Feature: Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - What We Know So Far...

I do like the legendary design and I'm always up for more Pokemon.

It's still early, but I don't see what they can do to make this game interesting. Alola seems pretty fleshed out already in SM and there's not much room for expansion. I predict it'll be no more interesting than the usual third version, between the lack of potential in another Alola game and the fact that this is coming out a year after the original makes me think we should keep our expectations low for this game.

I hope we're going to get new Megas, or similar soon, especially for the thus-far heavily neglected gens 4-6.

I'd also take new Alolan Forms, too.

I hope it's a sequel or if not a direct sequel, at least a completely different story. If it's just an improved third version, I'll probably skip (and be sad I didn't wait).

'We can't wait to find out!'
Who is 'we'?

I think I will pick up the game but I will play it sometimes. Not really addicted with Pokemon games but good for my collection.

Sounds like it's going to be significantly different from Sun and Moon. If so, then I'll be sure to pick up one of the Ultra games.

New pokemon is likely just referring to forms. I'm hoping that they'll give Alolan forms to more than just 1st gen Pokemon.

Its basically $40 DLC. Doesn't seem like its going to be much improvements.
I'll wait for the next one and see how much they change stuff.

I suppose see the plus side of having this be a 3DS exclusive, but at the same time, I see it as more and more of a downside that these are not on the Switch.

Even if it were 3DS and Switch, this could only sell more Switches. It would definitely find an audience of people who already own the Switch, as many of us have long completed Breath of the Wild and are all the more hungry for another deep RPG to sink our teeth into, even if they were turned off (like me) by the major confusing changes and gimmicks this generation has had to offer thus far.

Ultimately, Nintendo's move to not include a Switch release of one of their best-selling franchises sends a message to gamers that Nintendo's not ready to make this a true portable successor to the 3DS. It could've been a powerful move to do just that, but they seem too set in their "main series Pokemon games should be purely portable" ways.

I've been a Pokémon fan since Gen 2 and have played each game several times, putting hundreds- probably over a thousand- hours into the franchise.

With the info we have right now, I very well might skip this one. Which is unbelievable for me to say.

Another poster said this could be $40 DLC.. although I do agree this LOOKS like an expansion, I'm still biting. I'm into Pokémon now at the age of 30 like I was back with Red/Blue/Yellow as a kid.
I loved Alpha Sapphire so much I bought Omega Ruby recently after I beat Sun just for the sheer amount of Pokémon available in them.

Anyway, I'm biting; it looks to be as fun as Sun/Moon and I loved those.

Part of me still hopes this is going to come out for Switch as well.

Another part of me would like this as expansive DLC rather than an entirely new game.

Would have snatched this up on Switch in a heartbeat... but on 3DS I have no real desire to buy right away, especially since I never played more than an hour or two of Sun/Moon. I was planning to play through on Switch, but if it's gonna be 3DS the original game will do just fine. I'll want these for my collection eventually... and will add them when there's a sale a few years from now.

I have a Nintendo Switch but my new 3DS XL is still my go to for alot of my gaming and yes it would have been awesome if the Switch received a proper Pokémon title yet I will gladly continue playing on my new 3DS XL which I am more than happy with at this point and very much hope Nintendo keeps breathing life into the little beast that could and I have to say I'm excited that Pokken Tournament is getting its proper home on Nintendo Switch such a great title and it totally deserves a chance on a more successful system hopefully it finds the success it so totally deserves.

"We can only assume the reasons why this is"

So next year they can sell Ultra Sun DX and Ultra Moon DX on Switch?

Maybe HD instead of DX. And maybe, just maybe, Stars will still be a Switch exclusive, all 4 stories in 1. Or more like buy 1 on disc, buy the other 3 as DLC.

Fyi I was told by someone who knew Japanese that the "Alternate Story" was a mistranslation.

