Quick Review: Disney Speedstorm

Ready your wallets – I mean, your wheels – because you’re gonna be spending – I mean speeding – through the long, hard cash – I mean tracks – of the Disney universe!

I’m telling right off the bat what my review angle is gonna be, huh.

Mickey Mouse, ready to race! And leave everyone else
in his dust! (Unless you change to another racer!)

Disney Speedstorm is a creation of Gameloft released on April 18th, 2023. This free(mium) game is about Arbee, an A.I. that exists in an arcade and which has grown fond of many Disney properties (including Pixar and the Muppets). It decides to create a racing game of its own to bring all these heroes, villains, and other supporting characters in one place… where they can then put on modern racing gear, no matter which time period they’re from, and then duke it out on the racetracks. At time of writing, the game contains 131 characters from 39 universes, with the most recent additions in Season 21 being from Encanto.

I hadn't thought about it, but then I remembered I should
probably censor the usernames of other racers.

I’m playing on PC and keyboard, where W is to accelerate, A and D to go left and right, the left Shift key to make the car jump, and the Spacebar to drift. Taking a page from Mario Kart (then again, which mascot racer doesn’t?), racers can grab boxes on the track, obtaining items to help against the opponents; item skills can be activated with the Up or Down arrows, with some items having different effects depending on what you press (as an example, a bomb that you can toss forward to hit someone ahead, or drop behind you to hit someone getting too close; or flames that can either form a barrier around the racing car, or leave a fiery trail behind it). Racers can run over speed pads, which gives them a boost and fills a gauge at the top of the screen. When it’s full, you can press Crtl to activate a longer boost.

Race variants, team racing, solo racing, and so many events
going on at any moment. All to keep you lured in, right?

You can customize both the racers’ outfits and the karts. However, the more interesting aspect here is how you can level up the characters and give them stat increases through stars. All characters have their own “Racer Shards” (you need to collect 10 of a racer’s shards to unlock them) and start at 0 stars. When you have enough Shards for a racer and enough Tune Coins collected, you can spend some of both to make that racer gain a star fragment, five of which are needed for a whole star. With each fragment, that racer’s stats get small boosts – these can add up to make that character increasingly fearsome on the racetrack, but they get costly. After you’ve given a character a full star, they go up a rank, and you can give them crew members that give small stat bonuses during races as well. Crew members also have their own shards. Phew!

Look at this, he's in a racing game! He's wearing clothes!

The game plays great, looks amazing, and features high-energy remixes of famous Disney songs. The wide selection of characters is good (though unlocking them is a long, tedious, often luck-based process), and they all have their own special skills to unlock and use. And if you’re struggling to win races in Solo Mode, you can play in Team Mode instead, where you’ll be paired with two other players and your cumulative team score will determine whether you win or lose a race. Then of course there are plenty of season events to take part in, and many more sections, like the World Map and an Adventure Road (though in both cases, some levels require owning and/or using specific characters and being at specific racer levels), as well as a plethora of classic freemium stuff like daily missions, seasonal missions, a bit of free stuff every day, etc. You probably know the drill already.

Quick Review: Cat Quest

It’s Cat-astrophic! Okay, brace for cat puns, because this game has them all.

The start of a great... uhhh... cat-venture?

Cat Quest, developed by The Gentlebros, published by Kepler Interactive and released to Steam on August 8th, 2017, begins on a tragedy. Two cat siblings are on a boat at sea when it is attacked. A darklord kidnaps the sister and destroy the ship, leaving the brother for dead. However, a helping guardian spirit named Spirry comes to the cat’s rescue and lands him safely on the beach of Felingard. A glowing mark behind the kitty’s head identifies him as a Dragonblood, of a legacy of dragon slayers. Well, that’s good, because our enemy, the nasty Drakoth, seems to be quite fond of summoning dragons. I guess we’ll just deal with those, and then with him, if that’s what it takes to rescue our sister!

Wham! That's no clawing but it will do the trick either way.

