Alright its been a long time since I've last updated the thread here, but I'm sure everyone knows most of the relevant news by now. Going to review all the new Pokemon and features of the game revealed so far in full from late June to Mid-July. Hopefully there isn't something too major with these updates, especially now that we've gotten a good amount of information since. Most of these updates can be some on the dedicated fan sites (Aka Serebii, Pokebeach, and PokeJungle), but again, this is for all of you to see here as well.
During the early morning of June 30th, we got a whooping total of 7 new Pokemon revealed, one of them being a potential legendary Pokemon which is really exciting to see. Again I've kinda covered this, but now we have some details regarding what these Pokemon's Typing, Abilities, and descriptions.
![[Image: smleak1th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/smleak1th.jpg)
The first Pokemon we see is a new Dragon/Normal-type Pokemon named Drampa. While this Dragon-type might look weird compared some of the other Dragon-types we've seen, it has a new ability in Berserk. Everytime Drampa's HP reaches 50% or below, its Special Attack stat increases, which is kinda interesting. The other ability Drampa will have is Sap Sipper, basically granting immunity to Grass-type attacks while getting an attack raise. If Drampa is defensive-oriented, Berserk can benefit it more, especially if it has other recovery based moves to abuse this strategy, though whether this ability is single use remains to be see. From a design point, Drampa reminds me of that one Dragon, Falcor from the Never Ending Story. This might be a stand alone Dragon-type without an evolution similar to Druddigon, but it unknown if this Dragon-type can evolve again.
![[Image: smleak2th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/smleak2th.jpg)
Next Pokemon we'll look at is Gen 7's "Pikachu" clone, the Electric/Steel-type Pokemon Togedemaru. One might think you should give this guy a hug or something, but I'd probably twice about that decision as Togedemaru has long spikes and needles from its back. Heck Togedemaru is even given the ability, Iron Barbs which has been exclusive to the Ferrothorn line for to generations. Slap a Rocky Helmet on this mouse, and well just laugh as it deals slow residual damage against the opposing Pokemon. Togedemaru also gets the ability Lightning Rod, but personally I think people will want to abuse the Rocky Helmet-Iron Barbs combo as it already resists Electric attacks. One last thing to note is Electric/Steel-type isn't a terrible typing at all, as it sports a whooping 11 resistances and 1 immunity. While Fire-types, Fighting-types, and most notably Ground-types will be able to land super effective hits, I feel like this Pikachu clone is actually useful this time around just with the typing and the Iron Barbs ability alone. We'll just have to wait and see how it stat distribution is, but definitely excited about this guy.
![[Image: smleak5th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/smleak5th.jpg)
Our next new Alola Pokemon is a strange looking Water/Psychic-type, Bruxish. I'll admit, Bruxish is one of the interesting looking Pokemon I've seen from a design point with its purple-pink color pattern, elongated lip and sharp teeth (hence Strong Jaw as one of its abilities). Most people aren't focusing too much about this fish, rather more so about the new ability Dazzling. This ability prevents the opposing Pokemon from using all priority moves, just like Quick Attack, Fake Out, Sucker Punch, etc. Personally, I do like Dazzling than the Pokemon since if its found a good defensive Pokemon (not saying Bruxish isn't viable), especially in double battles.Chances are we might see Bruxish, or another Pokemon use Dazzling in VGC than in singles since it is extremely situational, but we'll see.
![[Image: smleak4th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/smleak4th.jpg)
The next Pokemon we see here is a new Bug/Fairy-type Pokemon Cutiefly. What we know about this Pokemon is it lives close to humans, Pokemon, and plants to sense their feelings, or auras. The abilities Cutliefly can have are Shield Dust which prevents any additional effects from taking place, and Honey Gather, which gives it a chance to collect the Honey item at the end of every battle (level dependent. Based on its appearance alone, there's a good chance Cutefly will evolve again to a stronger Pokemon, at least lets hope its isn't something as similar to the Combee line.
