News: Alola Form Rattata revealed for Sun and Moon

[Sopheria]

The design is pretty cool :) I think I'd like it better though without the mustache. But I love the color change and the new typing fits it quite well. Just watch out for Fighting-type moves x.x

 

[Hikamaru]

One thing I've thought, do you think Yungoose could be exclusive to day while Alolan Rattata is exclusive to night? It would be neat to see different Pokemon appearing during depending on the time of day again.

That could actually be a good idea because we haven't had day/night exclusive encounters since 4th Gen. However, Alolan Rattata are said to live in urban areas so it appears they may not be catchable at the same early point that Yungoos is.

 

[Rivvon]

I also hope that's true. Seeing only Gen 1 Pokémon with Alola Forms really makes me disappointed... There are many other Pokémon from other gens (especially gen 2 , omg) that also need some "boost" to become more popular and useful.

It's for this reason that I can't just simply dismiss "all gen 1 Alola forms" as "it is what it is." Gen 6 "was what it was" but everyone is quick to jump on its flaws and not accept the games despite that, so why should we just gloss over that a feature in gen 7 could have and should have been implemented better than it was? Yeah "it is what it is" but that still won't make it any less disappointing.

And yes, here's the obligatory disclaimer that they could be hiding some other gen Pokémon for the players to discover themselves and it's too soon to know and all that good stuff--but cut me some slack, okay? They have not been giving me anything to think that this is actually going to be the case. Even this year's Worlds artwork featured only gen 1 Pokémon!

One thing I've thought, do you think Yungoose could be exclusive to day while Alolan Rattata is exclusive to night? It would be neat to see different Pokemon appearing during depending on the time of day again.

I'm really hoping this is the case. It's been a while since we've seen day/night differences in wild Pokémon availability (from my memory, only gens 2 and 4 had this, while gen 5 had season availability differences) and this is a great chance to incorporate it again. They went ahead and tossed in the Pyukumuku part-time job mini-game so I hope this aspect of the Pokémon's lore gets included in the game, too.

 

[blue]

I'm surprised they haven't updated the official website with a proper description and artwork for Alolan Rattata. They actually said to check out the website once the direct had finished which I was expecting to be updated then. Perhaps they're waiting to update it once the news on Tuesday arrives?

 

[Rivvon]

Eh. I don't know if that's exactly an apples to apples comparison. There's an argument that Gen VI was obviously rushed and quite unpolished, so it's because of that in particular that most players were so upset about it (justifably so, I suppose, can't really blame them). I'll accept "it is what it is", when Game Freak takes the time to do something right, despite it not quite being what the playerbase wants. That's the fine line for me that separates Gen VI and Gen VII.

But where would you draw the line between "being done 'right'" and "just what the playerbase wants?" I've seen people on this board and known people personally who say they wouldn't care if character customization returned or not because XY's selection was a bit limited. If it returned it would have a better chance of being improved and expanded upon, right? But to them, even though it was a great idea that was actually implemented fairly well, because it didn't have "everything the playerbase wanted," some would go so far as to say it was utterly disappointing, and underneath that they have a fair point. Maybe to someone else it wasn't that much of a disappointment, but it still could have been better. And as an artist I can say from experience that it's better to admit that something wasn't implemented to the best of its ability so there's room for improvement in the future. Otherwise, it would just stay stagnant because people are willing to settle for mediocrity and not point out that it could have been done better.

 

[Rivvon]

Oh no; don't misunderstand my statement as settling for mediocrity, here! Basically, what I'm saying is this: no one expected a feature like Join Avenue or PWT for B2W2. No one really expected a feature like Pokemon-Aime in X/Y. These are all features that Game Freak did right, that the playerbase didn't exactly expect. What the playerbase wanted pre-X/Y was HG/SS-esque Pokemon models following you; not a whole another feature to interact with your Pokemon altogether! Players wanted the Battle Frontier back, but what they got instead was a tournament-style arena where you could face all (?) of the previous Gym Leaders and characters from prior generations. These are features that Game Freak did right that was not anticipated by the playerbase.

Although, that can be construed as going above and beyond expectations, which can also apply for art forms. You might not paint a piece that goes towards the expectations of your audience, but if it's just as good, they'll settle and be more than content with it. Does that make sense?

