Pokémon Sun

Pokémon Sun and Moon are role-playing video games with adventure elements, set in the fictional Alola Region (loosely based on Hawaii), presented in a third-person, overhead perspective. The player controls a young Trainer who goes on a quest to catch and train creatures known as Pokémon, and win battles against other Trainers. By defeating opposing Pokémon in turn-based battles, the player's Pokémon gains experience, allowing them to level up and increase their battle statistics, learn new battle techniques, and in some cases, evolve into more powerful Pokémon. Players can capture wild Pokémon, found during random encounters, by weakening them in battle and catching them with Poké Balls, allowing them to be added to their party.

Players are also able to battle and trade Pokémon with other human players using the Nintendo 3DS' connectivity features. As with previous games in the series, certain Pokémon are only obtainable in either Sun or Moon, with players encouraged to trade with others in order to obtain all Pokémon from both versions.

The games take place on a tropical archipelago, a group of islands known as the Alola Region. Joe Skrebels of IGN describes it as "Pokémon's take on Hawaii". During an interview at E3 2016, Shigeru Ohmori noted that Game Freak staff took trips to Hawaii to conduct research for Sun and Moon.

The leading scientist in the Alola Region is Professor Kukui, whose name comes from the kukui, also known as the candlenut, the Hawaiian state tree, continuing the trend of Pokémon professors being named after trees. Team Skull is the name of the villainous group in Alola. The Aether Foundation is an organization which studies Ultra Beasts, mysterious creatures from another dimension. Though Professor Samuel Oak does not appear in Sun and Moon, his cousin Samson Oak takes his place.

Game director Shigeru Ohmori stated that the choice of Sun and Moon as title was inspired by the two celestial bodies’ metaphorical representation of human relationships. Hawaii was chosen as the basis for the game's region following the title's determination, due to its clear nights and plentiful sunshine. Development started immediately after Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire was completed and Ohmori kept his game director position. Since the games were to be released on the franchise's 20th anniversary, Sun and Moon were developed comparatively from scratch with the application of more radical changes than its predecessor. Separately, he also mentioned that the games' intended to place more emphasis on the Pokémon and the nature of the games, in addition to the player's interactions with them.

The first Pokémon of the seventh generation to be designed was Jangmo-o. Regarding the various other designs of the generation, Ohmori mentioned that "For the 20th anniversary, we wanted to have a lot of special surprises… we wanted a funny element". Pokémon from Red and Blue were the only ones to receive Alolan forms—according to Ohmori, this was as a special surprise for long-time players and simply due to the older Pokémon being more recognizable. Following the trend between newer generations of the main series, the designers of Sun and Moon focused on the motions on the full 3D models from X and Y in order to create livelier creatures.

Pokémon Sun and Moon received a score of 87/100 on Metacritic based on 84 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the games received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 95% of critics. This placed Sun and Moon as the 5th and 6th highest-rated 3DS games in 2016, and the 19th and 20th on the console of all time. The move from the gym system received widespread praise from critics, some of whom saw the change as a major step towards future developments of the franchise.

Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the pair a 38/40 rating. Writing for video game review site IGN, Kallie Plagge gave the games a 9/10, and said that they "switch up the formula to create an engaging adventure that improves on its predecessors", in addition to praising the streamlined battle interface and other mechanics. Alex Donaldson of VG247 remarked that the story drew him in deeper, saying "I remain more engaged in this story than in any other Pokémon tale yet". Alex Olney of Nintendo Life said that "the plot in Sun & Moon is the deepest and most ambitious Game Freak has dared attempt", he also called them the best Pokémon games ever produced, commenting that Alola's design felt natural and organic, praising Game Freak for successfully balancing additional mechanics without alienating existing fans.