Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (Part 1)

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

The game doesn't feel changed that much, for a big chunk
of its playtime, but everything about the Ultras' promotion
hints at something more epic, more grandiose.

One year after Pokémon Sun and Moon, Game Freak brought out what can be classified as “Updated rereleases” of those games. They’re not sequels, since they tell a very similar story with the same characters. But they’re not remasters, since they differ significantly at points. They're remakes in the pure Pokémon tradition, since remakes of older Pokémon games include a lot of new content to acknowledge changes in the franchise since. But was there a need for remakes of games from just a year prior?

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were released on North America on November 17th, 2017. I guess I can cover their “story” and how it changes. Since I already covered the plot of Sun and Moon in depth, I will skim identical parts, and discuss what differs.

Make sure you’ve read through my coverage of Pokémon Sun/Moon beforehand! (For this one, I'll be covering Ultra Sun.)

(rainbow hand wave) Alola!

Following character creation sequence, we see a repeat of Lillie escaping from the Aether Foundation thanks to Cosmog. Cut to three months later and our Trainer, let’s call him Nic again, has settled on Melemele Island with his mother. Not many differences, aside from him owning a Switch instead of a Wii U. I see we already have the superior game!

The Anti Com Mon Squad showed up in time!
(For the record, I am once again using the Let's Play
by MunchingOrange, check it out here.)

Everything here looks nice already! I feel like I already
know Alola!

Our in-person meeting with Kukui differs; our Trainer goes near grass and encounters a Yungoos, but the Starters show up to defend him. We pick our starter right away! (Rowlet, my beloved – but the Let’s Play I’m using for screenshots picked Popplio.) The path to Iki Town has mandatory grass patches, so we do need a Pokémon to fight what we may encounter on the way. Near the entrance, we meet Hau, who picks the starter whose type is weak to Nic's, and a battle ensues, which he loses. We should meet the kahuna, but he’s nowhere in sight, so we go up Mahalo Trail towards the Plank Bridge, and meet Lillie and Cosmog, which is being attacked by Spearow on the wooden bridge! Poor thing has the worst luck.

I'm having all of the déjà vu right now.

This time, we fight the birds and make some go away! The rest of the sequence happens the same, the body shield, the destruction of the bridge, Tapu Koko rescuing Nic and leaving behind a Sparkling Stone. Back at Iki Town, we meet Kahuna Hala, receive a Pokédex and Trainer Passport, and the notice and borrowing of the stone.

Hau starts with already two Pokémon on our second battle
against him? I think a recurring theme of this review is how
US/UM are harder games, and thus more fun to play.

On the next day, there’s a festival. We go through Route 1 again, but before entering Iki Town, we meet mysterious blue-skinned folks at the entrance. We eavesdrop and hear them talk about auras and a Blinding One. They acknowledge Nic, then leave. Following that, the festival goes on as usual, with the second battle with Hau, then receiving the Z-Ring and the island challenge amulet from Hala. After we leave, we have another scene of the mysterious two, who talk about auras again. Better keep an eye on those.

Foreshadowing! Literal shadowing, at that.

The next morning, we’re visited by Lillie to go to the prof’s lab. Kukui activates the Rotom in the Pokédex and tells us to go through the Trainers’ School. The group witnesses a sudden solar eclipse as it leaves the lab. Feels like a bad sign. Kukui isn’t too worried though, as he ties this event to the Alolan legend where Trainers made the sun shine again after a bout of intense darkness. Just after the Hau’oli outskirts, Lillie explains the Poké Centers to the player.

Verdant Cavern

Hi little buddy! Pikachu Valley is the next island over!

Yeah, if you can see them easily. I'm not sure how exactly
they help, but hey, thought that counts and all that.

Then it's Trainer School, stupid mandatory tutorial area with only a few redeeming qualities like the Exp. Share and meeting Ilima. Following this, we explore Hau’oli City, getting the Poké Finder camera mini-game, seeing the shops and the beach. Nic spots Ilima putting a sticker on the Pokémon Center; the Trial Captain explains that he started sticking these all over so that island challengers could know where to go next. Not sure how that works if they’re hidden, especially if Team Skull keeps peeling them off maliciously! Besides, these games are so railroaded that we don’t even need them! But dammit, the Ultra remakes need to make up for the lack of content in the previous games by throwing in as many side-quests as possible.

(On the plus side, you get cool rewards when you collect enough stickers; Totem-sized Pokémon like those fought during the island challenge, given by Samson Oak. Pokémon received this way differ between versions. And yes, they ARE bigger than normal, like Proto-Alphas.)

Team Skull and easy-to-beat, early-route fodder Pokémon.
Name a more iconic duo.