“mou hitotsu no monogatari” Which is what was said in Japanese, could be more literally translated to "Another Story" or “one more story from the world of Pokemon Sun and Moon”

Might be worth looking into.

@Xaessya The newest fire emblem, a $40 game had $45 DLC. It's worth getting if you are a big fan of the game and want to buy it or you never bought the originals. Either way it'll still sell well, it's pokemon after all...

How many articles will websites be able to pump out of 8minutes of video announcement? Wich site will get the more out of it?! Let's watch the contest until the end.

@crimsontadpoles To Jôto species this time (to keep the same "logic").

I'm getting major BW2 vibes from this game already, which is never a bad thing, since BW2 is the last main series game that left me completely enamored. SM came the closest since then, but if it has the same amount of post-game as BW2, count me as hyped!

@rjejr You and me are still keeping the hope alive! As much as people don't believe it's coming to Switch anymore, I still think it's possible, especially given the Eurogamer rumor, the "mistake" yesterday when the games were announced, and the form factor of the Sun and Moon Pokedex.

TL:DR; I still think Stars or some version of Sun and Moon could come to Switch. Now if it's 2019 and there's no Stars on Switch, I'll admit defeat. But until then I think it's still a possibility

@rjejr That's not how TPC and Game Freak does business, so no, that's not why.

Switch will get a mainline game with Gen 8 next year, maybe 2019 though another break year this soon would be surprising.

@IceClimbers @rjejr given how Nintendo wants to keep the 3DS alive, we may very well see ports and dual releases of games for a while, at least until the Switch user base grows to a level that convinces Nintendo it's time to focus solely on the new console.

Don't get me wrong--I love my 3DS XL, but it's hard to go back to it after I've seen what my Switch can do.

@SomeWriter13 There's literally no games announced for 3DS in 2018 outside of a couple localizations for NA. It won't be extended out for much longer. Gen 8 will most definitely not be on 3DS.

@Serebii Hey Joe, thanks for writing the article! As the games were announced yesterday, I'm sure you've seen comments throughout the internet of people expecting a version of Sun and Moon ("Stars") to come to Switch. Just curious, have you seen the design of the Rotom Pokedex and saw that as a sign of the game's potential release on Switch? Most Pokemon games have a Pokedex that looks like the system they premiered on (Ruby/Sapphire and the Pokedex that looked like a GBA, Diamond/Pearl and the Pokedex that looked like a DS, etc.). The Rotom Pokedex, with its single screen and detachable arms, looks uncannily like a Switch. Do you think it's a potential sign of things to come?

@JubilifeRival I might go ahead and get it, in the end, Sun and Moon didn't drive me enough to finish the game, so maybe this one will.

@IceClimbers that's true. I also believe that the next generation of Pokemon games will be Switch exclusives. But it doesn't exclude the possibility of a "Pokemon Ultra Moon DX" stopgap as @rjejr joked about.

The fact that the Alola Forms were only a handful of gen one Pokemon was incredibly disappointing to me. I hope this is rectified in these versions.

Looks cynical and unnecessary.

What we know so far about the games though: it's not coming to the Nintendo Switch and yeah Pokemon Star is a straight up rumor that someone made up to start up hype which Nintendo had never confirm existed just like how Pokemon Z and Pokemon Grey never existed. People kept thinking that Nintendo will follow the trend like they did the old days, well these ain't like the old days anymore. Nintendo wants money and they'll rehash Pokemon into two more games if they want to. Also this is Nintendo's way of telling gamers to shut up about the 3DS dying as it still prints money for them.

What I know so far:

I'm not buying it

Since I've already played through both Sun and Moon it'll take more than a 3rd version to make me buy this, If it was a sequel with gyms instead of trials i'd buy it for sure.

Found leaked footage of the new games on youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKV7QmMd4uA

So it's the 3rd version, but split in two again so they can rake in more money?

@Rei I think GameXplain will win that contest. They've a remarkable 10 minute video on the 15 seconds of footage shown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bu_PmKC9aA

Yay, $40 DLC packaged as a full game reusing all the assets from the oroginallllll...

