Pokemon Sun and Moon new trailer 3DS
More detail has been revealed for Pokemon Sun and Moon including new monsters, Hyper Training and Friendly Competitions. The Pokémon Company

With Pokémon Go fever sweeping the globe, it could be easy to forget that Pokémon Sun and Moon for Nintendo 3DS are mere months away. To remind fans, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have released a new trailer that introduces fresh faces to the Pokémon world as well as new features that could represent a big evolution for the series.

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Alongside the two creatures revealed in a recent Coro Coro issue – the Pikachu-cosplayer Mimikkyu and the newly named bear/racoon-thing Bewear – the trailer (embedded below) gives us our first glimpse of several never-before-seen Pocket Monsters.

Among the additions are Wimpod (a terrified-looking Water/Bug-type with a fitting new ability called Wimp Out), Bounsweet (a smiley Grass-type that reminds us of the equally cheery Cherubi), Comfey (a Fairy-type daisy chain with a possible new ability called Triage that prioritises restorative moves in battle) and Mudsdale (a grubby Ground-type horse with another new ability called Stamina that raises defence upon being hit).

The end of the trailer is where things get even more interesting though, as it seems that developer Game Freak is going all out on new mechanics and features for the seventh generation of Pokémon RPGs.

The Pokémon Global Link website will end its current Pokémon X and Y and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire services to focus exclusively on bringing Sun and Moon players together in Friendly Competitions, which The Pokémon Company described as "a new function which allows players to become competition hosts and hold their own original competitions, where they can set the regulations".

An accompanying press release explained the modes further:

"Two types of Friendly Competition will be available, Online and Live:

Online Competitions: These are competitions which are played over the internet. Players will be matched with an opponent and compete against each other for the best rating. These competitions can be open to Pokémon Trainers all over the world, or they can be set to only allow pre-approved Trainers to enter.

Live Competitions: These competitions allow players to host a competition and play together with friends and other Trainers who are in the same space. The Digital Player ID that contains competition regulations is generated as a QR Code, and by scanning the QR code into a 3DS system, participants can join and battle according to the set regulations."

While Friendly Competitions is a lovely idea on paper, it will be interesting to see how friendly competitive Pokémon battles become following the second new feature coming to Sun and Moon – Hyper Training.

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Comfey Pokemon Sun and Moon
Comfey, the Posy Picker Pokémon, "picks flowers to carry around." The Pokémon Company

Although Super Training – introduced in Generation Six – gave players insight into, and better control over, the behind-the-scenes Effort Values (EVs) that affected a single Pokémon's overall stats, Individual Values (IVs) – a single Pokemon's preset innate strengths – have always fallen on a random scale. That is until now, according to same press release:

"Traditionally, Pokémon grow stronger by raising their levels and increasing their base stats. However, such power is still affected by the individual strengths innate to each Pokémon. Hyper Training allows Pokémon that have grown to Lv. 100 to increase their individual strengths, which has not been possible in previous Pokémon games. You can now make your Lv. 100 Pokémon even stronger. Hyper Training is done by Mr. Hyper, a new character who can be found somewhere in the Alola region."

This fresh form of training is enabled with Bottle Caps – a new item that is obtainable in Sun and Moon, but has yet to be detailed further aside from confirmation that the "Mythical Pokémon" Magearna will be hold one. The Pokémon Company notes that Magearna is "planned for distribution in Europe later".

YouTube / The Pokemon Company

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