon. But this is the first main-series Pokemon game to be legitimately unfun. Not "boring" or "slow" or "repetitive," but just a waste of your time.

    There are rumors about a new, better SWITCH version - in which case, maybe it's time to just not give Nintendo you're money anymore. Because ruining a franchise, and making people buy newer hardware to make it run even remotely well is not okay.    … Expand
  9. NewFaceofFun
    Nov 19, 2016
    4
    The only issue with Battle Royal is that the game’s performance takes a massive dip when four Pokémon are duking it out on-screen. These framerate drops happen more frequently than in previous games where two-on-two battles were the only serious offender, which is a shame, but thanks to the slow-paced, turn-based combat it never really becomes an issue, more an inconvenience.
  10. TheDonald
    Nov 18, 2016
    2
    I'll keep this review updated as I go but this is the most unplayable DAY 1 release I've ever witnessed and I've been buying Pokemon games on release day since red and blue back in the 90s. And despite being an oldie - I am definitely not the type to hate new changes. I loved ORAS and XY and B2W2 (XY had a small struggle because Nintendo completely bungled the Pokemon Bank release, but theI'll keep this review updated as I go but this is the most unplayable DAY 1 release I've ever witnessed and I've been buying Pokemon games on release day since red and blue back in the 90s. And despite being an oldie - I am definitely not the type to hate new changes. I loved ORAS and XY and B2W2 (XY had a small struggle because Nintendo completely bungled the Pokemon Bank release, but the game was still wonderful from day 1). The last time I was this infuriated by Pokemon was with the original Black and White when there was that annoying character following you around the whole game interrupting the flow of gameplay with inane button mashed scrolls of garbage small talk. However, this one is worse by far. It took 90 MINUTES of game play before I could even get to a Pokemon Center, save and discover that Pokemon Bank was unavailable (and sadly Pokemon bank is the least of my problems here). I had bred a level 1 Omanyte and Dunsparce in ORAS to try to make my first playthrough of Sun be more challenging (they tend to make each generation more and more idiot friendly - for example, taking away type-matching by giving players a cheat prompt now in Sun and Moon). Anyway, not being able to import my Pokemon was definitely a bummer and really inexcusable for Nintendo (they're like the lazy employee at a job) but still not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that even after 90 minutes of absolutely horrible intro-scene/tutorial patchwork, finally being able to get to the Pokemon center -- the intro-montage STILL isn't over! It's like they have gone out of their way to design a game that should have been titled "BUTTON MASH MEANINGLESS SCROLLS OF GARBAGE: Pokemon themed edition". Anyway. I'm super disappointed. I don't know how anyone is supposed to get into this story line with all this crap pulling you out of the game mentally. It feels like a chore to play this so far and it shouldn't feel like that after two hours. I should actually be able to play the game at this point.… Expand
  11. Ordano
    Nov 21, 2016
    0
    As others have stated: worst game in the series.
    - Terrible frame rates
    - Terrible story line (Team Skull was done particularly poorly with writing out of place for the series) - Deviates from traditional game formula in a negative way - Constant Loading - Constant Cut Scenes - The Rotom-dex is annoying A step backwards for the series - unfortunate that it happened on the year of    As others have stated: worst game in the series.
    - Terrible frame rates
    - Terrible story line (Team Skull was done particularly poorly with writing out of place for the series)
    - Deviates from traditional game formula in a negative way
    - Constant Loading
    - Constant Cut Scenes
    - The Rotom-dex is annoying

    A step backwards for the series - unfortunate that it happened on the year of their 20th anniversary.    … Expand
  12. dexMax
    Nov 19, 2016
    1
    This has got to one of the most disappointing entries in the series. The trials are stupid and boring. All the new pokemon are to damn slow and there is no national dex. What was Ganefreak thinking? One of the worst thing of all is the story. Pokemon was never about the story and never should have be. One of the worst things about it are the long unskippable cutscene that bring progress toThis has got to one of the most disappointing entries in the series. The trials are stupid and boring. All the new pokemon are to damn slow and there is no national dex. What was Ganefreak thinking? One of the worst thing of all is the story. Pokemon was never about the story and never should have be. One of the worst things about it are the long unskippable cutscene that bring progress to a grinding halt never mind the actual story is garbage. I want to explore the region on my own pace not the crap the game forces on me. There no good postgame to make up for it. Also pokemon calling for help is very annoying.

    Gamefreak scrape the story and refine the other good features just never make this kind of disappointment againm    … Expand
  13. gigus
    Nov 21, 2016
    2
    It is overall a very disappointing if you are a pokemon fan. There are some good things in the game but in the end the game leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. The main reason are the story cutscence
  14. Angrylittleman
    Dec 2, 2016
    1
    This game is great if you're five years old and have never played Pokemon before. For the rest of us it's a chore. Long cut scenes, forced tutorials, lack of freedom to explore, linear gameplay, too easy and just boring. I was skipping all chat as fast as I could without reading it. It's sad because I love this franchise to bits.
  15. SiCriCy
    Nov 20, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. going to keep it breif:
    -looks flashier than previose games resulting in slowdown in combat on a brand new 3ds,
    -loads of new well made cut scenes leading to unwanted load screens (so many loading screens),
    -a now MANDATORY and UNSKIPPABLE tutorial INCLUDING UNSKIPPABLE trainer school ~1-2 hour -FML,
    -no more puzzles, hm's and hm slaves, now a summonable mount that imo looks dumb af (way to overprotected and overdone riding gear making it look dumb, clunky, and overly safe for a shelterd 8 yr old to enjoy),
    -pokemon games have always been pretty linear with a little bit of exploring, but this is PAINFULLY LINEAR: rather than hm's that allow you to rexplore old areas, you have a free skilled mount to summon that directly allows you to progress with the fact that rather than puzzles or skill blocks you giet railroaded by physical barreiers to be removed after trial complete, i find this forced railroading painful and dumb

