It’s not long until the release of Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, but there’s still
more to learn about the game as the Pokémon Company not only showed off a new trailer
introducing Team Rainbow Rocket, but a Japanese overview trailer that also revealed some more
snippets of the game. It’s really starting to come into its own, but there’s always
more to see. So let’s break out the old Analysis Machine to see what secrets and hidden
details these trailers hold. And we’ll begin with the return of Team Rocket.
Or rather Team Rainbow Rocket as they’ve received a slight name change. And this is
likely a reference to the fact that Rainbow Rocket consists of the six different Team
Leaders from past generations, all seemingly led by Giovanni. Now this is most definitely
a post-game quest as the Overview Trailer shows you battling within the Rocket base
with a Ho-Oh on your team. Considering that you likely won’t have access to the Ultra
Wormholes that take you to challenge the various Legendaries until after the main game, this
makes sense as a later quest.
What’s interesting is that the Rainbow Rocket Base is actually Lusamine’s mansion on the
Aether Paradise. Somehow they’ve completely taken it over which includes the ‘R’ iconography
and a dark red hue to everything giving it an ominous feeling. So how did this all happen?
Well, it might be due to the Ultra Wormholes. We see one above the mansion with Wicke just
below. Did Giovanni somehow use them to bring together all the past the leaders and stage
this takeover? Would that explain the red redesign? And what’s his end goal? We still
don’t really know.
All that’s apparent is that the Team Rainbow Rocket takes over the building and in another
scene we see a Grunt running out of the main Aether building with Giovanni calmly walking
behind which may take place when he lays claim to the building. Another look at the Grunts
show their new design as well as the interior of the mansion itself. The Rocket Grunts are
mostly the same except for the rainbow ‘R’, a rainbow belt, and we can even see a Great
Ball at the girl’s hip.
As far as Giovanni, well, he didn’t stick to his vow that Team Rocket was finished forever
and would instead study Pokémon, unless he’s counting the new Rainbow in the name as a
technicality. However, his appearances during the special events in HeartGold & SoulSilver
made it clear that he did want to reform his mafia but was delayed by the efforts of Gold.
One thing stays the same though. He loves the phrase ‘World of Pain’ as this dialog
was also used during the confrontation at Silph Co., the Rocket Hideout in FireRed & LeafGreen,
and Black & White 2’s World Tournament. He’s consistent to say the least.
Giovanni’s team consists of 5 Pokémon which includes a Mewtwo. And we even see power emanating
from a smiling Giovanni indicating that he can use Mega Evolution. This is soon proven
true as the Overview Trailer shows the trainer facing off against Mega Mewtwo Y. It’s quite
likely that the version you play dictates which Mega Evolution Mewtwo will have.
Of course, it’s not just Giovanni who’s part of Team Rainbow Rocket. Archie of Team
Aqua and Maxie of Team Magma are aiding him, despite renouncing their ways in Gen 3. More
interesting though is that Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon are using their original designs and
not ones from the Gen 3 remakes. They aren’t shown doing much though we do know that every
returning leader has five Pokémon on their team.
The most interesting scene involving them though features Guzma behind the trainer fending
off two Grunts while they walk away together. As another point to show that this is post-game,
Guzma no longer has a tattoo on his forearm. Still, it’s interesting that he’s helping
you fight off Rainbow Rocket. As far as Archie and Maxie, it’s very likely that they’ll
use Mega Evolution as well, probably Mega Sharpedo and Mega Camerupt.
Cyrus is naturally here as well. While he was left behind in the Distortion World in
Platinum, he actually vowed revenge in Diamond & Pearl making his appearance here rather
plausible. However, he uses a Houndoom on his team, which he only used in Platinum.
Now he could have just added it to his team as a reference since Giovanni never had Mewtwo
on his team before this. The Houndoom would also be a good candidate to Mega Evolve on
his team.
Next up is Ghetsis who seems to have recovered from his mental shutdown during Black & White
2. However, he is in his original Black & White costume so this may take place between those
games although the common timeline places Sun & Moon as 2 years after Black & White
2. Canon doesn’t to be a huge hang-up here and the Ultra Wormholes may explain some of
that away.
