The Steves discuss the seventh generation of Pokémon as they look back on Pokémon Sun and Moon in the Alola region.
What's making us happy?
Pokémon Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves discuss the seventh generation of Pokémon as they look back on Pokémon Sun and Moon in the Alola region.
What's making us happy?
Pokémon Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennett Martin. And this
Stephen:is Steven Martin Bennett, and welcome to a
Steve:Lifetime of Happiness, the podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy. We'll hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way. And
Stephen:this November, we are preparing for the new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet by revisiting some of our favorite regions and games in the world of Pokemon.
Steve:So grab your Pokemon balls and your sunscreen, because today we're going back to the Alo region. Alo. Hello La. Yes. But before we take that trip to those islands, what's been making you happy? My love. Other islands like.
Stephen:It's survivor season again,
Steve:wasn't it? Just survivor season last season. It's
Stephen:survivor season twice a year, thank
Steve:goodness. Yes. And so how are you enjoying this season of Survivor? So
Stephen:what's interesting is that last year they, they always filmed them almost back to back. Mm-hmm. So last season they started changing things up. Instead of being 39 days, you're done in 27 days now. Mm-hmm. And so it's a faster game, which means it's more interesting per episode. And they also added in some new twists, challenges, rewards, ways to steal rewards and things. So last season, or the last two seasons before. All these new rules, nobody knew how to play the new game. Yeah. So it was really fascinating. And so now you have this season of people that saw last year mm-hmm. And so they're trying in their minds to figure out how to adapt all the previous seasons they've seen, plus the way that it's playing now, and get all that together. It's almost like Survivor did a mini reinvention of itself because the old ways are not working as well anymore. Yeah. So it's been fascinating and just to think that it has been on since the summer of 2000, I believe. I believe that the same summer American Idol started is the same summer that Survivor started on.
Steve:And they've done quite a few seasons since then. Just
Stephen:a few. Yes. Now, what's been making you happy by darling?
Steve:I would have to say our favorite killer doll Chucky. I know we cover a child's play last month and that inspired us to rewatch the entire series and it's just such a good horror series that has aged really well and evolved constantly. I feel like there's so many other series that we watch that have ones that you can skip over or ones you don't enjoy as much, but like even going into it, you. N I'm not looking forward to the third one. The third one's the garbage one. And like it wasn't that bad and it's still ITT as bad.
Stephen:Yeah. Yeah. And something I was thinking about yesterday, I was like, okay, so if we take some of the more well known horror slasher series mm-hmm. Including hell Razor in that, like hell Razor Texas Chainsaw Child's play, Chucky Friday Nightmare Friday and Halloween. the two that actually hold up the best without losing their identity. Mm-hmm. because of how great Don Mancini has done shepherding all of this. Our Halloween and child's play. Yeah. Child's play is, if you look at it as a whole, a better quality of. Then the Nightmare and Friday the 13th because of how hard they fell off
Steve:the rails. Yes. And this one, when it goes off the rails, it's screaming, Enjoy the entire time and like on
Stephen:purpose. Yeah. Where the other just didn't have anybody shepherding the series anymore. And with this, the writer has been there every step of the way. And now he's also doing the directing. So he's helped keep. And actually increase the quality. Mm-hmm. of the Chucky universe. And a lot of credit should go to him for that.
Steve:Yeah. So for some reason you fell off after the eighties or the nineties and haven't checked out Chucky recently. I definitely recommend revisiting it because, you know, Curse of Chucky, Cults of Chucky all leading up to the new TV show has just really taken it up to 11 in like the best intentional, awesome way possible. And
Stephen:so Curse of Chucky was this. what we thought was reboot Yeah. Type of thing. And actually played into all of the history of it. And then when we watched Cult of Chucky, I was like, Oh, curse was so good. And then I felt let, kind of let down by cult, but we just re-watched it yesterday. Yeah. And. Oh, damn. I was wrong. It actually holds up pretty well. Yeah, I like, this was good.
Steve:It certainly was, but not as good as my Pokemon Games. have I mentioned that? I'm very excited for Scarlet and Violet. We are recording this episode on Sunday, the 6th of November, so we're 12 days. But by the time that this releases, it'll be, I think the week that it comes out. And I will just be looking at all the internet spoilers and planning my team, and I am just so excited. But I, I love
this
Stephen:whole idea of you planning your team Uhhuh and like mine is always the same. It's. The fire starter. Yeah. Eve Evolutions. Yes. And drag Queen
Steve:Pokemon. Well, there you go. That gives you more of a variety than one might think. True.