    OVERALL:
    aesthetics: 10/10 pretty AF, look great in all aspects
    story: 5/10, typical pokemon game with nice cutscens, but UNSKIPPABLE cutsenes
    quality of life: 4/10 LOADING screens, FORCED TUTORIAL, SEVERE BLATANT RAILROADING (no way to do anything you want in your own order since you MUST PLAY STORY to unlock ANYTHING)

    I personally think this is a one step forward two steps back kind of game; it has better visuals and looks nicer, but hardware unable to keep up and noticable slow downs appear in combat and sometimes lag spikes occur, MEANWHILE this game punishes you for knowing how to play the game by not allowing you to skip the tutorial at all and forcing you to further do an unskippable trainer school BS; compared to X/Y and ORAS this game was painful to play and painfully targeting a younger audience rather than aiming at a younger audience and accomadating the loyal generations that follow.    … Expand
  16. Hamish95
    Nov 22, 2016
    3
    I've been playing the Pokemon series since it's inception and over the years I've loved they new strategies game freak has used to change the way each game feels and plays, until now. This game would be a great game if it was a first in a series, showing plenty of bugs and making it not so challenging. From playing though this game I've found over half of play time is cut scenes and that'sI've been playing the Pokemon series since it's inception and over the years I've loved they new strategies game freak has used to change the way each game feels and plays, until now. This game would be a great game if it was a first in a series, showing plenty of bugs and making it not so challenging. From playing though this game I've found over half of play time is cut scenes and that's not what I want out of a pokemon game, yes cut scenes are great and help the story but there's a point of to much ruins it. As well as series frame drops when it comes to totem and double battles which have never occur in past games for me. The introduction of mega evolutions in just the last new games in the series being ditched for Z-moves that aren't overly useful I feel was a jarring mistake as Mega evolutions were loved by so many as well as removing the challenge of trying to figure out the next part of the story line that many have come to love of the pokemon series is what makes it so enticing, it's meant to be a challenge and overall I have found this game more cut scenes than gameplay, unchallenging with everything being handed to you, laggy and minimal strategy needed to be successful. The change of the gyms to trail however is something new and enjoyable even though they are fairly easy passed.… Expand
  17. Rickles
    Nov 28, 2016
    4
    Pokémon is giving way too much credit to Red, Blue and Yellow for its own sake. This fanservice comes in the form of Road 1 birds and rodents from every generation combined and spread accross Alola's 4 islands. The player is spammed with those useless, tired encounters throughout the game, ruining the experience.

    Zubat, Graveler, Dugtrio, Raticate, they're all back, and we're not happy    Pokémon is giving way too much credit to Red, Blue and Yellow for its own sake. This fanservice comes in the form of Road 1 birds and rodents from every generation combined and spread accross Alola's 4 islands. The player is spammed with those useless, tired encounters throughout the game, ruining the experience.

    Zubat, Graveler, Dugtrio, Raticate, they're all back, and we're not happy about it. To add insult to injury, they come in new flavors (new typings) that are considerably worse than their original counterparts and leave them vulnerable to an addition of other types, on top of former weaknesses.

    Pokémon in this game aren't well distributed. New creatures are hidden behind unfavorable 10% odds, daytime requirements, pin-pointed spawn locations or the new, frustrating S.O.S battle mechanic.

    Any Pokémon in a pinch will invariably call for help right before you can throw a Pokeball at them. This means getting stuck in never ending loops of respawns. This is annoying to say the least, seeing that most Pokémon will only call for copies of themselves.

    Some Pokémon call for otherwise unobtainable Pokémon, meaning that chaining is now a compulsory mechanic. And in a way, False Swipe becomes a requisite too. A shame, in a game that supposedly frees you of compulsory moves. This mechanic entails that you look for tips online to know exactly where to go and what Pokémon to chain to obtain a hidden monster.

    HMs finally disappear only to see the game become even more restrictive in its linearity and hand-holding.
    The story is bland and badly implemented. Dialog is immature and blithe even by Saturday morning cartoon standards.

    Technically, the game puts Game Freak to shame. It's simply inconceivable that such a game should lag so much. Both graphics and basic statistical calculus seems taxing on the 3DS. There is no stereoscopic 3D, and even the mapping of direction on the Circle Pad is imprecise and fidgety, making navigating menus a chore.

    Triple and rotation battles are a thing of the past, and inversion battles too (which saw the types affinity table overturned in a neat twist, and demanded that movesets be rethought entirely). The game's code couldn't take it, obviously, but here's thinking the 3DS itself actually could have, with some talent to back it up, which Game Freak has always notoriously lacked. The presence of the trainer's model, for instance, was an unnecessary addition, if it meant cutting off half of the game's modes.