Ghetsis also seems to be the most dangerous as we see a moment where he apparently captured
Lillie. She’s on the floor behind him in the bedroom that belonged to Lusamine. So
it appears he may use her as a kind of hostage, if the situation gets taken that far. The
Pokémon shown on his team is a Hydreigon. His team is the only one that doesn’t have
a Pokémon that can Mega Evolve. It seems unlikely that new Pokémon will receive Mega
Evolutions so one that can will likely be added to his team. That is, if all the leaders
actually do use Mega Evolution.
Ghetsis does seem to be the odd one out though as Lysandre returns as well, apparently shaking
off being buried in rubble. He’s still spouting off the same beliefs he had back in X & Y,
but we also see two of his Pokémon. He has a Level 65 Pyroar that indicates just how
strong these leaders are likely to be. And did you catch the fact that it comes out of
a Master Ball? Seems like a bit of a waste. We also see a Mega Gyarados being used in
the Rainbow Rocket base which likely belongs to him since it was his signature Mega Evolution.
Before we move on from Team Rainbow Rocket though, we wanted to mention how they seem
to have taken over the Festival Plaza as well, marking the central building as their own.
However, it’s not clear how this will change the functionality of that, if at all. Maybe
there’s a sidequest devoted to kicking Rainbow Rocket out? We just don’t know enough yet.
It’s not just previous leaders returning though. Every single Legendary Pokémon will
be featured in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon. However, some of them are exclusive to certain versions
while others require special conditions. All the Legendaries are found beyond the Ultra
Wormholes but Ho-Oh, Raikou, Groudon, Latios, Dialga, Heatran, Reshiram, Tornadus, and Xerneas
are exclusive to Ultra Sun while Lugia, Entei, Kyogre, Latias, Palkia, Regigigas, Zekrom,
Thundurus, and Yveltal are exclusive to Ultra Moon. These are important though as related
Pokémon on both versions are necessary to make the third appear in your game. So Suicune
needs Raikou and Entei, Rayquaza requires Groudon and Kyogre, Giratina relies on both
Dialga and Palkia, Reshiram and Zekrom need to be present to catch Kyurem, while Landorus
will only appear when you have Tornadus and Thundurus.
The rest of the Legendaries are non-exclusive and include: Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo,
Cresselia, Regice, Regirock, Registeel, Uxie, Mespirit, Azelf, Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion,
and Zygarde. But it’s not just the Legendaries themselves that appear. The various forms
are featured as well. So that means both of Mewtwo’s Mega Evolutions, Mega Rayquaza,
Origin Forme Giratina, Black and White Kyurem, Mega Latios and Latias, the Therian Formes
of the Forces of Nature, Primal Groudon and Kyogre, and the Complete Forme Zygarde will
all be available.
Zygarde’s Complete Forme is the most interesting as it’s shown to have its own arena separate
from the 50% form. Could it be that the two are treated as different Pokémon? Perhaps
one with Power Construct and one without? This would also mean that collecting all 100
Zygarde Cells would be unnecessary, which is a good thing to us as that sidequest could
be incredibly tedious.
However, the idea isn’t completely gone. Instead, players will have to scour Alola
for Totem Stickers. They might be intrinsically easier to find though due to the fact that
all of the ones featured in the trailer are stuck to some kind of vertical object, whether
it’s a building, a trailer, or even the side of a dock. The fact that they’re stickers
hopefully means that certain ones don’t need to be found at a specific time of day.
They’ll just be there.
The Totem Stickers that you collect are traded in so you can receive Totem-Sized Pokémon.
We see Gumshoos, Lurantis, which is exclusive to Ultra Sun, and Salazzle, which is exclusive
to Ultra Moon. What’s not clear is what the advantage of a Totem Pokémon is. Granted,
it’s bigger but it lacks the aura of an actual Totem Pokémon that granted buffs.
Perhaps it’ll be clearer in the full game.
But the one who actually trades these Pokémon to you is Samson Oak. He hangs out on a beach
near a sign for Mantine surfing and we can even see a wider look at this beach thanks
to the Overview trailer. It looks different from the one we’ve seen so far so there’s
likely more than one beach to Mantine surf, which makes sense since it can be used to
traverse the islands. Before we move on from the Totem Pokémon though, the Overview trailer
also contains a quick shot of what appears to be a Totem Gyarados. We already know a
Totem Marowak replaces Salazzle in Kiawe’s Trial. Could this Gyarados replace Wishiwashi
in Lana’s?
Totem Stickers aren’t the only new feature introduced in the trailer though. There’s
also the Battle Agency where you battle both normal and special trainers using rented Pokémon.
