100%Nintendo 3DS

When it comes to battling through the main story, the Alola games are my absolute favorites, and the Ultra versions have more Pokemon, more things to do, better polished Trials, and are more challenging.

The only downsides are the story climax boss needs to specifically be prepared for (which I feel is against the spirit of the series) and the story itself is not as good as the original Sun/Moon. And it’s one of the most linear games in the series.

Still, the battle gameplay and story quality push this game to the top. It’s part of a small handful of Pokemon titles where if it’s the most recent Pokemon game I played, it’s my favorite.

50%Nintendo 3DS

rather bland game, bad story. The only redeemable thing is the Z-powers, but over time they become tiresome also because of how long the cinematics of each attack become.

80%Nintendo 3DS

I love this game 🩵🩵🩵

70%Nintendo 3DS

I've missed on Pokémon games for a long time, since Emerald version for GBA, but when I bought my 3DS just felt it was right to give it a try, to get to know the new Pokémons that my son loves... and boy, that was a great journey! We enjoyed leveling up, capturing Necrozma, wonder trading Pokémons worldwide (getting a nice Greninja!) and battling Gym leaders. This game contains lots of extra content and you can spend hours just in ultra wormholes trying to catch new Pokémons to fill your Pokédex, but that's not for me - maybe my son will come back later in our saved file and spend more time exploring Alola.

85%Nintendo 3DS

The last hooray of Pokemon on the 3DS.
I honestly think that gen 7 is underrated, it's amazing music, rich world, and colorful cast of characters really culminate in a great time. As for Ultra Moon in particular, I think it does a great job expanding on the original games and giving the player more content. Some argue it would have made more sense as dlc, and maybe they aren't wrong, but I don't think Pokemon was quite ready for that. It was still holding onto the formula it was built upon yet shifting into what it is today.
-I won't be comparing the story to the originals since it's been so long since I played them, but I didn't think the changes it made ruined the game or anything and it does kinda play off of assuming you've play the originals before at some select points. I will comment on the common cutscene complaint, I do agree that cutscenes are frequent and can drag on at some points but they serve an important role in fleshing out the diverse world of Alola.
-As a seasoned player I can appreciate the games difficulty, of course no Pokemon game is designed to be impossible but a lot of the boss teams and Totem encounters used had unique strategies. The one battle people always talk about is the Ultra Necrozma battle, it was very easy for me on this playthrough since I knew what to expect (I used a toxic cheese strat and won first try) but I remember on my first playthrough back in 2017 having a really hard time and it being a major roadblock.
-One thing I did find kinda annoying was the Rotom-Dex, just the constant commenting on events really distracted me, especially whenever it got frozen during a cutscene and wouldn't go away.
-I really liked the music in the game. Pokemon always has great music and these entries do an amazing job expressing the themes of the game. The Hawaiian influence really shines.
-I think GameFreak did a good job with the theming, growing into your own person and learning independence are pretty good common themes but what really catches my interest was the invasive species, which is a very serious issue in Hawai'i. It's as basic as the Yungoos vs Rattata and has wild as the Ultra Beast invasion.
-I didn't play through the post-game in this playthrough but I think it's a fun piece of fan service and it's cool seeing all of the old villains in the gen 7 style.
I haven't got much else to say but, even if it's not my favorite generation, gen 7 holds a special place in my heart and I think either version of the story is worth giving your time.

95%Nintendo 3DS

This game is fire. One of my first pkmn games with sun and moon and ultra moon

70%Nintendo 3DS

6.5, close to 7

base game, up to credits after elite 4 + rival battle

basic pokemon game (at least base game), relatively enjoyable, but otherwise carried hard by its battle system and vast amount of mons