![[Image: smleak6th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/smleak6th.jpg)
Here we have our first reveal of the evolution of Drubbin, the new Bug and "Electric" Pokemon Charjabug. Most people predicted Grubbin would evolve with a part electric typing, and their suspicions were true after all, especially with the hints given. Based on appearance, the design is definitely a combination of a cocoon and a typical battery. Speaking of batteries, Charjabug's new ability, Battery allows it to raise the power of its allies special attacks, so basically useful for doubles or triples. In the same leak, Charjabug is later shown to evolve to the following new Pokemon: Vikabvolt:
![[Image: smleak3th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/smleak3th.jpg)
The final evolution of the Grubbin line: the Electric/Bug-type Vikabolt. To be honest, this is my favorite design from the Alola Pokemon to date since we have another stag beetle just like Heracross. All we know about this Bug/Electric-type Pokemon is its given the ability Levitate to avoid getting hit with Ground-type attacks (aside from Mold Breaker). Based on the description from TCPi, it even uses nearby Charjabugs to power up its electric and special other special attacks as a battery of sorts, hence the design. Overall, the Vikabolt line is my favorite evolution line and given the design, this Pokemon definitely was in the works maybe prior to this time. One last thing to comment is its nice to have an early bug-type Pokemon look well made with its sharp jaws, wingspan, and the menacing look instead of having something like a Butterfree-like Pokemon.
![[Image: smleak7th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/smleak7th.jpg)
Lastly, we have a probably our first look into a potential legendary trio member... (or quartet): Tapu Koko. Just based on the design alone, I feel as if Game Freak intended Tapu Koko, the Electic-/Fairy type, to be a Legendary, given its status as the "guardian deity" of the Melemele Island, or the starting island we begin. People have speculated Tapu Koko based on a totem pole, or a tiki with paintings on its shield arms, face, and the rest of the body. What I find interesting about this Pokemon is that it interacts with people, even being handled by one of the NPCs, Hala. In terms of battling, this Pokemon has the most potential out of all the the 7 Pokemon leaked shown at the time. Tapu Koko comes with a new ability called Electric Surge, which activates the new terrain field introduced in Gen 6: Electric Terrain. For those who don't know, Electric Terrain boost the power of all Electric-type attack from "grounded" Pokemon by a 1.5x multiplier and prevents all Pokemon from going to sleep. Since Electric Terrain last long similar to the weather effects, will only last 5 turns since Tapu Koko was sent out. Finally, we get a new exclusive move for Tapu Koko, Nature's Madness which is essentially like Super Fang as it halves the HP of a Pokemon.
Overall, all these Pokemon design are eccentric and look as if they are from the Alola Region. All these Pokemon were showcased in this trailer so I'm going to leave a link to the international version.
As the title mentions, most of the leaked Pokemon were later confimed by the TCPi Japan and eventually a trailer was shown later for the international audience (the one I've posted. The only information we got concerning new Pokemon and abilities were the names of Iwanko (the Rock-type dog) and Nekkoala (the Koala Pokemon), were localized as Rockruff and Komala respectively. For those who don't know, Rockruff was first revealed accidentally in a Corocoro video and now it's been officially revealed to the international audience along with Komala. Rockruff has two standard early game abilities Vital Spirit / Keen Eye respectively and Komala has a new ability in Comatose, to remind everyone makes the user only be inflicted by sleep status while the others fail.
Now we can discuss more about Zygarde, which everytime we do, Game Freak seems to just give it more toys like they almost want Zygarde Perfect to be just as strong and more powerful than Mega Rayquaza. If any Zygarde 10% or 50% form's HP is below half and has the ability "Power Construct", all the Zygarde cells will gather to form Zygarde Complete form. Once Zygarde Complete is in battle, it actually regains some of its HP back to a sufficient level and utilize a new move known as "Core Enforcer". With this attack, it can remove the opponent's abilities that's essentially have already moved, or attacked in battle before. Essentially this almost like an enhanced version of Mold Breaker with a Dragon-type STAB (we seen this form do SE damage to a Garchomp). Really doubt the move is going to be Fairy-type or Ice-type since Zygarde doesn't have a decent Dragon-type move aside Outrage. With all these ridiculous buffs Game Freak has given Zygarde, I feel as if its going to be one of the strongest Pokemon in the game, assuming people are able to get its transformation safely.
