Pokémon Sun/Moon's Starters, Region, Release Date

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - KoopaTV's staffers take initial sides.

Though it wasn't a Direct, we got two trailers for Pokémon Sun Version and Pokémon Moon Version! We last had news of it back in February with the 20th anniversary Direct, where people thought it'd take place in a Singapore-based region.

WELL, IT'S CALLED THE ALOLA REGION. I DUNNO ABOUT YOU, BUT THAT SOUNDS LIKE HAWAII. (At least it's not Brazil. I'm sick of that place.) 

So. Those are the three starters. Read about them here. For a picture that's coincidentally the thumbnail:

Left-to-right:
Photobombing guy in shorts, Rowlet, Litten, Popplio.

It's releasing this November 2016. When, exactly, depends where you live:

Europe gets November 23, and North America gets November 18.
Apparently, the ESRB is slacking while PEGI already rated it.

Japan has this beautiful marketing video following this shy little Asian kid who moves into Hawaii or something and makes friends through playing Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon with the local kids. It's apparently going to be the first of a series:

From that, we also get to see our playable protagonist options. Like Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, you can choose gender and skin colour. The gender doesn't make a dramatic difference in character design this time, since their faces are the same now, like an Inkling. But the hair is also long for both.

As Rawk noted, you can finally be “black black” as opposed to “kinda black.”

So. Which Pokémon does the staff want as our starters? These are preliminary, but based on a discussion...

Rowlet, the Grass Quill Pokémon.

I already know that Rowlet and I are destined for greatness together. It is so adorable! I WANT TO CUDDLE IT. IT'S PLUSHIE MATERIAL. It's Grass/Flying, some of my favourite types.

So Ludwig is firmly on Team Rowlet. Vortexica is also on Team Rowlet, though it is tentative depending on final types and the final evolution's design. But of the three, Rowlet is the best. Kamek also likes Rowlet.

The only person who doesn't like Rowlet is RawkHawk2010, who is probably jealous that Rowlet would take him off of the Bird Menorah hierarchy. He thinks Rowlet's beak isn't good enough, either. (Though it's what owl beaks are supposed to look like, so Rawk is bird-ist.)

Litten, the Fire Cat Pokémon.

Litten is a pure Fire type. It has a hairball problem, but also shoots out fireballs. Kamek is tentatively going to pick Litten, though partially out of guilt that he's been picking so many Grass types up to now. He likes the concept.

We just hope it doesn't turn into a Fighting type later on.

Personally, I like Shinx more.

Popplio, the Sea Lion Pokémon.

Popplio is Rawk's favourite starter. (He'd prefer if it was a horse, though, and thinks Game Freak should stick to horses ala Pocket Card Jockey.) Probably because it's bullying poor Rowlet in its official artwork. Popplio is pure Water, and seems pretty expressive. Popplio obviously likes to pose, and it can snort out water balloons, which sounds like glorified snot. Curiously, the site says its notable move is Water Gun, instead of Bubble.

There are also the cover legends. Sun's is a giant fire lion, and Moon's is...some kind of crescent bat. Why do we have Litten AND the Sun cover legend? Isn't that redundant?

I'll probably get Moon, but obviously we'll need more details. So, stay tuned to KoopaTV for any new developments! (By which I mean, you should probably stay tuned to serebii.net.)


Which starter is YOUR favourite? Or do you not like any of them? Let us know in the comments! Ludwig drew this on Miiverse of Rowlet and Wing Kirby. Please Yeah it or he'll be upset.


There's more news about those cover legends: A news release dedicated to them... and a Rotom Pokédex?
Treehouse Live chose Popplio as their dude to use for the E3 2016 demo. It learns Disarming Voice at level 8.
Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio ALL evolve! Here is what they now look like.
You need to know the designs of the final evolutions? We KNOW the final evolutions.