Pokemon Sun/Moon PLUS ULTRA (Alola Region Games)

[TCB]

Young'un these days don't know how good we had it

If we wanted these Special Pokemon we needed to get items which unlocked something in game to actually catch em'

We didn't need no specific prerequisites or conditions or nuthin'

[Thrippa]

I so much preferred getting the items and unlocking the Pokemon.  With a bit of actual story and all.  Of course, then you had items that weren't ever released . . .

[Salamander]

I understand why they abandoned the item-based method (because hackers could give themselves the item and then catch a legitimate Pokemon), but it's so unmagical to receive some wonderful Pokemon of legend from a guy in the Pokemart; it's like buying a Magikarp from that seedy salesman.

[Your Vest Friend]

The Magikarp was actually good because it was both completely out of nowhere and it tied into one massive gag ("Oh no, he sold you a useless Pokemon! But wait, if you put effort into raising it, you get one over him and get a powerhouse!"). That's not comparable to a deliveryman giving you an outright legendary after actively getting the mystery gift for it, which is just dull. 

[Big Panda]

Which is immediately followed by the turn-back-on-you gag of "you spent money on a Pokemon that can be found in literally any body of water with even the crappiest fishing rod for free".

[Your Vest Friend]

2 minutes ago, Ernest-Panda said:

Which is immediately followed by the turn-back-on-you gag of "you spent money on a Pokemon that can be found in literally any body of water with even the crappiest fishing rod for free".

To be fair, you have to wait quite a bit before you can even do that, so I guess if you want to get it beefed up sooner it's more time-effective. 

[Semi-colon e]

4 hours ago, Ernest-Panda said:

Which is immediately followed by the turn-back-on-you gag of "you spent money on a Pokemon that can be found in literally any body of water with even the crappiest fishing rod for free".

500 money is not that much outside of the early game, and it's worth having Gyarados early.

[Marcello]

Man, I remember meeting that guy for the first time as a kid. I read the name "Magikarp" and thought, "Wow, he sounds so cool!". I was expecting magic stuff xD

Kinda similar to finding a wild Metapod in Viridian Forest and thinking it looked really strong just to find out it could only use Harden.

[Forte-Metallix]

So which Hat Pikachu has the best moveset for competitive play? I wanna say one with Volt Tackle, but I know what a double-edged sword that move can be.

(That's still a fat load of Tauros that we here in the US can only get one)

[Big Panda]

Doing a little more research, I've discovered the Japanese version of the promotion wasn't quite as simple as we thought:

Players where given a code to one of the Pikachu when they preordered a ticket for the 20th movie. Meaning players who wanted all of them would've had to preorder seven tickets to get them.

[TCB]

Quote

The first images from CoroCoro have leaked and have revealed the latest news on Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. As always, do note that translations are preliminary while we work on them. The image confirms that the forms shown on the boxarts are fusions of Solgaleo/Lunala and Necrozma when Necrozma absorbs the other Pokémon. The Solgaleo style one is called "Necrozma Mane of Twilight". Lunala's is "Necrozma Wings of Dawn". They have the signature moves of Solagelo & Lunala: Sunsteel Strike and Moongeist Beam . We'll bring more as it comes

"Mane of Twilight/Wings of Dawn" sound like titles for a Pokemon fangame, let alone for a Pokemon form

What is this wild ride 

[Spin Attaxx]

The old rock-dog's been taught a new trick:

Quote

The next images from CoroCoro have also come and have confirmed that Lycanroc is to get a special Z-Move called Radial Edge Storm which requires Lycanroc to know the move Stone Edge. It has a secondary effect that can eliminate Terrain effects. It can work on all forms of Lycanroc. It also confirms Rockruff that have the ability Own Tempo, which is currently only available from the distribution, can evolve into Dusk Form between 17:00 and 17:59 at Level 25. Only those Rockruff can evolve into Dusk Form Lycanroc

Someone at Game Freak clearly thinks evolving Pokémon is nowhere near convoluted enough, it seems.

[Sonictrainer]

New Info revealed from today Nintendo Direct!

New Ultra Beasts have been revealed!

New DS revealed as well

 

[Spin Attaxx]

NEW ULTRA BEASTS WHAT THE FUCK

Yeah, this is like the first time where we're getting whole new Pokémon added onto the Dex in the middle of a generation. Like, not even just formes of pre-existing Pokémon, but whole new species. If nothing else, that's pretty impressive. Also, they're really pushing Necrozma as being an antagonist with that trailer, huh? I'm gonna cry when they inevitably reveal he's just an innocent sweetheart who wouldn't hurt a soul

Found this, and I found this too funny not to caption:

"Hi! Want a flower?"

"Get that out of my face, kid, I'm going to eat you when you grow up."

[Your Vest Friend]

PS Which Fang attack the Lycanroc gets is version-dependent. 

[BlueFlare]

So, can we go surfing for real this time? That'd be would the dopest thing.

[Sean]

Vectorman wearing a beach hat and a literal pile of bricks. Incredible

[Marcello]

UB Burst looks cool, but they still haven't shown anything to convince me of these games.

[QuantumEdge]

Whoa, didn't expect new UBs, I thought we'd just get a few new Alolan forms at best (which I'm now guessing is even more likely to happen).  However as cool as the two of them are, these games still don't seem to be getting nearly as much attention to marketing as the old ones were.  Then again, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that only the 3DS owners who didn't buy SuMo are probably the only ones really into these new versions.

