Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon are 2017 role-playing video games created by Game Freak and released by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. These games are part of the seventh generation of the Pokémon series and are improved versions of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, which were released the year before. Announced in June 2017, the games were made available worldwide on November 17, 2017. They were the last main series Pokémon games for the Nintendo 3DS, as the series moved to the Nintendo Switch the following year.

Like earlier games in the series, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon follow the story of a young Pokémon Trainer exploring the Alola Region, which is inspired by Hawaii. These games include a different storyline, new gameplay features, characters, and Pokémon, such as new forms of the legendary Pokémon Necrozma, which serve as special characters for each version.

The games were generally well-received by critics, who praised the added features compared to Sun and Moon. However, some reviewers noted that the games were too similar to their predecessors for much of the story. As of March 31, 2025, the games had sold a total of 9.26 million copies worldwide, making them the ninth-best-selling Nintendo 3DS titles of all time.

Gameplay

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are role-playing video games with adventure elements, similar to earlier games in the series. These games take place in an alternate version of the Alola Region. The gameplay and visuals are mostly the same as Pokémon Sun and Moon, but the story has changed to include a group called the Ultra Recon Squad. Player character designs are also different, but players can still customize their characters. A feature called "Global Missions" returns, allowing players worldwide to work together toward shared goals.

New Ultra Beasts introduced in the game include Stakataka, Blacephalon, Poipole, and its evolved form, Naganadel. The legendary Pokémon Necrozma now has two new forms, called "Dusk Mane" and "Dawn Wings." These forms are obtained by absorbing the Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala, respectively. This is similar to how Kyurem was formed in the games Black 2 and White 2. A new form of Lycanroc, called Dusk Lycanroc, has also been added.

Players can now collect Totem Stickers by exploring the Alola region. These stickers allow players to receive a Totem-sized version of a Pokémon. Three new activities have been added: Mantine Surf, which lets players travel across the seas and earn Battle Points; Alola Photo Club, where players can take pictures of their character with Pokémon in different poses; and Ultra Warp Ride, which lets players travel through Ultra Wormholes to encounter original Ultra Beasts and legendary Pokémon from previous games. Shiny Pokémon have a higher chance of appearing in these areas.

New Z-Moves are available for several Pokémon, including Solgaleo, Lunala, Lycanroc, Mimikyu, and Necrozma. The Rotom Pokédex has been upgraded with a feature called Roto-Loto, which provides boosts similar to O-Powers from earlier games. A new feature called Z-Rotom Power allows players to use up to two Z-Moves in a single battle.

Plot

The games focus on the Legendary Pokémon Necrozma, who becomes the main villain in these versions, replacing Lusamine as the primary antagonist. Like the Sun and Moon games, the story takes place in the Alola Region, which is inspired by Hawaii. While the region is similar to the first games, new buildings and locations have been added. Characters from Sun and Moon, such as Lusamine and her children, return with changes. A new group called the Ultra Recon Squad is introduced, with different members in each game. Ultra Megalopolis, a large city where Necrozma has taken all the light sources, is located in Ultra Space and can be reached through Ultra Wormholes.

Another villain group, Team Rainbow Rocket, appears in the post-game story and includes bosses from previous games, such as Giovanni from Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow, and Lysandre from Pokémon X and Y. Legendary Pokémon from earlier generations also appear in the games.

The player character, named Elio or Selene, moves from the Kanto Region to Melemele Island in Alola with their mother. As in Sun and Moon, the player has rivals: Hau, a friendly boy who travels with the player, and Gladion, Lusamine’s estranged son and Lillie’s older brother. During their journey in Alola, the player completes trials that involve battling powerful Pokémon called Totem Pokémon. They also encounter groups such as Team Skull, led by Guzma; the Aether Foundation, led by Lusamine; and the Ultra Recon Squad, who come from Ultra Megalopolis, where Necrozma has stolen its light. The story centers on several Legendary Pokémon, including Cosmog, nicknamed Nebby, who evolves into Solgaleo in Ultra Sun or Lunala in Ultra Moon, and Necrozma, who tries to take the light from Alola.

