7th Gen Farewell, Alola! Your favourite memory from the Generation VII games?

Pokemon Sword and Shield are only nine days away. This therefore marks the end of the long, prosperous seventh generation. As we prepare to move to the next generation, it is definitely certain that we will all miss Alola, and over time it will grow to be a nostalgic memory, much like a lot of the earlier generations are at this moment.

As we say farewell to Alola, what has been your favourite memory from the Gen VII games?

Probably the hype I had before Sun and Moon were released. They looked so promising but the final product wasn't everything it could be. Ultra versions on the other hand are slowly rising on my personal ladder since I started my Shiny Badge Quest. I think I'll remember the sheer amount of small side quests in Ultras for a long time.

And looking at Galar and Sword and Shield, I think I'll miss Alola a lot.

My fav memory's are prob beating Ultra Necrozma, catching a Necrozma and finally getting to the end of the game, took me long enough had little motivation to play the games especially the annoying trials

One of the bright spots to Alola was the Team Rainbow Rocket post game quest in USUM and seeing my old favorite villains again. I also liked a lot of the new pokemon that were introduced, with Mimikyu being my favorite, and the concept of the Alolan forms and the big totem pokemon. I still prefer gyms to trials, but there were a couple of fun trials like the Alolan Marowak dancing one and the Abandoned Mega Mart.

I appreciated the year of the legendary giveaway, and toking up unreleased hidden ability pokemon, mythicals and that shiny Zygarde in particular. While I prefer the gen 6 games to gen 7, I have tried playing both generations with the exp share on and off and gen 7 has a more noticeable level curve when the exp share is turned off, so that's something I think of as generally good. I am always looking for new ways to add any kind of challenge to the game, things like monotypes and theme teams, keeping the game on set, and making sure that you aren't overlevelled is another way that I can add some fun to the play through.

Ultimately it's the friends I made who aren't in the Galar dex that I will miss most about Alola. I was keeping my fingers crossed until last week that my primarina Ariel would be able to surf on over to my Pokemon Shield game in good time. He alone is enough reason for me to still play SM sometimes. if Alola is the only place I can use him for the time being then I'll have to visit the region sometimes.

SM pre-release hype was the best. i remember the speculation thread that used to exist (rip to my deleted posts) and we would all discuss back and forth and it was all super fun. i really think the discussions about the games were probably more fun than the games themselves because everyone was just super hyped over how different SM looked compared to ORAS. especially as people found out that gyms weren't a thing anymore and totem pokemon were also "bosses" of a sort and it was all... so new and different to experience. even if trials were essentially gyms in heart, totem pokemon was something entirely new and i appreciate game freak for trying something like that.

USUM hype was cool and exciting, especially when the trailer revealing mantine surfing was released and people flipped their can because it seemed super fun to do.

as far as actually playing them goes, i had way more fun with SM than USUM, truth be told. i think it's due to the newness of SM at the time that my friends and i just had so much fun exploring the region, and not only that, but shiny hunting, as well! shiny hunting as a big part of my enjoyment of SM because i got so many shinies due to how much easier it is to get them because of SOS chaining. that was fun.

i didn't have very fond memories of USUM because while it was cool playing it, i was going through a not so fun period in my life where i was forced to drop the game for months and i didn't end up beating it until recently so, rip.

i didn't get LGPE because the games didn't really appeal to me.

so overall based on what i've experienced, seventh gen was a solid 7/10. SM carried most of my good memories, USUM was meh, didn't get LGPE.

Having Incineroar in my team in both Moon and Ultra Moon.

The Ultra Necrozma battle theme. This is literally my only good memory of Gen VII - getting into that battle and thinking to myself "this is actually a pretty good background track" and then listening to it separately and having that confirmed. Definitely the best track in Pokemon since Cynthia's theme in Gen IV...not quite as good as that, but still above and beyond the rest of the garbage Gens V-VII infected my eardrums with.

...there's also the surprise shiny Alolan Rattata I got in Moon I guess, which is the first shiny I'd had in about 10 years that wasn't the red Gyarados.