    I couldn't really play Battle Royale, only because the main quests only opposes level 50 Pokémon to the player's lineup, meaning this is truly a post-game solo feature sitting in the middle of the campaign. Of course, up to 4 players may join in a joust, but putting it in the campaign at a time when no player may enjoy it is simply dumb.
    There are countless vexations in this game that make it a terrible iteration. Some will legitimately drive you up the wall, some are more subject to personal preference, such as the garish art direction and cacophonous score. But this is only my sentiment.    … Expand
  18. proxfrd
    Jun 22, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Worst main series pokemon game. Gamefreak focused solely on story and left the gameplay easy as heck. There are actual cutscenes that can't be skipped so you have to just grit it out and press A on the boxes as they come. The stories to these games have always been bad to mediocre. Focusing on the story didn't help that. After winning the championship, your game isn't autosaved and you're faced with the most horrendous, 30 min - 1 hour long cutscene depending on if you actually read the text. That is followed by the unskippable, 10 - 20 minute long credits. Also framerate issues throughout during battles.
    It doesn't seem like much, and I do appreciate the attempt at something new, but this endless garbage story is a huge leap in the wrong direction.
    Z-moves are cool. The new pokemon are cool, the gameplay is mostly the same.
    Solutions: Just put in a skip tutorial option and a skip cutscene option.
    Also fix the framerate issues, pokemon doesn't need to be that graphic intensive.
    P.S. You can't name your rival. Fix it    … Expand
  19. rubblecoder
    Jul 3, 2020
    0
    I swear this game was written by someone that wanted to annoy and frustrate as many gamers as possible. After beating the game it literally won't let you save for like a hour... wtf?
  20. Kartillian
    Dec 7, 2016
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I've played every main series game in the franchise and I find this one to be by far the weakest.

    The problems are present from the outset, the game literally takes approximately 2hrs (playing at a casual pace and exploring a lot) before you're released from the cutscene purgatory, the cutscenes themselves wouldn't inherently be a bad thing except that they're borderline unnecessary most of the time, a lot of them are simply the characters doing simple gestures with little to no text. On top of that a serious number of them are a cutscene, followed by you walking several steps forward to yet another cutscene, the problem is exemplified in its agony by the fact that your character literally never changes their expression, at the apex of the main story arc when you find out the culmination of information, it pans over to your character to see you just stood there smiling while everyone around you is shocked and horrified.

    The second major problem is the animation, while a great deal of effort has been put into beautifying the world (and to its benefit), many of the characters you're forced to interact with have the same stagnant animation time after time, I can only see Hau waving at me so many times before it becomes a symptom of poor design.

    The storyline while impactful is incredibly short and sudden, this is both one of my biggest pros and cons of the entire game, I can do nothing but praise the level of care that has been taken to help forge a bond between the player and the fellow characters in the game, to which end you do genuinely feel for them in a way that no other game has so far in the series. However unlike other games in the series, the story isn't so intricately woven into the fabric of the game and simply comes seemingly randomly and in 3 bulk points that feel unnatural and forced, giving you little time to appreciate the world and its troubles.

    Another large problem is the severe lack of variety of Pokemon in the game, the developers specifically stated that they wanted to use Hawaii as the basis for the game due to the abundance and variety of wildlife and wanted to mimic that in the game, the series is now home to over 800 monsters and yet you'll see the same ones over and over, after your 20th Pelipper and 40th Yungoos, you really start to wonder what's happened to all the other Pokemon.

    The Island Challenges however are a huge praising point in the game, you still effectively get 'gym battles' with one of the Kahunas or Trial Leaders as well as some additional mini-game type enjoyment, the Elite 4 has also had a great small overhaul with you being able to battle the Elite 4 in any order, the trainers using some more powerful moves as well as them having access to some more interesting techniques, although the AI does seem to need a little improvement in these areas.

    The removal of HMs is a great change that many of us have wanted for years and the implementation of the new Ride-Abilities, while a little clunky in places, is a great alternative that they've found, however the 'gating' off of areas now is exceptionally obvious whereas before it could be obscured by you needing to get a specific HM, now there are literally gates with someone telling you to come back when you've got a Z-Crystal, its rather jarring and immersion-breaking to simply have someone tell you to buzz off and get a crystal that only a few characters have access too, so what do the rest of the citizens do if they want to get to the next town?

    The world while seemingly expansive is actually exceptionally linear with not much filling it, the world itself is physically large but the actual content to explore within that world is depressing light. The whole game may as well be played on rails between the straight forward routes and the constant steering cutscenes, this RPG world doesn't feel very RPG when you're told exactly where to go and what to do without much time to go off and explore for yourself, and lets be honest, the Pokemon games have always had a linearity to them but it's very poorly hidden and disguised in this game.

    The post-game is appalling, after you complete the main story arc, there's borderline nothing for you to do except collect the Zygarde cells and clean up a bit of UB-mess, thats it. The game dangles Kanto a few inches a way from your face, before cruelly snatching it back from you, it really does feel like this game has been set up for some DLC, which i'm fine with but putting icing on feces doesn't make it taste nice. The removal and non-replacement of the DexNav or counterpart is probably one of the worst mistakes that could also be made in this franchise, not just the game.

    The difficulty curve is also a fickle thing, the early game is borderline boringly easy, mash A, win battle. However the curve ramps up fiercely toward the end and actually provides a decent challenge in the late game, which is one of it's saving graces.

    Overall, a disappointing game is an excellent series.    … Expand
  21. Macka7
    Nov 21, 2016
    0
    As per usual when it comes to GameFreak, this is 2 steps forward and 60 steps back.

    So much for the 'fresh changes to the formula'. The trials generally suck and the Kahuna's are essentially gym leaders anyway. The game feels almost on rails with all of the handholding and cutscenes every five minutes. The supporting cast are generally irritating. The game was even easier than XY for    As per usual when it comes to GameFreak, this is 2 steps forward and 60 steps back.

