Ten Letdowns of Pokemon Sun & Moon

To start, let me begin by saying that Pokemon Sun & Moon was literally epic. After playing Pokemon for close to two decades, I can honestly say that this game was one to remember. I don’t know quite sure why exactly - whether it be solely because of the fresh concept of Island Trials, or because you can travel to many different islands, or because of the heartwarming themes included in the plot, or if it’s because all of these components coming together as one - but it surely ranks up there with the best of the Mainstream Pokemon Games. I’m not saying it’s the best, at least not for me personally, but it definitely has earned its spot among all the rest.

However, like all Pokemon Games (and I’m sure everyone reading can relate), there are a number of things that missed the mark for me in these two great games, so much so where I personally consider them letdowns. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been playing Pokemon for so long or not, really ever since the first games were released on the Gameboy, or if players both new and old feel the same about these issues. Because they do take away from the games a tad, though no Pokemon Games is perfect. Many of which, however, seem to be creative decisions done by the creators themselves.

No matter the case behind them - though I will examine that too - here are ten things about Pokemon Sun and Moon that personally let me down, and in a number of ways. If you feel the same about any of the things listed here in this article, feel free to post in the comments section below each and every page. And if you think of anything else that we might have missed, please post it in the same area below.

Shiny-Locked Legends & Ultra Beasts

Ugh… If there is one thing I totally hate about any Pokemon Games, it’s Shiny-Locked Pokemon. Like what’s the point of this anyway? Before Sun and Moon, there was literally only like five Pokemon Species that couldn’t be shiny. But why is this? If the other seven hundred and fifteen Pokemon before the seventh generation could be shiny, including almost every single Legendary and Mythical Pokemon, why did such a thing exist? But I guess the real question is why does it continue to exist?

That’s right! With the seventh generation came a whole lot more Shiny-Locked Pokemon! And if that wasn’t enough, the only Pokemon to have such a thing were only the Legendary Pokemon and the Ultra Beasts. (As well as Magerna and Marshadow, but that goes without saying.) And we’re not talking about just the Cover Legends of Sun and Moon and a few of the Ultra Beast, oh no, but every last one of them. From all the Island Deities to the Cover Legends and their pre-evolutions to every last one of the Ultra Beasts both exclusive and not to their given games, none of the Pokes can be shiny. If never being able to have my Cotton Candy Celebi wasn’t enough, now I can’t have any of these monsters as well, which, let’s be real here, ALL look better in their Shiny Forms. So not cool…

Almost eight hundred other species can be shiny, so why not give us what we all want, GameFreak, and let these guys be as well.

Concept of Mega Evolutions Discontinued

I for one wasn’t one the Mega Evolutions bandwagon when they were first released in Pokemon X and Y. I was a bit of a Pokemon purist, and the concept of Mega Evolutions just seemed way to out there for me. Sure, I’d like seeing some of my favorite Pokemon get a fresh new look and power boost, some of which with the typing they should’ve had all along, but I just wasn’t on board with the whole idea that would change everything from the past fifteen years or so with Pokemon. And after these high-octane Evolutions started spamming and ruling the competitive world of Pokemon, I honestly can say I didn’t care for them even more.

But after a while, Mega Evolutions too started to grow on me. And that’s why I was severely disappointed to see them not make a return in Sun and Moon, at least with not any new ones. I get it, GameFreak, you wanted to keep Sun and Moon to an entirely new script, that what happened in the sixth generation should stay in there. But come one! You can’t just change the way we now see Pokemon only to rip it right back from us! And on top of that, not even let us use all of our Mega Pokemon in Sun and Moon.

It’s a bit of a low blow, if you ask me.

Alolan Forms Only Stretch To 18 Pokemon Species

So let’s recap… We weren’t getting Shiny Alola Legends and Ultra Beasts… And we weren’t getting any new Mega Evolutions… But hey, one thing we could look forward to was the new concept and creation of Alolan Forms. Things were starting to look up, right? Alolan Raichu was a quick assassin, and Alolan Marowak was a bulky killer. What could wrong? Oh yeah, that’s right… The fact that there would only be eighteen Pokemon Species receiving this alternate, one-of-a-kind form.

But seriously, when they first started rolling out the leaks of Alolan Forms, I truly thought there would be one for each Kanto Region Pokemon. I know it was probably unrealistic to expect such a thing, but I thought it would make a lot of sense being your trainer recently moved from the Kanto Region. Your player could see all the different forms of the Pokemon they use to see every day, as well as all the original gamers of the First Generation playing these games too. It made a lot of sense, didn’t it? That, and it would’ve given all the older Pokemon another chance to be relevant, even if some of them already received a Mega Evolution. Plus, it would’ve finally been the perfect opportunity for GameFreak to right their wrong and make Gyarados, or at least Alolan Gyarados part Dragon.

Another Smallish Generation

Man… It’s starting to feel like an eternity since we’ve had a single Pokemon Generation that surpassed the mark of over a hundred new Pokemon Species. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time it happened. Sinnoh? Unova? I know for sure it wasn’t in Kalos, and obviously not in Alola either. Is it too much to ask for five or six more evolution chains to reach this bar again? Or just a few more Legends to make this happen? Or am I, like so many others, being to picky and selfish?

I get it, Mega Evolutions and Alola Forms bought this number pretty darn close each of the past two generations, and I’m thankful for such. But those Pokemon have already long since been made, and don’t really count when you think of a new generation coming to be. They’re nice little add-ons, sure, but nothing like seeing twenty extra new Pokemon introduced to the Pokemon World.

