Analysing the new Pokémon Sun and Moon features
We take a closer look at the Rotom Pokédex, and what the QR Scanner means for our gameplay.
The upcoming main series Pokémon Sun and Moon games, set for release on November 18th (November 23rd for Europe), has today had a whole bunch of new information announced. Here we’ll examine the two new features revealed to be in the games in depth!
Rotom Pokédex
Every generation of Pokémon games has given us a new design of the Pokédex. Generation 7 however has gone a whole mile further by stuffing a Ghost/Electric type Pokémon into it!
Rotom has evidentially remained a Game Freak favourite by gaining a new form and possessing your electronic encyclopaedia (although whether or not you can battle with your Pokédex remains to be seen. The idea of an encyclopaedia doing battle is an amusing one). The question is, what can it do inside the Pokédex?
A lot, is the answer:
The Rotom Pokédex shows your current location and your next destination, and it also gives you advice on where to go next, based on the conversations you have with others! It’s likely to be of great help to you in many parts of your adventure.
This is supplemented by the short video uploaded to the official Japanese Pokémon YouTube account:
The Pokédex hence comes equipped with a map of your current location (complete with in-depth birds eye view), and even offers icons on the map for places you should attend. Seeing where the local Pokémon Centre or Gym is exactly at a glance will surely come in use. This seems like a great upgrade to the humble Town Map from earlier games, even including how it was used in the spruced up Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire games.
And really, the map looks all kinds of useful now. Consider this small screenshot from the Sun and Moon website:
Here, Pikachu’s location is indicated on a side-path. This image tells us a whole heap about where we may be able to encounter specific Pokémon in the game, and it’s far more useful than previous map location features in the in-game Pokédex. You can zoom in to a specific part of the map, and use it to learn where a Pokémon is hiding – what’s not to like? This looks to be a fun feature.
As a speculation point, we’re also informed on the website that the Rotom Pokédex will give us a ‘whole new way for humans and Pokémon to communicate‘. How will this work? Will Rotom be able to, say, translate what other Pokémon say? The possibilities are tantalising.
Moving back to known information, the Rotom Pokédex will also serve as a tutorial device. Rotom will supposedly let us know where to go next in the game based on NPCs we encounter and talk to. Previous games like Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen introduced aspects like the ‘Teachy TV’, and various NPCs have helped explain aspects of the games as well. This seems like a neat way to incorporate all of these aspects into a central location in the game, and should get people to use the Pokédex for more than just finding out how to catch the next Pokémon.
Speaking of finding how to catch Pokémon…
QR Scanner
In Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, we saw the first implementation of QR codes in a main Pokémon game, where they were used to exchange Secret Bases or upload your own to the internet. This time the QR codes return to help us catch them all.
How do we use the codes? Well…
In Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, there is a QR Scanner function that allows you to see information about Pokémon when you scan QR Code patterns. With the QR Scanner, you scan in a QR Code and check the information about the Pokémon that corresponds to that QR Code. There are QR Code patterns in various places all around you, so try scanning them.
So you can use QR codes to record that you have ‘seen’ (not caught!) a Pokémon in the game, and use the Rotom Pokédex to find out exactly where it is. That’s a neat additional way to make the Pokédex useful!
But wait, there’s more!
You can display the QR Code patterns for Pokémon you have caught in your own Pokédex. If you and a friend show each other the QR Code patterns for Pokémon you have caught, you can both register the Pokémon in your Pokédexes!
So not only can you just get QR codes from elsewhere, you can get them from your friends as well. We imagine these QR codes will also be uploaded to various internet sites by fans once the games come out.
What do you think of these new additions to the games? Let us know in the comments!
Check out our video summarising the features in the Rotom Pokédex as well!
Edited by Jake and Lycanthropy.
Video by Achromatic.
