The Pokémon Sun & Moon demo has been released, giving players their first opportunity to
see what the seventh Generation has to offer.
While it’s only a small taste, it is hiding a few secrets that you may have missed.
So let’s take a trip to Alola and see what we can find!
One of the big additions to Pokémon Sun & Moon is the full analog control at all times, finally
bringing it up to speed with most modern games.
It’s a great new feature, but you may have missed some of the more advanced movements
that our Trainer, Sun, can pull off.
For one, it’s common for players to spin in a circle either out of boredom or the amusement
of seeing their character move like a goof.
But if you do that in Sun & Moon, something else happens.
Sun begins to twirl in place with all of the grace of dancer.
He even has a nice flourish at the end.
It’s such a little detail that it’s impressive that Game Freak thought to add it in.
But the spinning only work when you’re walking.
If you’re running at the time, nothing will happen, and that applies when you’re riding
Tauros.
There aren’t any special animations in those cases.
However, there is another kind of animation that you can discover.
By rapidly pressing B button while moving, Sun will eventually stumble in place, showing
that the rapid stopping and starting just kinda trips him up.
This doesn’t really happen with Tauros though.
Instead it drops its head in preparation of a charge rather quickly, but it doesn’t
lead to anything else.
But speaking of Tauros, there is a feature in relation to it that you may have missed.
When bringing up the Poké Ride menu, there’s a blank circle next to Tauros.
By tapping it, an option appears that allows you to assign Tauros to the D-Pad.
Pressing that button instantly summons Tauros to you making the process even faster and
more convenient.
And while we’re in the menus, we also get look at what the Heart Icon tab means in the
Bag option.
Though it’s difficult to say exactly, this seems to be a Favorites List as we can send
our Super Potion to be held there rather than the Medicine Bag.
And it’s just as easy to send back.
But this could potentially serve as a way for players to easily keep track of their
Held Items, evolution stones, or whatever they want to easily access.
Let’s look at our Pokémon.
We can see most of their stats though you may not have known that you can easily see
their EV potential by hitting Y in this menu.
If the stat is sparkling, then it’s maxed out.
It’s definitely a convenient option for the more competitive Pokémon fans.
But did you notice the information on Greninja?
Although the letter you receive in the beginning of the demo had no name, we can see that its
original Trainer is indeed Ash, but an even cooler nod is when you look at the next screen.
Here we see that it was apparently a fateful encounter in the Kalos region on October 17,
2013.
For anime fans, this is the day the first episode of Pokémon XY premiered in Japan,
and Ash actually did meet Froakie.
It’s a really nice touch.
Before we move on, we wanted to point out the Rotom Pokédex on the bottom screen.
It looks like it just displays the option to rewatch the special trailer or pre-order
a digital version of the games, but if tap Rotom anywhere else, it’ll react.
It will move in different directions, smile, and get a little sad and worried.
It may be a clue to just how much you can interact with Rotom in the full game.
But the last place we’ll focus on is the location of the Pokémon Capture Challenge,
which gives players an opportunity to catch new Pokémon and try them out.
There’s Pikipek, Yungoos, and Rockruff, but a slightly more rare encounter is Pikachu.
If you catch it, and give it the Electrium Z Crystal, it will be able to use Z-Moves.
But this also confirms that the power of the Z-Move is affected by the Move it’s attached
to.
Gigavolt Havoc has a power of 175 when used with Thunderbolt, 160 with Electro Ball, and
100 with Nuzzle.
It’ll also take the characteristic of that move in that a Gigavolt Havoc with Nuzzle
is a physical attack while an Electro Ball Z-Move is a special attack.
The percentage of the power increases doesn’t seem consistent though, and we still don’t
know if Z-Moves can work with status effects.
What would happen if Thunder Wave was used as the base move for Gigavolt Havoc?
Those are mysteries for the full game.
Moving on, let’s say you get really into the catching challenge.
After all, the man that runs it encourages you when you hit certain landmarks.
But what happens when you use all 20 Poké Balls to catch 20 different Pokémon?
That’s some dedication right?
Well, you don’t get anything beyond the usual Nugget, as long as this was your first
time taking part in the challenge.
Although because you spent so long catching Pokémon, the poor guy falls asleep!
He’ll still wake up and praise you of course, but it’s a funny little touch for those
who want to go above and beyond.
But those are the secrets that we could find in the Pokémon Sun & Moon demo.
What about you though?
Did you discover any that we didn’t mention?
At least beyond Alolan Dugtrio.
Let us know in the comments.
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