News: Pokémon Sun & Moon Officially Announced [Summary of news here!]

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Part of me thinks they'll string us along till E3, but I really, really hope they don't stall us out for another two months. Especially given we know next to nothing about the games right now.

At least we know corocoro next week will feature Sun/Moon, 100%.

That being said, at this stage, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they just show us the concept art from the trailer , lol. . .

Yeah, we might have to wait until May then to get real news (assuming that Corocoro's SM coverage will be monthly) if that's what they pull on us. This is starting to make OrAs' first two months of info look like something in comparison.

 

[Ho-Oh]

I personally think there's no need to make us wait this long. It's been just over a month, yes.

But I could swear within a month of other game announcements we got a lot more than nothing. CoroCoro won't let us down. We'll get some information from there. That'll tie us over for a bit, maybe. If the games are being released in December that's only eight months away. By May it'll be seven, so there will be no real need to hold off on information in order to pace stuff out. I hope...

Roughly 9 days to go!

 

[COOLTRAINER♂]

It was announced at an important company event though, but the game won't be ready for another six - eight months or so. They still want to sell us other things in the mean time, but there will probably be more stuff posted to www.pokemon.com and their social media channels once the next CoroCoro comes out, ramping up as we get further into the year.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

There will be more than 10 pokemon, Masuda said that in a joking manner, So I think that confirms that we will have more than we have in XY.

I don't think him saying that in a joking manner means anything.

It's a joke because of course there's going to be more than 10 Pokemon. If you consider the 9 starter Pokemon, the new bird and the legendaries that will be included you're already over 10.

It's a joke because he revealed something without really revealing anything at all.

 

[Hikamaru]

I don't think him saying that in a joking manner means anything.

It's a joke because of course there's going to be more than 10 Pokemon. If you consider the 9 starter Pokemon, the new bird and the legendaries that will be included you're already over 10.

It's a joke because he revealed something without really revealing anything at all.

I know that odd-numbered generations so far all introduced more than 100 new Pokemon (while 2nd and 4th Gen introduced 100 or close to 100, 6th Gen had only 72 new Pokemon not counting Megas) so knowing previous patterns I could see 140 being a possible amount since it's in-between 3rd Gen and 1st/5th Gen's numbers, and I know the negative reaction towards 6th Gen introducing very few new Pokemon so I hope we don't repeat the same minuscule new roster twice.

 

[Pokemon_Hero]

We are going to wait a lot. The next big news are in June E3.

The April Corocoro will reveal Magiana's stats from the sun and moon game, and may's corocoro will reveal the main heroes.

 

[Hikamaru]

I think CoroCoro this month is likely going to reveal the mascot legendaries, and maybe the starters and protagonists as well. That's usually among the first stuff revealed from new generation games if I remember CoroCoro's usual pattern when it comes to info from an upcoming generation.

I think a future issue may reveal more about Magearna, such as its type and ability.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I think what Masuda is trying to say when he said more than 10 new Pokémon is that there will be more than 10 family lines.

 

[Hikamaru]

I think what Masuda is trying to say when he said more than 10 new Pokémon is that there will be more than 10 family lines.

That would actually make for a lot of Pokemon. If we were to follow the pattern with previous odd-numbered generations in terms of new Pokemon, I could see the amount of new Pokemon in 7th Gen to be around the 140 mark, in between how many 3rd Gen introduced and how many 1st and 5th Gen introduced. I'm sure Game Freak may have learned that too few new Pokemon isn't very satisfactory because new Pokemon are the point of a new generation and we want a good number of options.

I know this because I've watched some YouTubers do X/Y Let's Plays and they only wanted to use the new Pokemon, and that meant not many options were available for their team.

 

[COOLTRAINER♂]

The big difference is that now they don't have to make nearly 700 Pokemon models just to cover everything up to Unova + alt forms, which limited how many new Pokemon & Megas they can make for X/Y (hence every single Mega losing their gender differences & a bunch of extra megas being made for OR/AS).

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I know this because I've watched some YouTubers do X/Y Let's Plays and they only wanted to use the new Pokemon, and that meant not many options were available for their team.

Once again, I wouldn't trust Poketubers, because a few well-respected PC users such as Meloetta expressed their dislike towards the new Pokémon in Gen 5 and how there weren't able to use old Pokémon until post-game.