- too much handholding with tutorials and dialogue/cutscenes, especially bad in the beginning, but lasted basically throughout the entire game
- too much of a mix of other gens, not nearly enough gen 7 pokemon to encounter. Most areas had maybe 1 gen 7 pokemon. felt like I was just encountering a massive amount of reused assets
- needs type strengths/weakness more readily available to inspect. And while I know obfuscation of this info is the norm for the series at least thus far, considering how vital it is in battle to know str/weakness info, the fact that you can't see it before the opponent sends out another mon or you can't decide to switch which mon comes out first from your team at the start of a trainer battle just incentivizes having to google str/weakness. ends up being tedious if you don't (taking what feels like stupid losses, considering your team probably has coverage for a particular battle but you just didn't know beforehand, and having to stock up on revives/revisit pokecenters in the middle of traversal) and tedious if you do (unless you want to memorize 7 gens worth of, what, 18? different types not to mention their combinations).
- z power does not feel fun or satisfying to use.1 big hit you can use only once per battle at the expense of taking held item slots? feels bad to deck out your team with the crystals when majority of the time you don't know which you'll want to use. either limits the strategic element of held items if you do, or limits the use cases for z power if you don't.
- some z power move cutscenes take an eternity, with no way to skip/speed up. I'm looking at you sparkling aria
- totem pokemon battles being 2v1 is just so stupid
- story felt like it was missing a lot of story beats. found out that USUM cut off certain arcs of the base game? either way, felt incomplete and unsatisfying once the credits rolled.
- off difficulty pacing - wild mon and trainers are ridiculously easy and then totem pokemon hit you out of nowhere with their increased stats while also 2v1ing your ass?? original format of gym leaders felt way more satisfying. I'd much rather fight a team of 4-6 mon than get ganged by 1 fat mon and their friend

45%Nintendo 3DS

A pore game.

70%Nintendo 3DS

Overall it's a good 3rd version, actually the most complete one (adding even new Pokémon), but if you played the original Sun/Moon it's probably not worth it unless you're into the competitive scene.

80%Nintendo 3DS

A nice iteration of Pokémon Sun and Moon, that adds more interesting gameplay elements on top of a differing story.

80%Nintendo 3DS

fixed many issues of the original sun/moon and i like it way too much

90%Nintendo 3DS

Pokémon Ultra Moon is one of the better Pokémon games I have played. The music was exceptional overall and especially for an entry in the series, Z-moves were a really great idea that were beautifully animated and felt fun to use without being overly imbalanced, and the trials were a fresh and welcome deviation from guilds. I enjoyed the interactions with the Rotodex including Roto Loto time and the powers that came from it.

40%Nintendo 3DS

Too samey to the originals, even by third version standards

80%Nintendo 3DS

Honestly, I don't have much to say. I was hoping these games would be direct sequels when they were announced but they're not sadly. They do a lot of interesting things and add some interesting stuff, but the story that was so good in SM really took a step back here, making the core characters suffer as a result. These games also introduce the multiverse to Pokemon, which is cool as well, and I think actually works in Pokemon since it explains a lot of things lore nerds like me wondered about for a long time.

These games are also fairly difficult, and Ultra Necrozma is heralded as an infamous run killer for Nuzlockes. If you like gameplay and more content, play these over SM. If it doesn't matter to you as much, play SM since the story's better.

Score: 87

70%Nintendo 3DS

Pokemon Sun but Necrozma becomes more involved in the story. Ultra Necrozma kicked my butt when I first played so bad I had to toxic revive stall it. I am not proud.

70%Nintendo 3DS

Ultra Moon

90%Nintendo 3DS

I'm not sure any game's reputation has suffered as much as a result of circumstances as much as Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon.

Yes, it is dumb that this was a full priced expansion of Sun and Moon, and yes, it is dumb that this game wasn't on the Switch, but playing it now, without either of those things really being issues, and it's just simply one of the greatest Pokémon games that Game Freak has ever put out, with well paced gameplay, the most Pokémon that will probably ever be in a game, such a cozy atmosphere, a fun (yet still just Pokémon) story, and perhaps the most fun postgame that any game in the franchise has ever had, as episode RR is just such a great final challenge.

Maybe the most repayable games in the series for me, although that might be a result these just being the last games to come out while I was still 'Pokémon aged'.

9/10
Game #19 of 2024, March 26th

70%Nintendo 3DS

I played ULTRA MOON.

