News: Legendary Pokémon, Rival and Rotom unveiled

[GenuinelyAuthentic]

Awesome sauce! But the Rotom, though. I'm hoping Roton won't pull of a Navi in the game.

 

[Keiran]

The Pokedex looks pretty neat. The legendaries are pretty disappointing, though, both in their typing and abilities. Shadow Shield, aka Multiscale, is ok but Solgaleo basically has Clear Body.....yay...

However, I am in absolute love with the design of the battle interface. The splashes of paint design is so pretty and has a nice 90s aesthetic.

 

[GenuinelyAuthentic]

This is why we shouldn't anticipate a game to the extreme, like I did. You'll be left disappointed.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Apparently a user on Serebii Forums mentions that the official Sun & Moon site's coding reveals that a new mechanic called "Synchro Forms" could be a possibility, and the crystals present on the protagonists' bracelets could have something to do with it.

Ash Greninja in the anime must have been a sign of what could be to come with these games regarding this speculated mechanic.

If it works like Greninja then I will be fine. All it is is a different type of Mega, just called something else. I just hope they don't plan to flood us with different names. We got Megalution and Primal Reversion already. Adding another type is just going to be annoying. Which is one main reason I stop liking Yugioh because it became hard to follow. Because of so many different things.

I can see it working similar to Tekken.

 

[MarinoKadame]

Joe's post makes good reasoning behind the lower numbers of new Pokemon. The designs are getting harder to make, at least as far as original concepts go, so as a result there seems to be more of a focus on quality over quantity.

Yet Bandai Namco are able to make over 1200 different digimons.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Also there's about 200 Pokémon in the PokéDex too, and it's going to be divided up between the islands, so my question is, how many of those are new Pokémon?

Where does it say there's 200 Pokemon in the Pokedex?

I'm just wondering if that's your assumption, because Kalos had around 450 Pokemon in it's regional dex overall. Going back to 200 Pokemon would be pretty underwhelming variety wise.

The only way I'd be happy with a lower number like that is if it was only new Pokemon, if you're bringing back old Pokemon there's no good reason not to have the region filled with 450+ Pokemon again.

 

[Astinus]

Yet Bandai Namco are able to make over 1200 different digimons.

Digimon designs are different from Pokemon ones. A lot of Digimon designs are just recolors of others. They take Agumon, color him black/white/give him gloves and it's an entirely new Digimon.

With Pokemon, each design has something different going for that isn't just a color change. I can see why they would want to slow down the rate of new Pokemon, especially when they're hoping for Pokemon to last a long while. I'd rather they release a small amount of new Pokemon at a time while designing them well rather than releasing a huge amount of Pokemon that are exactly like what has come before.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Apparently I now think the fact that the folklore of ghosts coming out at night like the moon might actually explain Lunala's Ghost-type. Never initially thought of that.

Also, I did figure out that Moongeist Beam is actually a Ghost-type move since its Japanese name is Shadow Ray and we know how often shadows are associated with Ghost-type due to several moves with shadow in the name.

If we consider this, the iron/plasma presence in the sun as the reference for Solgaleo's Steel-type, and also Magearna's design theme I could be guessing alchemy could be a heavily prominent thing in Alola.

Actually you can see that it's signature move is super effective against Gengar in the trailer, so it's either Ghost, Psychic, or Dark. The first two is most likely. Solgaleo's move has steel in it, so most likely Lunaala's is Ghost, but than again Lugia's signature move was Flying, not Psychic while Ho-oh's was Fire despite also being part Flying.

Btw, the core of the sun is Metal, just like earth's (heavy elements gather at the cores of stars and Planets, eventually the accumulation of heavy metals weights down on the star). Plasma itself is hot ionized helium and hydrogen gas. Hmm, I wonder if my theory of the legends coming from the center of the Sun and Moon has a chance of coming true...

 

[mikey]

The news and footage today made me really excited about these games. I don't know what it is, but they just seem really interesting and somewhat different to me from the past games and I like it.

I love both of the legendaries. The typings are okay... I thought for sure Solgaleo would be part Fire like many of you did. I guessed correctly for Lunala though.

The region itself is really intriguing. The fact that there are islands is pretty cool in my opinion. Hopefully we can travel by boat instead of needing surf all the time lol.

I absolutely love the protagonists for these games. I haven't liked the protagonist designs since HGSS. Really loving them, and I love that customization is back. One thing that I dont like is that weird hat the female is wearing. Haha. Hopefully that can be removed. Something about the male protagonist reminds me of Team Aqua, which I love!

I also love the professor design, as well as the rival design and that mysterious girl Lillie. Hope she will be as interesting as I think she will be.