They’re really serious about the “Agent” part of the title though as you have to don
sunglasses. Despite the artwork showing a team of three trainers, they don’t seem
necessary for the battles, at least not yet. They do appear behind you during battles though.
You have three rental Pokémon at your command to fight opposing trainer. The type of Pokémon
you can rent will actually increase as you mingle with other players around you or across
the internet.
Right off the bat, the three rental choices we see behind the receptionist include Bisharp,
Thundurus, and Exeggcutor. There are more options of course as the Pokémon website
has images including Regirock, Golisopod, Azelf, Lanturn, Slowbro, Gyarados, Salazzle,
and Raikou. You can even inspect their stats, moveset, and held items such as Electrium
Z. These screenshots also show your trainer’s grade going up to indicate that more Pokémon
are available and one of the rare rewards, a gold bottle cap.
Now, that’s most of the information shown during the Meeting Team Rainbow Rocket trailer,
but the Overview trailer has quite a bit more to see including new story segments. First
of all, we still meet Lillie in the same way as Sun and Moon which means we still have
to save Nebby and then are saved in return by Tapu Koko indicating that it has chosen
us. But since we receive our starter in a different way, we’d have to assume that
Hala won’t appear after you return to Iki Town and instead you set out to find him yourself.
In the process, you get attacked by a Yungoos and are then rescued by the Starters. We even
see a short section of the cutscene where the Yungoos moves through the grass to attack.
The rest of the new story scenes all feature either Lillie, Lusamine, Guzma, or the Ultra
Recon Squad. The first we see has Lusamine standing in front of an Ultra Wormhole in
her mansion’s basement, indicating that her story arc is still mostly the same. But
she is involved with the Ultra Recon Squad in some way. We actually see them standing
next her without their eyes covered, but it’s unclear when exactly this takes place. Could
it be during your first visit to Aether Paradise since you would’ve met the Squad by this
point?
Then we have a brand new scene at the Altar of the Sunne featuring this entire group with
the Recon Squad running in. Lillie has already changed into her new outfit and yet both Lusamine
and Guzma are there. Is it possible that this is after Necrozma took over Solgaleo or Lunala?
Or is that in the aftermath of dealing with Lusamine herself? Based on how the Recon Squad
runs in, it’s like this happens directly after the attack by Necrozma. Perhaps they’re
the ones who allow you to enter Ultra Space in order to stage a rescue. But could Lusamine
and Guzma be redeemed earlier because of this?
After all, another scene soon after features Lillie, Lusamine, and Guzma, this may take
place after your trainer decides to go in. Guzma is sulking in the back, similar to how
he was in Ultra Space in the original game while Lillie has a shocked reaction, perhaps
to your decision. Could a showdown with Lusamine take place before Necrozma’s attack and
that act is what snaps her out of it? Again, we’re just guessing based on limited evidence.
The final sequence we wanted to highlight only shows Lillie but she’s back at the
Altar of the Sunne with light falling all around. The same light we saw emanating from
Necrozma. We think this could take place after Necrozma’s defeat where it finally let go
of the captured light it had stolen.
Okay, we’re almost done here but there’s a few miscellaneous things we wanted to point
out. For one, there’s this new scene with a Ribombee that belongs to Mina. We can just
see her hair beyond the trainer again indicating that she’ll have a slightly bigger role.
There’s also what seems to be a new function of the Rotom Dex. Could it possible that it
can analyze wild Pokémon’s stats before you catch them. That way competitive players
can find a Pokémon with the nature and ability they desire?
Then there’s this scene of a double battle with Hau, but he’s using a Noivern, which
wasn’t available in the original Sun & Moon. So it seems the Noibat line can now be caught.
And speaking of new Pokémon, Hapu is now using a Golurk which fits right into her Ground
specialization and also tells us that it can be caught too. Finally, we see that Tapu Koko
does step in to protect Hau and Hala from the invading Ultra Beast. It’s just not
clear if this replaces the old scene of its showdown with an Ultra Beast or is something
new in addition to that though it might be a bit redundant.
And that’s everything we could find in the new Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon trailers.
There’s still plenty of questions left on the exact details of these new story events
and extra features, but the games are truly showing how they stand out from the original
releases of Sun & Moon. We can’t wait to finally try them out ourselves just to see
how different they really are. And yet we’re still getting even more new information on
November 10th. Of course, if we missed anything make sure to let us know in the comments.
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