75%Nintendo 3DS

As a player of the original Pokemon Moon two years ago, it’s hard for me to evaluate this game for its own merits.
There are some changes to the story and the Pokédex to shake up the experience and some nice additions like minigames and new areas. There are also some new totems that subverted my expectations in a good way.
This entry makes the original games’ story feel like it had been cut short, since Necrozma was an afterthought there and here it drives the whole plot as the main threat to the world, which makes more sense to me. However, Lillie’s conflict and character growth are a bit undermined by this. Also, some repeated story bits just don’t hit as hard the second time around.
I still really enjoyed traveling the Alola region with its lush environments and tropical music. Feels like I’m on vacation every time I turn on this game, it has such a chill vibe.
This relaxed feeling also translates to the difficulty. I crushed every opponent with my team, barely even using Z-moves. I found myself over leveled most of the time, even though it’s not like I intentionally did any grinding. Exp share will do that, I guess. You can turn it off and maybe get a better challenge.
I instinctively cared for my guys at Pokemon Refresh which made it even easier. They sometimes heal status problems by themselves, dodge certain attacks, land crits easier, endure attacks that would KO… It’s a cool idea but the implementation feels… unfair?
Still, I felt like 80% of the content was recycled from Moon so I embraced easy mode and allowed myself to get through this game faster.
This might be the most complete Alola experience but I think BW2 did the region revisit SO MUCH better than this.
P.S: Man, the Rotom-dex can get annoying with the tips no one asked for… and Rotom Powers are kinda OP too.

80%Nintendo 3DS

I never did get that shiny whimsicott

80%Emulated

adds nothing of value to the original game

50%Nintendo 3DS

It's alright all things considered, it's not great but hey, it was okay which is more than I can say for some games in the series

70%Nintendo 3DS

Pokémon with love, but sometimes boring 7/10

40%Nintendo 3DS

Mmh I have a déjà vuuuuuu

65%Nintendo 3DS

See my review of Moon. Basically the exact same game with some extra gimmicks (and the postgame LOL) that should have been included in the base game. A pure thievery by GameFreak and the Pokémon Company. Was not even able to complete it in one go when I got it the 1st time as it just fell out of my hands.

25%Nintendo 3DS

Best Pokemon Bewear, Don't like how hard it is to get new Pokemon

80%Nintendo 3DS

In hindsight while my initial take on the game was rather cold, this might be the best Pokemon game of the 3DS, not perfect by any means and I still hate how " forcibly linear" it feels at time but I genuinely enjoyed most of my time playing it and even surprised myself REALLY struggling with some battles (Necrozma had no right to be like that)

70%Nintendo 3DS

mejor q las nuevas generaciones de pokemon pero peor que las antiguas

90%Nintendo 3DS

If they didn't change the story it'd be a 10/10 but all the extra gameplay features and the ability to fight my goat Lysandre again makes up for it

100%Nintendo 3DS

The most beautiful Pokémon game.

