Amazon Reviews are Tanking for Ultra Sun & Moon

by

While many of us have enjoyed our foray back into Alola in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon on the Nintendo 3DS which was released just days ago, not all fans have been happy with their purchase. Japanese gamers who expected more than an end-game scenario and expanded regional Pokédex have taken to Amazon to vent their feelings.

Over 50% of the games’ ratings are currently one–star with many reviewers complaining about the overt similarity between the new releases and the original titles Pokémon Sun & Moon. Games, anime and manga are often taken very seriously by Japanese fans (and not just when there are micro-transactions involved) and missteps by publishers and designers can sometimes prove disastrous. We will monitor the situation and watch if GameFreak offers commentary or an apology (the latter is a very common step to take by Japanese companies).

English-speaking players have also used Amazon to voice their frustrations, but on the US site Pokémon Ultra Sun remains fairly well rated with half of players giving it 5 out of 5 stars.

What is your rating for it so far? Tell us down below and include where you are in the game!

Supporters

Nick F

Smearg

Foil Island

Conglome NERD

alcremie sundae

Radiant Blutle

Zachery

Dragoniteo

Austin John Plays

Help support our work by becoming a Patron on Patreon! Swadloon Platoon members and above will be added to our site supporters list!

402 thoughts on “Amazon Reviews are Tanking for Ultra Sun & Moon”

  2. Ok a few things, first why are the surfers so weird looking? (His face just looks super weird) and I’ve made it tad bit farther

    My teams all lvl.12
    Furball, Lola and Dusty
    Litten, Buneary and Rockruff respectively

    Gonna soon go to the Verdant Cavern and fight the first Totem. Oh and question when does photo booth open up (after the trial or Kahuna?)

    Reply

  3. Wow Totem Araquanid actually gave a hard time. I wasn’t expecting that given I was a few levels above it. I even ended up using a Z move to get its health down. I never felt like I had to use Z moves last game so this is kind of refreshing. That said I don’t want to have to rely on them very often. I’d rather win based on merit and hard work than spam the Z moves and auto take down my opponents. The real kicker? My Dartrix was at lvl 23 and once I beat Araquanid it leveled up to 24 and learned Pluck. If I had Pluck right form the start I prolly wouldn’t have needed the Flynium Z. So that’s real lame haha

    Reply

  4. Totem Lurantis took so much longer this time around for me to defeat than in Sun and Moon. Had to restart the battle three times before a stroke of luck with Rotom giving me a second Z move. Glad to see a spike of difficulty though, it’s very refreshing! Update on my team after the second grand trial:
    Primarina lv 34
    Lycanroc (Dusk) lv 32
    Noibat Lv 31
    Next up is the Aether Paradise!

    Reply

    • To be fair the trainers in USUM seem to have stepped up their game. In SM the only npc I think I ever had trouble with was an old woman right outside of Paniola Town. Her Carbink was too tough for my Torracat, Trumbeak, and Charjabug. I had to catch a Mudbray in order to take her out. (was honestly the start of me loving Mudbray/Mudsdale). This time around I find myself having trouble with a number of npcs and those are just the regular ordinary ones.

      Reply

  7. Well after trying to unscrew my broken sanctuary apart and salvage what I can and running to the store to resupply for the week, still gotta go back to beg my bosses for more days this week and to come home to my brother throwing a fit

    I finally made it to Poni Island, I think I’m just gonna dick around catching stuff and fill up boxes for pokepalago

    And I’m thinking I’m gonna change up my Ultra Moon team

    Snowslash via Sandshrew as my starter
    Lycanroc Midnight
    Vikavolt
    Ugh A. Marowak or Turtonator
    Bewear
    Pallossand

    Reply

    • Your cat came back the last time didn’t? (I’m assuming based on your statement) I don’t see why it wouldn’t again. Cats are known for leaving home and then coming back. Also maybe if you get you cat back don’t let it out of the house? Not trying to be that guy, but if you’re afraid of your cat running away and not coming back then don’t let it get out.

      Reply

      • Was my parents fault for letting him outside again earlier while they knew the fence is busted which allows him to jump across.

        Reply

        • Got ya. Also sorry if what I said felt a little callus. I do really hope you cat comes back. I’m sure it will. Especially if it did the last time

          Reply

  9. Honestly, these games are really good. But at the same tine they’re trash. The games standalone are pretty good and I’d say are the 3rd best Pokemon games, but considering they came an year after sumo, they’re trash

    Reply

  12. Totem Lurantis complete! That was actually a lot easier than Kiawe’s trial, which makes sense given the type disadvantage, but still much tougher than I remember.

    Reply

  13. I have two very good comments to make about USUM:
    1. The level curve is noticeable and gives that extra little buff to make the game more difficult. Very happy to see this.
    2. Little details add a whole new layer to Alola, and it’s just a joy to discover said details.

    Reply

  14. So in my games, it’s always dusk! It’s not night or day… it’s 11:40 am and both games show its dusk (orange sky). Is it because of the Rocruff I haven’t picked up yet?

    Reply

    • Your 3ds clock might be messed up. It’s not because of anything with Rockruff. I’d check out your 3ds first and then work from there

      Reply

  15. What’s that Flynium Z thing you were talking about? I’m about to get to Acerola’s Trial and I have No idea about it. Where should I go to trigger this ”event”?

    Reply

  16. Loving the game so far. If I had to rate it I’d give it four stars. Grinding my pals up to level 20 before I take on the kahuna and leave Melemele.

    Reply

  19. In my opinion I enjoyed Sun and Moon a lot so I did enjoy Ultra Sun. I agree that it does NOT deserve the one star review it gets. The game is still good “objectively” and it’s by all means a playable and enjoyable experience. However, there are too many major flaws that really hinder this game and prevent it from being great.