Stephen:But it's it like you, I, you're so excited to hear about what Pokemon are in it to play your team and I'm like, however it happens. Yeah, we definitely come at it from different angles.
Steve:Yes. But I would say before this, one of my favorite Pokemon regions was the Ola region. Absolutely. And why did you love Sun Moon so much?
Stephen:So it was my second full Pokemon game cuz I had started with X and Y and Sun and Moon. When I was like, You know what, I'm gonna play it for real this time. I'm not gonna treat it like a regular RPG where my goal is to level up and like stop my way through the game. I'm actually going to catch Pokemon, raise them up, show them off and do things properly. And so maybe it was playing the right way. Mm-hmm. this time that I. Oh, it's a whole other game. And, but then also having some of the ones that I had seen via you or in previous games, all of a sudden have new forms. Yes. And then sun and moon, like whenever you were in daylight. I was in darkness, right?
Steve:Yes, it did flip the time cycle. But yes, this was one where we had you know, it was perfect timing for its releases. The entire world at the time was obsessed with Pokemon Go, and yes, I loved how you finally knew all 150 of the original Pokemon inside and out. And then they were like, And now we have new versions of Old ones I was
Stephen:like, Wait a minute. That's throwing me.
Steve:But it was just a beautiful region as well. You know, so many times it's ba, you know, in all the games, it's based off of a country. This time it's based off of a state Hawaii. Yeah. And it's just such a beautiful region to explore with so many new things that it really made it feel fresher than a lot of the games in the previous series. I I
Stephen:absolutely agree. This was definitely a fun take on an establi. Game series.
Steve:Yes. It also kicked off generation seven and was released worldwide on November 18th, 2016, selling an even 16 million units as of March of this year, making them the third best selling game for the Nintendo 3D S just behind Pokemon X and Y, which we discussed last week. Yes. Which
Stephen:I was kind of shocked that it's so less than x and y
Steve:I am as. But yes, the, the, the characters in the story were probably some of my favorites across the entire series. We always start each game meeting our rival. In this one we had How? Yeah,
Stephen:which is always weird that they call it your rival when in a lot of the games, It's your best friend,
Steve:it, it changes because originally like Gary and the first one was the dickhead. Yeah, the rival. And the second one was like a pure villain. So I think that that's because it started with them and like as the games have progressed, they make them a little bit friendlier. But out of all my rivals that I've ever just beaten the snot out of, how is the one where I actually began feeling bad? Because not only do you beat them over and over again, but every accomplishment that they make in the game, you're like, Oh yeah, I've. Oh yeah, I've done that. And now
Stephen:didn't you say at one point that this was the game where if it was looked at from the outside, how would be. The hero. The hero, and we are the villain rival.
Steve:I mean that, that's what it started to feel like after a while. When you look at it like from the outside point, I mean there's this kid who's like a relative of one of the island kaunas and has been here all along and it's like, I'm starting my adventure and I'm gonna do great things. And then you come in, you're like, Everything you can do, I can do better. I can catch
Stephen:anything better than you.
Steve:And so just as a rival, he's one of the more memorable ones, just because he really was a sweet kid that like I did start to feel guilty over
Stephen:Now the professor in this one looked a little different cuz most of the professors always seemed like. Yes. We look at all this Pokemon from, you know, when I was
Steve:a child. Yes. And now we get a sexy professor with his open shirt and his Capri pants and you know, he had flip flops too. Oh yeah. And he was easily a couple decades younger than most of the professors that were used to. And I was like, finally a thirst trap, Professor whatever. It's game. It's not like I actually like fantasize about it, but I looked and I was like, I. Style a whole lot more than the old man professor.
