“New” Sun & Moon Footage!

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pyukumuku-sidequest-map“New” is in quotation marks because this video is actually three days old! Originally from publication V-Jump, the quick clip features never before seen Pokémon Sun and Moon gameplay of the protagonist completing an NPC’s request to throw the Pyukumuku back into the ocean for some cash. While the footage is not anything groundbreaking, we do get a look of the overworld in a previously unseen area. And dang you get paid a lot to do such minimal work!

It also seems as though there may be a Pokémon moving about on the beach at the 1:00 mark. Whether it can start an encounter to catch something such as a Sandygast, we’ll have to wait and see 🙂

//ozymandis

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710 thoughts on ““New” Sun & Moon Footage!”

  2. Alola is really going for it in personality. I’m excited and happy that we actually get to throw Pyukumuku into the ocean like it’s pokedex says :3

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  6. Pyukumuku’s cry is amazing ?

    For some reason this little sequence really reminds me of Digimon World for ps1. Anyone else get that vibe?

    Also is it just me or is the lack of music a little strange? The realistic sound of the waves is nice but something feels… missing?

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  8. It might be a small bit of gameplay, but seeing those graphics, throwing pyukumuku back sound effects, even pulsating bits of sand looked awesome, because they could easily be sandygast and Palossand! We even see someone riding his stoutland, so hidden items on the beach maybe 😛

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    • I saw those sand whirls the second time and was pumped because I though, “if I step on one will it attack me, kinda like the dust clouds near the power plant in Kalos?”

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    • I’m still pissed we’re getting it 5 days after everyone. It means I won’t be able to come here for a week otherwise I’ll get spoiled. It should be a worldwide release for the 20th anniversary but nooo, fuck europe

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      • I don’t understand of why in Europe we get new games on Wednesday, whilst in the rest of the world it’s on Friday. I suppose it’s due to the fact that Nintendo of Europe’s headquarters is in Fankfurt and they do odd laws in Germany. Well at lease release it 2 days early on the 16th, that would be better than 5 days.

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        • If it’s because of Germany then release it before in France and Italy at least x) Just kidding, but it’s really stupid. We got XY on the same day as the US and Japan, right? And Germany has so many fucked up laws, when I was there I couldn’t even watch a lot of videos because they were blocked

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        • Isn’t it because it leaked (as in was out in some shops too early) in Europe last time for XY? We occasionally get some nintendo games earlier than the other regions, I don’t see why a law would be involved for this game specifically, so this seems to be a conscious publishing choice.
          Additionally I wouldn’t be so sure the post Brexit-UK would get the games earlier if this indeed somehow was down to law. I’d assume they’d still release games in Europe on a single date for practical reasons. They don’t segregate release per country in other regions IIRC.

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          • well if Nintendo have delayed us just because of a few stores and for some leaks, then why don’t they do so to America or China as they also do such things.

          • IIRC XY also spilled out early in Canada but again they don’t segregate release per region so I’m assuming they wanna keep the much larger US market happy by releasing day 1. I don’t recall any XY spillage from China, and if you’re referring to the current leaks those came out after the release date and besides they’re not the sort of leak I’m referring to.
            But hey I just heard people suggest this was the reason, and it seems way more plausible than pokémon being uniquely targeted by some law.
            It might also be a logistics question, with so many languages to cover in one region they might want a few extra days or something.

          • but then again, the new games nowaday comes with a language option, so what is the point? I find this completely stupid. If they are going to punish the game destributers, at least have control of it through Eshop. But then again, they release new games on wednesdays in Europe.

          • The new games do come with a language option, but they might want more time for marketing, promotion, etc, honestly I have no clue, it’s just a suggestion.

            Yeah,it’s undoubtedly stupid if punishment is the reason.

            That wednesday release thing is pish as far as I can find though, just researched a bunch of nintendo games and not a single one of them was a wednesday EU release, and the recent ones were fridays. Also some released before the US, some the same day, some after, it was variable.

            There must be some specific reason why they’re delaying pokémon SM, though it’s a secret to everyone I guess.

          • I would ask of Nintendo that if you’re going to punish the shoppers, then at least release them on the same day, the 18th on eshop only

          • Yeah that would make sense, though I buy my games in solid copy so it wouldn’t matter much to me lol .
            In any case we’re gonna have a tough time not spoiling ourselves… Hope everyone finds something to do in the interim :/

    • Its like the best cry ever. Its so precious! If it becomes Water/Fighting I might have to squeeze it on my team alongside Popplio!

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    • Of course not
      When do our characters eat anything
      Our characters should be rail thin with calves the size of watermelons the rate we walk and pedal

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  16. I know some people say that the starters are based on the circus…

    With Rowlet (Ringmaster), Litten (Tiger) and Popplio (Clown).

    But from after seeing their final evolutions, I think it might also be linked to fairy tale/fictional characters and legendary heroes.