    So much for the 'fresh changes to the formula'. The trials generally suck and the Kahuna's are essentially gym leaders anyway. The game feels almost on rails with all of the handholding and cutscenes every five minutes. The supporting cast are generally irritating. The game was even easier than XY for me, repeatedly OHKOing Totem bosses and Kahuna's with their three Pokemon are a joke.

    The game is a bit of a mess. Frame rate can't hold up very well in the new otherwise fun Battle Royale mode. The game constantly needs to load and 'cut away' whenever you interact with anything. There are loading zones everywhere. There are bugs with the way abilities and such work.

    I could keep going.    … Expand
  22. Blackbox20
    Dec 19, 2016
    0
    This game feels more like some weird spinoff to the anime series than a mainstream Pokemon game. There's so many pointless cutscenes and dumb tutorials....it doesn't feel like a Pokemon game. 5 Hours in and I just can't play it anymore. Super boring compared to the other games.Asd Come to this
  23. renegade96
    Feb 9, 2017
    0
    This game sucks. The rival is a total pushover, the story is stupid. The Aloa forms are stupid, instead of gyms you have challenges which are as easy as waking up. This game is a waste of money. The beginning is slow and boring as all hell. Gladion's sister does nothing but **** and whine the entire game. The villain is so **** vanilla it's unreal. These " beasts" are really, reallyThis game sucks. The rival is a total pushover, the story is stupid. The Aloa forms are stupid, instead of gyms you have challenges which are as easy as waking up. This game is a waste of money. The beginning is slow and boring as all hell. Gladion's sister does nothing but **** and whine the entire game. The villain is so **** vanilla it's unreal. These " beasts" are really, really stupid. What is this? Pokemon fanfiction the game? I did not enjoy one thing about this game. Not one thing. I really hated the Rotomdex. That thing was **** annoying. The only good thing about this game is that you can sell it at a pawn shop and use that money to by a game that is actually good… Expand
  24. AuldWolf
    Feb 3, 2017
    0
    It's just too linear! It's the Final Fantasy XIII of Pokémon games, it really is. For me, that's a huge disappointment. I feel that the strength of Japanese games development lies in the Metroidvania feel. It's where they excel. A world where you can revisit older parts of it and sometimes discover new things; You've unlocked a new ability, so perhaps now it's time to go back and checkIt's just too linear! It's the Final Fantasy XIII of Pokémon games, it really is. For me, that's a huge disappointment. I feel that the strength of Japanese games development lies in the Metroidvania feel. It's where they excel. A world where you can revisit older parts of it and sometimes discover new things; You've unlocked a new ability, so perhaps now it's time to go back and check that area you couldn't pass to see if there's anything new there. You may get a new bit of story (maybe even pertaining to a specific character), you may get a new item, but it'll be worth going to nose around the places you've been and it would give you a new appreciation for those places.

    Sun & Moon is a neverending road onward. It continually plows forward with only minor interruptions in a very direct road. It's exactly like Final Fantasy XIII. I've been trying to enjoy it, but i simply can't. I know a lot of extraverted people speak about the "hassle" of HM slaves because it's too much to manage, it was too much freedom for them, too many options! And whilst I can see that to a degree, I also enjoyed the freedom of choosing which Pokémon served my travel needs. It was a freedom I liked. From numerous perspectives, customisation matters to me, and it's a bit confusing that this type of customisation no longer matters to Nintendo since they've been pushing trainer customisation so hard.

    At the end of the day, Sun & Moon just feel cloyingly locked in and bereft of options and choices. I am a robot, I follow this line on the ground, I battle the interruptions, I obey. Might be fun for people who just don't want to think, but that's no fun for me.    … Expand
  25. Amfibios
    Oct 23, 2017
    3
    i've been playing pokemon since the original red and blue and this is the first time a pokemon game has bored me out of my mind.

    it's basically like watching an interactive movie where u just watch for 5 minutes while they're shoving the game's story down your throat, then back to the world, only to go the next objective pointed on the map where another 3 minute cutscene will pop up    i've been playing pokemon since the original red and blue and this is the first time a pokemon game has bored me out of my mind.

    it's basically like watching an interactive movie where u just watch for 5 minutes while they're shoving the game's story down your throat, then back to the world, only to go the next objective pointed on the map where another 3 minute cutscene will pop up only to be followed by a stupidly easy fight of non interesting npcs and then go back to the world where every way is blocked off, except the one THEY want u to take.

    0 interest in the story, 0 exploration, annoying npcs spamming the same animations over and over, everytime u meet them (somehow they keep popping up every 10 steps u take).

    npcs just seem to be so nice giving away charizards and lapras for free so that u'll use them to travel the world, monster encounters somehow is like 90% gen 1 pokemon. mega evolutions are basically non existent and noone's even talking about them as now everyone's focusing on the brand new z powers. no national pokedex.

    i wanted to love it, i TRIED to like it. it started holding my hand since the 1st minute and i was telling myself it'll get better, but it didn't. it kept my interest for a little while until it fell flat on its face and i couldn't find myself playing it anymore.

