Let me begin by saying that this is not a full-review of Pokemon Sun. I likely will never fully-complete this game, and let’s be honest, it’s just as likely that you won’t either. Pokemon games are huge time sinks and completing a Pokedex isn’t even the main quest of the game, it’s just something to brag about. While most of the hardcore Pokemon fans have already sunk a good chunk of time into the game, some of you may still be sitting on the fence, debating on if Sun/Moon is something you should add to your Christmas list, or wait until a sale arrives. This review is largely for you.
Pokemon has been a part of my life ever since eight-year-old me decided to watch cartoons before school one morning. I was flipping through TV channels and found a cartoon with a character named Tommy. Immediately loving the show because it had a character named Tommy (I was also a big fan of Rugrats), I aptly studied everything about this cartoon, with its weird name, zany characters (I’d never seen anime before), and cool-looking monsters.
Tommy from “The Kangaskahn Kid” episode.
What I didn’t know was that Tommy wasn’t a main character in Pokemon, in fact, the episode I stumbled upon was the only episode that Tommy appears in: The Kangaskhan Kid. While that Tommy said goodbye to Ash, Misty, and Brock at the end of the episode, this Tommy did not.
And here I am today: a twenty-six year old playing a game about a bunch of nine-year-old kids catching monsters.
I mean this unironically: I have no regrets.
For years, Pokemon games have been some of the best games to own for Nintendo’s mobile game systems. This year, with the release of Pokemon GO, the most popular mobile game ever, we’ve also learned that Pokemon games now carry that distinction beyond Nintendo’s own consoles.
I’m happy to say that Pokemon Sun continues that legacy of excellence.
A Whole New Old
Pokemon Sun is largely no different than the flagship Pokemon games that have come before it. Players still control a kid who has to go around the world collecting Pokemon to use in battles against prestigious world leaders. To be fair, the Pokemon games have more plot holes than a third-grade play, but Pokemon’s players, myself included, have always been happy to overlook them in favor of keeping the game simplistic.
The relentless appeal of new Pokemon game releases is that they are the same games that players likely remember loving as a kid, but they always have a bunch of new things to do, see, and most importantly: catch. If you’re a kid and reading this, you won’t remember buying Pokemon Blue at the store, but that doesn’t mean you need to go back and play them all in order; each Pokemon game is an excellent entry-point into the series. That’s the special thing about this franchise, its surface-level simplicity makes it accessible to everyone.
The biggest thrill in a new Pokemon game is the excitement when a Pokemon you’ve never seen before pops up onto your screen. Your brain instantly analyzes how it looks, attempting to sort it into one of the game’s various Pokemon-type categories. If the new Pokemon looks like a dog made of rocks and sand, it’s likely a rock-type Pokemon. If the new Pokemon is a bird with wings made of leaves, it’s like a hybrid flying/grass-type Pokemon. This all happens in seconds, and it’s thrilling to experience.
Beyond new Pokemon to discover, Pokemon Sun/Moon also likes to bring players to new areas. Pokemon Sun is no exception, and brings players to the Alola region, a tropical paradise filled with fun new characters to meet, and a unique culture surrounding the region’s Pokemon trainers and gym leaders. It was interesting to learn how the Alola people live with Pokemon, and I was happy to see that it wasn’t a simple copy-paste of how every other new games’ regions have been in previous games. Pokemon Sun gave me something new to explore, and it breathed new life into a series that has been largely the same for years.
Pokemon Sun also takes some of the Pokemon that players have been seeing throughout those years, like Meowth and Rattata, and changes their visual appearance. The logic here is that because Alola is such a different region, geographically, from previous games, the common Pokemon in the Alola region should look different than they do on the other side of the world. Again, plot holes abound, but it’s best not to put too much thought into Pokemon games.
An Order Of Dim Sun
As if the developers were not certain that the games unique cultural aspects and Pokemon variations were not enough to differentiate Sun/Moon from previous Pokemon games, they added in a graphical “enhancement” that makes the game’s sunny daytime and moonlit nighttime, look as bright as possible. Think, over ambitious sun/moon beams. Sun and Moon take place in the tropics, where the sun would be particularly bright, but in the game, due to the 3DS’s limited graphical power, the brightness effect is obnoxiously bright, and any character wearing white or anything white in general, is horribly washed out.
Taken from my phone off of my 3DS, but even still you can see how the white clothes/skin meld together.
Turning down the brightness level in my 3DS’s settings helped the situation a little, but because it’s a game-based problem, it will always be in the game unless the developer does something to fix it. I have not seen many other people complain about this issue, so it is looking like something I will just have to get used to.
Don’t Catch ’em All, Just Play
I don’t have the free-time that comes with being a jobless minor like I used to when I was eight. I have a very limited amount of time that I can (responsibly) play video games, and I’ve come to accept the fact that I’ll never be the Pokemon Master that I was back in Pokemon Blue. I’m okay with that.
There are so many things to do in Pokemon Sun that it can feel overwhelming. There is the Festival Plaza, grooming your Pokemon, choreographing Pokemon music videos, and a ton of other stuff that I can’t remember because I hardly gave it any consideration. I’m playing Pokemon Sun for the story and the joy of any discoveries I make along the way.
Instead of stressing out about perfecting stats, move-sets, team compositions, and catching them all (we’re up to 802 Pokemon, these days, by the way), I’m instead just focusing on the basics. I’m keeping it light, simple, and fun.
At the end of the day, that is what Pokemon games are all about: having fun. Pokemon Sun is, once again, another great entry in the flagship Pokemon franchise. It’s an excellent game for players of all ages; whether you’re logging your 100th hour into the game, or only playing for a few minutes each night, fun will not be in short-supply.
A retail copy of Pokemon Sun, purchased by Tom, was used for this review.