Stephen:Agreed. I will go along with that. Now. He also had an
Steve:assistant Lilly. Yes. And Lilly was not only the professor's assistant, but the protector of the legendary Pokemon of the game. Cosmo sibling of your backup rival Gladi on and daughter of the main villain Luine. Ooh. So there's like a lot more connective tissue between all these characters that you have and Yeah, she has a
Stephen:larger backstory than I think anyone
Steve:else. Yes, exactly. And the bad guys of this game. You know, you start off, I remember our team Rocket. They're not Team Rocket. Babe, I'm sorry. I know you love your team Rocket. I do. This one, the violins that we knew going into the game were Team Skull led by Guz. And they're basically organized bullies who just are there to bully people for bullied sake. However, upon playing it, we find out that they're being funded and directed by Ather Foundation. The real villains, you mean
Stephen:the Ather Foundation? Who claims that their goal is to cure, hurt Pokemon and keep them safe from threats like Team Skull. That doesn't seem like a bad
Steve:company. I know, but their leader, Luine and the higher ups are obsessed with ultra bes and they're determined to open up wormhole to harness their power. Who cares what it does to the rest of the world? In region, You mean
Stephen:like developers and oil companies these
Steve:days? Yes, exactly. So it was a nice twist with the story thinking that like, you know, you're boring old villains or just boring old villains. Mm-hmm. and that you have this eighth or foundation that's all sweet, and then find out that they're actually like one in the. I mean, in all the games, you know, oftentimes there are people who try and get through the story as quick as possible, just so they can get to competitive battling mm-hmm. And to that you don't get them. There are people who love to catch all the Pokemon, like you and I when possible and not too frustrating for you. Yeah. And then, you know, you have ones that play through it for the story. And so oftentimes the story is the thing that I feel like is forgotten in a lot of generations. You know, other than the fact that. Or born without a dad, basically, most of the time.
Stephen:Because your mom has fallen in love with Mr.
Steve:Mind. Yeah. And that she sends you off at like age 11 or 12 and says goodbye forever. And you beat, you
Stephen:had barely figured out how to tie your shoes and make peanut butter and jelly, but now you have to go out into the world.
Steve:Yeah. And then you, you beat eight gyms. Become the champion While defeating a bad guy is generally the story. I just find that this one just has so much more depth and nuance with it. The characters are more enjoyable and I just really enjoyed the story. If you can't tell.
Stephen:Now, here is a question, and it may happen in the game whenever you're doing these battles with the villains and things, if they were true villain. Why do they battle with the Pokemon and not be like, Hey, giant bad Pokemon, Use your claws and slash the kid instead. Like, Who decided? Okay, we're gonna play by the rules. Like you would think almost like the real villain and be like, Piat, pick out his
Steve:eyes. That doesn't happen though. It does not happen. That is not something that Satoshi Tai would have been approved of when he created the series. Okay.
Stephen:I'm just saying if I was gonna be a villain, I'd be like, Yeah, don't go after the other Pokemon. When I say go. Go after the trainer, then we'll be done with all this and we can steal all this Pokemon and the Pokemon balls and this game will be over much faster.
Steve:And that is why I don't want you to be a Pokemon villain. Because I would rule the world. Yes. And I don't like it. That's not the point.
Stephen:Now the starting Pokemon in this, so like A I approve of the starting Pokemon. I think they're fantastic, but what I also love is their final evolution type. Yeah. Differences like, so we have row, which is your grass and becomes des Duhe, which is grass and ghost, which I think is fascinating. Yeah. And lit. Which is your tiny little fire cat and he becomes in Ciro Fire and dark and which is a just a cool design. And Popo becomes Premar Marina, which is water and fairy, and. I just think that the combinations and the designs on these are stellar.
Steve:They are, and this was the first one where I was really tempted and I ultimately did choose a grass starter instead of a water starter. Cuz while Pop Leo is cute, it's evolution is right up there with the best of the drag queen. Pokemon. Yeah. There was just something about Desi do I that I thought was just so cool having a grass ghost and. Yeah, those are two, my two, my two favorite. Especially knowing that the lit was spoken for. Yeah. I mean,
Stephen:I almost switched from the fire type Pokemon. Yes. No I didn't. No, you didn't. Now we, Because it's a new game. Yes. We also get new Pokemon. We get new Pokemon
Steve:and, But as we hinted, it's not just new Pokemon. We're getting, It's our first regional variance. Yes, exactly. Taking Pokemon, we've known inside and out and completely reinvent. So,
Stephen:Like they had Val Picks and Nine Tails who became very white and regal, which
Steve:was so cool. My favorite standouts of the, the new regional variants, Grimer and
Stephen:Muck became Rainbow, which was really neat. Where I don't like the original Grimer and Muck, but these, I was like, I like your colors.
Steve:Yeah, I liked it a lot. It took like really, like, not, not, not ugly. Like t rubbish ugly. Yeah. But like, basically like toxic Sue were Pokemon and turns it into like, and now the toxic sludge makes them rainbow. Right. They're
Stephen:like, you could be in platoon now. Yeah. And, and and the, the best design though, as much as I love pics and ninetails, the best. Is executor.