This adorable action RPG begins easy enough – on PC, you slash your sword around with the left-click button. Over time, you will obtain magic; up to seven different skills, of which you can have four equipped at a time. You can assign them to number hotkeys or use them with the right-click button (which opens a wheel with the skills at four ends, and you drag towards the skill to use it). The cat can dodge-roll with the Space bar. As you defeat enemies, you gain EXP to level up, and Gold which can be used to upgrade your magic skills or get new equipment.

It's not rare for quests to make you level up pretty much
instantly once you finish them.

Hat, Armor, Weapon. That's all you need.

You can find equipment in dungeons and caves around the map; if you find something you already own, that item gets an upgrade to level and stats instead. Across the map, you can stop at towns for a quick catnap refilling your HP and mana; these also save your game. These towns have bulletin boards with plenty of quests you can take on, solving various townskitten’s problems and learning more about that world. Every quest comes with rewards in XP and Gold, and you can level up fast through those. Still not enough? You can choose to visit any cave across the map, kill everything inside and loot the treasure chests! Quests and caves come with a recommended minimum level – which you can disregard, if you’re feeling brave.

Yes, we're walking on water. Don't question it. It gets better;
we can learn to fly later. As for this ice dragon? Aside from
sword slashes, it can do both ice and thunder attacks.

Whoom! When the sword isn't mighty enough, the
fire, thunder, ice, whatever, spells save the day!

The combat system is simple, simplistic even; enemy attacks are represented by red marks, be they circle or arrows. You can attack, then dodge to safety with the right timing. Your mana remains low, and spells cost from 2 to 5 MP to cast; however, you regain 1 MP each time you slash at an enemy with the basic attack. Thus, many late-game battles follow the pattern of “Use all your MP on spells, play slash-then-flee to refill the gauge, rinse and repeat”. The spells you learn are the same you’ll see enemies use against you.

When you beat the story, you unlock a Mew Game+ (Gosh, the puns in this game) with modifiers to make the game harder. Stronger enemies, keeping the Dragonblood at Level 1, and/or forbidding any equipment. Yes, I said “and”; you can stack these. Good luck.

Lots of bonus bosses, too, if you're willing to fight them.
That one was tough as all Heck.

It’s a good, fun game. The main quest is interesting and takes advantage of every comedic opportunity it can take – such as by slipping a cat pun every other sentence. The plot is mostly lighthearted. It’s not a hard game – Game Overs are a slap on the wrist where you merely respawn where you last saved, and keep all the equipment, experience and money you’ve obtained before dying. The game looks nice and has good music, and though its combat system is simple, it does offer some level of strategic planning (mainly in terms of spell loadout). There’s a lack of variety in gameplay (as most quests get resolved through fighting enemies/bosses or exploring caves), and you are left to level-grind whenever you realize that you’re too weak for the next mission or story beat, but for a game so short, I think that’s excusable.

Cat Quest is available on Steam for 12.99$ USD. It’s got two sequels too, if you try the original and like it!

Quick Review: Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

She’s back, and ready to defend Scuttle Town again!

If we're starting with the downtown on fire... We're in for
something good.

WayForward’s Shantae series has quite a few games; I covered another one, Risky's Revenge, long ago. The entry covered today, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero, was released on December 20th, 2016 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. However, in place of a Metroidvania-style, interconnected world, we have a game split into stages. Most of them contain secrets inaccessible until Shantae collects the right abilities and forms to turn into (through her belly dancing, of course). You can return later to find those and expand your arsenal.

Factories? Mermaids? Crocodiles? Better investigate this.
I'm supposed to be looking for maidens, not mermaids!

After another attack from Risky Boots and her pirate crew on Scuttle Town, Shantae’s elderly inventor uncle begins making a machine, using old blueprints, that will protect the town in her place. However, she'll need to find the items he needs. And solve problems across the land, while she’s at it. Maidens are disappearing in the next town over? Everyone in Scuttle Town loses their memories and another half-genie looks like the culprit? Stopping a heist at the grand flying carpet race? Other than her uncle’s machine, what could tie these things together? Maybe the occasional dream Shantae has been having of the genie world, which speaks to her…

We're gonna need a bigger boat. ...Okay, that joke
is probably in poor taste to talk about a giant mermaid.

