When a game is an overall poor experience, the faults that surround it tend to get swept away in the waves of bad game design. However, when a game is well received and has a lot of love from the fans who support it, a dozen bad eggs become something to be overlooked in the general experience. It has been almost half a year since Pokemon Sun and Moon were released for the Nintendo 3DS and, if you are a fan of the series on the same level as myself, than you are probably on your third or fourth playthrough as we speak. Sun and Moon have revolutionized the g🌠ameplay of the series, while still keeping true to the games roots. Pokémon battles look more real than they ever have and the graphics are a huge step up from even the last generation of games.

I am not here to say that the following issues are all huge faults of the game, but they are certain aspects that didn't quite meet the expectations that the trailers provided. Sometimes it is a difficult task to say bad things about the things you love, but if you truly want them to get better on the next go around, they have to be said. Pokémon Sun and Moon are not perfect games. Though they are difficult games to put down once you pick them up, they come will a list of flaws that sometimes drag the player down and make them say, “Why did they choose to do this?” So from the perspective of a fan of the series who has loved every game for different reasons, let us look at some of the aspects that just seemed to fire like a rifle throughout the game -- and ended up missing൩ the target.

15 A Slow Start ♉🃏

Pokémon tutorial stages are notorious for their length and often dr✅y moments and Sun and Moon do not fix this issue. Rather, they emphasize it. This generation of games showed off what Pokémon games can do with an in-depth storyline and the gameplay is riddled with beautiful cutscenes. However, tutorials and long draws of dialogue mix poorer than water and gasoline. The Pokémon tutorial sections usually introduce the main character♚, the rival character, the professor, and the starters the player must choose from, all in a relatively short amount of time.

But Sun and Moon see the player moving back and forth between towns more than once, in a guided section of the game that leaves players yearning to pick their starter Pokémon. I’ll admit, watching my character pick up his new Rowlet for the first time was truly heartwarming, but having t🐓o sit through what felt like hours of dialogue did not make it worth it.

14 👍 Trials Fall A Bit Stale 🐎

With the removal of the Pokémon Gyms, a staple of the series, fans were more than worried what the alternative would be. I will be the first to say that I had hi🍌gh hopes for what would become of the Totem Pokémon concept. We expected the trials to require more strategy, where you were unable to expect what the next type of Pokémon would be. What we got in the end was a re-skin of the gym formula. Different word, same idea.

Though the trials appeared to have different tasks, they did not ask anything of the player other than to battle a few of the same types of Pokém𒈔on, sometimes the sam🉐e exact Pokémon over and over ag𝓡ain. The trials always culminated in fighting a Totem Pokémon that, looking fierce, was usually nothing more than the final evolution of an already fought Pokémon. The trials became so repetitive that in-game NPCs commented themselves on the൩ mundane tasks.

13 Ultra Bea꧅sts Are Ultra🔥 Undersold

Ultra Beasts were one of the most anticipated parts of the Sun and Moon plo💧t.🧸 When characters in the game would talk about them, a mysterious aura began to surround them. Their strange figures looked like something out of an H.P Lovecraft story. I figured that they would change how fans of the series thought about Pokémon entirely.

Yet, when it came right down to it, the main storyline of the game seemed to tease the player with one or two battles with the beasts, until they were altogether aba🐷ndoned as an important part of the storyline by the end. Instead, the Ultra Beasts became nothing more than a side mission, a round-em-up to keep the player occupied during the post game. Even the newest of fan🅘s introduced to the series could spot that Ultra Beasts were left to feel like nothing more than an afterthought that Game Freak added at the last minute to keep things fresh.

12 Hau Did He Become So Dull? 🌜

There are not many feelings that you get as the player in this game that are close to🌸 the determination to defeat your riღval and become a Pokémon master, like in the older games. In the original Pokémon Red and Blue, your rival quickly 🎉became the guy to🅷 beat within the first few minutes. He was immature, rude, and did not represent the values you were taught to believe when respecting Pokémon. Still, he was always one step ahead of you.

The newest generation's version of this ♊rival found itself in Hau. In a game where there are plenty of characters that learn their lesson throughout the story, Hau falls flat on his face as the most one-dimensional character of them all. He always seems to be failing at even the simplest of tasks and does not do much of anything for the overall story. By the time the story wraps up, he becomes nothing more than that character that is always look♔ing for malasada.

