This is Red and Blue all over again – which version are you picking up?
Nintendo has been frequently rolling out announcements and providing details about the upcoming installments in the Pokémon series—Sun & Moon. It’s given us a peek at the new Alola region, new NPC’s, new battle features, and many new Pokémon. In Nintendo’s latest SuMo video, viewers are shown new version-exclusive Pokémon, that is, Pokémon that can only be found in either Sun or Moon, but not both.
Pokémon Sun’s first version-exclusive is Passimian, a Fighting-type black and white monkey who wields berries. Passimian has a new ability called Receiver, which lets the Pokémon “take over” an ally Pokémon’s ability when it faints in battle.
Pokémon Moon players can receive the new Pokémon Oranguru, a Normal and Psychic-type ape with a purple cape and leaf fan. Oranguru can have one of two abilities: Inner Focus or Telepathy. It also introduces a new move that only it can learn called Instruct, which makes the selected target use its most recent move again immediately.
In addition to these version-exclusives, recently-revealed Pokémon Rockruff will evolve into different forms of Lycanroc depending on your version. In Sun, Lycanroc is in its Midday Form, a tan wolf with either the Keen Eye or Sand Rush ability. Only Midday Form Lycanroc can learn the new move Accelerock: a Physical attack that is guaranteed to go first in battle. In Moon, Lycanroc is in its Midnight Form, a red and white wolf with glowing eyes boasting either the Keen Eye or Vital Spirit ability. While it is not a new move, only Lycanroc’s Midnight Form can learn Counter, which deals back double the damage it received from an enemy Pokémon.
So which version is right for you? You have a little more time to meditate and figure that out – Pokémon Sun & Moon will hit shelves on November 18.