Rotom pokedex is pretty insane. Never expected that. Looking forward to it talking like it did in the anime.

So hyped!

 

[destinedjagold]

Speaking of legendaries...

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I wonder if this is a hint at something. :3

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

The news and footage today made me really excited about these games. I don't know what it is, but they just seem really interesting and somewhat different to me from the past games and I like it.

I love both of the legendaries. The typings are okay... I thought for sure Solgaleo would be part Fire like many of you did. I guessed correctly for Lunala though.

The region itself is really intriguing. The fact that there are islands is pretty cool in my opinion. Hopefully we can travel by boat instead of needing surf all the time lol.

I absolutely love the protagonists for these games. I haven't liked the protagonist designs since HGSS. Really loving them, and I love that customization is back. One thing that I dont like is that weird hat the female is wearing. Haha. Hopefully that can be removed. Something about the male protagonist reminds me of Team Aqua, which I love!

I also love the professor design, as well as the rival design and that mysterious girl Lillie. Hope she will be as interesting as I think she will be.

Rotom pokedex is pretty insane. Never expected that. Looking forward to it talking like it did in the anime.

So hyped!

It's the stripped shirt {XD}

I hope the characters gets access to haircuts again, I don't like the guy's hair.

Speaking of legendaries...

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I wonder if this is a hint at something. :3

I think I see a Torterra cloud below the Arceus cloud...
The Lugia and Ho-oh ones are easiest to notice.

 

[ShivaDF]

Guys, I had a theory that the legends were based on alchemy, and now it's practically confirmed! Solgaleo is definitely the green lion. For anyone who doesn't know, the green lion devours the sun, but it is likely a representation of gold or sulfur, or certain sulfates, in which case the Steel type makes perfect sense. The green lion also represents the energy flowing out of the sun that people can channel, which explains the Psychic typing.

I'm not as sure about Lunala, but the moon is sometimes shown with a giant bird in alchemy, which is would explain its shape.

Both Solagleo and Lunala seems to be based on the alchemical symbol of transmutation. This would also explain why both of these pokemon have a third eye.

I'm just... so excited because I'm 99% sure I'm right! Now I predict that there will be a third member of the new legends that represents the black sun!

 

[futiledevices]

I hate the Psychic/Steel typing, always have since I couldn't get past a bunch of Bronzongs and Klingklangs in a cave in one of the games. I thought Solgaleo definitely looked like a Fire-type. Fire/Psychic or Fire/Steel maybe. Love the look, not the typing. Then on the other hand you have Lunala, I don't like the look of. Still! Hella excited for these games

Also I do hope that because it's a very pacific region it's not going to mean tons and tons of surfing in wide open waters. Although it would be cool to have Surf earlier in the storyline

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Guys, I had a theory that the legends were based on alchemy, and now it's practically confirmed! Solgaleo is definitely the green lion. For anyone who doesn't know, the green lion devours the sun, but it is likely a representation of gold or sulfur, or certain sulfates, in which case the Steel type makes perfect sense. The green lion also represents the energy flowing out of the sun that people can channel, which explains the Psychic typing.

I'm not as sure about Lunala, but the moon is sometimes shown with a giant bird in alchemy, which is would explain its shape.

Both Solagleo and Lunala seems to be based on the alchemical symbol of transmutation. This would also explain why both of these pokemon have a third eye.

I'm just... so excited because I'm 99% sure I'm right! Now I predict that there will be a third member of the new legends that represents the black sun!

I thought that too, except prior to Solgaleo being shown in May I thought that the Sun legend itself would be based on the Black Sun.


Speaking of Alchemy, Litten also has one of the symbols of sulfur on it's forehead.


Now Rowlet's bowtie could be interpreted as an infinite symbol, but then what about Popplio?

 

[ShivaDF]

I thought that too, except prior to Solgaleo being shown in May I thought that the Sun legend itself would be based on the Black Sun.


Speaking of Alchemy, Litten also has one of the symbols of sulfur on it's forehead.


Now Rowlet's bowtie could be interpreted as an infinite symbol, but then what about Popplio?

Cool, you guessed that too? I actually thought there might only be one main legendary based on the black sun as as well.

Water in alchemy is a triangle pointing downward, which is Popplio's body shape. Its little collar could represent the jagged line that also sometimes represents water or the precipitation of something in water. My question is though, in alchemy, the triangle, circle, and square are often a trio. I wonder why those aren't reflected in the designs of any new pokemon yet?

 

[Bounsweet]

Where does it say there's 200 Pokemon in the Pokedex?

I'm just wondering if that's your assumption, because Kalos had around 450 Pokemon in it's regional dex overall. Going back to 200 Pokemon would be pretty underwhelming variety wise.

