Hey everyone. I know I’m really really late with this post. As the holiday season approaches, my schedule has been hectic. Plus, my router died so I’ve been without internet for a week but I just got it back. For the most part I’ll just be doing this as a recap. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon are only 1 week away! Let’s get started.
First off, I want to get this info out of the way. It was revealed that the points gained from Mantine Surf is used to teach your Pokémon unique moves via Move Tutors. Yes, move tutors make a return to the games. Receiving these points in this fashion makes it way more fun than in previous games. I can’t wait to shred a “Huntail Spiral” move soon. Moving on, next is Z-Moves.
Z-Moves:
As it stands, we have 5 confirmed Z-moves: Clangorous Soulblaze (Kommo-o), Splintered Stormshards (Lycanroc), Searing Sunraze Smash (Dusk Mane Necrozma), Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom (Dawn Wings Necrozma), and the recently revealed Let’s Snuggle Forever (Mimikyu). Seriously, the western translation for Mimikyu’s exclusive Z-move is “Let’s Snuggle Forever!” Basically, with love from its trainer, Mimikyu smothers its opponent underneath its Pikachu disguise and beats the heck out of it. The unfortunate opponent is forced to see Mimikyu’s real form which was so terrifying it nearly killed Meowth in the anime! In order to use this Z-move in battle Mimikyu must know the move Play Rough. Check out the trailer here.
Totem Pokémon & Stickers:
A new feature introduced in Ultra Sun and Moon is Totem Stickers. Journeying through the Alola region you will find these stickers of island totems. After collecting enough of them you will receive the actual Totem Pokémon themselves! We know of 3 totem sized Pokémon so far: Gumshoos, Lurantis (Ultra Sun only), and Salazzle (Ultra Moon only).
Battle Agency:
Spicing up the Festival Plaza feature is the Battle Agency. This new area is akin to the Battle Factory from Hoenn and Sinnoh and allows the player to rent various Pokémon to do battle, including several legendaries. The format is Single-Battle only, possibly due to data constraints. At first, you have a limited selection of Pokémon. As you defeat trainers along the way, you will receive certain items such as Gold Bottle Caps. Speaking with others in the Festival Plaza unlocks more Pokémon for you to use. This feature somewhat reminds me of Pokémon Stadium from the N64.
-Battle Agency artwork (not mines)
Team Rainbow Rocket:
I saved this post for last, as it would’ve been kinda lengthy. Long time no see, Giovanni… Yup you heard me right, Giovanni is back and badder than ever! He’s now the leader of the new Team Rainbow Rocket which has taken over the Aether Paradise and Festival Plaza. The insignia is the same “R” for Rocket but rainbow colored. Giovanni has also recruited some familiar faces into this organization. The tag “Battle through 20 years of Villainy” is right. Reaching out to the other leaders from team antagonists from previous games here they are:
-Maxie, Team Magma
-Archie, Team Aqua
-Cyrus, Team Galactic
-Ghetsis, Team Plasma
-Lysandre, Team Flare
How Giovanni got these guys to follow him is a mystery. What’s even more interesting is how Giovanni was able to reach out to them. There are several questions surrounding this, especially with Cyrus and Lysandre. Remember Cyrus was sucked into the Distortion World by Girantina and Lysandre blew himself up in a failed attempt to use the Ultimate Weapon on the Kalos region. I wasn’t even sure if Lysandre survived that ordeal. How could Giovanni get to them? There are several rumors going around that he was able to create the technology to make a gateway similar to a wormhole and possibly used Mewtwo’s psychic power to help stabilize this gateway. Then he traveled to alternate dimensions. It was also mentioned that this wormhole transcends time and space, which would explain why the designs for Maxie and Archie are from the original Ruby and Sapphire games and not the remakes. Proving his power with Mewtwo Giovanni probably convinced the other leaders to join his cause. What team wants with Alola is still unclear but they are nonetheless an obstacle the player must conquer.
In the center right corner of the artwork poster you’ll notice the trainer Faba from the Aether Paradise. Seems in this alternate timeline he’s sided with Team Rainbow Rocket. He might play the role of their scientist and may even have his own goals to achieve. At the bottom is the player and his allies which includes Wicke and Guzman. Team Skull no longer seems to be your rivals anymore. Each member of Rainbow Rocket will battle you with at least 1 signature Pokémon on their roster, so far only Giovanni, Cyrus, Ghetsis, and Lysandre are known. However, we can assume that Maxie will have Camerupt or some other Fire type and Archie will use Sharpedo or another Water type. Giovanni uses Mewtwo which can mega evolve into Mega Mewtwo Y. Guessing Giovanni recaptured Mewtwo (or at least convinced it back to his side). Cyrus has Houndoom, Ghetsis has Hydreigon, and Lysandre has both Pyroar and Gyarados (Mega Gyarados).
I’d like to give a shoutout to Youtuber ProtoMario. His theory videos are great and feature lots of content. Please check out his take on Team Rainbow Rocket. He goes more in detail on Giovanni specifically, in that this Giovanni is the same one that Red and Gold defeated back in the R/B/Y and G/S games; not one from an alternate timeline. Giovanni stated he would return after his defeat in Johto (that’s if you managed to activate the Celebi event).
Island Scan:
It was revealed that the QR Scanner will return to Ultra Sun and Moon. This will allow you to use Island Scan to catch Pokémon that weren’t available in Sun and Moon, such as Charmander and Grovyle.
Version Exclusives:
As always not every Pokémon is available in both games. The version exclusives for Sun and Moon return for the new Ultra games with some new additions. This is especially important for legendaries in particular. For example, using the Ultra Wormholes post-game you can catch Ho-oh in Ultra Sun but not Ultra Moon, same goes for Lugia in Ultra Moon. Here’s a list of these exclusives from Serebii.
Future of Pokémon Games:
It was confirmed that Ultra Sun and Moon will be the last main Pokémon games for the 3DS. Game Freak and Nintendo has pushed the 3DS to its limits. A stronger system is needed to handle more data and improved graphics. With a new Pokémon RPG on the rise for the Switch, this makes sense. During a recent interview Game Freak director Shigeru Ohmori stated:
“When we were making Pokémon X and Y, we really were trying to push the 3DS system to its absolute limits – which is what we thought we’d done…when Sun and Moon came around, we completely redesigned the system, and actually ended up pushing the 3DS even further to what we thought was the most we could draw out of it.”
He followed that up with “With Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, we’ve tried to eke that out more and really, really push the system to its absolute limits, and we’re now feeling that perhaps this is the maximum of what we can get out. So we’re really treating Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon as the ‘culmination’ of our work with the 3DS system.”
That about sums it up. Now this doesn’t mean Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon will be the last Pokémon games on the 3DS system, just the last core versions of the series. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for the Nintendo Switch. As always, thank you all for reading and enjoy your weekend.
*Images used are not mine. Rights reserved to their original owners.
*References:
https://www.serebii.net/
https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/team-rainbow-rocket-legendary-pokemon-and-more-revealed
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProtoMario/videos
http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/10/19/ultra-sun-and-ultra-moon-will-be-the-last-pokemon-rpgs-for-3ds
Poke-Navi 
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