    This is the only time I’m saying it, but they really should’ve just made this game DLC. Or something elae. Really. I’m usually against that kind of stuff, but it feels like it here. At least with Platinum, Emerald, and Crystal they have more than enough so they don’t need to be DLC but what else would you find in USUM that isn’t in SM? Yes it fixes clear issues and the difficulty, but the game still feeds you tutorial island ( though not as a bad as before) and the game adds very little extra content to do.

    And I’m not talking about the side quests or Ultra Beasts either. What I’m talking about is that they should’ve and COULD’VE added new Alolan Forms, they could’ve added a skip tutorial button( they did this in GS). And in my opinion the game could’ve been way better.

    Now, this is not to say the game is complete trash. Calling it that is unfair. It really is situational here. Do you like SM? Did you want to get this game because you were interested in it? Try this then. Did you not like SM? I can’t recommend this game to you then. IMO, There is not enough I’m this game to make someone who hated SM like it. In that case, skip it and play something else.

    This opinion is also coming from someone who usually like and defends 3rd versions if it means anything.

    Reply

    • I definitely agree that USUM could have been more, but Alola is such a great region to me, definitely in my top 3. It makes it hard to miss coming back.

      Reply

  21. Wow that was a Mild difficulty. Gumshoos really was only a bit challenging when Yungoos would leer and it would Tackle

    It took Lola down (I forgot to use Endure) after I did some damage, Dusty Bit the Ally out, then Furball came in to finish Gumshoos off with 2 Fire Fangs

    Well my team is now
    Furball level 14
    Lola level 13
    Dusty level 13

    Plus 1 Z-crystal

    Reply

  22. Im not the only one who finds this game to be longer than SM? Theres more battles even before you get to Ilimas trial and my pokemon are on level 14/15 (dusk rockruff, litten, grubbin)

    Reply

  24. Can we all just stop bashing the games please. Yes they are rehashed games yes it feels like a cash grab but we bought it no? We weren’t forced to buy them as we weren’t forced to buy yellow, crystal,emerald or platinum.i personally have bought every main series title ??‍♀️ That’s just me though and i know what I’m getting into a Rehash of story elements from dual copies in the “enhanced” version but i enjoyed them all my opinion yes i know but just stop all of the negative hate enjoy the games beat them than sell them if you wish. Apologies to those this may offended.

    Reply

    • This is stupid

      They are a cash grab. The people who bought these games did not expect them to be literal copy pastes of Sun and Moon. This isn’t acceptable in 2017 after Platinum and especially after B2W2

      Saying we aren’t forced to buy the games is a cop out. People who play competitive actually are because they have to buy these games just to keep up with the meta.

      Apologies to those who may be offended

      Reply

      • But for those who aren’t competitive players, are not forced though

        And your saying its not ok to do another Platinum? (I can get the part after BW2) But Platinum isn’t the perfect example of a third game so that’s like saying we didn’t need a Platinum after an Emerald or either after a Crystal.

        Reply

          • We’ve had DLC for a while now. Doesn’t really affect whether Game Freak does third versions or not. It’s gone past the point of being ok or not to just being tradition. And Japan is big on tradition.

            Plus, DLC has proven to be controversial in the past, which makes it odd that people want more of it. Of the top of my head, I remember there being a big ruckus over SF x Tekken’s DLC.

      • How is it stupid? Another persons opinion is stupid? Please tell me when it became acceptable to bash another person on their opinion especially on a community site? Like what? Literally for what 16 or so years all third versions have been general copy and paste jobs yellow exact same plot as RB with Pikachu added, rival gets eevee Jessie and James some inclusion and exclusion of Pokémon. Crystal same they added what new areas maybe changed level up moves added suicune to the story but not really gave you esuine, emerald same story but with both teams as opposition added the BF changed certain story elements. Platinum did the same stuff as well changed were you get your starter added new mons to the dex, expanded galactics goals added a BF BLAH BLAH . Than you have the sequels b2w2 which were designed to be that way all of gen 5 was designed to be the way it was that’s why they were sequels instead of an third title the story content was to much for a singular set so it’d stupid to say you bought it than bash on someone’s opinion? Thank you I️ understand your entitled to your opinion but please just stop for the past 6-7 months since these things were announced you’ve been a dark cloud on this site bashing people for general excitement.

        Reply

        • Calm down…. have some dip

          Yellow Crystal and Emerald came out years ago.

          Platinum fixed the issues that made DP garbage and made Gen 4 amazing

          B2W2 stepped up everything and basically showed that there is no need for third versions when you can make sequels

          Now we have USUM that fixes hardly any of the actual issues with Sun and Moon, split up into two versions for no reason and is released in 2017. WHEN DLC IS A WIDESPREAD ACCEPTED THING

          Please kindly get your head out of your ass because you do not have to defend these outdated anti consumer practices

          Reply

          • There is no defense! All I’m saying is GF has done this for years no one truly complained until now the minute that trailer dropped in June it was expected on what they would be and yes it could have been dlc but as you’ve seen since your a fan of the series GF isn’t to happy to provide dlc that’s literally all i am trying to say( and to just enjoy the games for what they are and hope Pokemon switch is this saving grace game for the franchise) that is all. And it felt like you were attacking me on that comment apologies Star!!!

          • So hang on. How is 10-20$ DLC worse than two 40$ games?

            It’s inexcusable to do this now. Especially when it hasn’t fixed any of the issues with Sun and Moon

            MeleMele is STILL a boring slog

            Z Move are unskippable

            Many characters still don’t have their arcs resolved

            Festival Plaza is still hot garbage

            So. Many. Cutscenes.

            Trials are still boring and more simplistic than even gym puzzles

            They had an entire year to fix these games and flesh them out and they did what a rom hacker could do in a month

Leave a Comment