Steve:Yes. That was awesome. Especially having its own island where you get to see them on the map just like standing up like palm trees. It's the perfect, like that's the one where they were like, What region can we do? Well, I got this really good idea for this one Pokemon, but it's Hawaiian. Okay, let's make the entire region Hawaiian executor is just that
Stephen:cool. Now, some of the others, Rat is no longer purple. It's brown and looks a bit scarier.
Steve:Right? Shoe on a surfboard, which was fun.
Stephen:Sand slash no longer looks like sand. He's
Steve:blue. Yes. Dig lit. You put blonde wigs on a dug trio. Yep.
Stephen:Mouth is also blue.
Steve:Yes. And merou whack purple with glowing green fire bones, which
Stephen:was so cool like. That was a design that I was like, that should carry back over. Mm-hmm. that's a great
Steve:design. It was a good one. Adding the, the ghost to the fire type was just really cool. Yep. Now, And it oftentimes, we talk about legendary Pokemon new ones introduced in a game we have maybe 2, 3, 4. If you count the mythical event, only one. This game is crawling with legendary Pokemon. You have the four taboos, taboo, koku, taboo, le Taboo, bulu, and Taboo. And they all look like totem poles. Yes. And they're, they're. To like each match an island and as you beat the game and beat the islands, you get to go and capture them. It was just really interesting to have not only those four, but then you have the main legendary. Right,
Stephen:because we had we talked about Cosmo
Steve:earlier. Yep. Which evolves for both players and Sun and Moon into Cosmo. And then depending on whether you're playing Center Moon, it evolves into Soga, Leo or Luna. And you had Luna.
Stephen:I had Luna because I had Pokemon Moon.
Steve:Yes. And what'd you think of its design? I loved
Stephen:it so very much it like it was exactly like it was the one that I would've chosen if I could have chosen the game. Because again, this is one where you told me which version I was
Steve:playing. I needed to get my alo and Val pics And now Remy even has one of his very own. Yes, he
Stephen:does. And he picks it up and see his teeth and flings it around. But it
Steve:was meant to be because I also wound up with Soga Leo, and as a Leo, it was just perfect to have my little lion fired. Awesome. Pokemon. Yes. And NaRoma was the third Pokemon. Do you have any memories of NaRoma? I don't do tell. There really wasn't much of a story associated with it. In the first one, it, it become more of a bigger deal in Sun and Moon, but it was just like a, a big, bulky design that wasn't my favorite of the Legendaries, but it definitely had an impact on the story of the second
Stephen:ones. Now is this, this is another game where people are like, Okay. Right. Just like we expected there to be a Pokemon X, Y, and Z, we be expect there to be a Pokemon Sun, Moon and Stars.
Steve:Yeah. Stars or something like that. No. But we'll get into what they, we did get shortly. Yeah. In terms of legendary mythical Pokemon, which are ones that you get as distribution only. They had Magna, which was like the Lady Gear Pokemon. Mm-hmm. and Mar Shadow, who we just got from Target
Stephen:yesterday. We did. And it's a very cool
Steve:design. In addition to legendary Pokemon as if all of those were not enough, we also had Ultra Beast. And
Stephen:these were like villains. You had villain Pokemon you had to defeat,
Steve:right? Basically. Yes, they were. I mean, they weren't villainous of their own intent, but the wormholes that are created to summon them destroy the world. So
Stephen:you have to beat them so that you keep the world safe. So by default, they're
Steve:villains? Yes. And there was a whole bunch of them. The ones that stuck out to me were. Car because it was like a glass cannon that was really good competitively. With its typing. I think it was grass and steel uhhuh. Gu Lord just looked funny cuz it was just a giant eating machine. Like if Snor Relax was like ever turned into like a dark evil version, and. You know, the other ones were oligo, which I am saying wrong. Buzz Hole, which is just a funny name. for Circuitry, which I think is also a very clever name. And soda. Do you have any sort of memories or favorites of the
Stephen:group? I don't actually. It's weird that I seem to have blocked out all of this, but the names that I like are circuitry and cel. Yeah, because you know me with anything Celest. Lunar Lee, anything like that? I'm like, Yep, sign me up.