Nic and Hau first encounter Team Skull in Hau’oli. The thugs try to steal the Trainers' amulets, but get their asses handed to them and run off. Ilima witnesses this, congratulates the player, and challenges him to a battle. When beaten, he tells the Trainers to go ahead to Verdant Cavern.

Nic gets forced to pass by the motel on Route 2 by an aggressive Crabrawler. Don’t ask, I've stopped trying to make sense of the progression gates in Pokémon. Behind the motel is a whole new beach, and the first “new” area of the updated map. Each island differs in a few places from their versions in Sun and Moon. Big Wave Beach is Melemele’s spot for Mantine Surfing, a mini-game that serves as a travel option between islands. Spectacular performances give out Battle Points as reward, which you can spend at the beach store for special items. We’re not allowed to partake in it until after we defeat Kahuna Hala, though.

Yeah, the small one is clearly a kid.

We spot the mysterious visitors on this route again; they babble about auras being very strong near trial sites, and consider entering as trial-goers. Before Nic can take on that challenge, Hau takes him to the Pokémon Center, and introduces another new mechanic: Roto Loto!

You can care for your Rotom Dex like it’s a virtual pet, poking it now and then to get reactions and other stuff. From this point on, at random 10- to 20-minute intervals, Rotom’s eyes will glow, letting you spin the wheel and get a Rotom Power! These are free items that can be used in- or out of battle, depending on their effect. Stat, friendship and Exp. boosts, a higher chance of catching Pokémon, quicker egg hatching, free Repels… At points in the story, Rotom may even give away specific Powers. Rotom Powers cannot be sold, and I would argue that they make the game a little too easy due to just how often you can gain new ones, but the lottery aspect means that you can't tell what you’ll get.

It alright when it has things to say about the new location to
visit... and it does have a few extra interactions from time to
time... but it's nowhere near a virtual pet.

Unfortunately, the Rotom Dex has new issues now; it has more personality, but also it frequently has things to say and, whenever it does, its screen goes white and it disables the map for a moment, blocking some of the features you might need. And the guy is a little chatterbox, too, as it will give you advice at every screen transition. And it's unfortunate, because compared to Sun/Moon, Rotom's affection towards the player can increase as you play with it, so it's much more of a virtual buddy than it were prior. However, it comes with those major downsides in terms of interface integration, and it makes the later artificiality of its interactions even more noticeable, once it has nothing new left to say.

Worlds change, but some things don't. This thing's as
fugly as ever. (Not to Crabominable levels, though.)

Nic’s trial in Verdant Cavern is interrupted by Team Skull Grunts, who end up helping him. He beats Totem Gumshoos, and gets a Normalium Z and congratulations from Ilima. As we leave the Totem's arena, we’re accosted by the blue-skinned folks, who attempt the Alolan greeting (by making a square shape instead of a rainbow) and presenting themselves. The characters differ in each version, but since I played Ultra Sun, I’ll use those two: Zossie and Dulse. They are members of the Ultra Recon Squad (which I’ll shorten to URS). They're vague about their intentions, but seem friendly! We’ll be seeing them around a lot.

Admirable, sure. And not that hard, an 11yo kid can do it!

Leaving Melemele

I sure didn't see this one in the other game!

We can stay in Verdant Cavern to catch Pokémon, and like I said previously: I largely prefer the Regional Dex in the Ultra versions to the one in the original Sun and Moon. Those only had a Dex of 302 Pokémon, while their “rereleases” have an extra 101. And you can tell; most areas have at least one extra species to look for. The ecosystem is more complete. On the first trial site, you can find Noibat now.

I’ve said, time and time again, that when I play Pokémon, I’m the collector type. I take “gotta catch ‘em all” seriously. And at the size of the adventure these games offer, I want it to be worth my time! I prefer Pokémon games with more creatures to look for. So few Pokémon in Sun/Moon felt like a letdown, since these games were next after Pokémon X and Y, and their Regional Dex of 457 species to catch. The Ultra games land at 403, just half the number of Pokémon at the time (807), but it’s still a significant step-up.

I like the thought that the first "normal" Pokémon these
literal aliens bond with is literally a doggo.

With the trial beaten, it’s time to fight Kahuna Hala. So we go down Route 3, stop by Melemele meadow, and rescue Nebby. The Rotom Dex instantly activates a Roto Exp. Points so we’ll get more from the Pokémon here. We find Nebby in a cave, where we encounter the URS. We even fight Dulse, who caught a Furfrou! The Squad explains that Cosmog, when scared, teleports away, but accidentally creates wormholes into other dimensions as a result. This could be dangerous if… other things… cross over.

Getting to see the Trainer on the screen and commanding
their battle creature is still one of my favorite stylistic
features of Sun/Moon and the Ultras.

