News: Alola Form Rattata revealed for Sun and Moon

[Jason Wolf]

I'm more hyped for the news that you can have 100 people at your Streetpass gate than any of the genwunner pandering garbage revealed in the direct. Streetpass was such a pain in the ass to use in conventions and now they will be way more fun.

isn't that only premium aka the streetpass part you have to pay for?

Okay, the Gen 1 pandering is getting way WAY out of hand, it's really starting to piss me off. Don't get me wrong, I love all the designs so far, hell even the ones from the Art leak are fantastic, but please gamefreak, remember you have 721 designs to work off of, not 151. I'm just glad they're giving them to the more underrated designs though, instead of Charizard/Gengar/Gyarados/Eevee. But really give the other regions some love, especially Unova and Kalos which had almost no Megas and Kalos Pokemon were forgotten by their own region. I seriously hope this Gen 1 pandering is for advertisement purposes only and that we'll be able to find Alola forms of all kinds in the game when it's in our hands.

The Rattata looks great, i like how it stands on two feet in battle, and it's a nice break from the other 2 million rattata I have in Go.
I love the idea of some Pokemon getting special Z-Moves (still looks like Gen 1 pandering ugh). I love Raichu's move, Gengar's is some FMA stuff and Snorlax's move is straight up brutal murder, that was horrifying to watch, and I love it. Munchlax is certainly a weird Pokemon to give out but I'm not complaining, especially since it was forgotten in X/Y.

Seriously IDK why they only use Gen 1. They could be using all of this to get interest in the pokemon that are greatly disliked. Why aren't they helping improve those ones?

 

[Karous]

isn't that only premium aka the streetpass part you have to pay for?

Yeah, and? What's the issue? If you play Streetpass a lot, it's worth the $5.

 

[Desert Stream~]

Because old fans don't care about new Pokemon and only want to use Kanto Pokemon? Have you not seen that one video I've posted several times already explaining why they feel this way?

If old people aren't gonna use new pokemon, maybe they shouldn't be playing. One of the most hyped, important features of every generation is the new pokemon.

I don't see why they can't have both. We have a ton of kanto alola forms already for the old fans, add some johto/sinnoh/hoenn/unova ones for the newer fans!

 

[Hikamaru]

As these last couple of posts proved, it appears Kanto fanservice with the Alola Forms is going to be what causes the divided fanbase of this generation. Because it makes us want to feel bad for every other generation which is now going to be nothing but forgotten.

 

[MegaKuriboh]

I'm just going to expect all the Alola forms to be Kanto only at this point so I'll be less dissapointed, and hey if we get some that isn't a Kanto Pokemon, then that would be neat.

 

[Hikamaru]

I'm with Angie. It's safe to assume Alola Form reveals from here on are only Kanto Pokemon, so yeah fanservice confirmed, but what can we do?

Also, during the Direct (which unfortunately I missed due to my browser crashing) it appears Z-Crystals for the Water, Electric and Grass-types are called Waterium Z, Electrium Z and Grassium Z. We also had Gengar using what appears to be a Z-Move for Ghost-types, but we don't know what the move is called at this stage.

But what I also notice is that ones like Waterium Z, Electrium Z and Grassium Z only apply to just a type and therefore can be used by any Pokemon, while ones like Snorlium Z can only be used by a certain Pokemon (such as in this case, Snorlax). So when you think about it, it appears Z-Moves are split into two categories - type-specific and Pokemon-specific.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Looks like Youngster Joey will have to reconsider making his Johto-native Rattata the top percentage.

In all seriousness, Dark/Normal has pretty good coverage (with some resistances from Pokemon like Tyranitar and Carbink). Rattata and Raticate learn plenty of Dark moves already, so they make the most out of their new Dark type. I'm indifferent about them losing Guts, but Hustle is a nice substitute.

I also like how its flavor text ties in with real life, as Hawaii had a rat infestation, so they introduces mongooses to control the rat population; unfortunately, it backfired, as the Rattata learned to be nocturnal to avoid the diurnal Yungoos (in real life, mongooses were diurnal, while rats were nocturnal).

 

[Starry Windy]

I find Rattata with mustache is pretty interesting, this makes me wonder what Alolan Raticate looks like.

Also, during the Direct (which unfortunately I missed due to my browser crashing) it appears Z-Crystals for the Water, Electric and Grass-types are called Waterium Z, Electrium Z and Grassium Z. We also had Gengar using what appears to be a Z-Move for Ghost-types, but we don't know what the move is called at this stage.