Steve:Yes. But what Pokemon do you remember falling in love with? Okay,
Stephen:so rock rough and like, and rock. Were adorable. Yes. I enjoyed the designs for Sand sound it. And a
Steve:So lasel. Yes. They were really cool. Like the lizard type Pokemon there was mimic you. Mimic you who you both love and also should be terrified
Stephen:of. Do. Why
Steve:is that? Because it's entire gig is that if you, It's wearing like a costume to look like Pikachu, cuz everyone loves Pikachu. Mm-hmm. that it knows it, but instead if anyone ever saw what was underneath its little costume, they get sucked.
Stephen:I'd like a mimic you please, Yes. So designs that I enjoyed, Stuffle. I thought was adorably cute and beware is a great pun. Yeah. Serena is a new diva drag queen Pokemon that I love. Yes. And I also like, it's not one that I will ever use, but Paula Sand is the sandcastle Pokemon. Like it's a good design. It's well done. And it fits in with the Oola theme extraordinarily well. It
Steve:certainly. And another theme we got in a Lola was a new battle gimmick gone, our mega evolutions and hello. We hardly knew ye yes hello to Z moves.
Stephen:Now any Pokemon can power up a move. And make it a Z
Steve:move. Yes. And what did you think of how it looked and felt in
Stephen:battle? So I actually prefer Z moves because it's your Pokemon and you're just powering up their special move. It looked and felt more natural, and I actually wish they had stuck with Z moves going forward. Instead of the where we are now, Max and Dynamax and all that, I liked the Z moves because it. like I know that the others are visually appealing and they feel more special and things like that, but Z moves just felt like a natural evolution.
Steve:Yeah, the, It was really fun, especially after the mega evolutions. While it was fun getting new forms of Pokemon, there were limited, and now the fact that any Pokemon that you're fighting against, it certainly made battles a little bit more interesting and. I love the designs of the mega evolutions better than I love the designs of the moves themselves. But in terms of the execution battle, I do agree that it felt more natural. It made the, the single player game just a breeze because nine out of 10 battles, no one used the Z move, but you, So you could just decimate all your opponents. Yeah, But there's not the, you know, you don't play the story for the difficulty in Pokemon usually. No. And what about the gym leaders?
Stephen:You know what? I don't remember any gym leaders in
Steve:this game because gym leaders didn't exist yet. Instead we had trial captains. Oh my goodness. Yes. With a new location that felt new, you know,
Stephen:And these felt like special versions of the Pokemon, you know, we talked about the regional variants. It felt appropriate to switch up how we earn
Steve:our badges. Yeah. And it, it was really cool having the idea of it be just more, not just go into a battle, solve some sort of moving puzzle while you battle through your four Pokemon trainers of that all use the same type before fighting the gym leader. This one, I remember Alana's water trial, like investigating wishy-washy, the fact that there was like a story along with it. Mm-hmm. and just the area was fun to explore was really cool. What about any trials for you that you loved?
Stephen:So there was Asal was ghost trial where you're trying to. Paranormal
Steve:activity. Yep. And also Mallow's Cooking Challenge was pretty fun for a grass trial collecting ingredients.
Stephen:So we're still battling Pokemon, but it has a purpose specific to each captain. And like you said, it's different than just battling their underlings across a floor or you know, up some stairs and stuff to get to the leader. This felt unique. Yes. And fresh like that. A lot of the things that they changed for this game, I was like, Ooh, that feels fresh. It
Steve:was. I loved, Out of all the memorable leaders or captains Kylie Uhhuh the, the fire captain's design was really cool and went really well with his partner, Meac. See, I
Stephen:liked Asal as the ghost type captain who looked like she died in the 18
Steve:hundreds. Yes. And of course, Nina was basically designed specifically for you. She
Stephen:looked like a metaphysical healer. Hippie, so I was like, Yep, sign me up on that one. You're look, babe, I get
Steve:to fight Bridget in Pokemon
Stephen:She looks more like my friend Hillary.
Steve:Okay. Yes. And getting into the geography of it, as we mentioned, it's based on Hawaii. Were you able to tell?
Stephen:No. It, this one went over my
Steve:head. Just kidding. This was the one where I don't think there was anyone who could play through without realizing what it is that they were doing or off of.
Stephen:Aloha Alo. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, it's, it's right there. And that's why at the beginning of the episode I said, Alo la like somebody's saying aloha. Like it's,
Steve:Cause it works the same way where they, they're like Alo la, it means hello and goodbye. And then you're just like, like, Are
Stephen:you sure Yeah. Now, memorable
Steve:lows. Yes. I loved H Beach, which was a beautiful.
