There's one for each element, and a few more for specific Pokémon. They're far more useful too, unlocking new super-powered Z-Moves for your Pokémon. Complete each Island Challenge and you can enter into a Grand Challenge, a tougher fight with each island's Kahuna.Įach challenge rewards you with a Z-Crystal, which replace gym badges. Alongside regular battles against wild Pokémon and other trainers, each Island Challenge is capped off with a clash against new Totem Pokémon - more powerful creatures with amped-up abilities. On Akala Island, for instance, one challenge sees you playing spot the difference between a trio of Marowak's tribal dance numbers, while another sees you gathering rare ingredients for a campfire meal.īattling isn't gone entirely, of course. Instead of gyms, here you travel around completing Island Challenges, variable plot-driven quests that offer far more variety than simply 'beat a host of other trainers'. Look closer though, and it's clear developer Game Freak has taken a risk, changing the tried and tested (read: boring) progression of past games - eight gym leaders, Elite Four, final battle against the champion who turns out to be your main rival, yawn - for something fresher.
Travel a new region of the Pokémon world (here the four major islands of Alola, heavily inspired by Hawaii), catch a bunch of weird new creatures, and battle your way to being the very best Pokémon Trainer in the world.
Forget what you think you known about Pokémon - Sun and Moon is the shake-up the series has needed for years.Īt a glance, it may seem the same granular iteration of every previous new generation instalment.