Forced Hidden Ability On Virtual Console Pokemon

I know, I know, I know… This technically doesn’t pertain to the games of Pokemon Sun and Moon… But it definitely should. Why? Because both you and I know that we only forked out the money to purchase and play the virtual consoles of Pokemon Red, Blue and Yellow to transfer them, specifically No Guard Fissure Machamp, to Pokemon Sun and Moon. If you try to say otherwise, either you’re lying to yourself or you just don’t play competitive battling.

And after paying for these games from over two decades ago, and waiting months for Pokemon Sun and Moon to be released and then a few more for PokeBank to be updated, we don’t even get to see what No Guard Fissure Machamp would’ve been like. Instead, we get a no good, Steadfast Fissure Machamp instead. In layman's terms: a Machamp that is virtually useless for competitive play. Geez… Can’t we have just one bone thrown our way?

“Slow Down In Alola”

I get it... The Alola Region is paralleled to real-world Hawaii, a place, in all reality, where time and life moves just a little bit slower. But does that have to mean that everything in Alola has to be so slow? What I mean is does just about every Pokemon have to have such a horrid speed stat? Seriously, only like ten or so species have the above average minimum of at least 100 Base Speed, and almost half of them are Legends or Ultra Beasts. Most of the other half, on the other hand, are horrible in every other area (not counting Minior or Lycanroc).

After playing competitive battling for years, I know speed isn’t the only thing that matters in the making of wicked Pokemon. But quite honestly, outside of these ten Pokemon, you literally have to look to previous generations for an honest to god sweeper Pokemon. I guess Blaziken will continue to reign supreme.

Dual-Form Starters Bust

I swear to god, if GameFreak had just given us Dual-Forms for the Final Evolutions of Starter Pokemon, I could’ve put all the rest of the things of this listed aside and been complacent with such. No joke. This concept, after having been enhanced by rumors after Lycanroc received two forms and CoroCoro stating that Lycanroc and the Final Evolutions of the Starter Pokemon holding a common secret, could’ve literally changed the landscape of Pokemon once again. It probably, knowing just how beloved the Starter Pokemon are, would’ve exploded greater than Mega Evolutions, even if both forms were given the same horrid stats the starters were given.

But no, we didn’t received such a groundbreaking concept in Pokemon Sun and Moon; the rumors and hope, most obviously, didn’t come to pass. Instead, the common secret these Pokemon share is none other than an exclusive move, something not even Midnight Lycanroc received when you get nit-picky.

Oh well… Maybe next generation… If there even is one…

No Communication Trading Mechanics

Of all the things found in this here articles, this is really the only thing mechanically wrong with Pokemon Sun and Moon, really in all of Pokemon. Since really the third generation moving forward, there has never been a surefire way of communicating during trading. Unless you actually have conversed with your trade partner in the real world and have worked out all the details of the trade, odds are you’ll be getting very frustrated when trading with people across the globe.

The fourth generation allowed us to communicate with the mics in our DS during some trades, but Pokemon Players are usually the best verbal communicators. The fifth generation undoubtedly had the best way to communicate, having certain smiley-faces that basically indicated if you wanted the Pokemon in question or not, and what you would take in return. However, that was lost in the sixth generation, when players had to resort to nicknaming Pokemon with certain trading responses. It wasn’t the best, but it got the job done. And now we are stuck once again with the impossible task of communicating while trading, having to resort once again to the nickname approach.

Just bring back those darn emojis already.

Team Skull

What ever happened to the Giovannis of the Pokemon World? Willing to out-and-out go to the greatest extent to accomplish their goal? Ready to steal any Pokemon they need to do so? Willing to kill any Marowak in the process? Set to take over any tower or multi-million dollar corporation they had to? What ever happened to those villains, the same that including the likes of infamous Cyrus and Ghetsis? Where did all those evil masterminds go? Seriously?!?

For the second generation in a row, we are given an underwhelming excuse for a criminal group, manifested in none other than Team Skull, who really aren’t even the truest baddest of them all. The REAL villains in Pokemon Sun and Moon are the Aether Foundation, or at least what became of them under the madness of Lusamine and her search for beauty. Team Skull literally was nothing, a distraction from this truth, a pawn in the entire process. What’s the worst thing they honestly did? Steal Patrat Version 2.0? Seriously? We use to eat that for breakfast with Giovanni and the others.

Lillie’s Departure

The cold hard truth is that either Lillie made the game or she didn’t in Pokemon Sun and Moon, she either touched you in a way that has been lost outside of the Pokemon Anime Series or she was just another non-playable character that you didn’t care about. If she was the former in either of those two scenarios, then Pokemon Sun and Moon is among your favorite Pokemon Games. There’s no refuting that.

But she makes our list not because her character or personality itself, but because GameFreak had the “bright idea” to do away with her at the end of the main storyline. It was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen in all the Pokemon idiocies, I truly believe. It just made absolutely no sense otherwise. Sure, she’s going off to help find a cure for her mother from Bill the PC guy, which has a very touching sentiment. But wouldn’t it have been more reasonable to do so with another, less important character, say someone from the Aether Corp or something? If it had to be Lillie, wouldn’t it have made more sense if she had also helped alongside the UB Taskforce? Where she could’ve learned a little more about the Wormholes from Looker and others?

It wasn’t necessary to nix Lillie, at least not as soon as they had. She was was of the best support characters there has ever been, so why do such a thing? We’ve seen it before with N, and there was no need to repeat this.

Take The Good With The Bad

Well there you have it, the ten things I think the Pokemon Company dropped the ball on in Pokemon Sun and Moon. (Though I still feel it was one of the best Pokemon Games in quite some time.) I appreciate you taking the time to read this entire article, especially if you took the time to comment with your thoughts in the comments section below. But if you haven’t done so already, go ahead in the area below now!

Until next time, PokeFans.