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Pokemon Sun/Moon: New Creatures Revealed, Bank Feature Delayed

The Pokemon Bank feature is now coming in January 2017 through an update.

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The Pokemon Company made a number of announcements about Pokemon Sun and Moon today, including the reveal of new creatures and a delay for an anticipated feature.

First off, one of the newly announced Pokemon is called Passimian. This creature uses a move called Ability Receiver that allows it to inherit an ability of an ally who faints during battle. This has never happened before in a Pokemon game; Passimian is only available in Pokemon Sun.

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Now Playing: Pokemon Sun/Moon - Version-Exclusive Pokemon & New Features Revealed

The second new Pokemon is Orangur, a normal/psychic type that wields a "fan-like object made of leaves." This creature, who only shows up in Pokemon Moon, can learn the move Instruct, which makes its target use its most recent move again right away. You can see full character descriptions for Passimian and Orangur at the bottom of this post, while the Pokemon themselves are on display in the trailer above.

The Pokemon Company also today announced midday and midnight forms of the Pokemon Rockruff, called Lycanroc. The midday form uses its speed to evade foes, while it can also strike with the sharp-edged rocks found on its mane. The midnight form, meanwhile, gathers moonlight energy. "This Pokemon will sacrifice its own safety to strike down its foes. The stronger an opponent is, the more excited Lycanroc Midnight Form becomes, its eyes glowing with the thrill of battle," reads a line from its official description.

We also learned two new Pokemon-specific Z-moves today for Pikachu and Eevee. Pikachu's is called Catastropika, and it involves borrowing strength from its trainer. As you can see in the trailer, this is a devastatingly powerful move. As for Eevee, it's Z-move is called Extrme Evoboost. This sees all eight Pokemon that Eevee can evolve into gathering together to grant their powers to Eevee. It raises Eevee's attack, defense, special attack, special defense, and speed by 2.

In other Sun and Moon news, The Pokemon Company has confirmed that the character-customization feature from past games is coming back. You will be able to choose your character's clothing, hairstyle, and eye color--you can also select specific colors for your outfits.

It was also confirmed today that the Pokemon Refresh feature, which lets you care for and feed your creatures, will be included in Sun and Moon.

Lastly, The Pokemon Company confirmed that the Pokemon Bank feature won't be available at launch in November, but is instead coming in January 2017. This feature allows players to move Pokemon wirelessly from previous Pokemon games-- Red, Blue, and Yellow, as well as Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, X, and Y--to Sun and Moon. Further details on how this works are available here.

Pokemon Sun and Moon are scheduled to come out on November 18 for Nintendo 3DS. They are the first new games in the mainline series since Pokemon Go's record-setting release in July. It will be interesting to see if the increased interest in Pokemon translates to stronger sales for the new games. Nintendo recently announced that 2DS sales surged 500 percent due to "excitement for the Pokemon brand," which is almost certainly a reference toPokemon Go.

Passimian

Type: Fighting

  • The Teamwork Pokemon Passimian attack by throwing berries at their foes. They tend to live in troops of 20-30 Passimian, who all follow one leader. These tribes work in teams to train and improve their skills. This Pokemon has the Ability Receiver, an ability which no previous Pokemon has had. With the Receiver ability, Passimian can inherit the ability of an ally who faints in battle. Passimian only appear in Pokemon Sun.

Oranguru

Type: Normal/Psychic

  • The Sage Pokemon Oranguru live in the solitary deeps of the Alolan forests and, in fact, were once known as "The people of the forests." Oranguru hold a fan-like object made of leaves and are known to be kind to other Pokemon in the forest, often giving injured Pokemon medicine or hungry Pokemon food. This Pokemon can exclusively learn the new move Instruct, a move which can make the selected target use its most recent move again immediately. Oranguru only appear in Pokemon Moon.

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