I think Z-Moves for Fighting moves are also seen at some Direct/Video coverage from Europe and Chinese coverage, where Lucario is seen delivering many orange energy of fists, akin to Close Combat even though executed from afar.

And speaking of which, I didn't expected Z-Moves can be Pokémon-exclusive as well. I'm digging into Alolan Raichu's Stoked Sparksurfer which looks cool, but Snorlax's Pulverizing Pancake is the most interesting of all, rushing to stomp its enemies and all, I was like, oh dear, this guy's serious. Speaking of which, did you notice that the trainer still executed the same dancing move to Alolan Raichu just like when Electrium Z is executed?

 

[MarinoKadame]

The Z-Moves seems to work like Megas but instead of giving energy to evolve further they give the power to use a power ful move. Both are 1 time per battle.

Both hold item end by ite or ium linking them to minerals and metallurgy.

 

[Ducolamia]

A random thought in my head is what's going to happen in future games what with the introduction of Alola forms: Is Game Freak really going to stick with Kanto Pokemon, or are they going to expand beyond that in a theoretical sequel to Sun & Moon?

Thinking out loud here; of course it's far too early to speculate the such. Would be nice, though.

I feel that if they introduce more regional variants( which they have to because if they're going to make a new region they've now opened up the possibility to different type of regional forms) they are going to be more than gen 1. I feel it might be an X and Y case where the marketing for Mega Evos was for popular Pokemon but the games have other Megas for Pokemon that weren't as appreciated. If we don't get Alola forms for other gens this year( which I have my doubts) than at least I THINK we'll have different forms for different gens the next game.( Maybe, it's unlikely, but who knows).

For now, I won't get too upset about the information we got. To be perfectly honest, I'm a happy camper as long as Alola forms make a Pokemon more viable. Will I use them? Maybe Alolan Raichu because of it's Z-move, but I'll mostly stick to 7th gen Pokemon. I really don't care if this Pokemon gets a Mega or Alola form or whatever, I just want decent Pokemon and a fun thrilling experience, and I hope SuMo has that.

 

[moon]

Really not sure about how I feel about that Rattata hahah. I hope Raticate will have an interesting design too!

Z-moves, not sure how useful they'll be tbh. Megas were a more exciting gimmick.

 

[Desert Stream~]

Yeah, that's the other direction Game Freak can also go in. In a hypothetical sequel or third game, I can see them including more Alola forms for Pokemon from other generations, but if they're going to hop towards another generation altogether, I can see it presenting problems of how exactly you can use a given Alola form in a newer generation, or whether that just flat out won't be possible (which would be extremely silly, imo).

Buut like I said, thinking far ahead into the future and whatnot. ^_^

Guessing either Pokemon bank, or you could catch the forms in-game.

 

[CoalCraft]

The rattata is adorable; I always thought it was a cute Pokemon and the new design is great.

Not sure why there's so much upset about Alolan forms seemingly being gen 1 exclusive though, especially when it isn't yet confirmed that this is the case? I'm not a "genwunner" (only played Diamond, Black and X, tried Fire Red but really didn't like it), but I don't care what the spread of Alolan forms from different gens is. Like, let's say they decided they wanted to make (for example) 20 Alolan form Pokemon... No matter which ones they pick, they're going to miss out on some fan-favourites from all gens.

Besides, since Gen 1 is a lot of people's least favourite (me included, because it has such horrors as Mr. Mime, Jynx and the Hitmons), doesn't it make sense that they would try to show it some love with these Alolan forms? It makes good business sense too; a lot of people who're not big fans, who perhaps have never played a Pokemon game, are playing GO. When they see ads for Pokemon that they recognise, but that look cool and different from the ones they recognise, they might think 'hey, I want a rattata like that' and pick the game up when they otherwise wouldn't be interested (because they've never played a main-series Pokemon game and don't know much about it.

And the Pokemon they're picking are the ones that are forgotten or downright mocked. People have been complaining about the lack of attention paid to raichu for years, no one uses meowth, and rattata is straight up disliked by a lot of the fan-base.

 

[MarinoKadame]

The rattata is adorable; I always thought it was a cute Pokemon and the new design is great.