![[Image: 3.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/sunmoon/3.jpg)
There's not much to review aside from press release screenshots of the game, but I'm not going to post all of them or review them. Thanks to Serebii, there's a page dedicated to all of these images so here's a link. From these images, we see the protagonist riding on a Stoutland (riding on pokemon returns?), the new trade evolution, Pikachu firing an "electric beam", a Forrest-like environment, the evolution process, and various Pokemon in different locations. To end off this section, I'm going to leave a video from the Hong Kong VGC event featuring Professor Kukui in the opening sequence of the game, as well as gameplay of Rockruff/Komala.
Couple days after the initial reveals multiple Pokemon and various screenshots, Junichi Masuda unveiled a new Pokemon at the Japan Expo. The new Pokemon in question is a Poison/Fire-type Salandit with a slim lizards/salamander-like appearence with an interesting new ability: Corrosion. This allows the user to effectively inflict the Poisoned status on any type, including Steel- and Poison-type Pokemon. From a typing perspective, Salandit has 8 resistances (Fire, Grass, Poison, Fairy, Steel, Ice, Fighting, and Bug), and four weaknesses to Water-, Rock-, Ground-, and Psychic-types which isn't entirely bad. Overall, this Pokemon is an excellent addition to the growing list of Alola Pokemon, so to end on that I'll leave a video showcasing Salandit in action.
![[Image: corocoro8161th.jpg]](http://www.serebii.net/corocoro8161th.jpg)
(Best Designs Ever)
Later during the month, we got another pair of new Pokemon from a Corocoro leak, which I'll admit questioned if there were even Pokemon, or some kinda of prank, but the two eventually grew on me. The first Pokemon we'll discuss is the pink-face bear, Kiteruguma who is a Normal/Fighting-type Pokemon with the abilities Klutz and "Fluffy" (we don't know what this does for the user). Based on its description from Corocoro, Kiteruguma is said depicted as a friendly looking Pokemon in appearance who only wants to give someone a hug, then breaks their bones with its strength ...(more dark Pokedex entries). While Corocoro doesn't directly mention that, its implied that even the local Alola people warn themselves not to go near to a Kiteruguma, then again just about any Pokemon can be classified as dangerous.
Then we get to this...thing which I'll admit didn't like the design until I read its description. This new Pokemon is called Mimikkyu with another unique typing in Ghost-/Fairy-type with the ability Disguise (again don't know much...though might explain or tie into its lore / design choice). All we know is that Mimikkyu is it avoids the sun by covering itself with a cloth (hence the Pikachu scribbles). Apparently if someone tries to remove the cloth of Mimikkyu, the person will be afflicted with an illness (again another dark Pokedex entry). This Pokemon's design is based on a Pikachu merchandise which became extremely popular in the region 20 years ago (interesting timing), and wants to be adored like the ever so popular Pikachu.
I'm going to leave this trailer for you all to see. Will give my thoughts about it soon but it does contain some "minor" spoilers if you really look into it. Not talking about how we briefly see the touch screen main menu, Pokemon Amie enhanced, riding on various Pokemon in multiple terrains, showcasing Mimikkyu/Kiteruguma, the fact Eevee doesn't get any new evolutions this generation (might make some upset), the protagonist using their bracelet with the diamonds summoning powerful attacks, etc. Again I highly recommend everyone to look at this trailer since it shows a good level of depth Game Freak has taken into the development of Sun/Moon. To end on this note, on July 17th, the Japanese variety show (geared towards kids) promise to showcase some new gameplay to the public, though don't be shocked if its something small or rather significant news/confirmation of rumors/etc. I'll do my best to keep up with the news as best as possible, but always be sure to keep up with the news sites like Serebii, Pokebeach, and Poke Jungle.