Okay, that make sense, actually! But... I'd still rather see other Pokémon receive the forms as well, since there's so many Pokémon who could benefit design-wise and lore-wise from a change like this!

I just think when it's so obvious that they're all of gen 1 Pokémon, it may be hard for some players to keep immersion with it, if that makes any sense at all...? Like it's so obvious it's just the one set of Pokémon that they can't push that thought from their mind while playing. Are Johto/Sinnoh/Unova/Kalos Pokémon so naturally-adapted to Alola that they didn't need to change form...? Things like that weaken the execution in my mind, although the core idea is a really good and welcomed one, and some of the Alola forms I really like (Raichu).

 

[Mister Coffee]

So when I see the Alolan Rattata, I don't see a mustache, I see a bandanna wrapped around a bandit's nose.

Spoiler:

 

[MonEvolutions]

Alolan Rattata is honestly taking away some of my hype for Alola forms. It looks pretty similar to Alolan Meowth, and I honestly don't have much of a reaction for it. One thing I am worried about is if there are going to be minimal actual Pokemon with all of the Alola forms.

 

[MonEvolutions]

I mean, Rattata is an actual Pokemon; it was made by Game Freak, so... :x

In all seriousness though, I can see the disappointment, but the bigger picture is that at least Game Freak is taking the time to give Alola forms to more underrated Pokemon than ever. This is exactly what most people wanted, so in essence, we're getting what we asked for.

I meant that there might be minimal new Pokemon introduced to Sun and Moon. I mean, I don't mind the design, but I wish it was a little different from Meowth's.

 

[Hikamaru]

I mean, Rattata is an actual Pokemon; it was made by Game Freak, so... :x

In all seriousness though, I can see the disappointment, but the bigger picture is that at least Game Freak is taking the time to give Alola forms to more underrated Pokemon than ever. This is exactly what most people wanted, so in essence, we're getting what we asked for.

I actually seem to like how the Alola Forms are going to otherwise underused Kanto Pokemon. Like MonEvolutions said above, they could end up using the Alola Forms as an excuse to have very little new "original" Pokemon, which was X/Y's biggest mistake by having so many Mega Evolutions that it caused the actual new Pokemon to be lost in the crowd.

 

[Adam Levine]

Alolan Rattata is...OK. Its abilities aren't so great (not a fan of Hustle), but it's design captivates me. It even stands on two legs! Cool!

And, the typing. It's bizarre.

 

[Rai]

Fair enough point, and I agree there. It's a point I've raised on another post; what makes Kanto Pokemon so special that they are apparently the only ones to change forms by adapting to Alola's environment? This is the thin ice that Game Freak is more or less skating on at the moment because they have to be really careful with the lore execution of what exactly makes other Pokemon so different than the ones from Kanto (assuming that it's 100% confirmed that Kanto Pokemon are the only ones getting Alola forms. Which looks that way, but I don't want to jump to conclusions).

There's also the possibility floating around in my head that they'll give Pokemon from other generations Alola forms later on, of course, assuming Sun and Moon gets a remake or a sequel of some sort. In my mind, you don't introduce regional form changes and then ditch them come next generation; you might as well run the whole mile with it.

I think they are only doing Kanto Pokemon as a kind of 20 year anniversary celebration. These Pokemon have stayed the same for literally two decades, so why not try to reimagine them and give love to some of the Pokemon that have gotten lost among all of the hundreds of others? The Johto and Hoenn and so on have not been around as long so new forms isn't as needed.

It is also possible that the Johto and other region Pokemon simply do not exist in Alola. Maybe the regions are too far away for the Pokemon to have migrated there.

As for Rattata, I love his little mustache, but he is probably my least favorite of the Alola forms so far. But poor Rattata is so unloved because of its commonality... I think they were just trying to make it more interesting since we will probably see a ton of them -.-

 

[Rai]

Hoenn I'll agree with on not seeing Alola forms yet (especially since some of them got the Mega treatment), but Johto? Johto's the second oldest region; I don't see why you would skip over the region, completely. And if it was a matter of distance, then how did Kanto Pokemon get to Alola? I assume real life Kanto and Johto aren't that far from each other in Japan, so how do you go from Japan to Hawaii? That's a lot of questions, but not enough answers. D:

I agree with you about Johto, but Sun and Moon doesn't mark an anniversary for that region.