During the climax, Lusamine uses Nebby to create a wormhole to Ultra Megalopolis, where she and Guzma fight Necrozma to help the Ultra Recon Squad. They fail, and Necrozma follows them back to their world. Necrozma defeats Nebby, now a Solgaleo or Lunala, and absorbs it, gaining a Dusk Mane or Dawn Wings form. Necrozma then releases the Ultra Beasts and battles the player. After defeating Necrozma, the player travels through Ultra Space with the opposite Legendary Pokémon—Lunala in Ultra Sun or Solgaleo in Ultra Moon—to reach Ultra Megalopolis. There, the player fights Necrozma in its true form, Ultra Necrozma, to save Nebby and restore light to Alola. After completing trials, the player battles a new Elite Four and defeats Hau to become the first Alola League Champion.

In the post-game, the player faces Team Rainbow Rocket, a group based on Team Rocket from earlier games. The group takes control of the Aether Foundation’s headquarters and captures Lusamine. The player fights alongside Guzma, Lillie, and Colress to defeat past villains, including Maxie, Archie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, and Lysandre, before facing Giovanni, who leads Team Rainbow Rocket and has a Mewtwo. After defeating Giovanni, the player can explore Ultra Wormholes, the worlds of the Ultra Beasts, and catch them using Beast Balls. After catching Necrozma at Mount Lanakila, Colress gives the player the N-Solarizer or N-Lunarizer, allowing Necrozma to fuse or separate from Solgaleo or Lunala. Finally, the Ultra Recon Squad tells the player to defeat or catch Blacephalon in Ultra Sun or Stakataka in Ultra Moon.

Development

Shigeru Ohmori, a producer of the game, explained that younger staff members worked on Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, while more experienced staff focused on future Pokémon games for the Nintendo Switch. However, some experienced workers, like Shigeki Morimoto, also helped with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Ohmori said that Game Freak considered Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to be the final step in their work with the 3DS system. The team that made Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon had about 80 members, which was roughly half the size of the team that created Pokémon Sun and Moon. Even though the script for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon was twice as long as the script for Sun and Moon, the team was smaller. In another interview, Ohmori mentioned that the idea to create Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon came later during the development of Sun and Moon. The games were planned to use the popularity of the Pokémon series after the successful release of the mobile game Pokémon Go. Kazumasa Iwao, who previously led the battle systems in Sun and Moon, was the game director for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. In the post-game content, the games include a tribute to former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, recognizing his role in creating Pokémon Gold and Silver. The games received their first software update in December 2017 to fix several issues.

Promotion and release

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were announced in a Pokémon Direct on June 6, 2017. At first, the Pokémon website had a mistake, showing the games' release date for the Nintendo Switch as "TBA." However, The Pokémon Company later corrected this, stating the games were only available on the Nintendo 3DS.

Like its earlier version, the game's files were shared online before the official release. This allowed people to steal the game and others to find new information that had not been announced yet, such as a new form for Necrozma, a new Ultra Beast, a new mythical Pokémon, and other details.

Less than a week before the game was released, the mobile game Pokémon Go updated its app. This update let players change their in-game avatars to look like characters from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. This was the first time Pokémon Go was used to promote a main series game.

Reception

Before the games were released, both Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were among the most exciting new games for the Nintendo 3DS in 2017, according to Nielsen.

Review sites like Metacritic gave the games "generally favorable" ratings. Another review site, OpenCritic, said that most critics strongly approved of the games, with 87% of them recommending them. Casey Defreitas from IGN wrote that the games included "smart improvements." Kallie Plagge from GameSpot noted that while the games were similar to earlier versions, they had enough changes to be considered the best version of the seventh generation games. However, Allegra Frank from Polygon pointed out that most of the gameplay was the same as the earlier version, with changes only appearing later in the game.

After release, the two games sold 1.2 million physical copies—excluding digital versions sold on the Nintendo eShop—within the first three days in Japan. By the end of 2017, they had sold over 2 million copies in Japan alone, making them the best-selling video games in the country that year. Sales of these games helped the Pokémon franchise reach over 300 million copies sold worldwide. According to Amazon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were the seventh best-selling video games in 2017. However, their rankings dropped to 25th for Ultra Sun and 28th for Ultra Moon when other video game-related products and console versions were included. As of March 31, 2025, a total of 9.26 million copies of the games had been sold worldwide, making them the ninth best-selling Nintendo 3DS games of all time.

The games were nominated for the "People's Choice" award at the Italian Video Game Awards and won the "Excellence Prize" at the Famitsu Awards.