11 🌠 Reversed Day/Night Cycle For Moo♔n Players

I un🌟de🧜rstand that this point may sound like nitpicking, but I assure you, Moon users get t♊he short end of the deal here. While it isn’t a game-breaking thing, it is a feature that serves no practical use. If you do not know, Pokémon Moon has a reversed day/night cycle. If you are playing the game when you first get out of bed, then it is probably the break of midnight in the game.𓂃

A𝐆t first, I was fascinated by the idea that the game’s time cycle was inversed, but as I got further in the game, I came to the realization that it did nothing to help the overall gameplay, expect make it easier to catch Pokémon found at night and make it harder on the player to find certain daytime exclusives. Sure, you could just change the timer in the settings of the 3DS, but when a player is forced to do such a thing, it can get really annoying, really fast. This feature of the game just goes to show you that when something sounds good on paper, it may not necessarily work when put to the test.

10 Reduced Customization 🌺

Pokémon X and Y saw the introduction of trainer customization. Players were finally given the opportunity to change their clothing and hairstyle, getting that much closer to the ideal Pokémon trainer that we all see in ours heads. Many fans were pleased to hear that trainer customization wou🎀ld be returning to Pokémon Sun and Moon.

Theꦡ customization fell short, however, as fans seemed displeased with the limited amounts of variety the game offers. While it was easily understood that the developers were looking to go with a more touristy style of clothing for ▨the games, the overall selection was scant and left fans wanting more. Developers did include the ability to take off your hat, lipsticks for girl characters, and more hairstyles, but this did not keep many fans pleased with the final result.

9 The Lusam🐓ine Battle

Spoiler alert for any of you that have not yet played the game yet, but o𒈔ne of the last boss battles featured in the game is a battle with Lusamine, the president of the Aether Foundation. The fight brings you into another dimension called Ultra Space, where Ultra Beasts surrou♔nd you in darkness. The battle culminates when Lusamine herself fuses with one of these Ultra Beasts to become a large monstrous creature that looks like something straight out of the Metroid series.

However, the battle itself is a simple rematch with Lusamine’s Pokémon, only at a higher level. I don’t mean to discredit the fight itself. It is a good challenge, but not really what a lot of fans were looking for. Lusamine’s transformation teased at somethi🐎ng new. Perhaps a fight with Lusamine herself or something else. Regardless🐬, Game Freak missed an opportunity to do something special with this battle.

8 ꦡ Wonky Changes in Speed 🔴

༒Double battles make up a fair amဣount of the gameplay in Pokémon Sun and Moon. Likewise, one of the new features introduced in this generation, The Battle Royal, puts four train🍒ers into the ring at once to 🦩strive and score points by knocking out another trainer’s Pokémon. It is certainly one of the best minigames offered in the series (certainly better than the slow progression of the Pokémon pageants).

Sadly, it may be frustrating for those who own the original 3DS model, as everyone who has played the game has seen the noticeable slowdown that has resulted from the game's extensive 𓄧software. Whenever more than two Pokémon are on the screen, battles seem to take twice as long to commence. I remember the first time I went through a double battle, it took at least ten seconds after choosing my move for the turn to start. For a game that focuses so much immersing the player in the Pokémon battles, this was a💖 fairly loud hiccup.

7 🌞 Removing the “Wild Pokemon by Route” Feature

One of the most utilized features in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire was the Pokédex’s ability to track the types of wild Pokémon found in any given location throughout the game. This allowed the player to keep track of how many Pokémon they had left to catch on certain routes and reduced the risk of the player wandering thr🎀ough the tall grass, wondering if there were any new Pokémon left to cat🦩ch.

Sun and Moon offered just over 300 Pokémon to catch altogether, not including the different forms. This is well over the average amount for most games in the series and many of these Pokémon can only be caught in one or two areas throughout the game. Needless to say, we would have liked to have seen just how Game Freak could have expanded on this quality feature from Sun and Moon’s predecessor, 🍌but unfortunately, we were left without it altogether.

6 💎 The C🌊all-For-Help Blunder

I will be the first to admit, the S.O.S feature is not all that bad at first. The new feature allows for wild Pokémon to call for help in the midst of battle. It makes wild Pokémon battles just a bit closer to reality and, in som💙e cases, such as being able to catch a Mareanie only by first finding a Corsola, it makes the Pokédex entries for certain Pokémon all the more accurate.

What makes the S.O.S feature troublesome is that calling out for help does not count as the wild Pok🦋émon’s turn. In some cases, certain Pokémon can only be caught when they are called as a helper. Because you are not able to catch a Pokémon when two wild Pokémon are on the screen at the same time, it can take forever to catch even some of the lowest level critters. Sometimes you just want to catch a level 2 Caterpie!