Wham! Need power to push large blocks? Become elephant.
Stay cute either way.

With the jewels you collect, you can buy additional upgrades for Shantae, such as magic spells to use (with the C key), or improvements to the attack power and speed of her hair whip. Over the course of this adventure, she regains her classic forms – the wall-climbing monkey, the ramming elephant, the swimming mermaid, and so on. Some forms have a secondary ability must be unlocked by finding it. As an example, the mermaid form starts out defenseless against underwater threats, but Shantae later learns to shoot bubbles to attack.

Uh oh, gotta escape the giant worm (which is dead when we
return, so yep, can't "finish" this area in one go).

Splitting the game into stages, each with lots of secrets, does help in some capacity. However, it means you’ll be revisiting eqch stage many, many times to find new abilities that were previously impossible to get. You do gain access to teleportation tools to quickly leave a stage once you got what you wanted, or to warp directly to the next area if you know exactly what you're looking for and where it's located.

Past the main mode, you can play the game again with various twists: A Hero Mode with all transformations unlocked from the start, a Hardcore Mode, and a Jammies Mode with Shantae in her pajamas and fighting with her pillow (yup). The store page includes DLCs for two additional quests, one playing Risky Boots’ side of the story, another playing as Shantae’s friends, and three “costumes” that come with their own arcade-like gameplay!

In Jammies Mode (implied to be one big dream), her pillow
atrtacxk is somehow stronger than her regular hair whip.
Also, this mode turns the game into a genuine platformer.

Some of these quests feel like a point'n'click. You obtain the
candy from the dotor, which you see after getting sick, which
happens after finding five relics for an archaeologist in the
desert tower, and finding said relics requires the ability to
ground-pound with the elephant form. ...Phew!

WayForward knows how to craft a good Metroidvania – as proven repeatedly by this very franchise. But if you bought Shantae: Half-Genie Hero hoping for one, you might be disappointed that it's split into stages rather than being a continuous world, even if the spirit remains and the game is still very good. As pointed above, this change does lead to some degree of repetitiveness, though there's a few workarounds. As usual, this is paired by a great soundtrack, a beautiful hand-drawn art style (seriously, the game looks awesome), and inventive stages and bosses with always something new to discover. It’s worth checking out for fans of the genre or of the series. Good time all around.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is available on Steam for 19.99$ USD. Or, alternately, you can get the Ultimate edition released two years later, in May 2018, which includes all the bonus material.

Quick Review: Guns of Icarus Online

For a moment, I was afraid I’d have two game eulogies this year; turns out, there’s only one (it’ll come later in this set of Quick Reviews), but... today's title has definitely seen better days.

Enemy on the left! Uh... how do we say left on a ship
again...

A creation of Muse Games released on October 29th, 2012, Guns of Icarus Online is a multiplayer game about operating steampunk airships and going at war against other factions. Before I start, I want to say that, like pretty much every multiplayer-only game in my collection, this one has been sitting a long time unplayed; I received it in a Humble Bundle back in February… 2017. At a time where I can safely assume the game was a lot more active. And though it’s still receiving occasional updates, unless I’ve played at a particularly slow time, the playerbase appears to have gotten low - the most I saw on my first session was 9 players online at a time.

Say hello to my friend Mortar! You've already met Gatling.

The game features multiple factions warring over a large map, taking, stealing and reclaiming territories, similar to other multiplayer games I’ve played in the past (such as For Honor). However, combat is exclusively dogfights. Each airship has a crew of four, the captain steers (forwards, backwards, turning left or right, and ascending/descending), while the other three can man the ship’s weapons or fix any machinery that gets broken by enemy fire. You don’t need to have four human PCs on one ship; all it takes is one. However, the captain must always be a human player, so if you’re on your own, your job is automatically to drive. I imagine the big interest in this one is to have a full team of four communicating and coordinating their efforts to both get to the guns in time to shoot down enemy ships that come close, and repair what needs to be. The tutorial focuses a fair bit on repairing and maintaining the ship, with piloting as its final course.

Hell yeah, I'm on fire! Wait... No! Ahh! I'm on fire! Ack!
Quick, the extinguisher! My gun is on fire!

