Pokémon Ultra Moon
Year: 2017
Rating: E
Time Played: 1,972 minutes / 32.87 hours
In each Generation of the Pokémon franchise, the “second set” of games released were often the same game, but with a few notable enhancements. For example, Pokémon Yellow would allow a player to obtain all three of the original starter Pokémon—a feat that would normally take multiple restarts with two cartridges of Red and Blue. When Generation V introduced “sequels” instead of a third enhanced game, these second games lost some of their appeal. Pokémon Ultra Moon carries on this legacy that eventually became the DLC approach we saw in Pokémon Sword.
The unfortunate side effect of these sequel games, which feels more evident in Ultra Moon than in previous Generations, is that the first games in a Generation (in this case, Pokémon Sun) feel unfinished. After all, the “Ultra” games came out only a year later, so one wonders why anyone would want to purchase both the original and the “enhanced” games if they’re about 95% similar content. The story isn’t considerably different, even if the post-game is more interesting (especially when obtaining the ultimate Necrozma form).
As was the case for my play-through of Pokémon White 2, I enjoyed the same game I had played when I completed Pokémon Sun much more when I used the Mystery Gift Pokémon I got using promotional codes and cards. Even if I tried to play this game the way it was intended, once I hit the “grinding wall,” I used the resources at my disposal to bypass the part of the game I had already beaten once before. The game then became fun again once I entered the post-game portions, since it was something different and new. Catching all the previous legendaries felt like a tedious process, though, so I played little more than that.
The “full” game of Generation VII, I give Pokémon Ultra Moon 3.5 stars out of 5.
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