As the release of Pokémon Sun and Moon draws ever closer the Pokémon Company is starting to bring out the big marketing guns. In this trailer, not only do we get a look at the second forms of the starter Pokémon but also word of a demo launching a month before the game’s release.
The Pokémon website has all the details, but we’ll get to that later. First the evolutions.
Fan favorite Rowlet, the owl Grass-type that got revealed way back when is first up with its evolution Dartrix. It has a keen sense of its surroundings and can throw one of its razor sharp feathers at an enemy behind it without even looking. Unfortunately for Dartrix, it’s kind of a mess. Often focusing on its appearance too much and making a mess of things.
Litten’s evolution Torracat retains the solid Fire-type Litten had, but it sounds like its final evolution won’t. Torracat’s mane helps the creature see in the dark and help it spot hidden enemies. Torracat also has a pretty powerful cat punch. This could mean that Litten’s final evolution might be a Fire/Fighting or a Fire/Dark-type. The glowing orb on its neck is called a flame sac, which produces the flames Torracat attacks with and rings like a bell in response to Torracat’s emotions.
Lastly, we have Brionne, Popplio’s evolution. Brionne is a dedicated dancer often spending hours and hours memorizing a dance until it gets the moves perfect. In battle, Brionne’s dancing produces bubbles which it throws at enemies. The bubbles can explode dealing massive damage.
We probably won’t know what their final evolutions will look like until the game’s release. However, a while ago, Pokéjungle reported on a particularly clairvoyant leaker. A Chinese leaker revealed back in July a few details that were later confirmed in trailers. They aren’t exact but they are too close to be wrong. Here is a list of things that the leaker said about the game.
- There will be no traditional Gyms and no Pokémon League in Alola. Your goal is to actually create one. After you do, an Elite 4 will appear which are the leaders of each island (S&M will feature Island Trials in lieu of gyms)
- The final starter evolutions will be an Archer, a Wrestler, and a Siren
- The diamond stones will be collectible throughout the region and act similarly to Mega Stones but not exactly (Z-Moves will do exactly that)
- New Pokémon based on a dolphin, sea cucumber, snowman, mushroom and a rugby monkey are there
- Rockruff’s evolution is a Werewolf (This was revealed in the last trailer)
- Mashadow, another copyrighted Pokémon name, has a unique type combo
The leak about the starters also came with a picture. Now that we have an idea of their evolutions the image seems more likely.
It’s still possible that these are fake, but they do bare a striking resemblance to the evolutions we’ve seen so far.
The trailer also mentioned the Festival Plaza, a multiplayer area where players can complete little side quests for each other to earn Festival Coins. These coins can be used to buy stat boosters and other things for your team.
Players will now be able to put their creatures they aren’t using to good use with the Poké Pelago. These are a series of islands for the Pokémon in your PC. One island attracts wild Pokémon, another sends your Pokémon out to find items, and the last island acts like the Daycare in previous games. Mega-evolutions are back as well and will act the same way they did in previous games.
Now for the coupe de grace, the demo will be released on October 18th and can be downloaded from the eShop or Nintendo’s website. Players will be able to take a quick journey through Alola with a special Greninja, the water starter from X and Y. This Geninja has the special ability Battle Bond which transforms it into Ash-Greninja, a variant based on the titular anime character. In this form, Greninja has a much higher speed. Once you complete the demo, you can transfer the Greninja over to Sun and Moon.
Pokémon Sun and Moon will be out on November 18th for all Nintendo handhelds.