Pokémon Sun & Moon confirmed for 2016!

[Elton John]

I like the koala pokemon.

Oh hey falcor is now in pokeman!

[Carl]

Out of all of those, I like Iwanko, Nekkoala, Litten, Rowlet, Pikipek, and Lunala.

I'm definitely going to send some things from Yellow through the Pokémon Bank to the new game anyhow.

[Squeely]

And now for Squeely's lengthy opinions on each:

Megearna is neat, and Steel/Fairy is a great typing. Though I don't care a whole lot for it; only reason being that it looks like it's going to be an event Pokemon. I'm not much of a competitive player. I get my enjoyment out of Pokemon by going through the game with a team of 6. As such, Megearna will more than likely be off-limits for me (even if I downloaded the event, odds are good it'd come at level 40+, putting it out-of-use for the majority of the game). A well-designed Pokemon, but one I'll probably never use.

Those who know me could probably already guess I'm team Litten, though Rowlet is also very appealing because I've wanted a Grass/Flying with good stats (Skymin doesn't count due to being an event mon). I also like Popplio quite a bit; it's only my least favorite of the three because the other two are so fantastic. I really hope Litten evolves into something interesting, though. Mono-Fire is pretty boring, as is Fire/Fighting. Hoping for a more unique typing. Fire/Dark seems the most fitting (I know the Houndour line has this type, but they're the only two Pokemon with it. I would not mind giving this typing another go). If it does end up with something boring like mono-Fire, I really hope it gets a redeeming gimmick, like I dunno, the ability to learn Thunderbolt or something (with good SpA so it isn't a pointless edition to its movepool, obvs). I'm pretty sick of going through the game with a mono-type starter, and only having their type + Normal to work with. Looking at you, Typhlosion, Meganium, and Serperior. Outside of a few TMs, which usually don't show up till the endgame, these (and possibly a few other starters I'm forgetting) don't have anything outside of Normal+their type. Which gets old and frustrating when I'm still having to switch my starter out 6 badges in because it lacks coverage, especially when other Pokemon I pick up, monotype or not, usually have a coverage move or two by that point. To be frank, I feel like monotype starters need to never happen again. I'm fine with the basic and first stages being monotype, but give me something interesting in the final stage, with a decent STAB move to go with the new typing.

Solgaleo and Lunala are sorta whatever for me, since I usually don't use Uber-tier Pokemon on my team (assuming they will be, since the cover legendaries always are). I just feel it makes the game more fair if I stick to non-Uber mons. They're pretty well-designed, though, and being someone who prefers to be awake at night, I naturally like Lunala better. Moon all the way!

Nekkoala is cute. Don't really know what else to say, other than finally a koala Pokemon. I hope it becomes part Grass if/when it evolves. That little wooden drum thingy looks reminiscent of a mallet. Wood Hammer, anyone?

I love Iwanko. It reminds me of my partner's fursona. Definite contender for a teamslot, though I hope for a more interesting typing than mono-Rock.

P̶e̶a̶r̶l̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶S̶t̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶U̶n̶i̶v̶e̶r̶s̶e̶ Pikipek looks like it'll be the region's bird. Which I pretty much never use, save for the Starly line. The rest are pretty meh statswise, though of course, I would love for this one to be another exception. We shall see if it defies convention and becomes something interesting.

Yungoos is sorta neat I guess. Not a huge fan of this one, and it seems like it'll be Alola's common rodent. At least the biting thing seems kinda interesting.

Grubbin is your standard s̶h̶e̶a̶r̶g̶r̶u̶b̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶P̶i̶k̶m̶i̶n̶ regional bug. Nothing really exceptional here. Charjabug's battery shape is kinda neat, but other than that, it's pretty boring. Vikavolt, however, is amazing, and might just defy convention and be a good earlygame Bug-type. Leavanny and Scoliopede come to mind as earlygame Bug-types who were good, so hopefully this will be more along those lines.

Drampa is neat, and Dragon/Normal is a unique typing. It looks like it could be a standalone, though I kinda hope it gets an evolution, as I feel like its design has some places it can go.

I hate Bruxish already. It's ugly and I'm bored of fish Pokemon at this point. It brings to mind Seaking, Alomomola, Lumineon, and Basculin, all boring Pokemon who aren't very good statswise, either. Granted, Bruxish could end up with an interesting evolution, but I doubt it, as it'll probably end up a standalone. Every generation has those few designs that I hate, and this will more than likely be one for gen 7.

I adore Cutiefly already. Hopefully it'll be another Ralts/Flabebe; needs some babying early on, but becomes good once you reach the final evo. I like picking up a second team member early, and hopefully this'll fulfill that need. Bug/Fairy is a very solid typing only resisted by Steel and Fire if I recall correctly. I have hopes that this lovable little cutie becomes a keeper.