    they did try making some "innovations" but it wasn't even enough to be considered a whole new gen, just rehashed **** everywhere. if u like pokemon for the exploration and the quest for unveiling the mysteries of the world/pokemon, u'll find none of that here, steer clear.    … Expand
  26. EmirKhorasani
    Aug 18, 2017
    0
    This game was the culmination of taking all of the worst parts of pokemon and putting them front and center. 60% of the game is spent mashing the A button through the pointless slow grueling mucked up narrative. The other 40% spends a lot of time in loading screens and animations. It's actually 13.4 seconds from losing control to gaining it again in wild battles. The pokemon themselvesThis game was the culmination of taking all of the worst parts of pokemon and putting them front and center. 60% of the game is spent mashing the A button through the pointless slow grueling mucked up narrative. The other 40% spends a lot of time in loading screens and animations. It's actually 13.4 seconds from losing control to gaining it again in wild battles. The pokemon themselves used to be the compelling feature which pushed exploration, and dialogue used to be optional. That's what made pokemon greak. This is a horrible, horrible game.… Expand
  27. CaueV
    Feb 20, 2018
    0
    This game deserves an award for disappointment. First of all why does the tutorial last almost an hour? It’s not rocket science. All previous games gave you a 10 minute tutorial at max. People are not that stupid. And well, I guess most reviewers buy a Pokémon game to watch the anime, because that’s all this game is. You spend 90% of the game on cutscenes/ loading screens. And the story isThis game deserves an award for disappointment. First of all why does the tutorial last almost an hour? It’s not rocket science. All previous games gave you a 10 minute tutorial at max. People are not that stupid. And well, I guess most reviewers buy a Pokémon game to watch the anime, because that’s all this game is. You spend 90% of the game on cutscenes/ loading screens. And the story is as childish as you would expect. Every dialogue is basically about the power of friendship or something like this.
    But the stupidest design choice is putting a extremely low appearance rate on most of the new Pokémon. So you bought a new Pokémon game and want to play with new Pokémon? You better do research on which ones you want and have bulbapedia open while playing so you can grind an specific tall grass for 20 minutes until the Pokémon you want shows up. Otherwise you would most likely finish the game asking yourself where is half of the new creatures.
    And what a stupid idea is z-moves. Omg please remove this from the next game. 1 hit KO moves with long animations. Wow, they add so much to the gameplay. Mega evolutions did such a good job bringing back Pokémon that were useless before it, and then they got carried away and invented this garbage.
    It’s surprising how they got everything right on X/Y and managed to throw all that away, go to the opposite direction and make such an atrocity. Takes skill for that.

    X/Y still the best games in the series    … Expand
  28. Braduk
    Sep 13, 2017
    4
    Pokemon Sun/Moon are by far the worst in the mainline series.
    Pros:
    --Bottle Cap system to allow pseudo-IV maxing --The ability to send Pokemon from your party to the PC when catching other Pokemon --Simple and effective egg hatching route (in the sense that this time it's just a square) --Shiny Charm now only requires the regional dex to be completed --Battle Tree --The Mini    Pokemon Sun/Moon are by far the worst in the mainline series.
    Pros:
    --Bottle Cap system to allow pseudo-IV maxing
    --The ability to send Pokemon from your party to the PC when catching other Pokemon
    --Simple and effective egg hatching route (in the sense that this time it's just a square)
    --Shiny Charm now only requires the regional dex to be completed
    --Battle Tree
    --The Mini islands where you plant berries, EV train, etc are a cool idea

    Cons:
    --Excessive amount of cutscenes, to the point where nearly every route has at least one cutscene (and the intro itself takes 12 minutes for a speedrunner to complete, far far longer for the average player)
    --Excessive levels of handholding, I'm aware the series is for kids but the past games didn't have this much handholding
    --Super easy, even for a Pokemon game. Not once did I have to repeat a battle and I finished the Elite Four first try with a slightly underleveled party.
    --Extreme linearity, even for a Pokemon game, with tons of very obvious and shoehorned route and entrance blocks nearly every screen
    --The majority of the new Pokemon designs are not very memorable nor are they very coherently designed, though this is a more subjective con I know I am not the only one who thinks this, and don't even get me started on Ultra Beasts
    --No Super Training, despite both past games having them and it being a very well-received mechanic
    --Mega Forms are more or less shoehorned into a place and it's clear they never really planned to have them back
    --Z Moves are broken and ruin battles, and are required in every battle just like Mega Forms used to be
    --The region is very bland, small, and not very varied between islands, it's clear Gamefreak had no idea what to do without the grid system
    --Certain Pokemon have a 1% appearance rate in areas and that is just stupid
    --Postgame is near non-existent, which makes the small and crappy region feel all the worse
    --Nearly all the new Pokemon have tank-based stats, making party building unnecessarily difficult unless you want a full high defense, low speed team
    --The Trials are a poor replacement for Gyms, if anything both could have been done, there's not even 8 Trials
    --The minigame theme park is not well-developed and does not reach its full potential