[Thrippa]

20 hours ago, Spin Attaxx said:

The old rock-dog's been taught a new trick:

Someone at Game Freak clearly thinks evolving Pokémon is nowhere near convoluted enough, it seems.

I really, really wish that evolution methods would add to the Pokedex when you evolve something.  He hasn't evolved yet - do I need to keep leveling? Did I cancel a move I should have learned?  Is it the wrong time of day?  gender? Ability? Need to trade?  Need to trade while holding something?  It's a nuisance to always have to go look for an external resource to see what's up.

[Sonictrainer]

GameXplain's analysis on yesterday's direct.

Didn't notice Rockruff's Pokedex Number change or the Poke Ride Mantine.

[Salamander]

I actually didn't care about the new Ultra Beasts at all at first, despite them being the closest GameFreak has ever gotten to adding new Pokemon mid-generation (forms and Mega Evolutions don't have numbers; Ultra Beasts do, but they're nonetheless not true Pokemon) - until I realised that they appear to be featured in a new cutscene.  The Ultra Beasts were the biggest letdown in Sun/Moon because, for all the hype they got, only Nihilego had any story relevance and the rest were just dumped into the postgame as contextless monsters in a sidequest.  If more of the Ultra Beasts are actually going to have an influence this time around, then that's actually exciting - so long as it's not just an updated version of that consequenceless cutscene where Hala and Tapu Koko geared up to fight an ultra Beast and then we never heard any more about it.

Mantine showing up as a Ride Pokemon, however!  As well as big changes, I think it's also important to have small- and mid-level changes between versions, and one of the things I was hoping for without really expecting it was for the Ultra versions to swap out the Ride Pokemon.  Exchanging Lapras for Mantine actually gets me excited for the prospect of the other Ride Pokemon being traded out for equivalents with similar potential; reskin or not, it helps to develop the idea of the new games as a different world and a different experience.

The potential for the Ultra games to be different is starting to appear, but I still don't really feel like it's quite guaranteed...  The parts that interest me most are still just hints and speculation.  I just need one trailer that'll be a bit more explicit about what they've changed, and that might push me into getting this.  I'm glad they've swung back from spoiling everything, but the pendulum may have swung a little too far in the opposite direction.

[Sonictrainer]

Here's some official artwork

 

[TCB]

From Serebii, promotional posters have spring up in Japanese storefronts for the games, showing a couple of interesting things, least to my perspective.

I would so hang this on my wall if this was actually sold. Looks more like movie poster than one for the games too.

Spoiler

real talk I can't believe a damn poster got me more hyped for these games than any of the trailers we got this far lmao

 

[Salamander]

This is definitely the first sighting we have of something we literally can't explain, that being those mysterious figures at the top wearing strange costumes or armour.  Aether Foundation employees wearing Ultra Space exploration suits, or something like that?  There appears to be speculation elsewhere that one of them resembles certain of Faba's poses.  (They're all wearing masks, so no going off faces.)

Also, while I'm sure nobody else cares, I did some more thinking about how I'd swap out Sun/Moon Ride Pokemon for alternatives in the Ultra versions, based on the idea that Mantine is replacing Lapras rather than being wholly new and possibly area-specific; of course, in all cases it's conceivable that a new Alolan Form could be created which would fit the right role.  Do I actually think that all or even any Ride Pokemon will be replaced?  I'd like to believe it, but I just don't trust the Ultra games to be different and bold enough yet.  Here's what they might be thinking, though:

Tauros Charge: Bouffalant is the strictest analogy, but there are any number of tough, heavy quadrupeds; Rhyhorn or Lairon, for example.  The return of Gogoat in this role is unlikely but not unbelievable.
Stoutland Search: Donphan.  Funnily enough, the criterion is not "has the Pickup ability," because Stoutland doesn't have Pickup; its first stage, Lillipup, does.  So I checked out Pokemon which had Pickup and which had an evolution which would be suitable for riding - and Donphan is it; it's not just suitable in terms of size and shape, but in much the same way as Stoutland snuffles along the ground, you can also visually represent the search using Donphan by having it scout across the ground with its trunk.  (Also, Donphan's design is really underappreciated.)
Mudsdale Gallop: Probably won't be changed as it actually uses an Alolan Pokemon and it's also connected to Hapu's characterisation.
Machamp Shove: While Machamp is the only Pokemon with the requisite four arms, it's super-weird that it just carries you; it would be easy to replace this design with any broud-shouldered Pokemon which you could sit on the shoulder or back of - Conkeldurr, for example, or the criminally underappreciated Barbaracle.  Alola-wise, and there aren't enough Ride Pokemon which are actually from Alola, there's Crabominable.  Riding in the pouch of Kangaskhan isn't beyond the bounds of possibility.  Changing tack to an unarmed approach, one could consider something like Mamoswine.
Lapras Paddle: This is most likely to be what Mantine is replacing.  We'd never guess otherwise; have you seen how many Pokemon learn Surf, many of which seem like they should just sink instantly?
Sharpedo Jet: For a fast, large (but not too large) swimmer which could conceivably break through boulders, I think that Seaking is on the table.  More creatively, Carracosta has terrible speed, but also possesses Swift Swim and Aqua Jet, suggesting that a burst of speed is conceivable.
Charizard Glide: There are any number of large flying Pokemon, but a strict analogy would suggest Dragonite.  It won't happen, but Golurk would be kickass.