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 mainline Pokémon games for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, with the series moving 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. Differences from Sun and Moon include a new storyline, additional gameplay features, new characters, Pokémon, and Pokémon forms. These versions also feature new forms of the legendary Pokémon Necrozma as their mascots.

The games received mostly positive reviews from critics, who appreciated the added features compared to Sun and Moon. However, some reviewers noted that much of the story felt too similar to the earlier games. As of March 31, 2025, the games had sold a combined total of 9.26 million copies worldwide, making them the ninth most popular Nintendo 3DS games of all time.

Gameplay

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are role-playing video games with adventure elements, similar to other games in the series. These games take place in a different version of the Alola Region, but the way the game is played and the pictures look are mostly the same as in Pokémon Sun and Moon. The main changes include a new storyline that features the Ultra Recon Squad. The player character designs are different, but players can still customize their appearance. A feature called "Global Missions" returns, allowing players worldwide to work together toward a shared goal.

New Ultra Beasts are introduced in the game, including Stakataka, Blacephalon, Poipole, and its evolved form, Naganadel. There are also new forms for the legendary Pokémon Necrozma, called "Dusk Mane" and "Dawn Wings." These forms are obtained by absorbing the legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala, respectively. This is similar to how Kyurem from the games Black 2 and White 2 can combine with other Pokémon. A new form of Lycanroc, called Dusk Lycanroc, is also added.

Players can now collect Totem Stickers by exploring the Alola region, which allows them to receive a larger version of a Pokémon. Three new activities are added: Mantine Surf, which lets players travel across the seas and earn Battle Points; Alola Photo Club, which allows players to take pictures of their character with Pokémon in different poses; and Ultra Warp Ride, which lets players travel through special wormholes to encounter the original seven Ultra Beasts in their own worlds. Players can also find legendary Pokémon from previous games up to three times, and shiny Pokémon may appear more often.

New Z-Moves are available for several Pokémon, including Solgaleo, Lunala, Lycanroc, Mimikyu, and Necrozma. The Rotom Pokédex is upgraded with a feature called Roto-Loto, which gives players boosts similar to O-Powers from earlier games. Another upgrade, 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, which is the main villain in these versions instead of Lusamine. Like the games Sun and Moon, the story takes place in the Alola Region, which is based on Hawaii. While similar to the first games, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon include new buildings and areas. 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 its light, is located in Ultra Space and can be reached through Ultra Wormholes.

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

The player character is named Elio or Selene and moves from the Kanto Region to Melemele Island in Alola with their mother. As usual, the player has rivals: Hau, a friendly boy who joins the journey, and Gladion, Lusamine’s estranged son and Lillie’s older brother. During their travels in Alola, the player completes trials involving battles with powerful Pokémon called Totem Pokémon. They also meet 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 multiple Legendary Pokémon, including Cosmog, nicknamed Nebby, which evolves into Solgaleo in Ultra Sun or Lunala in Ultra Moon, and Necrozma, who tries to take 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 are sent back to their world, with Necrozma following them. Necrozma defeats Nebby, now a Solgaleo or Lunala, and absorbs it, gaining a Dusk Mane or Dawn Wings form. Necrozma then unleashes the Ultra Beasts on Alola and fights 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 battles Necrozma in its true form, Ultra Necrozma, to save Nebby and restore light to Alola. After winning, the player becomes the first-ever Alola League Champion by defeating the newly established Elite Four and Hau.

In the post-game, the player faces Team Rainbow Rocket, a group based on Team Rocket from earlier games. This group takes over the Aether Foundation’s headquarters and captures Lusamine. The player fights alongside Guzma, Lillie, and Colress to defeat past villains like Maxie, Archie, Cyrus, Ghetsis, and Lysandre. Finally, the player battles Giovanni, who leads Team Rainbow Rocket and has a Mewtwo. After defeating Giovanni, the player explores Ultra Wormholes, catches Ultra Beasts with Beast Balls, and meets Colress, who gives the N-Solarizer or N-Lunarizer to combine or separate Necrozma with Solgaleo or Lunala. The Ultra Recon Squad then asks the player to defeat or catch Blacephalon in Ultra Sun or Stakataka in Ultra Moon.

Development

Shigeru Ohmori, one of the game's producers, explained that younger staff members worked on Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon while more experienced staff focused on the upcoming Pokémon games for the Nintendo Switch. However, some experienced members, like Shigeki Morimoto, were also involved in the Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon projects. Ohmori said that Game Freak considered Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to be the "summing up of their work with the 3DS system." The development team for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon had about 80 members, which was roughly half the size of the team that worked on Pokémon Sun and Moon. Despite this, the script for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon was twice as long as the script for Sun and Moon. In another interview, Ohmori mentioned that the idea for the Ultra games came later during the development of Sun and Moon. The titles were created to use the popularity of the Pokémon series after the success of the mobile game Pokémon Go. Kazumasa Iwao, the game director, was previously responsible for the battle systems in Sun and 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 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 for the Nintendo 3DS.

Like its earlier version, the game's files were shared online without permission before the official release. This allowed people to copy the game illegally and others to find hidden details, such as a new form for Necrozma, a new Ultra Beast, a new mythical Pokémon, and more.

Less than a week before the game was released, the mobile game Pokémon Go updated its features. This allowed players to change their in-game characters to look like those from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. This was the first time the app 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 titles expected for the Nintendo 3DS in 2017, according to Nielsen.

Review websites gave the games mostly positive feedback. Metacritic reported "generally favorable" reviews, while OpenCritic said 87% of critics recommended the games. Casey Defreitas of IGN wrote that the games included "smart improvements." Kallie Plagge of GameSpot noted that even though the games were similar to Sun and Moon, they had enough changes to be considered the best version of the seventh generation games. However, Allegra Frank of Polygon pointed out that most of the gameplay was the same as the previous games, with changes only appearing later in the experience.

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

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