    Gamefreak attempted to shake up the series with Sun/Moon. But change is not always good. Bad change is possible. And most of the changes in Sun/Moon are bad for the series. After how bad these games were I am outright skipping Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and may not ever buy a Pokemon game again unless the 2018 game stirs away from the type of game these ones are, and this is coming from the person who has bought and completed generations 1-6 of Pokemon before these ones.    … Expand
  29. Dalium
    Nov 7, 2017
    4
    This game is way too on rails and the postgame is aweful aside from Looker. The festival plaza is a confusing and unneeded replacement for the PSS. A bit harder then ORAS and expecially XY (thank god), plus the story is great. Way too much dialog though, and nobody asked for or wants Z-Moves. It also takes way too long to get your starter Pokemon.
  30. shoeless_sean
    Sep 3, 2020
    2
    WAY to many custcenes to start this game. Pokemon is supposed to be about getting thrust into this beautiful interesting world and being left to your own devices to explore as much as you want. The first 3 hours has over an hour of cutscenes and some of them end only for the player to walk 2 steps (i actually have counted several times) and enter another cutscene. The cutscenes have twoWAY to many custcenes to start this game. Pokemon is supposed to be about getting thrust into this beautiful interesting world and being left to your own devices to explore as much as you want. The first 3 hours has over an hour of cutscenes and some of them end only for the player to walk 2 steps (i actually have counted several times) and enter another cutscene. The cutscenes have two ranges aswell: 1 boring, unnecessary story that is not needed or desired, AND 2 unskipable tutorials that didnt need to be explained to 6 year old me but apparently need to be explained in depth now. I get this game is built for children but when red and blue came out i was a little kid and I had lots of friends who played these games as well as myself and we got along just fine.

    Gameplay and battling is actually worse since X&Y because they added in wild pokemon can now call for help meaning if you do not attack first or one shot the wild encounter pokemon you may have to fight several more, because they can call more than just one per battle. Also for some reason most of what the player will random encounter is gen 1 and gen 2 pokemon, and not even the alolan form ones. I saw at least 50 zubats, and 25 spearow in one two hour session at one point. I buy a new game that they could put in over 800 pokemon and 3 out of 5 encounters are from the first 50 of the Kanto Dex? are you kidding?

    Gamefreak apparently forgot what makes pokemon games fun, cuz this game is bad, especially by their standards.    … Expand
  31. supercereal
    Jan 6, 2017
    3
    Its pokemon, and the pokemon aspects are good, but they should sack whoever wrote that dull dull story and lynch whoever forgot to allow you to skip cutscenes. This, the dumbass Rotom Dex and and the "call for help" thing wild pokemon do, have made the whole thing much worse than it needed to be and Pika-peed all over the good stuff.
  32. ORevisor
    Jul 8, 2017
    3
    O jogo me decepcionou em diversos aspectos:
    - história fraca como de costume e para piorar esta versão é repleta de diálogos e escolhas que não interferem na história;
    - gráfico sem muita inovação ou melhoria fora e dentro das batalhas; - músicas éé... algumas são bem chatinhas outras são até empolgantes; - o desequilíbrio entre os tipos de pokémons persiste, não foi alterado em nada    O jogo me decepcionou em diversos aspectos:
    - história fraca como de costume e para piorar esta versão é repleta de diálogos e escolhas que não interferem na história;
    - gráfico sem muita inovação ou melhoria fora e dentro das batalhas;
    - músicas éé... algumas são bem chatinhas outras são até empolgantes;
    - o desequilíbrio entre os tipos de pokémons persiste, não foi alterado em nada neste ponto, o tipo grama continua terrível em campeonatos;
    - a lista de novos pokemons é beem pequena e possui muitos lendários;
    - hyper potion restaura 100 de hp;
    - muitos pokémons especiais de evento são obtidos através dos filmes ou lojas físicas, odeio com toda força o Ash e o desenho mais ainda, ou seja, NUNCA iria assistir um lixo para obter um pokemon exclusivo;
    - treinar o effort inicialmente é impossível (não existe macho brace), e mais para frente entediante;
    - acabaram com as lutas horde e com os ginásios;
    - e o pior de tudo o pós game é terrível MUITO terrível, quase nada para se fazer...
    - fim das lutas triplas;
    Pontos Positivos:
    + fim dos HM;
    + o pokemon não ganha lv no daycare;    … Expand
  33. Kyle67
    Aug 10, 2017
    2
    This is a horrible game. It wasted my time literally from hitting entering my character's name. Some other reviewer said that cancerous unskippable cut-scenes make it so you can pay attention to the story, and i agree. It makes it so I can REEEALLY notice all of the cookie-cutter characters, cliche moments, cheesy writing, and childish archetypes used.
    I hate this game so much that when    This is a horrible game. It wasted my time literally from hitting entering my character's name. Some other reviewer said that cancerous unskippable cut-scenes make it so you can pay attention to the story, and i agree. It makes it so I can REEEALLY notice all of the cookie-cutter characters, cliche moments, cheesy writing, and childish archetypes used.
    I hate this game so much that when the SD card that contained the game became defunct, I didn't even care. The only reason this game doesn't get a '0' is because it added about 7 or 8 Pokemon that were okay. And, no.
    I don't mean f***ing Bruxish.    … Expand
  34. Nessuno-Kun
    Oct 31, 2017
    1
    First off, this game is horrible. You either already know or were warned.
    If you are a fan, this will disappoint you.
    They decided to ruin the wonderful Pokémon franchise with some poor, boring, easy and extremely childish games. The only possible pro is that you might like a couple Alolan forms (though watch out from Persian and Exeggutor). Here is the reasons why you should never be    First off, this game is horrible. You either already know or were warned.
    If you are a fan, this will disappoint you.
    They decided to ruin the wonderful Pokémon franchise with some poor, boring, easy and extremely childish games. The only possible pro is that you might like a couple Alolan forms (though watch out from Persian and Exeggutor).