There's a wide variety of battle types and matchups. The friend I played with and I went through two modes that could be played between the two of us; together as a team against CPU enemy ships, whichever team destroyed three ships of the opposing team won; and me versus him, attacking each other across the desolate deserts, broken cities, and graveyards of giant dead machinery. (And him wiping the nonexistent floors with me, ‘cause he has more experience with driving/piloting games than I'll ever have – but hey, I got to test the game, that’s what matters!)

Nothing a little percussive maintenance can't solve.

The tutorials cover every position, so you should know how to operate no matter where you land on a team. You have Practice options to play on your own, summoning enemy ships at will to train yourself, or playing against CPU pirates. Multiplayer has 5 modes allowing for varying numbers of players and teams (2v2, 3v3, 2v2v2v2, 4v4, and King of the Hill Mode can be an 8-player Battle Royale). There’s even Skyball in there – whatever that is.

I do wish there was a mini solo campaign to this thing, it
would be interesting to have. I could have taken more
piloting skill tests like this one at the end of the tutorial,
where we're driving through canyons.

Add to this a ton of options for your secondary tools when driving and many choices to customize the look of your personal ship (though a lot of cosmetic stuff is locked behind real money) and weaponry loadout (lots of different gun and ammo types). Like I said earlier, I can imagine what Guns of Icarus was like at the height of its popularity, and even a few years after that; the concept is interesting, the controls and mechanics take some getting used to but can make a seasoned player a definitive threat on a map, and there are enough lore and details to have players care at least a little about the story.

Hello, pirates. Time for you to go down.

However, though I still linked to it and tell its current price at time of this article’s publication, I don’t know if I can “recommend” it, not nearly 13 years into its existence and with such a massively decreased player base. Unless you buy copies for all your friends as well, but even then, I don’t know how much mileage one can get out of it at this point. Same for the update, Guns of Icarus Alliance, advertised in the base game.

Still, if you’re interested, Guns of Icarus Online is available on Steam for 4.99$ USD. I also don’t know how much longer still it’ll be available for purchase, after all this time. But hey – not a eulogy for once!

Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (Part 4)

Pokémon Sun/Moon: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6

Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Finishing this today!

Ending the Island Challenge

What will Primarina do? Oh, it has options.

With the Necrozma crisis resolved, we can finish our trip across Alola. Nic talks to Mina to go directly to her boat home on Seafolk Village. She presents her trial: First, he'll battle her Fairy-type team. After she’s defeated, her true challenge begins, and it requires minimal work on her part. Mina gives him one petal. He's told to go battle some of the trial captains (Ilima, Lana, Kiawe, Mallow, Sophocles, Acerola) and collect their petals. Then, bring back the whole flower to Mina to lure out the Totem. A clever idea that doesn't actually force you to backtrack across the whole game, but it feels like a challenge worthy of the final trial.

Go, Sophocles, give it all you got!

I find it funny just how many of the Totems we fought
we Bug-types. Maybe Guzma was on to something.

Every trial captain has a team with levels in the 50s, and these battles are throwbacks to previous events. You don’t fight every captain; You always fight Ilima and Kiawe, but Mallow and Sophocles are fought in Ultra Sun (with the latter bemoaning that his friend Molayne is leaving), while in Ultra Moon you fight Lana and… Acerola isn’t available, so you re-fight Nanu instead. We even get a scene with Guzma, at Aether House's entrance; he has turned over a new leaf. Return to Mina, and a Totem Ribombee is summoned; it can call for Blissey or Pelipper for help. When it’s defeated, Nic gets the Fairium-Z.

After which, we take on Poni’s grand trial, which means fighting Hapu’s Ground-types. This takes place on Exeggutor Island, and she couldn’t be happier to occupy her new place as kahuna. Victory nets Nic the Groundium-Z, and an invitation to meet the Elite 4 at the top of Mount Lanakila.

This place has more visitors than when I last visited.