June 30th 2016 News: New Pokemon Leaked Earlier
During the early morning of June 30th, we got a whooping total of 7 new Pokemon revealed, one of them being a potential legendary Pokemon which is really exciting to see. Again I've kinda covered this, but now we have some details regarding what these Pokemon's Typing, Abilities, and descriptions.
The first Pokemon we see is a new Dragon/Normal-type Pokemon named Drampa. While this Dragon-type might look weird compared some of the other Dragon-types we've seen, it has a new ability in Berserk. Everytime Drampa's HP reaches 50% or below, its Special Attack stat increases, which is kinda interesting. The other ability Drampa will have is Sap Sipper, basically granting immunity to Grass-type attacks while getting an attack raise. If Drampa is defensive-oriented, Berserk can benefit it more, especially if it has other recovery based moves to abuse this strategy, though whether this ability is single use remains to be see. From a design point, Drampa reminds me of that one Dragon, Falcor from the Never Ending Story. This might be a stand alone Dragon-type without an evolution similar to Druddigon, but it unknown if this Dragon-type can evolve again.
Next Pokemon we'll look at is Gen 7's "Pikachu" clone, the Electric/Steel-type Pokemon Togedemaru. One might think you should give this guy a hug or something, but I'd probably twice about that decision as Togedemaru has long spikes and needles from its back. Heck Togedemaru is even given the ability, Iron Barbs which has been exclusive to the Ferrothorn line for to generations. Slap a Rocky Helmet on this mouse, and well just laugh as it deals slow residual damage against the opposing Pokemon. Togedemaru also gets the ability Lightning Rod, but personally I think people will want to abuse the Rocky Helmet-Iron Barbs combo as it already resists Electric attacks. One last thing to note is Electric/Steel-type isn't a terrible typing at all, as it sports a whooping 11 resistances and 1 immunity. While Fire-types, Fighting-types, and most notably Ground-types will be able to land super effective hits, I feel like this Pikachu clone is actually useful this time around just with the typing and the Iron Barbs ability alone. We'll just have to wait and see how it stat distribution is, but definitely excited about this guy.
Our next new Alola Pokemon is a strange looking Water/Psychic-type, Bruxish. I'll admit, Bruxish is one of the interesting looking Pokemon I've seen from a design point with its purple-pink color pattern, elongated lip and sharp teeth (hence Strong Jaw as one of its abilities). Most people aren't focusing too much about this fish, rather more so about the new ability Dazzling. This ability prevents the opposing Pokemon from using all priority moves, just like Quick Attack, Fake Out, Sucker Punch, etc. Personally, I do like Dazzling than the Pokemon since if its found a good defensive Pokemon (not saying Bruxish isn't viable), especially in double battles.Chances are we might see Bruxish, or another Pokemon use Dazzling in VGC than in singles since it is extremely situational, but we'll see.
The next Pokemon we see here is a new Bug/Fairy-type Pokemon Cutiefly. What we know about this Pokemon is it lives close to humans, Pokemon, and plants to sense their feelings, or auras. The abilities Cutliefly can have are Shield Dust which prevents any additional effects from taking place, and Honey Gather, which gives it a chance to collect the Honey item at the end of every battle (level dependent. Based on its appearance alone, there's a good chance Cutefly will evolve again to a stronger Pokemon, at least lets hope its isn't something as similar to the Combee line.