    Here is the reasons why you should never be tempted to waste your money there:

    1) Extremely easy, even more than XY.
    2) Very slow, unless you run it on a New3DS line.
    3) The online features are three steps back from the sixth generation's PSS.
    4) Annoying cutscenes and long, unneeded dialogues.
    5) Lack of freedom throughout the gameplay.
    6) Z-Moves make it even easier and similar to Yo-Kai Watch.
    7) The characters, including your rival, are childish and annoying as evil.
    8) Ultra Creatures designs, as well as some Pokémon, are literally TERRIBLE.
    9) Lack of National Pokédex which is cool to collectors.
    10) No tough challenges after the supereasy Alolan League (Battle Tree is easy).
    11) Rotom-Dex adds even more ease and prevents you to ever be curious about how to proceed.
    12) They forgot to add decent clothes if you are a straight male.
    13) Lack of puzzles and secrets like in the previous games (there are no gyms as well).
    14) The Gold Bottle caps might be cool on the card, but then it's frustrating to level up until level 100 and to acquire those items which raise up the IVs.
    15) With cheaters and cheats being everywhere and shiny odds being raised down, legendaries and shinies have much less value than in any other pre-3DS games.
    16) The Alolan map is a total disaster, extremely confusing design.
    17) Too many items that are not needed because the game is already easy, even for your 5-years-old children.
    18) The enemies of the story are not as cruel as in the past, they are childish and politically correct as well, while in the previous games they were actually wicked.
    19) The game is overall not fun, unless this is your first Pokémon game and this is the main reason why you should not buy your money, even because the previous chapters are even cheaper.
    20) They are nothing more than what has been leaked on Nintendo's YouTube channel, so basically this is everything they had to offer. Sales were good because of that marketing.
    21) Unlike the other games, these games are ONLY FOR KIDS. If you are a quite smart adult, you are going to get bored and disappointed about this series's present and future.
    22) Sound and story could even be ok, but gameplay is the core of every videogame.

    There are plenty more, but if you have these games on your hands, you are probably aware that this is the first step of the sunrise of the Pokémon decline.
    The Sun/Moon anime show may help you realizing that, they are very similar to these games.

    Verdict: Save your money for anything else and if you are a parent, let your kid play Red, Blue, Crystal, Emerald, Platinum or even Black and White. He's going to grow better and happier.    … Expand
  35. cool_dork
    Feb 3, 2019
    4
    This was the only Pokemon game that I did not finish. It was incredibly boring. It lacked any sort of a story, even for Pokemon. The Pokemon in this game also felt uninspired. Also, Z moves felt slightly pointless due to the fact that there are already mega evolutions. I did like the Alolan versions of old Pokemon, but besides that this game was by far the worst Pokemon.
  36. Zankyouo
    Sep 4, 2019
    4
    Este juego es un jodido chiste andante. Es tan fácil hasta el punto que aburre, regalandote pokémon muy fuertes con piedras para que los evoluciones, muchos objetos, un repartir de experiencia que es un chiste y unos ataques llamados ataques Z que literalmente destrozan. Cuál es el punto de jugar este juego con un gameplay decepcionante si la historia es aún pero? No le veo motivosEste juego es un jodido chiste andante. Es tan fácil hasta el punto que aburre, regalandote pokémon muy fuertes con piedras para que los evoluciones, muchos objetos, un repartir de experiencia que es un chiste y unos ataques llamados ataques Z que literalmente destrozan. Cuál es el punto de jugar este juego con un gameplay decepcionante si la historia es aún pero? No le veo motivos siquiera de existir, es el peor asqueroso intento de hacer volver a la gente a esta saga.… Expand
  37. JellyGamer
    Nov 18, 2019
    4
    I first played Pokemon Blue aged 10 and I've played every game since then. This was the first pokemon game I've ever disliked. I found it a chore to get through this game, which is a shame given the potential it had.

    My biggest qualm with it was the hand-holdy nature. I felt like I couldn't walk a few steps without being accosted by a 5 minute cutscene. I wanted to go on an adventure,    I first played Pokemon Blue aged 10 and I've played every game since then. This was the first pokemon game I've ever disliked. I found it a chore to get through this game, which is a shame given the potential it had.

    My biggest qualm with it was the hand-holdy nature. I felt like I couldn't walk a few steps without being accosted by a 5 minute cutscene. I wanted to go on an adventure, but instead I was led around by every character in the game, forced to go where they wanted me to go and do what they wanted me to do.

    The game is incredibly easy. Every trainer seems to only have one pokemon, so rather than each fight being fun and challenging, it's more of an annoyance.
    Even your rivals and enemies have underwhelming teams. Nothing was ever challenging and after each battle I was told how incredible I was. It all felt very patronising.

    There's a half hour, unskippable cutscene at the end of the game. However, every now and then you're required to press A to keep it going, so you can't even leave it to play out on its own.

    Last but not least, a majority of the pokemon designs just don't feel like pokemon. And I'm someone who's liked most pokemon up until now. The final starter evolutions feel more like character designs than species designs. Incineroar is great as a Smash character, but I can't imagine one in the wild interacting with other creatures.
    As someone who's worked in game design for ten years, it's easy to spot lazy creature design and the failure to keep the creatures looking like they're part of the same world is saddening.
    In the past, pokemon designs were kept consistant by a few variations in eye design and a mostly natural colour palette. Today, every single species seems to have a different type of eye and the colours are all bright and unnatural. That's not to say a design should never have an interesting colour on it or a new eye type, but when every creature is completely different in style, it clangs.
    Also, most pokemon seem to evolve by becoming bipedal now. Some evolve by growing facial hair or wearing human clothes. It feels like the designers have lost sight of the original idea of 'evolution' and stepped more into what they think would look cool.
    That said, almost all of them are good designs, they just don't look like a believable ecosystem of creatures.

