Poké-fans, prepare yourselves. A new adventure awaits, as many of you know, in the Alola region. As many fans await Pokémon Sun and Moon, scheduled to be released on November 18th of this year, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company have whet our appetites, giving us quite a bit of information about the upcoming region, starter Pokémon, trainers, and so on.
The perception a player has of a game can be wildly altered based on the in-game environment. A lackluster region could spell doom for the new games, but from what has been revealed via the videos released in May and June of this year, Pokémon
players have nothing to fear. The Alola Region, based on Hawaii, is a beautifully decorated chain of islands. We see Professor Kukui discussing this in the screenshot shown (seen right).
The region is clearly shown to consist of four large, natural islands, a smaller artificial looking one, and one small island slightly off the coast of one of the larger counterparts. Each island seems to have its own unique features as well, which bodes well in terms of the implications this makes for the variety of pokémon that will be available. For example, Island One (the Eastern most island), as we will call it for the purposes of this speculative feature, provides us with something that I’m sure many people didn’t expect to see in a Hawaii-like location – ice and snow. It can be seen atop the mountain on this island and, hopefully, this means the player will be able to catch ice pokémon here. This may also be the location you want to venture to if you want to evolve an eevee into a glaceon. On the eastern most edge of this island we see a sandy looking area with reddish accents in its color. This seems to
suggest that ground and fire types will appear in this area as it looks like it could have been volcanic at one point. Another option is that this area is made of some sort of clay and that we could find other types such as dragons and rock types here. The southernmost town on the official map artwork (shown left) also looks to be the player’s would-be starting point. This could mean that we may all get a wide variety of very useful Pokémon early on. However, Island Three also has the potential to be our starting point, so Island One may just be our second destination. At the tip of Island One there also seems to be a very interesting town that could, from the looks of it, have a wall around it. It also has a dense forest surrounding it that could house the stone needed to evolve Eevee into Leafeon. It’s possible that this area will be representative of a greenhouse, acting as a home to many grass, poison, bug, fairy, and/or ghost types.
Island Two, the island just north of Island One, is shown to have an active volcano, meaning that fire types should be abundant here. It also has a beautiful rocked off beach section which is bound to have some good loot if not some even better water type pokémon. There is a long road which may be this generation’s version of cycling road. There is also an area just upward of the beach that looks to be a fancy garden but has multiple buildings if you look closely. It seems to be a town that would be akin to Verdinturf from the Hoenn Region. On the upper western edge of the island, there are craters with water cascading down them which should be, if nothing else, amazing to see executed. That said, my anticipation is that this area will house some very rare pokémon that can only be obtained in this area. Whatever is there, that is so important, will most likely have a 10-15% encounter rate but will most likely be worth the time to find and raise.
Island Three is the one just west of Island Two. Again, we see another long road, that could potentially be a cycling road. Personally, I think it’s doubtful that this road in particular will be it, however, as it is fairly straight and the recent cycling roads have been slightly curvier so as to make trainers more attentive when they are hatching their eggs.
It seems, on this island, that we will have to climb up the hill for some reason or another and, possibly enter a forest located at the top. Conversely, the top of this hill could also be the location that we receive our first pokémon at. The small opening at the top looks as though it could house the stage that we saw the starter pokémon appear on, so it is a possibility that we will start here and will have to descend the hill as the first part of our journey. There’s also a tannish cylinder structure which could mean there is an industry of some kind on this island (perfect for poison pokémon). However, a tower doesn’t always mean industry with Pokémon. It could be another cemetery, or, for that matter, a museum, gym, or battle tower. The possibilities are really endless, but this building in itself is very interesting and will probably play a big part in our visiting this island. There is also a purple building that looks rather large on the western side. This looks as though it could be an estate of some kind which may as as the battle mansion or it may be another trophy garden.
Skipping to the artificial island - it has a number of possibilities. It could be our main city in this region - the Lumiose or Celadon of Alola. Each game has one – a hassling, bustling city full of lots of NPCs, goods to bought, and facilities. Why not make this generation’s urban area a fancy artificial island all unto itself?