The shiny Sigilyph I caught in Ultra Sun.

Also pre-release hype was amazing.

I didn't get the original S/M, but I started Ultra Moon on a plane on Christmas Eve 2018. I was originally going to get Litten, but then I saw Popplio, then I looked over at my Dad, then I looked at Popplio again and said "Hmm, would Dad choose emo Litten or happy-go-lucky Popplio?" Popplio is now a level 94 Primarina named Piper. I also got a Popplio plushie a week after I started Ultra Moon.

The Festival Plaza was a highlight for the summer of 2019. I would play my six lotto stations everyday because it was a way of getting rid of stress. I also played a lot of Omega Ruby and Crystal that summer (even though they weren't gen 7).

When I got "Let's Go Pikachu" it was great at first, now it's below average for me. Sorry Kanto fans.

I received Ultra Sun as a Christmas gift, and got very sick the day after.

So of course I spent the entire week playing it, and I enjoyed the entire thing, especially the Rainbow Rocket episode. I don't get sick often but for some reason Pokemon games are really enjoyable when I am.

When I was breeding for IV's, suddenly a shiny beldum came out of the egg. I was really happy for my favorite Pokémon (Metagross) appearing out of the egg. that is a nice memory. Another one was with eevee. a shiny eevee also came out of the egg and took me by surprise.

The pre-release hype was super fun. The release for SM was the first time I'd ever gone to midnight release for a game, and it was really cool seeing all different types of fans congregating at my local GameStop. Also, my 2DS died about halfway through Lana's trial so I ended up going out and buying the N2DS XL and it's been my baby since.

Honestly, Lillie's story is what made me love Alola the most. I didn't really care about any other elements. All I wish is that she had battled along side us more. But the friendship between MC and Lillie is probably the strongest friendship in any pokemon games, only being challenged by Cheren and Bianca.

Opening my presents on Christmas, knowing one of them was gonna be Pokemon Moon (it was the only thing I asked for) - but never in a million years expecting to open up the Sun/Moon double pack complete with adorable starter figurines. (Thanks family <3 <3 <3)

Playing Moon mostly blind, not by choice, but because I'd just fallen out of love with Pokemon around the time they were coming out - and falling back in love the more I played.

Picking Rowlet just because I had the perfect name for it - Haumea. (It's the name of a Hawaiian goddess - because Alola represents Hawaii - which was used in the modern day as a name for a Kuiper Belt Object/Dwarf Planet - because the game has a theme of celestial objects. The goddess Haumea was associated with life and fertility, which fits with Rowlet being a Grass type; the Dwarf Planet Haumea is known for its unusual shape, which sorta fits with Rowlet being able to turn its head in bizarre positions.) Okay, I lapsed into bragging a bit there, but come on, that's the perfect name!!

My first battle with Gladion...
"Gladion is about to send out Type:Null."
????
(It comes out)
?!?!?!
(It starts sweeping my team with Tackle)
?! AM I IN A CREEPYPASTA?!
lol

Haumea evolving into Decidueye - these days, I can't believe I could do it, but I picked my starter without even knowing the final evolution. I saw Decidueye, thought, okay, that's cool, I'm pleased with this...and then I looked at the typing. And then I freaked out, because my starter, the partner that I chose and who chose me at the beginning of my journey, had become my favorite type just by pure coincidence.

Catching Nebby on New Year's Eve, at night (and it was a beautiful night), cozily in the car with family on the way to a nearby restaurant to pick up my favorite cheese bread to pair with sparkling cider and ball dropping.

Ultra Sun & Moon first being announced - and this time, I was all about the hype. Massive crossover with all the past antagonists?? Human-like aliens existing in Pokemon canon??? Nebby pulling a freaking Kyurem???? Sign. Me. Up. (Literally sign me up - I made an account on this forum because of UsUm!)

Playing Ultra Moon late into the night when I got it, even more excited than I was for the original - not because Ultra Moon was better, but because I just kept getting sequentially more excited about Pokemon.

