Deja vu? New Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon 3DS is not so new

Pokémon: our generation grew up playing it and watching it.

Originally released by Gamefreak and Nintendo as a video game to North America in 1998, Pokémon has made a plethora of additional games and a spinoff TV show.

After more than 29 main-series games, yet another game is added to the series. Pokémon “Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon” released on November 27, 2017. Sadly, however, if you’re one of those Nintendo fans that used their “hard-earned” money to buy a Switch, this set of games is exclusively for the 3DS (in cartridge form).

So the title sounds pretty repetitive doesn’t it? Well its precursor that came out last year, “Sun and Moon” practically has the same name. But, like any sequel, it’s definitely better than just a “2” at the end.

I’ve bought and played through the whole game…You’re Welcome.

Here’s a spoiler-free “readers’ digest” version of the game. The main character just moved to an island archipelago which is essentially Hawaii. There’s four islands that you traverse throughout the span of the game and a set of challenges for each one. The goal is to complete all of the island challenges and basically become the “champion” of the islands.

It’s a Pokémon game…you can’t expect every game to be too different…

Now for my moment to vent about the plot. Many people were looking forward to a change in story. Well. No. It’s the exact same story as the last game.

“That’s it? Really? Isn’t the story almost always the same in Pokémon games?” Well, yes, the basic concept of each game is very similar. However, If you were me (play along for a second) and you had played the first game, then you go to play the second game and you start to notice things, like familiar aspects that you’ve seen before, the year before. And then the moment of realization comes: EVERYTHING is the same! The islands, their shapes, the challenges, the people, the Pokémon are all unchanged!

Everything up until now has been spoiler-free. What does it matter? Well, the most redeeming quality of the game was left out. The post-game, is another story-driven plot line after the main story. Lucky for this game its post-game was different from the last and contained some fun features that added a level of enjoyment.

Even though the game was basically the same, you can’t blame the developers too much. Usually each new installment takes two to three years to make. So you can’t blame Gamefreak too much for their recent game.

Some say that it was basically a place holder to keep people happy so that they could begin to work on another game, this time for the Switch. Now if that’s the scenario, I’m okay with that.