It would certainly be interesting to see how that would work, how you would get in, and how the city would be designed. This seems unlikely as many of the screenshots seen of major cities in Alola have foliage in the background and, seemingly, this artificial structure would not. Though, another option is that it will be the evil organization’s hideout. It seems a bit too standout to be so, however, especially with all the boats that are zipping around in the artwork. Someone would definitely notice that. It seems, most likely, be our Alola Pokémon League. It would make sense as the League is the typically separated from the rest of the locations in the game in some way and this structure is surely just that. Whatever it ends up being, we will hopefully get to explore this beautiful structure thoroughly during our gameplay.
Lastly, Island Four. It can’t be missed. It’s the one with huge canyon. Personally, I want to say this is the legendary pokémon area. There seem to be no stand apart cities or towns here. There’s a structure at the spike in the middle of the canyon (which seems to be featured in the screenshot of the legends shown left), 
but that seems to be a temple or a cave instead of a civilization. There’s also a huge tree on this island that seems to make a tree of life kind of reference (a possible callback to Kalos) and anything like that is usually linked to a mystical or legendary pokémon . There also seem to be geysers in the dark, rocky area near the bottom, which seems an ideal place to take on the bad guys at, supporting further that the legends may be in this area as the evil organization will probably be after them. The only real civilization in this area seems to be at the dock and there only seems to be two huts (they seem more like huts than houses) and a pokémon center. Honestly, this is probably more of a rest area than a town though it may also be a shrine or something for the legends. As for the mini island, it is likely to house some kind of event or perhaps a battle resort. There doesn’t seem to be a structure there, but it has to be important to be included. It’s a bit of a mystery and the reveal is sure to be interesting.
The map also gives up a little hint about where we will head first and second. Ever start a Pokemon game with surf? No? Well, no one does and, assuming that remains the same, Island One and Island Three will be there to help. Each of these two islands has a handy little port area which the trainer will most likely be using to transport themselves from one place to another. Hopefully this means we will be treated to another adorable boat riding cutscene!
We were also introduced to some characters which, in all honesty, gives us a lot of insight about in game interactions and, in turn, the story. Given, we still don’t know the main plotline, but it does give a tiny bits that we can speculate on.
Hau, for example, (shown right) isn’t the type of character to be an overly aggressive rival and he is referred to as our “new friend in Alola.” This tells us that our rivalry will be more relaxed. Most likely Hau will have a goofy personality, illustrated through is movement and through the way he speaks, but will be accented with times where we can see behind this to add character depth. This also means we will likely see him more than just for battles. Lillie, Kukui’s assistant, is interesting. She has so much emphasis put on her – more so than many of the assistants in the past (excluding X and Y). The video even tempts our imaginations by calling her “mysterious.”
Personally, I think she will either become a rival, be part of the evil organization in this game, have some tie to the legends, or be a member of the league, however, that is all just guessing as we have no further information on her at this time. Kukui, the professor that Lillie serves under, tells us a lot, however. He’s young, and, seemingly, very laidback. The most interesting thing about him, other than the fact that he has those amazing little starters and wants to keep them all to himself until November, is what he will be studying as it will likely be the primary theme in the game. It has been stated that he studies pokémon attacks, which may hint at a more complex battle system. It may yield dual type attacks or another type of battling that we have yet to see. We may even just get a wave of new moves to drown ourselves in and love in this generation. It would certainly make things more interesting to spice up our tried old tactics with some new powerhouse attacks.
Now, my favorite thing about the new information that was released on June 2nd: the rotom dex. What does this mean for the pokédex? So much! The idea that there is a being inside of the dex simply begs us to accept that it will be able to do so
much more than usual. There is an intelligent ghost living in there after all, the possibilities should be virtually endless. The QR scanner only supports this. The new dex will let trainers scan a QR code and, fromthe looks of it, track that pokémon in their own game rather than having to trade for it. This mean that trainers still come together as Pokémon wants them too, but it also helps to prevent pokémon theft between trainers. It is also likely that the player search system will be integrated into the dex as it will likely be featured on the bottom screen throughout gameplay.
There is so much to speculate on and, despite all that we can guess on, ultimately we’ll have to wait until November to know anything for sure. However, it is clear that the Pokémon Company is pulling out all the stops. So far, it’s looking like Pokémon Sun and Moon will be a game no one will want to miss so ready your pokéballs and TMs, trainers! November will be here before you know it.