The terrain looks realistic, yet there are always tons of different flowers of different colors scattered everywhere. Fences will be uneven, the colors of the beach floor and water will mix together, and I’m constantly seeing pokemon flying in the sky whenever the camera shows even the smallest bit of sky (and not just the same pokemon; murkrow, wingull, spearow, etc). Every house in this game has different interior and furniture and I mean EVERY HOUSE. Characters don’t move like they’re on a grid like they do on some later entries on the switch and you’ll frequently see Pokémon in the overworld. Most of the time the game is mixing tropical colors with each other to make the game very, VERY pleasant to look at, and the backgrounds in this game are the most detailed they’ve ever been, you’ll see people and animated fire and you’ll never see a background out of place like in sword and shield. The art isn’t the only beautiful thing about this game, however, as the music and story are as well, being the pinnacle of both in the entire series (except the story in scarlet and violet). The music in these games absolutely SLAP as good as the music from the unova games, except the music in ultra moon often makes use of more unique instruments, and matches its areas a lot better. Almost half of the gen 5 music could be moved around with each other, they don’t feel made for the area that they’re played at. Meanwhile, 95% of the gen 7 ost feel made specifically for where they’re used. Even when the same instruments are being used, it is obvious when the song is for the clothes store instead of the harbor, or for route 3 instead of route 9. The characters in this game are easily the best in the entire series, with all of them being extremely well written, and all characters that have over 15 minutes of screen time have a lot of character development throughout the story. The dialogue is also amazing, with the game being able to pull off both comedic and sympathetic moments very, very well. My biggest problem with this game is its noticeable load times when playing with an older 3ds model (over 20 seconds sometimes when entering and exiting the game, 5 seconds exiting battles and changing locations), and the major drop in frames and slight drop in speed during double battles (also on older 3ds models), however none of these problems exist when playing on newer 3ds models, which is why I’m still giving the game a 100% rating (although the lack of lore in alola compared to other games almost made me put 95%). Many people hate the gen 7 games, calling them lazy and passionless and worse than the ds games, but that’s mainly because the people like me who grew up with the gen 7 games aren’t done growing up yet and haven’t participated very much on online forums to point out how beautiful and passionate these games are. When I look at the beautiful art design, story, cutscenes, music, the amazing totem fights that stopped all boss fights from being just a strong trainer or a legendary pokemon for once in the series, the innovation of trying to change the Pokémon formula for once, the extra touches like the special interactions for obtaining a lot of the signature z moves, every house looking different inside, totem stickers, overworld walking animations for ALL of the pokemon (that they couldn’t use because it was too much for the 3ds to handle; they were being TOO AMBITIOUS), ALL of rainbow rocket, all of the special festival plaza stuff like dying clothes, and all of the mini games like mantine surf, alola photo club, poke pelago, and the warp ride, I can only come to the conclusion that gen 7 has both some of the most content and some of the most Polish, that it is full of passion and dethrones the past titles. The main reason gen 7 gets so much hate is because the ultra games didn’t change much (even though they changed more than platinum and emerald did) and the games weren’t made for them. Gen 7 was made for children, it is colorful, it is silly, but it isn’t worse than the other games. I remember when I first played Pokémon black after playing ultra moon that black felt just as tutorial heavy as ultra moon, especially since the story didn’t move very quickly in the beginning of black.

80%Nintendo 3DS

Wow! Loved it, has it's flaws but I've got a soft spot for this one. Can't decide if this or B/W is my fav.

50%Nintendo 3DS

5/10

75%Nintendo 3DS

everything sun and moon should of been at launch. probably higher rated game if that was the case.

60%Nintendo 3DS

Ultra Sun and Moon are still in my personal opinion one of the worst Pokemon games we have ever received.
Even though I have not played an Aloha region game fully since the release of Sun and Moon this was still an ache of a game.
Almost everything was the same, there was not enough here to classify this as it's own title.
This should have been DLC, or given more time in the oven to make Aloha feel different.
The main story struggled to grasp me, as I had no real care for a lot of it's points. There's a good chunk of things that happen in Ultra's main story that overlap with the first game. Which was extremely disappointing, and made the game feel like even more of a slog to get through.
The addition of Ultra Wormholes; while good for shiny hunting, brought nothing else of substance.
I can not in good faith give this anything above a six rating, it was a messy experience that needed more time to have a chance at being decent. Like a lot of modern releases it feels rushed. Pokemon will always still have fun battles and mechanics, but this still will be a dry game for me.

85%Nintendo 3DS

Fun and difficult. but the story wasnt very good. cutscenes and graphics were also nice. Gameplay got a little boring at times but t was a good experience.

100%Nintendo 3DS

A third version that is not as good as the originals, but it's still Pokemon. Plus it's entertainingly hard.

75%Nintendo 3DS

It was really hard to get through the first 2/3 of the game, since it was way too similar to the tutorial ridden Sun/Moon. Once you get to the last island, though, it picks up pace and was really fun and different! I loved going back and battling most of the kahuna's. Victory Road and Elite Four were tough, and the Rainbow Rocket extra bit was fun and challenging as well. If I was rating the first two-thirds of the game, it would be a 65%. The last third would be a 90%

90%Nintendo 3DS

210 - First Playthrough

70%Nintendo 3DS

Story: 7/10
World Design: 5/10
Art: 7/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Optimization: 10/10

70%Nintendo 3DS

Ultra Necrozma fight lowers the grade, was not fun to fight

80%Nintendo 3DS

78/10.

One of the most underrated 3D-Pokémon games.

Yes, these games have many flaws, but compared to mediocrecy that the 3D games overall were, this is one of the better ones.