Catching my first wormhole shiny in Ultra Moon - a female Swellow named Strelitzia (after the Bird of Paradise flower).

Sweeping Victory Road with Dawn Wings Necrozma (or trying to anyway, using only one Pokemon is harder than it sounds), then using Necrozma and Lunala separately for that one double battle at the end, because even then I knew they were my favorite Pokemon.

Assembling a completely different team for the Rainbow Rocket episode, made up of Pokemon best suited towards an interdimensional threat: Dawn Wings Necrozma, the Silvally I got from Wicke, the Stakataka I caught just before the episode, the above-mentioned wormhole Swellow, a Smeargle I caught earlier in the game just for kicks, and my Vikavolt that was on my team the whole game until I swapped her out for Naganadel in the E4.

And, of course, falling head over heels for what is now my favorite Pokemon, Necrozma. c:

I was excited to discover the EV training aspects of Pokepelago. Most of my gaming time comes from playing for a little while before bed (maybe 30 minutes or so), with the occasional longer session on weekends or the occasional weekday. The passive nature of it worked really well with my schedule, and meant that I could grab a bunch of Pokemon out of Bank that I bred in gen 6 (I never really got into gen 7 breeding), dump them into Pokepelago towards the beginning of the week, check on them a couple of times, and have all of them fully EV trained and ready to go by the time the weekend rolled around.

I also remember being really excited to discover that I could get the Johto starters in game in SuMo. I recall sitting down over Thanksgiving and figuring out exactly when I could get each of them.

Aside from those, thinking about this topic has made me realize that gen 7 wasn't all that memorable for me. The main thing that sticks out is how much I wanted other characters to start pestering me all the time.

My experience was that of an emulated Moon version, cut off from the world, and it was really fun.

One of my fondest memories is starter selection itself. There's a long series of cutscenes before it, and I hadn't saved between them. I didn't want to go through the hassle again, so restarting if I got a starter of the wrong gender was not an option. As Hala was doing a speech about it, I was thinking: "Okay, I didn't have any preferences ahead of time, I'll choose one that looks good for both genders - Primarina will surely end up male and Incineroar, while less likely, with my luck could just now turn out female. Deciduye's cool and the most neutral looking, so..."

And then I saw them standing there, and Litten was a little kitty, and my heart melted and I immediately chose it, and went to Pokémon Refresh to pet her, because of course it was a she.

She's since became a macho-looking muscle-flexing cage-fighting bodybuilder tiger. That is female. And she's awesome.

I've got 2

1- in my original playthrough of Sun, I had a Stoutland on my team for obvious reasons. I named her Annabelle after my dog in real life. This Stoutland was always the most important member of my team, and while she had many memorable moments, my favorite has got to be against Hala in the Elite Four. Hala has taken out the other 5 Pokemon on the team, so it was up for my Normal type to try and finish off a Fighting type. Luckily, his Crabombinable had already used it's Z-move, so I didn't have to worry about that. First, I was able to get a Retaliate off on turn 1, so that was a huge help. Then, Annabelle toughed out a hit on 1 HP. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have won the battle. And yes, I know affection can make things almost too easy, but I never used the feature in Gen 6 and didn't realize it had in-battle effects in Gen 7 until it was too late to go back. Still, my Stoutland carried me through a lot of the game and came up big when it mattered most.

2- in Ultra Sun, after I'd already become the Champion, I was just running around trying to complete the Pokedex. I forget exactly which route it was on, but one of the ones with the shaking grass patch. It ran up to me, and at first I saw the outline of a Furfrou, so I got ready to run away because I had a Furfrou on my team already. But then it came into view and it was black! That Furfrou was my first shiny in USUM, and really the one that kickstarted my journey into shiny hunting. While I have several shinies now, that one is currently my only random encounter (excluding a Zubat that my rival killed in Black 2... but we'll just ignore that)

It was so cool that when you found a legendary, it would play the original theme from the generation instead of a remix.

My favorite memory or part was when lusamine combined with the ultra beast because it was on the edge of pokemon getting a little weird