As a repeat from Sun/Moon, Gladion awaits at the mountain’s elevator, and gives his all in a memorable battle. His team includes Type: Null, freshly evolved into Silvally. Once again, he loses, but is quite proud of how far they’ve all come through this adventure. After which, it’s Mount Lanakila; it’s roughly the same, with two major differences. The first is the dozen Trainers to be fought in there. So it’s not a Victory Road with puzzles to solve – but it feels more like one than before! The second: This is where you can find Necrozma, back to its basic form. It can be caught.

Huh, didn't know Hawlucha could have a poison move.

There’s still a Pokémon Center at the top, but no Hau battle. Kukui waits at the entrance, inviting Nic to go through and become the first Champion. The loadout of the Elite 4 has changed. Hala is replaced by Molayne, Sophocles’ friend and a Steel-type expert. The other three members (Olivia the Rock-type user, Acerola the Ghost-type user, and Kahili the Flying-type user) have teams swapped around, each with one or two Pokémon that differ compared to S/M. Can’t leave once you begin – either you beat all four, or you lose. Once you’ve won, you gain access to your throne as new champion of Alola.

Lycanroc is past-Rock-type. Uh oh.

But it won’t be that easy! Who comes in to contest your title and claim it for themselves? Nope, not Kukui; it’s Hau. The final boss is your rival. I preferred having Kukui as my true opponent, as the Professor’s team was unpredictable; but you’ve been fighting Hau regularly, so you have some idea of his team loadout. The starter weak to yours, an Eeveelution strong against your starter, an Alolan Raichu, and three more… He’s appropriately tough, and deserves being the final opponent for the main game.

Yay to Alola's first champion! Woo!

Hau loses. He looks sad, but takes it well. The new Champion of Alola is celebrated on Melemele Island. We get vignettes of what other people are doing; Guzma renounces the criminal activities of Team Skull, but his gang will follow him no matter what he chooses to do next. Gladion leaves to train in another region (instead of Lillie). This time, we’re not taken aside during the party to fight Tapu Koko; nah, that’s later.

Postgame

So, what else is there to do? There’s a big one, but first: Everything else.

After becoming Champion, Nic is approached by the Ultra Recon Squad. At least one Ultra Beast was spotted on Poni Island, and we must catch it. It’s a different species in each version: Blacephalon in US, Stakataka in UM. There's two to catch, so you can trade one for the other.

Great, one more clown out there.

Ah, yes - Cosmog "Get-In-The-Bag" Nebby II. Or just Nebby.

Catching stuff: Everything in the Ultra Wormholes, including the original seven Ultra Beasts and all Legendaries, but also every species you can find using QR codes. And, of course, the one we’ve been forgetting: Zygarde, waiting in Resolution Cave, northwest of Poni Meadow. The four Tapus can be battled and caught. You can retrieve Nebby from Lillie at Mahalo Trail – and using the opposite Altar on Ula’ula, you can obtain an additional Cosmog to send to the other game and evolve into the Legendary you don’t own yet. You can get your own Type: Null as well!

I do wonder what I could do, yeah.

Is battling more your groove? The Battle Tree still rests at the end of the Poni Gauntlet, a trek across the fourth island. The mode's three battle types of battle are now split into Regular and Super versions. In Regular, your Pokémon keep their current levels (all opposing Pokémon are still Level 50), while in Super, your team’s levels become 50 if they were higher. Kukui can be fought and added as a battle partner in Multi. The real difference is that, this time, you can purchase every Mega Stone, even those of Pokémon outside of the Alola Dex. (The Beach Points from Mantine Surfing can be used as currency here!)

All the Tentacool, way too many Tentacool.

Then you can look for every Z-Crystal, including species-specific ones; every Totem Sticker, and the Totem Pokémon you receive from Samson Oak as rewards; level up your Festival Plaza, almost unchanged from S/M, and get the bonuses from it (…less interesting without the Wi-Fi connection); and get the highest score on every Mantine Surfing course, which can net some nice rewards, including a Surfing Pikachu.

Damn, to go from a small-time crook and reject of society
to potentially Alola's champion... Mad props, Guzma.