While the progression, exploration of this game are a total drag because of bad game design, the biggest strength of this game is it's huge amount of content compared to the other 3D titles pre-PLA. I'm 165 hours with this game, my Pokedex is at 50%, and before Arceus I found d myself always going back to this game, I still find new quests when exploring the world, I think the Ultra Worm wholes are a really fun way to catch legendaries.

Also, Alola is the most unique Pokémon region, I love the world design and music.

The story is decent, which makes it one of the best in the series lol since the stories in Pokémon are usually really boring.

I understand people's criticism on these games after SM, but I had the luck to play these first, and after playing Moon afterwards, I can say these are the best way to experience Gen 7.

Still, if you're getting into Pokémon now, I would say these games are not worth going back to from today's point of view, the 3DS games don't offer anything exciting you can't get in the Switch games.

90%Nintendo 3DS

Great RPG game. My only complaint is 2-3 boosted bosses that are 10 levels higher than other and get their stats boosed (including speed) which make them basically one-shot your whole team unless you have a pokemon with one of the few types that is doesn't have an attack super effective against it AND it has enough [special] defense to tank a hit. Those were annoying especially since the rest of the game was really easy, to compare.

80%Nintendo 3DS

Pros:
- Cool story.
- Amazing Pokémon.
- Some new concepts, gimmicks and new fresh story narrative.

Cons:
- No national Dex. In general the dex is clunky.
- Repetitive soundtrack.
- Some NPCs just spam one move.
- Trade evolutions are still a thing.
- Rank games died, and GTS is full of hackers.
- Rotodex is the most annoying creature in the world

80%Nintendo 3DS

Over the years the Pokemon games have been good, but very samey and not willing to go crazy with the formula until the recent Legends Arceus. I always enjoy Pokemon, it’s one of the only series that can come out with yearly mediocre games and I still enjoy it. But there is still somewhat of a small fatigue. I enjoyed Let’s Go Pikachu, but it wasn’t great or amazing. Shining Pearl was fun, but after I beat it, I didn’t stick around too long afterwards. But for some reason I went back to play the only mainline pokemon game on the 3DS I didn’t play, Ultra Sun. And the weird thing is, I didn’t even enjoy Pokemon Moon that much when it came out originally. I was super hyped, but I never finished it until 3 ½ years later. So I went back to play Ultra Sun. And….. it was really fucking good. I just went along for the ride, had an unprecedented amount of fun, and watched old anime episodes as I try to one day catch up to the present day episodes. In most ways Ultra Sun is your average Pokemon game with different stylings and added features to make it more enjoyable. Sometimes I forget how well Pokemon games feel on the 3DS, it just feels like they are the perfect match, and would be odd for them to be separated. You start out choosing your gender, doing a little customization on hair color and skin tone, then you enter the world for the first time in your little room. You eventually are introduced to your mom, and a Kantonian Meowth. It’s very wholesome and gives very nostalgic and childhood vibes, which is good for any jrpg. From there you pick your starter pokemon, of which you can choose Rowlet, a grass owl, Litten, a fire cat, or Poppolio, a water seal? When I originally played Moon I chose Rowlet, so this time around I went for Litten, even if I’m not the biggest fan of the final evolution: Incineroar. I’ve always been a big fan of ORAS, and XY, but the style here in Pokemon Ultra Sun just heightens my mood with all the popping blues, reds, purples, greens, etc. The game not only sells the island and beachy vibes the region tries to emulate after being based on Hawaii, but it also sells a sense of fullness and colorfulness that most other Pokemon games don’t get hammered down as good as this game. In the game you’ll encounter many different towns and characters. Many towns follow a beachy vibe, but some are a little more urban. Even though there aren't that many things to do in each town, Pokemon has always done a good job at making each town feel like more than it is, and that is no exception here. Some basics in each town includes a pokemon center for healing, and accessing pokemon via PC. But also some npcs in some of the centers will give you something cool or pose a good trade if you make sure to talk to all of them. It also should be mentioned that this game has no need of Pokemarts, and has a section dedicated to buying items such as potions, pokeballs, etc. There is even a little beverage shop to the left of every center, but I never found them that useful. As you explore there are also rideable pokemon to collect that give Pokemon games a little sense of metroidvania energy. HMs have been done away with thankfully. Whether it be Tauros who charges through boulders, Sharpedo who shoots through water, or even Charizard who allows you to fly from city to city. They are fun to use, but I wish they had more things to do with them, maybe a little mini-game? Racing or something extra to use them for would be cool. In each town you also involve yourself in Trials, the replacement for gyms. I used to dislike trials compared to the gym battles of all other pokemon games, but I grew to like the Trials more than I thought I would. I personally still enjoy the gym format more, and especially if they keep doing wacky mini-games and fun mechanics outside of just battling like sword and shield did. Trials are still enjoyable, and the totem pokemon is cool at the very least. The pokemon designs introduced here are very cool and stylish, sometimes I forget all the cool new designs. I remember excitedly watching every new pokemon reveal when sun and moon were originally coming out. Although I still think other regions have stronger designs overall, especially in the starting pokemon department. The old pokemon included here have a good selection, but with the entire dex from all past games it's never good enough, some pokemon I would like the option of are always not included. The difficulty overall in the game is obviously easy, with some somewhat harder fights towards the end of the game, but I still made my way through the Pokemon League first try. But on the topic of characters they are actually pretty cool compared to most other Pokemon games. Lily, the dude with Type: Null, etc. My only major disappointment is the rival, which is just preference because I always prefer the snarky bully-like rival like Gary. But I still enjoy some rivals like May from Hoenn, so I think Hau just isn’t that well designed in general.