Stephen:It's for families that go on vacations, not for children who are sent out into the wild by their mothers to fend for themselves.
Steve:Yes. Mount Laquila, which was interesting to have an icy area in Hawaii.
Stephen:I say if the volcano is high enough, anything is
Steve:possible. Yes. And I loved Executor Island just because, you know, oftentimes we get an area dedicated to one Pokemon. Mm-hmm like we had Degli cave and red and blue yuck. And here we get like an entire island filled of these palm tree Pokemon and it was just awesome. Now,
Stephen:We have how will Cemetery and the motel on Route 13 with the abandoned Pokemon? Yes. It has a Stuffle who says that his trainer abandoned. And he just has to wait. And
Steve:that bothered you so much. So much for so long. But doing the research for the episode actually helped
Stephen:heal it, correct? Yes. Because I thought that this was another one of those things like the Pokemon who wears his dead mother's skull. Cuban. Cuban, Yeah. So I thought it was another thing like that, that this poor stuff. Who is a red panda Pokemon, who doesn't deserve anything bad to ever happen to him. Mm-hmm. is there, and because he belongs to another trainer and there's no ball, he can never be picked up like thi, like he is stuck and he's just going to die. And what we never found out in our play through of the game was in the hyena. You find a hiker, and if you give him fresh water, it has to be specifically fresh water. He will get enough strength to go back to the motel and find his stuffle. If you don't find this person in the desert and give them fresh water, the stuffle dies alone at the motel. This is one of those side quests that. they need a side quest list on your ma, like on
Steve:your, like, so when you find out that stuff's alone, it pops up. Find stuff's trainer in the,
Stephen:so you know, it's a side quest and not. Oh my God. Why are you killing my soul? Yes. Yeah. That bothered me so much, and I finally feel healed like as of a week ago during this research.
Steve:Yes. Now as you beat all the captains and make it through this massive, beautiful region, you end up fighting the, the. First version of the Elite Four and the Champion you have. Hola. Who does fighting? Olivia is the rock type trainer. Esella is the ghost. Cahill is the flying. And Professor Kaku is your final test before you get to become a Lola's first champion. Yeah,
Stephen:and it was nice because. We knew a lot of these people. Yes.
Steve:Other than cahil the flying who just appears outta nowhere and is like, Hey, I'm a girl golfer who loves flying Pokemon deal with it.
Stephen:Of course, Hawaii golfer,
Steve:but yes. But Hala is like one of the first cahoots you meet, Olivia, you get to meet along the story. Oola, who we spoke about. Yep. And it, I think it was just nice having that, cuz oftentimes the elite for these mysterious people that you just meet and you have two lines of dialogue, you battled, you have another line of dialogue and you move on and you forget about them. But these are characters that you got to know throughout your journey, like the champion normally. So I thought that was really
Stephen:cool. Yeah, it's like in the other games, these people have, you know, bought a condo on top of the hill and they just sit up there lavishly in their condos waiting. Someone to make it to the Elite four. And the rest of the time they're like, What's on Netflix?
Steve:Oh, that would be the life though, wouldn't it? It would Now, the post game for here is mostly about capturing more ultra beast, capturing the Tapo, capturing the legendary Pokemon, and of course you have the Battle Tree, another place where you battle past characters to get bp, which has been done over and over and over again. But in this one it was fun getting to see red and. Red
Stephen:being who you played as in the first
Steve:three Pokemon and Yeah, first game and then the blue is your rival. Right. And you get to see how buddy buddy now. Oh, there nice bromance going on. But for those who wanted to explore more of the region, you can collect all of Zy guard cells to complete the Pokemon. Did you collect them all? I doubt it. No. I'm sure you did. I'm
Stephen:sure I did too. Now there were some other changes to the game. Some that. For the better.