Back out of the meadow, battle with Hau, trip to Iki Town, battle with Hala. Nic wins, gets the Fightinium Z and the Ride Pager, and he can move on to Akala Island. Beforehand, we can check out the Alola Photo Club, allowing the player to take pictures alongside their Pokémon – a feature that returns in some later entries. Nic promise to Lillie that he’ll help get Nebby back to his home, and then we head off… not to the marina, since we don’t need a boat to travel this time – nope, we’re doing something better. So we head off to Route 2 and meet…

…Samson Oak? Hey, you’re early! According to the script, we should meet you on Ula’ula! Oak explains the deal where he’ll give you Totem Pokémon when you’ve collected enough Totem Stickers. Time to head to Akala, on the back of a Mantine!

The later combos are so much more fun to do.

How it works: You gain speed by zig-zagging up and down the wave on the right side of the screen. The wind behind your Mantine will eventually glow yellow, then orange, indicating it’s ready for acrobatics! You can jump from the wave, taking to the air. The height of the wave affects your score. When you’re in the air, tilt the circle pad in the four directions to do acrobatics. Chain basic moves, which allow you to pull off stunts that are worth even more points; the earliest moves unlocked are done by tilting the circle pad three times left for one, three times right for the other. Better stunts take longer to pull off, so they will require more airtime; if you fail to land and sink into the water instead, you lose the last points you were getting.

I'm about to throw off this poor Tentacool's groove.

Mantine Surf courses include Pokémon-themed hazards, such as Tentacool in the water, Sharpedo attacks, and special appearances of Wailmer/Wailord. Hitting too many cause a speed loss and force you to build it up again. One course per island, of increasing difficulty; after a course, you earn BP, or "Beach Points”, for the beach shop. Climb your way up the leaderboards, with rewards including new Mantine stunts, and even a Pikachu that knows Surf! It’s a great mini-game, and I likely spent a few hours honing my skills to get the big rewards. It’s worth it!

Akala, Finally!

The adorable is too much.

Upon landing his Mantine in Akala, Nic's Rotom unlocks its Akala Dex. Nic and Hau meet up with Lillie and Kukui, who travelled on the professor’s boat. We meet Olivia and Mallow, then try to get ahead but – same dude, same Stoutland in the way. God fucking damn it.

We meet Sina and Dexio, who are more energetic than they were in Sun/Moon. No Zygarde Cube this time; maybe hunting for Cores and Cells would have felt too be a bit much alongside Totem Stickers? I’d never say no to more content! Route 4 has a fork to the Pikachu Valley, an area with lots of Pikachu to interact with, and in which you can get Pikachu-themed accessories.

Guys, that's a Pokémon, it's not gonna sign back.
Friggin' idiots, I swear.

We battle Hau upon arrival at Paniola, and compared to the measly two Pokémon he had when we originally fought him here, this time he has four. Much better! We spot Team Skull Grunts trying to steal an Alolan Vulpix's bottle cap. We shoo them off, and as thanks, its owner will hand over the bottle cap when you return. This item, introduced in Sun/Moon but unavailable there until Poni Island, can be traded at the Hau’oli mall to maximize one Pokémon’s IVs through Hyper Training. The visit at the ranch goes on the same way, meeting Mallow, getting the Stoutland Ride Pager, and fighting all the way to the Pokémon Nursery. On to Route 5, where we meet and battle Gladion and his Type: Null for the first time.

I love that species-specific Z-Moves involve your character
into the animation and shots in some way.

Forget the bigger Lapras, we're gonna need a big, big
flyswatter against this thing.

We meet Lana at Brooklet Hill. This time, she’s not pretending not to know what’s rippling underwater; it’s  Wishiwashi. She gives Nic the Lapras Ride Pager, and sends him to investigate. She’s still a trickster, as we don’t end up fighting only small fish; we also battle the water-bug Dewpider. And the Totem? Well, if you thought you'd figh the School Form Wishiwashi again… Nope! Its formation is dispersed by the even scarier Araquanid, your true opponent. A dangerous one, even tougher than Wishiwashi, but one that’s defeated by Nic's team nonetheless.

Lana is such a trickster. Expected a pure Water-type? Nah.
Here, battle this Water/Bug instead. Surprise!

A recurring complaint about the Ultra versions is that they’re too like their predecessors in the first half, which makes the first two islands tedious to get through. The changes are minimal. However, this change in Totem Pokémon shows that these new versions can surprise a player that expected the same thing everywhere. The only other differences were the Team Skull encounters, and the appearances of the Ultra Recon Squad.

Well! Guess I can talk about the rest of Akala in Part 2!