Pokémon Sun and Moon

  • Pokémon Sun
  • Pokémon Moon
North American box art for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, depicting the legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala respectively
Developer(s)Game Freak
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Shigeru Ohmori
Producer(s)
Designer(s)Shigeru Ohmori
Programmer(s)Sosuke Tamada
Artist(s)Takao Unno
Writer(s)
  • Toshinobu Matsumiya
Composer(s)
  • Minako Adachi
  • Go Ichinose
  • Junichi Masuda
  • Hitomi Sato
  • Tomoaki Oga
  • Hideaki Kuroda
  • Jun Fukuda
SeriesPokémon
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS
Release
  • WW: 18 November 2016
  • EU: 23 November 2016
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon are 2016 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. They are the first installments in the seventh generation of the Pokémon video game series. First announced in February 2016, Sun and Moon were released worldwide on 18 November 2016, commemorating the franchise's 20th anniversary. A pair of enhanced versions, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon, were released for the same consoles on 17 November 2017.

The titles began development following completion of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, with increased emphasis on Pokémon interactions, and relationships. They follow a young Pokémon Trainer's journey around the Alola region—based on Hawaii—with the objective of the games being to complete the island challenge and prevent the schemes of Team Skull, and later the Aether Foundation, all while attempting to challenge various Pokémon Trainers of gradually increasing difficulty. Sun and Moon introduced 81 new Pokémon species, and new features such as Alolan forms of previous generation Pokémon, powerful moves known as Z-Moves, alien creatures known as Ultra Beasts, updated battle and training mechanics, and improved polygonal 3D graphics. While largely independent of one another, the two games follow a similar plot, and while each can be played separately, trading Pokémon between the two games is necessary to complete the Pokédex. Pokémon may also be traded in from other games just like in previous installments.

The games received generally positive reviews from critics, who welcomed the change from the formula used by prior Pokémon games and praised the gameplay and story of Sun and Moon, while criticizing the lack of content beyond the primary plot. Upon release, the games became some of the fastest-selling games in Nintendo's history at that point. As of September 30, 2024, Sun and Moon have sold 16.33 million copies worldwide, making them the third-best-selling Nintendo 3DS titles, after Mario Kart 7 and their predecessors, Pokémon X and Y.