Steve:Yes. You have Pokemon Ride, Goodbye to HMS and Hm Slaves. Hello Rideable Pokemon. Thank goodness. Yes. Up until now, everyone always knew that you had to have at least one, if not two Pokemon in your team whose sole purpose is to be there to help solve puzzles. On the overworld, you mean
Stephen:to do cut or smash and like climb
Steve:waterfalls? Surf. Yeah. Yep. And now instead, You get the, you just hit a button and you call one of the writeable Pokemon, You befriended along the way. That will do it for you without being part of your team. And I just, and it shouldn't
Stephen:have taken. 18 years to do this. I'm so
Steve:thankful it was there, of course, was the surfing mini game from island to island, which was cute, but better in the sequel Uhhuh festival plaza where you build your own plaza vendors and mini games on your way to battling or trading online. Do you remember making your little festival plaza? No, I don't. You don't. Just like a big circle that you run around in the one electric type leader. I Oh
Stephen:yes, yes. Mm-hmm. It took me a second. Now I, I totally, Whenever we were, I was looking at the script, I was like, I I must not have done that. No, I totally remember that now. Yes. But I actually preferred Pokemon Peco.
Steve:Yes. Cuz normally when you deposit Pokemon into your bank, you never see them ever again. And they're just useless things to scroll through and trying to find that one Pokemon you wanted. Now you can send them to different islands and put them to work, granting you new Pokemon items and training opportunities. Yeah, I actually liked
Stephen:that a whole bunch where you could just be like, Okay, you guys are going here and I need six of you. Yes. Yeah.
Steve:And then of course there was Pokemon Refresh, which was Pokemon on me all over again. Just an easier way to raise your friendship with your Pokemon and
Stephen:so. Now we get to talk about Pokemon Stars.
Steve:No, it was instead of sequel, ultrasound and Ultra Moon, Cuz why make one new version when you can sell two new versions?
Stephen:Yeah. Like let's do an updated version to cash in on more
Steve:Money. Yes. And release Worldwide on June 6th, 2017. It's sold 9.09 million units as of March of this. And shows us an alternate souped up version of the original story told in Sun and Moon.
Stephen:This was like a year and a half after the first game. Yes. That seems irresponsible to release new versions that soon. Well,
Steve:not necessarily if it added more than being an alternate version. That's what got me is that I. You had black and white, which you haven't played, and will hopefully be the next ones to get a remake. Yeah. But then they have black two and white two, which take place like how gold was like three years after the red and blue. Mm-hmm. black two and white two were like three or four years after black and white. And so you got to follow the story, see the ramifications of what your hero in the original will went through, what the main villain N like has done now that he's reformed. Just this one was basically like, well, we told you the story, but then afterwards we figured we could make the story better and we're just gonna retell the same story all over again, adding some new twists and. You know, Of course if you never played Center Moon or Ultra Center Moon, that would be the definitive version. It would be the definitive version. But that was one that you decided to skip out on? I did, and I waited till it was gifted to me and eventually I did play through it. And again, it would be the one to play if I was to go back and play them. But coming out it was disappointing as a third version. Yeah. Cause I love when I sequel. It also was the first mid generation game to introduce new Pokemon in the forms of a couple new ultra beasts new Mandy surfing mini game, which I mentioned was. Totem stickers, which babe think like when we were finding Diglett in the aisle of armor and said, You're finding stickers all over the world. Mm-hmm. and an extended post game where you fight against team Rainbow Rocket, which is the one reason why I think you should have played through it, is you get to see Giovanni and all the team Rocket band together with all of the other past villain. And it was, that part was fun. I think you would've enjoyed that, but I don't think you would've been able to make it through that entire game just to get to the post game.
Stephen:No, not just a year
Steve:afterwards. No. But if you ever go back, if your Ds works better than my Ds, my Ds still works
Stephen:great.
Steve:Rub it in, then you can enjoy it. But yeah. Final thoughts on Sun and Moon. I
Stephen:enjoyed it very, very much. Like by the end of this game, I started thinking of things of, you know, here are some quality of life improvements that I would like to see in the game, blah, blah, blah. And the one that I always kept saying is, I'm not enjoying these random encounters. I'd like to see them on the map. Well, I soon will get my wish. Yeah. So tuning next
Steve:week as we discuss Pokemon Sword and Shields.
Stephen:Oh my goodness. And two more
Steve:episodes away until we talk about Scarlet and Violet after having played it
Stephen:ourselves. Oh my goodness gracious. Great
Steve:balls of fire. In the meantime, we'd love to hear what you think of the Sun and Moon Pokemon versions. Oh, you can do that by emailing us at happy life pod gmail.com. You
Stephen:can also get in touch with us on all the. We would love to interact with you on there, and you can find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter at Happy Life
Steve:Pod. And until next time, everybody stay. Stay happy.