10%Nintendo 3DS

This game butchers the story, the one good thing about Pokemon Sun/Moon. Other than that, it still has the same problems as before. Post game is still good, but just get a Gen 4/5 game if you want a Pokemon game. This just seems like a cash grab that had zero effort or passion put into it at all. However, as a standalone game, it is very solid, just not worth playing compared to other pokemon games.

80%Nintendo 3DS

fun and lots of content, but slow story and would not want to play it again only because of story. last game with national dex btw

70%Nintendo 3DS

Mediocre Pokémon game. Its Pokémon so its fun but not the best Pokémon game.

80%Emulated

Far superior to Pokemon Sun for reasons I couldn't quite put my finger on

50%Nintendo 3DS

I feel like as a second release this game stained the reputation of the first games. I haven't played the originals but I had to watch the cut story on youtube so that Lusamine made sense, a character Game Freak is keen on retconning. She could be one of the best villains of the series among Getchis and Giovanni but alas.
From a gameplay perspective, before entering the elite 4 my team felt incomplete, it's the first time in a pokemon game that I have struggled to build a team that I liked as a casual player. I don't know if it's because many routes have like a 70% chance of a Zubat and then the good pokemons but I totally lost interest on grinding a good team, it should come naturally on varied encounters, not having to go to serebii in search of the spawn rate. The Z-Moves made me quit animations altogether, why not make them skippable in settings but with normal animations on? Also, why let you use them on random trainers AND wild pokemon? They don't feel special, and as you don't know which move you'll be using, they take too many item slots, unlike mega stones because you would only mega one party member.
The story: awful pacing, the trials while being refreshing for the franchise, they were too childish and a drag to do. The villains... There are none? But at the same time yes? The game can't made up their mind. If you want to make a grey morality "rival team" put some effort on it. Team Skull have an interesting foundation, but the game treats them like a joke and Guzma doesn't have much character development aside from 2 cutscenes. The aether foundation flip flops between being good and helpful and then letting out that they like to experiment and freeze pokemon, but in the end nothing matters, they are good now I guess. The robots... too much text, the game went full out meta with the multiverses. I personally don't like ultra beasts.
At least some characters were supposed to be good. Hau, Gladion and Lily have some character development, AT LEAST IN THE ORIGINALS. Kukui had a role in the story, IN THE ORIGINALS.
If I didn't feel like I've played the watered down version of a good game I wouldn't be so harsh on USUM, but I wish I had played SM before this dumpster fire

60%Nintendo 3DS

In terms of gameplay, exploration, and Pokemon variety, it's the best Gen 7 game. But the story is absolutely butchered, and anyone who enjoyed the story in Sun and Moon might find USUM's story outright infuriating. A story about a family shattered by loss and abuse becomes a story about yet another berserk legendary, losing everything that made it special in the process. Just play SuMo instead.