Here we have our first reveal of the evolution of Drubbin, the new Bug and "Electric" Pokemon Charjabug. Most people predicted Grubbin would evolve with a part electric typing, and their suspicions were true after all, especially with the hints given. Based on appearance, the design is definitely a combination of a cocoon and a typical battery. Speaking of batteries, Charjabug's new ability, Battery allows it to raise the power of its allies special attacks, so basically useful for doubles or triples. In the same leak, Charjabug is later shown to evolve to the following new Pokemon: Vikabvolt:
The final evolution of the Grubbin line: the Electric/Bug-type Vikabolt. To be honest, this is my favorite design from the Alola Pokemon to date since we have another stag beetle just like Heracross. All we know about this Bug/Electric-type Pokemon is its given the ability Levitate to avoid getting hit with Ground-type attacks (aside from Mold Breaker). Based on the description from TCPi, it even uses nearby Charjabugs to power up its electric and special other special attacks as a battery of sorts, hence the design. Overall, the Vikabolt line is my favorite evolution line and given the design, this Pokemon definitely was in the works maybe prior to this time. One last thing to comment is its nice to have an early bug-type Pokemon look well made with its sharp jaws, wingspan, and the menacing look instead of having something like a Butterfree-like Pokemon.
Lastly, we have a probably our first look into a potential legendary trio member... (or quartet): Tapu Koko. Just based on the design alone, I feel as if Game Freak intended Tapu Koko, the Electic-/Fairy type, to be a Legendary, given its status as the "guardian deity" of the Melemele Island, or the starting island we begin. People have speculated Tapu Koko based on a totem pole, or a tiki with paintings on its shield arms, face, and the rest of the body. What I find interesting about this Pokemon is that it interacts with people, even being handled by one of the NPCs, Hala. In terms of battling, this Pokemon has the most potential out of all the the 7 Pokemon leaked shown at the time. Tapu Koko comes with a new ability called Electric Surge, which activates the new terrain field introduced in Gen 6: Electric Terrain. For those who don't know, Electric Terrain boost the power of all Electric-type attack from "grounded" Pokemon by a 1.5x multiplier and prevents all Pokemon from going to sleep. Since Electric Terrain last long similar to the weather effects, will only last 5 turns since Tapu Koko was sent out. Finally, we get a new exclusive move for Tapu Koko, Nature's Madness which is essentially like Super Fang as it halves the HP of a Pokemon.
Overall, all these Pokemon design are eccentric and look as if they are from the Alola Region. All these Pokemon were showcased in this trailer so I'm going to leave a link to the international version.
July 1st - 3rd 2016 News: Confirmation of Leaks / Other Misc. Stuff
![[Image: komala.png]](http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/july_01_assets/komala.png)
![[Image: zygarde.png]](http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/july_01_assets/zygarde.png)
![[Image: rockruff.png]](http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/july_01_assets/rockruff.png)
As the title mentions, most of the leaked Pokemon were later confimed by the TCPi Japan and eventually a trailer was shown later for the international audience (the one I've posted. The only information we got concerning new Pokemon and abilities were the names of Iwanko (the Rock-type dog) and Nekkoala (the Koala Pokemon), were localized as Rockruff and Komala respectively. For those who don't know, Rockruff was first revealed accidentally in a Corocoro video and now it's been officially revealed to the international audience along with Komala. Rockruff has two standard early game abilities Vital Spirit / Keen Eye respectively and Komala has a new ability in Comatose, to remind everyone makes the user only be inflicted by sleep status while the others fail.
Now we can discuss more about Zygarde, which everytime we do, Game Freak seems to just give it more toys like they almost want Zygarde Perfect to be just as strong and more powerful than Mega Rayquaza. If any Zygarde 10% or 50% form's HP is below half and has the ability "Power Construct", all the Zygarde cells will gather to form Zygarde Complete form. Once Zygarde Complete is in battle, it actually regains some of its HP back to a sufficient level and utilize a new move known as "Core Enforcer". With this attack, it can remove the opponent's abilities that's essentially have already moved, or attacked in battle before. Essentially this almost like an enhanced version of Mold Breaker with a Dragon-type STAB (we seen this form do SE damage to a Garchomp). Really doubt the move is going to be Fairy-type or Ice-type since Zygarde doesn't have a decent Dragon-type move aside Outrage. With all these ridiculous buffs Game Freak has given Zygarde, I feel as if its going to be one of the strongest Pokemon in the game, assuming people are able to get its transformation safely.