    Like Rowlet (Robin Hood), Litten (Tiger Mask) and Popplio (The Little Mermaid*)

    *Though written by the same author, and from the toxicness of the internet towards Popplio, it might also be ‘The Ugly Dickling’.

    Wait!

    Did I just saw a Lilo and Stitch reference within the game?

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    • Three things

      First Popplio is not ugly

      Second what’s the Tiger mask?

      Three where is the lili and stitch reference?

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      • I think they mean because popplio is a little average looking and kinda looks bald in its first stage but becomes beautiful as hell in its last stage which is the story of the ugly duckling, it turned into a swan

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      • Okay, Tiger Mask is an anime series that the Pokemon illustrator liked watching when younger. And just like many anime series, some pokemon are inspired from, like Shinx from Kimba.

        The reference of Lilo and Stich is found with what I’ve said about Popplio and it’s final evolution, of how it’s like a reference to ‘The Ugly Duckling.’

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  19. Dissapointed by the lack fo throwing animation, hopefully this isn’t final footagen though I doubt it, it’s typical GF partial execution.
    Love that this is in the game though, it’s great to have them deliver on the increased worldbuilding and pokémon interactions the original concept art presented.

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    • What do you mean by “typical gamefreak partial execution”? I’m honestly gonna need more examples.
      You realize that this is a minigame based on a small excerpt from pyukumuku’s pokedex entry right? The fact that they even added a side-quest to the game based off of it is actually evidence to the contrary of this supposed “typical partial execution”… Tbh this is Rockstar level of attention to detail and world building…

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      • Oh I absolutely appreciate that this is an amazing addition to the game 🙂 , and I’m very happy game freak took the time to put it in.

        It’s just in general I’ve come to impression Game Freak have a way of making games, and especially a worldbuilding ethic, that though full of genius ideas and wonderful creativity, often falls short of fully exploiting them. They have this very unique way of doing things that leads us to us not being suprised when they make peculiar design or PR decisions. The fandom calls them Trollfreak for a reason.

        Worldbuilding wise, we all know how many unanswered questions and complete logical mindf*cks the pokémon world has, and that’s fine I guess, it is a mainly a videogame franchise, and many other franchises of the same ilk have nonsensical worlds if you think about them enough. But even gamefreak manages to muddle up it’s own strategy of “partial retcon through addition”. Exhibit A: there are 151 pokémon in gen I, gen II introduces 100 more, and these are presented as “newly discovered” in universe. Yet we see that some of these very pokémon described as “newly discovered” have partnered with humans for decades or centuries. You might think this a confused sin of the early games, but XY justifies the introduction of fairy type by making it a recent discovery… How the hell does this make sense? Did Clefairies wordwide suddenly stop taking massive damage from fighting attacks upon that discovery?

        The main series games are, well, video games, with their tiny towns, static, repeating NPCs, and all those tropes, and in that respect they can obivously only be taken as an abstraction of what the pokémon world is supposed to be as presented in the wider media franchise. So you can understand that most of the nonsensical things about the worlds they present are just results of the limitations of what can be done within a pokémon-type game, and what works gameplay wise. Ergo we can use water pokémon anywhere, and any pokémon on and underwater.
        But then they introduce flying battles for example, and those are great, but we can’t use small bird pokémon, or many pokémon that we know as a fact can fly. The former feels like a typical gamefreak WTF, the second is justifiable gameplay-wise because of the whole ground immunity/ levitate thing. But honestly it’s alway gonna be jarring that magneton and venomoth get hit by earthquake, and can’t participate in a flying battle, despite clearly being in flight most of the time. And what you get from these semi-justifiable oddities is an overall impression of partially lackluster execution of the idea and lack of coherent design. See where I’m getting at?

        While I’m no fan of the XY bashing that keeps taking place (which I think is due in large part to the “last gen was crap” backlash period as we hype up for the new gen), I do feel it felt less memorable than previous games, as in It’s not as easy for me to recall my playthrough. I’m sure some of this is due to me being older, and some due to the loss of the charm 2D graphics and sprites had compared to 3DS-quality 3D, and 3D in general tbh. But I also think people have a point when they say the game felt somewhat incomplete, and had a flavour of a testing bed for a pokémon main series 3D game rather than something truly amazing. Now don’t get me wrong, it had some awesome ideas and moments. But overall, the game just sometimes feels rushed and unifinished. We have a nice little stroryline to follow postgame with the Looker Agency, but the lack of sufficient postgame content, exploration wise, is glaring.
        Here’s just a little example of an in game moment that feels wonkily designed: in the route leading up to Laverre city (route 14 I believe), there’s this little “haunted house”. You may think it’s going to be like previous regions, where they have a bunch of haunted mansions to explore. Instead you meet your friends in this otherwise normal house, and an NPC tells you a story and.. that’s it. The place serves no other purpose than this unncecessary “plot” diversion IIRC. You could just as easily have met your friends in Laverre and dispensed with this awkward diversion. Another example would be the locked power plant facilities in the desert, that are apparently just there to be decorative and not much else, despite featuring as early as the original reveal trailer. If you look at the Kalos map, there are a bunch of potentially exciting areas which aren’t utilised, such as a bunch of southern rivers, and what look like a mushroomy ridge to the south-east. There are unused areas in pretty much all pokémon maps, but when they look purposefully designed it’s quite annoying they go unshown. When I originally saw these I was excited to see them in game, but to no avail.
        There are probably other examples if you look for them.