    On a positive note, some parts of the game are enjoyable. The photography minigame was fun (if a bit underwhelming) and a lot of the locations were nice. The general storyline was good, even if it was incredibly poorly executed.

    I'd say this game was definitely more bad than 'okay' though. It's one of the worst games I've ever played, not to mention the worst pokemon game. I'm baffled by the good scores it has gotten but to each their own I guess.    … Expand
  38. SnaZzyDotEXE
    Feb 22, 2021
    1
    z moves are really **** the story is **** garbage. the box legendaries are boring. the game is really easy, its not fun, its just boring
  39. TheKingBoysan
    Aug 12, 2020
    0
    Only Pokémon game I can't stand playing, it holds your hand way to much and Rotom Pokédex is so annoying, completed it once and never again which is a shame as every other main series Pokémon games have re play ability.
  40. Howlingwolfjoey
    Jul 28, 2020
    0
    Worst story
    Worst Legends
    Worst villains Worst gameplay No gyms NO CHAMPION??? It's the WORST pokemon game to exist, worst than XY & RSE. It doesn't play like a pokemon game. In fact, it's more like a fan game than anything. Thank god Sword/Shield saved the day and retained the old gameplay than the trash new one. Anyone that liked SM over SwSh are piece of trash that doesn't    Worst story
    Worst Legends
    Worst villains
    Worst gameplay
    No gyms
    NO CHAMPION???

    It's the WORST pokemon game to exist, worst than XY & RSE. It doesn't play like a pokemon game. In fact, it's more like a fan game than anything. Thank god Sword/Shield saved the day and retained the old gameplay than the trash new one. Anyone that liked SM over SwSh are piece of trash that doesn't exist. Matter of fact, they're not real pokemon fans.    … Expand
  41. manuel812
    May 29, 2021
    4
    probablemente el mejor juego de pokemon en 3d pero no deja de ser malo primero aunque la dificultad no es tan estúpidamente fácil como la octava o sexta generación sigue siendo muy fácil la historia es decente ya que el prota parece un puto espectador y ... porque mierda sacaron las megaevoluciones y el megavuelo eran unas ideas muy buenas y pudieron mejorarlas aunque tengo que admitir queprobablemente el mejor juego de pokemon en 3d pero no deja de ser malo primero aunque la dificultad no es tan estúpidamente fácil como la octava o sexta generación sigue siendo muy fácil la historia es decente ya que el prota parece un puto espectador y ... porque mierda sacaron las megaevoluciones y el megavuelo eran unas ideas muy buenas y pudieron mejorarlas aunque tengo que admitir que las formas alolas son muy buenas mas no obstante lo peor del juego son las putas rutas son muy LINEALES las mas lineales sin contar a la horrible octava generación… Expand
  42. sathvik_
    Aug 1, 2023
    4
    I cannot believe these people at game freak actually thought that ditching the very successful mega evolutions and replace it with z moves.
    I mean it isint BAD but what the heck
  43. KilluaZaoldyeck
    Nov 22, 2022
    3
    Not really sure why this has such high ratings, everything about it is simplistic and just low effort. The soundtrack is forgettable, the dialog is bad at best. The battle system is about as basic as rock paper scissors types of games can be, and even worst it's 1v1 battles. I'll keep it short and stop here.
  44. Souls2
    Feb 28, 2023
    3
    Finally a Pokemon game that doesn't look like a recycle of the previous one, the graphic change and that it no longer has a gym is a change that comes in handy, although it still has simple stories. The best thing that the franchise could have in all its years was to change the MO movements for mounts speeding up the game and your Pokemon team.
  45. Shrek2inDVD
    Jun 21, 2023
    0
    Merda totale preferisco suicidarmi piuttosto che passare 10 minuti in questo gioco. Gioco per disabili babbuini con le madri ciccione schifose.
  46. Niltrio
    May 5, 2023
    4
    mediocre boring game riddled with unskippable cutscenes and useless tutorials which fans of the franchise would've rather skipped. (imo) worst designed mons of the bunch, forgettable rival team, only redeemable qualitiies is a change of the original formula which was ditched for the next entry, and the rise in difficulty. probably the worst entry of the franchise on the 3ds.

Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best 3DS Game of 2016
1
#1 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2016
1
#1 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 87 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 87
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 87
  3. Negative: 0 out of 87
  1. Vooks
    Apr 8, 2017
    100
    Pokémon Sun and Moon make terrific changes the twenty-year-old formula, allowing new fans and returning ones back into the series with a wonderful lively and colourful world. It's just a little too easy for us who have been here from the start - but it's easy to forgot that when you're having such a blast.
    Read full review
  2. Easy Allies
    Mar 19, 2017
    90
    If you’re a newcomer to the series, this is an excellent opportunity to learn the fundamentals in a laid-back setting. If you’re a pro, you’ll relish the new options in place for making your Pokémon all they can be. Sun & Moon is a Pokémon vacation we’d gladly take again.
    Read full review
  3. Vgames
    Mar 8, 2017
    90
    These games exceeded my expectations by a mile. Pokemon Sun and Moon are games that every Pokemon fan and every 3DS owner needs to own. Nintendo and Gamefreak did an awesome job creating a great story and the changes they made for the format make the game feel fresh and exciting more so than ever before. The game has its minor issues like the end game and some performance issues on Old 3DS models but the soundtrack, the story and the new features more than make up for it, to make an unforgettable experience.
    Read full review
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