There's not much to review aside from press release screenshots of the game, but I'm not going to post all of them or review them. Thanks to Serebii, there's a page dedicated to all of these images so here's a link. From these images, we see the protagonist riding on a Stoutland (riding on pokemon returns?), the new trade evolution, Pikachu firing an "electric beam", a Forrest-like environment, the evolution process, and various Pokemon in different locations. To end off this section, I'm going to leave a video from the Hong Kong VGC event featuring Professor Kukui in the opening sequence of the game, as well as gameplay of Rockruff/Komala.
July 7th 2016 News: Salandit Reveal at Japan Expo
![[Image: lizard.png]](http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/july_7_assets/lizard.png)
Couple days after the initial reveals multiple Pokemon and various screenshots, Junichi Masuda unveiled a new Pokemon at the Japan Expo. The new Pokemon in question is a Poison/Fire-type Salandit with a slim lizards/salamander-like appearence with an interesting new ability: Corrosion. This allows the user to effectively inflict the Poisoned status on any type, including Steel- and Poison-type Pokemon. From a typing perspective, Salandit has 8 resistances (Fire, Grass, Poison, Fairy, Steel, Ice, Fighting, and Bug), and four weaknesses to Water-, Rock-, Ground-, and Psychic-types which isn't entirely bad. Overall, this Pokemon is an excellent addition to the growing list of Alola Pokemon, so to end on that I'll leave a video showcasing Salandit in action.
July 12th 2016 News: Corocoro Leaks - Kiteruguma and Mimikkyu
Later during the month, we got another pair of new Pokemon from a Corocoro leak, which I'll admit questioned if there were even Pokemon, or some kinda of prank, but the two eventually grew on me. The first Pokemon we'll discuss is the pink-face bear, Kiteruguma who is a Normal/Fighting-type Pokemon with the abilities Klutz and "Fluffy" (we don't know what this does for the user). Based on its description from Corocoro, Kiteruguma is said depicted as a friendly looking Pokemon in appearance who only wants to give someone a hug, then breaks their bones with its strength ...(more dark Pokedex entries). While Corocoro doesn't directly mention that, its implied that even the local Alola people warn themselves not to go near to a Kiteruguma, then again just about any Pokemon can be classified as dangerous.
Then we get to this...thing which I'll admit didn't like the design until I read its description. This new Pokemon is called Mimikkyu with another unique typing in Ghost-/Fairy-type with the ability Disguise (again don't know much...though might explain or tie into its lore / design choice). All we know is that Mimikkyu is it avoids the sun by covering itself with a cloth (hence the Pikachu scribbles). Apparently if someone tries to remove the cloth of Mimikkyu, the person will be afflicted with an illness (again another dark Pokedex entry). This Pokemon's design is based on a Pikachu merchandise which became extremely popular in the region 20 years ago (interesting timing), and wants to be adored like the ever so popular Pikachu.
July 13th 2016 News: Japanese Gameplay Trailer with Misc. Stuff
I'm going to leave this trailer for you all to see. Will give my thoughts about it soon but it does contain some "minor" spoilers if you really look into it. Not talking about how we briefly see the touch screen main menu, Pokemon Amie enhanced, riding on various Pokemon in multiple terrains, showcasing Mimikkyu/Kiteruguma, the fact Eevee doesn't get any new evolutions this generation (might make some upset), the protagonist using their bracelet with the diamonds summoning powerful attacks, etc. Again I highly recommend everyone to look at this trailer since it shows a good level of depth Game Freak has taken into the development of Sun/Moon. To end on this note, on July 17th, the Japanese variety show (geared towards kids) promise to showcase some new gameplay to the public, though don't be shocked if its something small or rather significant news/confirmation of rumors/etc. I'll do my best to keep up with the news as best as possible, but always be sure to keep up with the news sites like Serebii, Pokebeach, and Poke Jungle.