I don't like Togedemaru. Granted, Electric/Steel is an interesting typing that hasn't been done too many times before, but the Pikaclones have always been extremely disappointing, statswise. I remember falling in love with Dedenne's design, then never wanting to actually use it because of its awful stats. Such a shame, and unless convention gets defied and they actually give it an evolution, Togedemaru also won't be worth a damn. I don't like its design all that much, either. Imo Pachirisu and Dedenne are far cuter.

Tapu Koko is fantastic! Assuming it's one of those kinda rare, mid-lategame standalones ala Pinsir and Absol (ignoring their mega evos since they did not have those in their debut generations), and assuming it gets similarly good stats, it'll be a contender for a teamslot for sure. Worth waiting for, for sure, provided it is what I'm thinking it'll be, and not some postgame legendary.

[Elton John]

My current 3DS XL is in shambles, I just bought three new consoles in the past 3 years, so it's pretty hard to justify spending 200 plus dollars on the new 3ds remodel when the system is entering it's last year of decent support (and I have felt that 2013 was the last year the system got a substantial number of games I wanted to play) and I could use that money on other things.

So this is probably the first pokemon gen I won't play unless nintendos next handheld has 3DS backwards compatability.

[Squeely]

So I noticed an interesting trend:

Gens 1 and 5: 150 Pokemon introduced, all entirely new to that gen. Also, a whole lot of gen 5 Pokemon parallel gen 1 Pokemon. Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan --> Throh and Sawk, Sandshrew line --> Drilbur line, Machop line --> Timburr line, Geodude line --> Roggenrola line, Drowzee line --> Munna line, and so on.

Gens 2 and 6: A low amount of Pokemon introduced (100 and 76, respectively), a pretty big emphasis on adding evolutions to gen 1 Pokemon (mega evolutions in gen 6's case), new Eeveelutions, and most of all, new type(s).

Now gen 7 comes along, and it's very tropical and exotic. Sound familiar? How about how it looks to be making some more drastic changes, with the possible removal of gyms? Ring a bell? Gen 3 made perhaps the most drastic changes to the system up to this point, with the new IV system, new EV limits, and abilities and natures. I'm thinking it's possible that gen 7 may draw a lot of parallels to gen 3. Heck, I've heard there were plans to have more moveslots per Pokemon in gen 3 (that they obviously never implemented) and now we're getting Z-moves.

The interesting part of this is the possibility that the next remakes won't be the more-obvious Diamond and Pearl, but we could end up getting a Red and Green remake again. Fire Red and Leaf Green are the next games that were released after Ruby and Sapphire, after all. And, Red and Green remakes would indeed have a lot of points in their favor. First, Gamefreak has been catering hardcore to fans who are nostalgic for gen 1, with most mega evolutions being of gen 1 Pokemon, the 3DS Virtual Console release of Red, Blue, and Yellow, and now Alola forms (not to mention Niantic only including gen 1 Pokemon in Pokemon Go). And, said megas and Alola forms would really put a new spin on the Kanto games, and there's the Fairy type, the post-gen-1 evolutions such as Crobat that FR/LG frustratingly omitted, the Physical/Special split... Honestly, gen 1 remakes would have a ton going for them in terms of new content that would offer a fresh experience, and they would likely expand the story (and possibly even the region itself) a lot, since they did a fair amount of that with OR/AS.

So, perhaps gen 1 remakes aren't on the horizon, but I would not be surprised in the slightest if they are.

[Carl]

That's possible. I hadn't thought of that. I'm now really intrigued to see if that's what they do or not. Never actually played much of Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum, so I'd totally prefer another Red/Blue remake, though a remake of DPP might see me actually complete one of them, though that didn't work for Ruby/Sapphire (sorry Alpha Sapphire, I do like you, promise...)

Anyhow, I'm thinking I might have to get both Sun and Moon at some point. I have to get Sun for Lycanroc's Midday Form, but Moon just speaks to me.

[Squeely]

I'm about equally interested in Red and Blue remakes as I would Diamond and Pearl ones. Imo Diamond and Pearl are better games than Red and Blue were, their slowness and severe limitation of Fire-types aside. I would hope that, if we do get DP remakes, they keep the addition of Eevee, Houndour, and Magby to the dex that Platinum added.

That said, Blue was my first game, and was in fact the first video game I ever beat, so Red and Blue hold special places in my heart. So much so, that Fire Red and Leaf Green are among my favorite games to play through despite some pretty big shortcomings (the removal of new evolutions for the first gen Pokemon being the biggest). And like I said in my last post, gen 1 has received huge updates since then. Gen 4 hasn't seen nearly as many, though of course they could still add some pretty big incentives to try out gen 4 remakes in the form of a bunch of new megas. I have heard rumor that 15 new megas are planned for Sun and Moon, we'll see if those are true and if so, whether there's any gen 4 bias among who gets a mega.