Not sure why there's so much upset about Alolan forms seemingly being gen 1 exclusive though, especially when it isn't yet confirmed that this is the case? I'm not a "genwunner" (only played Diamond, Black and X, tried Fire Red but really didn't like it), but I don't care what the spread of Alolan forms from different gens is. Like, let's say they decided they wanted to make (for example) 20 Alolan form Pokemon... No matter which ones they pick, they're going to miss out on some fan-favourites from all gens.

Besides, since Gen 1 is a lot of people's least favourite (me included, because it has such horrors as Mr. Mime, Jynx and the Hitmons), doesn't it make sense that they would try to show it some love with these Alolan forms? It makes good business sense too; a lot of people who're not big fans, who perhaps have never played a Pokemon game, are playing GO. When they see ads for Pokemon that they recognise, but that look cool and different from the ones they recognise, they might think 'hey, I want a rattata like that' and pick the game up when they otherwise wouldn't be interested (because they've never played a main-series Pokemon game and don't know much about it.

And the Pokemon they're picking are the ones that are forgotten or downright mocked. People have been complaining about the lack of attention paid to raichu for years, no one uses meowth, and rattata is straight up disliked by a lot of the fan-base.

And let's not forget Farfetch'd. In a gen 6 hack he got Fighting/Flying with Super Luck on top of it's leak it made him quite good for a crit pokemon.

 

[CoalCraft]

Perhaps I can help shed some light on why there's some discomfort with Alola forms seemingly being Gen I exclusive (so far, there doesn't seem to be any indication that they'll go with other generations, and with two months left until release, and with how reveal schedules usually go, that seems to be a fairly tight schedule to fit a sizeable amount of say, Johto Pokemon). See, while there's nothing wrong with Game Freak giving these Alola forms to a lot of the underappreciated 'mons, it still does leave the question of whether or not forgotten Pokemon from other generations would receive the same treatment?

I mean, I'd argue a good 75% of the Johto Pokedex can do with an Alola form. Why hasn't Ariados gotten one? My best guess is that spiders aren't that huge of a thing in Hawaii (which is fair enough, I guess), but even besides that, it's the general hope that Game Freak, while they're doing a fine job paying attention to the little guys in Gen I, they shouldn't forget about the underdogs in other generations, as well. There's also Pokemon like Stantler, who most of the fandom probably forgot exists and keeps forgetting it exists. There's even some Gen III Pokemon that are REALLY under the radar (Illumise/Volbeat, Masquerain, Armaldo, etc), so I hope you see where I'm going with this. u_u

It's definitely a possibility that Game Freak might give similar treatment to other generations down the line, but it's still a bit of a bummer to not see some generational variety in Alola forms up to this point.

Hmm, I guess I just don't really see a great importance in maintaining fairness between the Gens? Perhaps it's because I was a late-comer to the Pokemon franchise, but I don't mentally separate Pokemon into gens. In fact, with the exception of Gen 1 (because GO) and a small handful from X/Y (whose release I semi-followed), I couldn't tell you which gen most Pokemon come from, because I've only seen them as a hodgepodge in the later games. As I mentioned, they're presumably limiting themselves to a certain number of Alolan forms for this particular release, so there was always going to be the same number of generally unloved Pokemon continuing to be ignored by missing out on a new form... What does it matter which gen they're from?

Also... I've got a sneaking suspicion that the Alolan forms are going to be introduced into GO around Sun & Moon's release, as a bit of cross-promotion. If so, makes sense they'd conserve resources for Pokemon they can use in GO.

Anyway, it might just be a function of the different ways people mentally group/classify gens.

 

[James169]

I think the Pokemon website let it slip that Alolan Raticate exists:

Logic tells us that anyway.

If a Pokemon evolves (Darwinian) to adapt to its surroundings, then when it evolves (Pokemon) it isn't going to be the same as the unadapted one.

 

[James169]

Clutching at straws a bit, but it's possible they aren't revealing all Alolan forms like they don't reveal all the Pokemon, and are just revealing Gen 1 alolan forms to appeal to genwunners

 

[kingdenas]

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. I'm just tired of Gen 1 being present in all games, while the other gens are kinda ignored :/ As colours said, if we are celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Pokémon Franchise, we should be celebrating ALL gens, not only the first gen...

 

[Hikamaru]

Angie is right - the 20th anniversary of Pokemon needs to acknowledge the whole franchise, not just a specific generation. I view Pokemon as more than just one generation, and it's sad that it's failed to be recognized.

 

[MegaKuriboh]

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.