The only way I'd be happy with a lower number like that is if it was only new Pokemon, if you're bringing back old Pokemon there's no good reason not to have the region filled with 450+ Pokemon again.

In the image previewing the UI of the PokéDex, it's showing 1% complete with 2 Pokémon obtained, so that'd be about 200 total. It's possible for it to be off though, and for it to read 1% even with one Pokémon registered since it's more than 0. I'm just going by what's shown in the preview lol.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Where does it say there's 200 Pokemon in the Pokedex?

I'm just wondering if that's your assumption, because Kalos had around 450 Pokemon in it's regional dex overall. Going back to 200 Pokemon would be pretty underwhelming variety wise.

The only way I'd be happy with a lower number like that is if it was only new Pokemon, if you're bringing back old Pokemon there's no good reason not to have the region filled with 450+ Pokemon again.

Maybe they felt that 450 was too much for one region. Together with OrAs they had nearly all the mons. That kind of made them making a Z worthless. That was one of the reasons some people felt a Z would offer little but new Megas. It'll be better if they made the dex a bit smaller. I think 400 is a good number. 120 new ones and like 280 old ones. Though I'm thinking it'll end up being 500 as there seems to be 5 dexes, if the screen shot with five spots (two with names of what seem to be islands, and 3 blanks) with two of them saying what translates to "field guide" (I'm guessing this is how they refer to the dex in Japan) in the Japanese site is anything to go by.

 

[LilyGardy]

Can we play as Assistant Lillie? No. But she does have a nice design. I guess she'll turn out to be the Shelly of the villainous team which would also suggest Team Flare are thankfully done.

As for the other bits and pieces:

Male Protagonist looks incredibly generic...again.
Female Protagonist looks Ok. Reminds me of May somewhat.
Professor looks quirky but it seems to like fit his personality.
Rival looks Ok I guess. Kind of hoping for a female Rival though.
Rotom Pokedex is a nice touch.
Not a huge fan of either Legendary but I think I prefer Sun's.

 

[Hikamaru]

Maybe they felt that 450 was too much for one region. Together with OrAs they had nearly all the mons. That kind of made them making a Z worthless. That was one of the reasons some people felt a Z would offer little but new Megas. It'll be better if they made the dex a bit smaller. I think 400 is a good number. 120 new ones and like 280 old ones. Though I'm thinking it'll end up being 500 as there seems to be 5 dexes, if the screen shot with five spots (two with names of what seem to be islands, and 3 blanks) with two of them saying what translates to "field guide" (I'm guessing this is how they refer to the dex in Japan) in the Japanese site is anything to go by.

Now that I read what you said, it does make sense in the big picture now given we were able to trade all non-mythical Pokemon between XY and ORAS alone. Even if we got a Z it wouldn't offer much else to the table, aside from like you said, potential expansions to Megas and trainer customization.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Maybe they felt that 450 was too much for one region. Together with OrAs they had nearly all the mons. That kind of made them making a Z worthless. That was one of the reasons some people felt a Z would offer little but new Megas. It'll be better if they made the dex a bit smaller. I think 400 is a good number. 120 new ones and like 280 old ones. Though I'm thinking it'll end up being 500 as there seems to be 5 dexes, if the screen shot with five spots (two with names of what seem to be islands, and 3 blanks) with two of them saying what translates to "field guide" (I'm guessing this is how they refer to the dex in Japan) in the Japanese site is anything to go by.

I feel like trying to guess what they thought (or felt) of all things is pretty fruitless. How are we really supposed to have the first idea about what they're thinking?

All we can really go on is what we can see in front of us. I mean we CAN talk about what they might think, but I wouldn't consider that kind of speculation to be very convincing. It's not worth nearly as much as if there was an interview stating or even hinting at the idea that they thought they included too many Pokemon in the Kalos dex. As far as we know, they're fine with the number. You can't really count ORAS since that was a remake, plus they stuffed that game with so many extra Pokemon and legendaries (even Deoxys was catcheable) it seems to be like the opposite could end up being true. (that they want to put in as many Pokemon as possible)

You're also assuming they had plans for Z to begin with. Z may have never been a thing.

People spent so much time trying to figure out what Masahiro Sakurais thought process was regarding new characters in Smash Bros and from what I could see, it mostly resulted in people with egg on their faces.

In the image previewing the UI of the PokéDex, it's showing 1% complete with 2 Pokémon obtained, so that'd be about 200 total. It's possible for it to be off though, and for it to read 1% even with one Pokémon registered since it's more than 0. I'm just going by what's shown in the preview lol.

Is it possible that's just 1% of the first islands Pokedex? (and not the overall region)