I suppose I could offer some quick thoughts on the newer stuff that has been added since I last talked about my thoughts on the new Pokes:

Alolan forms: Sandshrew line and Vulpix line are neat, and have some unique typings. Marowak is hella cool. I LOVE Exeggutor for how amazingly derpy it is, and Raichu is my favorite of the bunch. Raichu was always a staple of my Kanto teams and may just find a place on my Moon team

Meowth is eh. It'll need a pretty big stat boost and a more unique typing upon evolving into Persian (who I also assume will get an Alola form), otherwise it'll be along the lines of Poochyena and Purrloin, if not even a bit worse than them.

I really dislike Alolan Rattata and Raticate. I like regular Rattata, but it does not look good with the mustache. Raticate is my least favorite of all the Pokemon, and while the Alola form gets rid of the horrid puke color in favor of a pleasing black and brown, the full-cheeks thing just makes Raticate all the more hideous. Bleh.

Lycanroc forms: I love both of these a lot. The midday one is wicked cool, but the midnight one being a flipping werewolf? Yes yes yes yes <3 Werewolves are my favorite mythical creatures and this just cements Moon as the superior choice for me.

Gumshoos: Don't like it. Wasn't a huge fan of Yungoos and upon evolution it commits the sins of not only looking like Trump, but having perma-closed eyes. I don't know why, but I hate it when Pokemon have perma-closed eyes. Just makes them look a whole lot worse in my opinion (Snorlax being the exception, it pulls the look off).

Salandit is awesome, and we finally have a Fire/Poison type! It sadly won't have a spot on my first Moon team since I'll be rolling with Litten and I don't like to double-up on types, but I'll definitely keep a spot open for it on subsequent non-Litten playthroughs.

Stufful and Bewear are weird. I kinda like it.

Mimikyu has a neat concept, though the Internet's explosion of love for this thing makes me feel like it's pretty overrated. I don't dislike it, mind, but I don't love it either. I'm neutral on this one.

Wimpod doesn't seem like it'll be that fun to use, with you being forced to swtich if it hits half HP. I am, however, hoping for a Magikarp-to-Gyarados situation here, as it does seem likely. If that ends up being the case, this little guy could be well worth babying (provided it evolves early enough). If it keeps the Water/Bug typing (please please please let it keep it because Surskit was such a tease) I can see myself keeping it on my team, supporting it with stronger teammates till it becomes a beast.

Bounsweet sure is a Grass type.

Comfey sure is a Fairy type. Reminds me a lot of the Flabebe line.

Mudbray is very cute and Mudsdale is awesome. Love these guys.

Minior is very intriguing. I'm not wild about it, but it is a very interesting concept.

Fromantis and Lurantis are very cool. Little weird that they're not part Bug, but then again, they'd pretty much be Leavanny again if they were, and Grass/Bug is infamous for its plethora of weaknesses. So mono-Grass ain't all bad.

Oricorio is really cool. The Ghost one is my favorite of the bunch.

Sandygast and Plaossand sure are sandcastle Ghosts. I'm neutral to Pokemon based on objects, don't hate them like most people do, and these two definitely fit the tropical theme. Neutral on these.

Wishiwashi's school form seems very cool, but its ability reverts it if its health is low, which doesn't seem that great for a playthrough. Unless singular Wishiwashi has great stats, but it definitely looks weak. Seems like something that could really screw it over, but we'll see.

Pyukumuku is adorable.

Morelull is strange. I dig it.

Turtonator is amazing. Alola keeps giving us great Fire-types!

Crabrawler is funky in a way that isn't appealing to me. I will say, though, I like that it's a Fighting type that isn't really human-based. We are long overdue for more of those.

Jangmo-o is really cute, and I can't wait to see what it evolves into!

Type: Null is the strangest of probably any Pokemon. I'm really interested in hearing this one's story.

Passimian is pretty neat, another non-human Fighting which is again, very welcome. Sun-exclusive so I don't plan on using it (though I will have access to it if I really want it, since my partner will be getting Sun).

Oranguru I like a lot. I've wanted a Normal/Psychic with better stats than Girafarig for a long time.

Thus far, my planned Moon team is Litten and Lycanroc midnight, with Cutiefly, Wimpod (assuming a Gyarados-tier evolution), Alolan Raichu, and Alolan Exeggutor as strong candidates for the other slots. It really depends on what's available reasonably early, what goes best with the duo of Litten and Lycanroc, what has reasonably good stats (I'm not looking for the top of the top in terms of stats, just something pretty workable and not, y'know, Ariados levels of bad) and what counters the big boss fights.

[Anansi]

So excited, getting Sun! <3

[Squeely]

So, the midvos for the starters have been revealed. I'll leave the URL instead of embedding since the thumbnail is spoilery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciqAkdXQ9dw

I will say, these look very in-line with the leaked final evolutions.

[Marizzle]

^I definitely agree. If the leaked final evolutions turn out to be true, I'm definitely picking Rowlet.

I like Litten's final evo, but I'm a bit "sad" with how "gendered" Popplio's is, honestly. Yet, there's that theory going around that there might be two final evolutions per starter - not that I believe in it, but who knows! Sun & Moon have already brought so many new things, even more innovations wouldn't surprise me at all.