        I already seems that sun and moon have these little things as well. I’d give the gameplay example of the battle royale, where rather than give us the option to choose wether you want first or last man down, they only provide first man down battle style, despite both options having pros and cons. TBF I’ve always felt the presence of some battle options and the lack of others, with some strange design choices thrown in to boot (hello putting all pokémon to level 50, but no option for lv100 battles) is a star example of what I’m getting at. Now I do think SM will feel more complete than XY, but I don’t think it will be free of these sorts of niggles constitutive of Gamefreak’s design ethic.

        There’s also the fact that ameliorations don’t always carry forward between generations. I understand there’s some limitation to having pokémon follow you, especially for the larger ones, but it’s disappointing the feature hasn’t been seen since X and Y. Some ameliorations that make the world feel more vibrant and realistic also disappear after a gen, such as day and night in gen III and seasons in gen VI. I’d understand if seasons weren’t returning now, as Hawaii is closer to the equator and thus doesn’t really feature temperate seasons. But seasons would have been a perfect fit for a France-based region!! Sun and Moon seem to be bringing back things like pokémon Amie, and that’s encouraging. But if, for example, the dexnav doesn’t return, people are going to feel that quite strongly. I understand each games need unique features to distinguish them, but there’s little justification behind dropping these as they just make thing feel more alive or give us more options to expand our gameplay. But of course there’s a clear reason for removing them, as I’ll discuss just below.

        I feel all these little shortcomings are especially felt in today’s industry, especially in comparison to other studios that create huge high quality AAA games with vast worlds to explore. Now the obvious thing that creates the divide between pokémon and these games, and the reason we dont get returning features, as many options as we could, or fully fleshed-out execution of ideas, is development time. For better or for worse, the main pokémon franchise pumps out four or five games per generation (though in practice that’s two games point five or so), and time between generations has gone from 2-3 years, to four, back to three. Honestly I think this reduced development time is the root cause of a lot of this, and is what keeps pokémon games from excellence. The pokémon formula is pretty much perfect, the games are iconic, highly playable and replayable classsics. But it doesn’t mean they don’t lack that extra polish, that extra ambition to excellence that would make them true masterpieces. I understand why the games have short development cycles, and that’s fair enough. I’m just starting to wish maybe they took more time. Maybe pokémon might be even cooler if we were only at gen IV or V or something.

        TBh I also just get the impression game freak sort of do as they please, and don’t fully think things through. I think this is the case even beyond the problem of time constraints, and I think the combination of these causes breeds this feeling of “partial execution” I perceive. I know obviously there are many things that fans will come up with that they can’t think of, but in many other cases it seems it’s just game freak being game freak, and it can be a little frustrating. Oftentimes when they do add cool easter eggs, they do so in a way that makes you realise they could just add so much more with a little more effort and dedication.

        To come back to this pyukumuku example, having this sort of minigame in is a very pleasing step in the right direction. But then, the second you see the character pick up the pyukumuku, the screen cuts to black… I for one was just dissapointed when I saw that. Is it really that hard to have the PC pick up the pokémon and bring it to the water? I mean does the screen cut to black/sound effect plays thing feel anything other than lazy to you?? Why not go the whole way with this? I think this fits with the examples previously given.

        I hope this doesn’t just feel like a collection of nitpickings and straws being pulled at, maybe I need to do more research. I do feel this impression has some substance, and I hope to have communicated some justification. I don’t really have time to search for more examples atm.

        I adore the pokémon games. I just wish they could be even better :).

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    • Well, there is no music with the audio. They disabled the music, so you could hear the full sound effects. Every Pokemon Game from I believe D/P and up had a sound effect for walking on grass, sand, and tile. It’s nothing new and it will be masked by the music.

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  22. It’s official! With this seemingly trivial snippet of gameplay, Sun and Moon have dethroned Gold and Silver as my favorite Pokemon games of all time.

    The attention to detail and world building on show here is giving Sun and Moon something very few Pokemon games have, personality and culture. Alola, to quote game developers of every open world game developed post-2010, actually feels like a lived in world. It’s customs and traditions being fully realized. Gamefreak is seriously blowing me away!

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    • Remember, this is just the test version of the games. I’m sure some of those people will move around and the palm trees will sway.

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  25. First of all, holy crai that’s a lot of money to earn. Secondly, I love the idea of incorporating stuff like this into the game, I just kinda wish we could watch our character take them back and toss them to the water, and lastly, I agree, those shaded circular spots seem to be pokemon, there are a lot more on the unused side of the beach

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