Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

Plot

The story emphasizes Necrozma, who replaces Lusamine as the primary antagonist. Set in the Alola Region based on Hawaii, the games add new buildings and locations. Returning characters include Lusamine and her children, with significant changes. The Ultra Recon Squad is introduced, with differing characters in each version.

Ultra Megalopolis, a city where Necrozma has stolen all light, is located in Ultra Space and accessed through Ultra Wormholes. In a post-game story, Team Rainbow Rocket appears, featuring all previous antagonist group bosses from Giovanni to Lysandre. Legendary Pokémon from earlier generations are also included. The player character, Elio or Selene, moves from Kanto to Melemele Island with their mother.

Rivals include Hau and Gladion, Lusamine's estranged son. During island challenges, the player battles Totem Pokémon and encounters Team Skull led by Guzma, the Aether Foundation led by Lusamine, and the Ultra Recon Squad from Ultra Megalopolis. The story revolves around Cosmog (Nebby), which evolves into Solgaleo in Ultra Sun or Lunala in Ultra Moon, and Necrozma's attempt to steal Alola's light.

Development

Game Freak treated the games as the culmination of their work on the 3DS system. The development team of 80 was about half that of Sun and Moon, despite the script being twice as long. Ohmori described the idea for the Ultra installments forming late during Sun and Moon's development, intended to capitalize on momentum from Pokémon Go. Game director Kazumasa Iwao previously handled battle systems in Sun and Moon. The post-game includes a tribute to former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, acknowledging his role in Pokémon Gold and Silver. A first patch in December 2017 fixed several bugs.

Reception

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic, with OpenCritic reporting 87% critic recommendation. IGN's Casey Defreitas called the games full of smart improvements. GameSpot's Kallie Plagge noted that despite similarities to Sun and Moon, the games make enough changes to stand apart as the definitive seventh-generation versions. Polygon's Allegra Frank criticized that changes only appear at the end, with most gameplay identical to its predecessor.

In Japan, the two games sold 1.2 million physical copies in the first three days. By end of 2017, they had sold over 2 million copies in Japan, becoming the best-selling video game in the country for that year. Cumulative franchise sales exceeded 300 million copies. Amazon ranked them seventh-best-selling video games of 2017.

As of March 31, 2025, combined worldwide sales reached 9.26 million units, making them the ninth-best-selling Nintendo 3DS titles. The games were nominated for People's Choice at the Italian Video Game Awards and won the Excellence Prize at the Famitsu Awards.