I agree that there are a lot of unanswered questions @.@ Maybe the people from Kanto moved to Hawaii and brought along a lot of their Pokemon with them? Or maybe scientists brought different species over to see how the Pokemon would adapt?

 

[Nah]

So that leaves this question: is the 20th anniversary supposed to celebrate Pokemon gaming as a whole, or just RBY? If it was just RBY, then why does The Pokemon Company parade around the 20th anniversary of Pokemon existing as a whole? Why don't they just state "Happy Birthday RBY" on their marketing material? Seems to make a whole lot more sense to me than start a parade over what seems to be Pokemon's 20th anniversary and not just RBY's 20th anniversary, y'know?

Could be both. It's both the 20th anniversary of the franchise and the 20th anniversary of the Gen 1 games, so maybe they can do things to celebrate all the gens but still place a little more emphasis on Gen 1.

That's what I hope anyway, as they haven't given much indication that any other gens are getting love in some way even though they make it seems like they should be getting some. I suppose we'll have to see what gets revealed in the remaining 2 months and what we find when we get our hands on the actual games.

 

[Nah]

Isn't it all but confirmed that there's more than just Alola and Kanto Pokemon in Sun/Moon? I don't see why there wouldn't be. Not including Pokemon from other gens at all is a rarity rather than the norm.

 

[blue]

We know Ledyba can be found on Route 1 so I presume Spinirak can also be found there. Perhaps they are version exclusives with Ledbya being found in Sun whilst Spinirak can be found in Moon.

 

[kingdenas]

Maybe Tuesday's trailer?.... Idk.... I just feel like TPC is hiding many new features, etc, and it looks hard to take conclusions since we know little about the games :/ I'd love to hear about the version exclusives, just to make sure what Pokémon are in the game I'll buy!

 

[blue]

With X/Y, there were only 4 version exclusives (not including past Pokemon) that were officially announced prior to the games release. If there is still a handful of new Pokemon to be announced in the coming weeks then I guess some of those could be version exclusives, that is assuming some of the already announced mons aren't exclusives.

 

[Hikamaru]

Speaking of version exclusives, is it nearing the time where we're supposed to learn about them, or do we learn about them usually as it gets close to launch? I assume we'll probably know when people datamine the crap out of the demos, but I'm hoping for something to show before that...

If I recall, during B/W and X/Y pre-release we had a couple of version exclusives known before release. For the former I recall Reuniclus/Gothitelle and maybe Petilil/Cottonee. For X/Y we had Swirlix/Spritzee and their evolutions, as well as Clauncher/Skrelp.

So far for S/M we have had nothing known in terms of version exclusives and I recall the ones I mentioned were revealed around earlier than this point. If Tuesday's trailer doesn't reveal a version exclusive pair then I'll likely come to the conclusion that they're being kept secret until release.

 

[Rivvon]

I think they are only doing Kanto Pokemon as a kind of 20 year anniversary celebration. These Pokemon have stayed the same for literally two decades, so why not try to reimagine them and give love to some of the Pokemon that have gotten lost among all of the hundreds of others? The Johto and Hoenn and so on have not been around as long so new forms isn't as needed.

Pokémon Origins was made on gen 1's 17th anniversary year. This year is gen 2's 17th anniversary year. Since Pokémon Origins GS is probably never going to happen, and the more recent Hoenn starters got Megas but Johto starters got nothing, I'd say at the very least Johto Pokémon should get some Alola forms despite not quite being 20 years old.

It is also possible that the Johto and other region Pokemon simply do not exist in Alola. Maybe the regions are too far away for the Pokemon to have migrated there.

Hau has a Pichu, Ledyba are found in the wild on Route 1, and Ya Boi Guzma has an Ariados. Gen 2 Pokémon at the very least exist in Alola.

And I mean, that's a good thing. There would need to be a ton of new gen 7 Pokémon to make the PokéDex seem large enough to fill in the region. I cannot imagine the PokéDex would have enough variation for a region of this size if there were literally only gen 7 and gen 1 Pokémon unless gen 7 had like 300 new Pokémon.