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. 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
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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.
  10. 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
  11. 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?
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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.
  15. 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
  16. 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.
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. 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.
  27. 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
  28. 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
  29. 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.
  30. 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
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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.
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  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.
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  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.
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