Title Defense returns once you’ve defeated the Elite Four a second time. After you've gained access to your throne, you have no idea who you’ll be battling next. One month after seeing the credits for the first time, you can encounter Gladion, whose Silvally is equipped with the Memory of the type strong against your starter. Other returning opponents include Hapu, Hau, Kukui, Plumeria, Ryuki, Sophocles and – yep – even Youngster Tristan! There's two new opponents, and it’s awesome to fight them here; the first is Guzma, the second is Lusamine.

But this all pales compared to…

Episode Rainbow Rocket

Yeah, I bet you'll tell us. Ready to gloat, huh?

Nic is called in a panic by Sophocles, who says Festival Plaza is overtaken by a group wearing black and red. Team Rocket have showed up. You can beat their grunts. Is that all? Nope! Aether Paradise is in turmoil; Lusamine’s mansion was transformed into a giant castle emblazoned with a large multicolored R. There are Team Rocket Grunts on the way to the castle. Lillie is ready to help Nic, mostly providing quick heal to his party.

They face Faba, who reveals himself as a turncoat; anything to further his career! This dude is ready to team up with ecoterrorists, omnicidal maniacs, psychopaths, genociders, and the mafia, all at once, if it means going up in rank; what a piece of shit! He engages a double battle with another Aether employee against Nic and Lillie. After they're beaten, we can move on and weed out the evil.

While exploring the Castle, the kids are cornered by more grunts. However, Guzma shows up to help! He’s mighty pissed at what happened at Aether, so he lends a hand. Guzma and Nic fight the grunts and win. Guzma will stay back to make sure no other grunts attack by surprise, while we deal with the rest of Rainbow Rocket.

Guzma gets a redemption arc - Hell yeah!

For the record, MunchingOrange is using here a special
emulator that boosts the image quality of the 3DS games
played on it. Not sure whether I'd be at risk naming it, so
I won't.

Nic explores the castle and encounters the leaders of the previous villainous teams, starting with Archie (Team Aqua) and Maxie (Team Magma), met separately. They both state they were pulled from a world in which they had won, where there was no exceptional Trainer to stop them, but where they were about to die. These games predate Spider-Man: No Way Home, yet that’s exactly the feeling I’m getting. Each of them has access to their Legendary (Kyogre and Groudon). Giovanni never told either of them that the other also was in Rainbow Rocket, since they both hate each other and have opposite goals. Once they’re defeated, they both find out the other was here too, but they’re teleported back to their worlds before they can come to blows.

Nic accesses the upper floors, where he battles Cyrus of Team Galactic (who owns Dialga or Palkia), and Lysandre of Team Flare (who has his Mega Gyarados, and either Xerneas or Yveltal). I'm always down to beat up a Nazi allegory. (Yep, I still hate Team Flare with fiery fervor.) Beating these two reactivates the teleporter in Lusamine’s room.

Was gonna say I should have kept the Alolan Raichu
nearby, but then I remembered that Mega Gyarados
is part-Dark.

He dared hit Lillie? Okay, new plan: Shoot this asshole
till his remains are unrecognizable.

Before we can use it, Ghetsis comes out, wearing his fucking tacky tower dress. The dude is already thinking of multiversal conquest, by way of stabbing Giovanni in the back. Yep, that’s Ghetsis alright. This guy will always deserve an ass-kicking. His team is topped by Zekrom or Reshiram. After he’s defeated, Ghetsis slaps Lillie and threatens to kill her if Nic doesn’t surrender. Never mind the Pokémon, he should get fucking shot for hitting a child. However, Colress (who worked with Aether) shows up to rescue everyone. The scientist has invented a device that can create small wormholes that can send these guys back where they came from. Which he did to the others, and does to Ghetsis. Good riddance.

In the playthrough I use, Mega Mewtwo X was beaten
in just one hit. Some final boss...

Giovanni awaits in the secret lab, and he’s tough. Final boss of the entire handheld era of Pokémon. His team is mostly Ground-types, with one exception: A Mewtwo, which he boosts with a Mega Stone (in Ultra Sun, I fought Mega Mewtwo X). He's tough, but he is defeated, and when he disappears, the mansion returns to normal. Lusamine is fine. All Faba gets for his treason is to be demoted to intern. Not even banned? We’re too kind to these types. A final scene shows that this vile version of Giovanni may reappear someday…

Alright, let’s wrap this up at last.