 

[Hikamaru]

Once again, I wouldn't trust Poketubers, because a few well-respected PC users such as Meloetta expressed their dislike towards the new Pokémon in Gen 5 and how there weren't able to use old Pokémon until post-game.

Black & White is a different case, because the use of only Unova Pokemon until the postgame was likely to act as a "reboot" that was reminiscent of 1st Gen. For those who may not have been fans of the first Unova games, Black 2 & White 2 seemed to have redeemed them.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I think we'll get the mascots before E3 at least.

 

[Hikamaru]

That's likely my expectation as well, considering how much I know the mascots are a factor in deciding which version we want to play. Granted, I already know Moon will be my main version (I tend to play the "blue" themed versions) but I'll definitely be able to tolerate the legendary design-wise, and I don't particularly hate any version mascot designs to begin with.

 

[blue]

On the contrary I believe we won't have more than 70 new Pokemon. Generation VI was the first to introduce less than 100 pokemon, odds and evens have nothing to do with the amount of Pokemon a generation introduces. The total currently stands at 721, that to me is a high enough figure as it currently stands. Rather than having new generations with high numbers of Pokemon, it would make more sense to have new generations with a smaller amount of new of Pokemon.

 

[Hikamaru]

I can see where you're going here, because I know most complaints about 6th Gen on the internet were mainly directed at two things - the Exp. Share and the low number of new Pokemon. I could easily understand the reason behind less new Pokemon because this was the first generation to be in full-3D rendering and making models for around 721 Pokemon plus alternate forms would definitely look like a chore for Game Freak.

Sun & Moon, based on that screenshot with the Horsea fountain seems to show that the 3D graphics (notably in the overworld) might be more advanced than we had in 6th Gen, so even if we got another small roster of new Pokemon it'd mainly be to do with how long it takes rendering Pokemon models. If we get another small roster I think 80-90 would seem like a reasonable mark considering it's close to the size of 6th Gen's 72 new Pokemon but at the same time won't have to make Game Freak spend too long making the 3D models.

Don't get me wrong, when we all first saw X & Y's graphics and how beautifully rendered and animated each Pokemon + alternate forms/formes model was, we were all mostly blown away because it showed the 3DS being more powerful than we thought.

 

[COOLTRAINER♂]

Eh, only because it's pushing the machine to it's limits (and they basically started the trend of games turning off 3D display in intensive scenes)

 

[Sabrewulf238]

On the contrary I believe we won't have more than 70 new Pokemon. Generation VI was the first to introduce less than 100 pokemon, odds and evens have nothing to do with the amount of Pokemon a generation introduces. The total currently stands at 721, that to me is a high enough figure as it currently stands. Rather than having new generations with high numbers of Pokemon, it would make more sense to have new generations with a smaller amount of new of Pokemon.

The pattern of generations alternating between high and low figures is at least a pattern though, compared to "it'll be like this just because I think it makes sense for it to be like this". Which isn't a pattern, it's an opinion. One that not everyone will agree with. (It's not even guaranteed that Masuda would agree with you)

I mean, I think it would have made sense for them to have shown the starters by now but we're still waiting.

 

[firekid115]

It's definitely a visible pattern between alternating generations. That being said, S/M could still give us more pokemon than gen 6 did, yet still give us less than any other previous odd numbered generation. I do agree it feels like they're starting to slow down on that front.

Looking through serebii news archives from 2010 and 2013, I'm thinking we won't see anything like mascot legendaries or starters until around May. I hope I'm wrong though. I can't imagine corocoro's "first Sun and Moon feature" to be something like Magearna's typing, and if they were to show the concept art from the announcement trailer, that'd just be silly imo.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

It's definitely a visible pattern between alternating generations. That being said, S/M could still give us more pokemon than gen 6 did, yet still give us less than any other previous odd numbered generation. I do agree it feels like they're starting to slow down on that front.

Looking through serebii news archives from 2010 and 2013, I'm thinking we won't see anything like mascot legendaries or starters until around May. I hope I'm wrong though. I can't imagine corocoro's "first Sun and Moon feature" to be something like Magearna's typing, and if they were to show the concept art from the announcement trailer, that'd just be silly imo.

May 2010 the mascot and region names were revealed. In February 2013 Sylveon was shown.