Maybe it'll work. Majora's Mask was great. My bet is it won't be worth crap. If they can release this ultra stuff soon, imo they should have just waited and included it in Sun and Moon. Right now, I feel like I wasted my money on S&M due to the lack of stuff to do, and I sure as heck am not gonna be reinvesting in full price dlc to flesh out their lacking world.

Personal opinion.

@Sakura Thanks. I guess those ones earned their name (explain) well.

I'm excited for it and will definitely pick it up in November. It's Pokemon it's a no-brainer for me. I'm not looking forward to buying games for my Switch and my New 3DS XL but that's the life of a gamer I guess.

If we get a better postgame, then I'll get a this. Sun and Moon were dissapointing in that point - I hope it's like Emerald and Platinum, which had meaty post games. Emerald's Battle Frontier hasn't been topped yet imho.

What we know so far is nothing.
Which is why it's way too early to bash on the game as many people already did.

Ultradissapointing.

Agreed with Luna_110 on Emerald's Battle Frontier and had to say so.

Anyway, this says Gold and Silver will arrive on VC. What about Crystal? Why would they do Red, Blue and Yellow but leave out GS's third iteration?

@Luna_110 battle frontier was great but my favourite will always be the PWT.

Sun and moon had many problems for me I hope these new versions fix those problems because I don't like the direction the main games are going.

Gold and Silveer not coming out until September is a bit of a joke. I'd pretty sad Crystal doesn't seem to be coming. That's probably my favorite of the mainline games, though Y may have snatched that spot. This motivates me to finish Moon as I've still yet to run through the Elite 4(not sure if they're even in this game) for the first time, so I must do that asap.

Though I've been playing Bloodborne, among other things, in preparation for the announcement of 2. I've also decided to run through Etrian Odyssey IV again in celebration of V finally seeming to be on its way to NA. The amount of time for this announcement was brutal though man.

I'm also hoping to see a gen IV remake announced next year. I'm usually pretty iffy on remakes, but I stopped playing Pokemon after Gold/Crystal until XY came out. The remake done for Alpha Sapphire was great though so I'd love to see more of that.

@Bolt_Strike so did you just not read the article? Or do you not play the games? There's obvious, significant improvement, but your comment seems to stem from ignorance.

@Xaessya you either don't play the games or were too lazy to read the article, then.

@Nnnn Okay, first of all, we know nothing about these games. This is primarily PR meant to sell you the games, so no, nothing is "obvious". My prediction of not much changing is based on several factors:

1. The Alola region is already pretty full up. There's no room on the map for a BW2 size expansion because the islands are already packed with areas, and new areas are unlikely because the islands are closely related to the Tapu and there's no way they're adding new Tapu to this game.
2. The game has only been in development for one year more than SM. How much can they really change in that time? Anyone expecting this to feel like a completely different region is going to be disappointed, they can't pull off a retcon of the entire region design in that short a period. The "alternate universe" line probably mainly refers to the story, and even then it could easily just be another third version. Having the same story with a slightly different ending does fit the bill of an "alternate universe".

Additionally, there's nothing further I would personally want to see out of Alola that would make a second trip there worth it if extra areas are out the window. My main issue with Alola is the linearity, beyond that there was nothing else I really wanted. The regional dex was all right, yes there's a bit of an imbalance between Kanto and Alola Pokemon, but there are some regions that are much worse off than that (pretty much every regional dex up until Platinum Sinnoh was horrendous in terms of variety). The storyline felt relatively complete (except for not doing anything with Zygarde, which is really more an issue with not having a second Kalos game than SM itself). Content wise was a little lacking, but it was acceptable for an initial version (again, you could do worse points to XY). There's really nothing else I would want out of a second Alola game, so another trip through would just be boring. I'm open to them surprising me, but I don't see much hope for this game.