Final words

Well, now you have!

Comparing Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to their predecessors is inevitable; these new games take a lot from Sun/Moon and replicate most of what they offer, but try to improve everywhere they can. For starters, the story: I think I personally preferred Lusamine as the villain, as she gets reduced to a damsel in distress here. (Twice, if we count Episode Rainbow Rocket.) While the concept of the Ultra Recon Squad is interesting, I think these games don't do enough with it. And although Necrozma makes for a very memorable, climactic boss and antagonist, it will probably be remembered far more for the big battle against it than for everything else.

A few trial challenges are massively improved,
so there's that.

The Island Challenge "story" barely changes, which leads to the awkward position where the Ultra games’ plot is too like S/M, with minimal differences in scenes and NPC encounters – it makes the first half a slog if you’ve played the previous games. (The railroading tutorial that is all of Melemele doesn’t help, since it has several more things to teach you.) On the plus side, many secondary characters get even better moments to themselves, like Hau who learns to get serious in his Training even if he can still have fun, or Guzma who gets a redemption arc. Your mileage may vary on which story is better; S/M or US/UM? There are good arguments either way!

To say nothing of the Totem battles, which all
employ new tricks and are more difficult
to deal with!

Gen 7 compensated on the criticism of Pokémon X and Y being too easy by ramping up the difficulty – and the Ultras may be the mainline series’ hardest games, period. Trainer levels are higher, and opponents use tricky strategies. Even the Trials, Alola’s centerpieces, are modified to present tougher challenges, especially for those expecting the Totem Pokémon from S/M. Ultra Necrozma is so hard you practically must cheese the fight to win it, and the Rainbow Rocket episode pits you against powerful teams. Speaking of, both that episode and the possibility of catching most Legendaries makes these games a great tribute to, as well as a last hurrah for, Pokémon’s handheld era.

Gameplay was streamlined; 101 extra Pokémon to find and catch in the Alola Dex, areas for special evolution types are available sooner, and several tweaks were applied to improve the experience. While no new Alolan forms were added, four new Ultra Beasts and a Mythical were added.

You can reasonably sink a few hours into
the Poké Finder, the Pelago, Mantine Surfing,
the Battle Tree, the Ultra Warp Ride, and so
on and so forth.

Most of the major features return, all improved a bit; the Festival Plaza (with new facilities), the Poké Finder (new Pokémon to catch on film), the Poké Pelago (more species, new items to be found by your adventuring Pokémon). None of these are given tremendous boosts, but there’s a little something. There was also an attempt at improvine the Rotom Dex, by making it more like a virtual buddy, but it comes with the downside that it becomes annoying once it’s at max friendship with the player, blocking use of the bottom screen to give unsolicited advice at every scene transition. The only saving grace is the Roto Powers, which do end up being useful.

Some Legendaries are locked behind owning
two previous Legendaries (ex. no Kyurem
until you have both Reshiram and Zekrom).

Trading the Zygarde cells and cores for Totem Stickers isn’t bad, since you get unique rewards for collecting them. Mantine Surfing is addicting, there aren’t tons of rewards to it (though the Surfing Pikachu is nice), but it scratches that itch of going for high scores. To say nothing of the Ultra Warp Ride, found late-game, and everything you can find through it – boosted shiny chance, lots of Legendary Pokémon… that one made the price tag worth it.

Yes, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon have more content. Just enough to feel like fuller, more complete games. Spend long enough playing them and you won’t feel like going back to Sun/Moon for any reason. Reception was average at first at the thought many fans had of replaying essentially the same games just a year later. But hindsight has since done its thing and we can safely say that these games "eclipsed" their predecessors. (Heh, see what I did there?) You aren’t getting a bad game if all you've got is Sun/Moon; but given the option between these two or their Ultra releases, go for the latter.

Phew! I hope I’ll never have to do another 10-part anniversary review again! Wait, something's not right...

"Pew!"

…Nebby, get back in the fucking bag!