Pokémon Sun and Moon have been officially announced via the Pokémon-centric Nintendo Direct.
Little was known about the next two games in the Pokémon franchise before the logos and trademarks leaked, but the official announcement gives fans a timetable and something to look for throughout the year leading to its release date.
After the Nintendo Direct announcement, we compiled a list of things we know so far about Pokémon Sun and Moon:
RELEASE DATE
The first and most obvious fact we know about Pokémon Sun and Moon is their release window. It was announced that Pokemon Sun and Moon will be released in the holiday season of 2016.
Of course, that leaves a large window for when the games will actually be released but based on X and Y and ORAS, fans should expect a late October, early November release.
GEN 7 CONFIRMED
Fans figured the next Pokémon game would be Pokémon Z, continuing the story of X and Y. This theory grew stronger with the reveal of Zygarde’s new forms but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
Sun and Moon can continue the story of Kalos but it looks to be doing it in another region, meaning Generation 7 confirmed.
If you watch the above video, they run down all of the generations of Pokémon games starting with Red, Blue and Yellow leading to X and Y. The rundown doesn’t mention the the “third” games like Emerald and Crystal or sequel games like Black and White 2.
Sun and Moon will be a new generation of Pokémon which means…..
NEW POKEMON
Magearna was already revealed in the February issue of CoroCoro as the first new Pokémon since the announcement of X and Y. The next mythical Pokémon already confirmed a new generation was on the way, but no one thought it would be this soon.
There’s also screenshots of a mysterious new bird Pokémon from the Nintendo Direct video that solidifies a new region.
Now we just need the first stage of the new starters to appear in March’s CoroCoro and the Pokémon Sun and Moon hype will peak.
TRANSFER RBY
Probably the biggest surprise of the Pokémon Direct reveal is that all the Pokémon you catch in the eShop versions of Blue, Red and Yellow can be transferred to Sun and Moon via the Pokémon Bank app.
This is exclusive to Sun and Moon, so if you want to bring your Gen 1 Pokémon to X and Y or ORAS, you’re out of luck.
It’ll be interesting to see how The Pokémon Company does this but we’ll have to wait until later this year when Sun and Moon is released.
LANGUAGE BARRIER GONE?
Pokémon Sun and Moon will also have a number of different language options.
Trainers will be able to choose up to nine different languages on their journey through the Gen 7 games. According to the official Pokémon site, in addition to English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish, players will now be able to play in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese.
It’s a cool little feature that can allow for easier importing of the games.
So what do you think of the Pokémon Sun and Moon announcement? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments section below.
