Alolan Rattata & an Exclusive Munchlax? Now that’s a Troubling Twosome!

Well since we’re covered Zelda and Super Mario Maker, I guess it’s as good a time as any to get round to the Pokémon news that was revealed in the Nintendo Direct, but first I have an announcement I want to make. More Sun & Moon news is to be revealed on the 6^th of September at the following times:

10 pm JST

3 pm CEST

4 pm BST

9 am EDT

6 am PDT

And now we can start talking about Alolan Rattata! There was a lot of rumours that there were going to be an Alolan Rattata that’s a Dark/Normal-type and those rumours are true! Rattata does in fact have an Alolan form and how it got such a form is an interesting story. Apparently Rattata frequented Alola quite a lot. In fact Alola is infested with them, so the locals sent in Yungoose to take care of the problem, except Rattata are smart. The changed their habitat and learned to become nocturnal, (Yungoose are diurnal, so they only could only hunt Rattata during the day.) By becoming nocturnal, Rattata went on to get their Dark typing and get an altered appearance to the one we’re used to. (You can be sure to see a “Who’s That Pokémon?” post on Alolan Rattata as soon as additional information is given!) Alolan Rattata are capable of knowing the abilities: Gluttony & Hustle.

Next up Z-Moves, although we know a bit about these already thanks to previous reveals, during the live stream of the Nintendo Direct we actually got to learn a few of the names to the Z-Crystals. The Z-Crystal for Water-type moves is Waterium Z, with Grassium Z for Grass-type moves and Electrium Z for Electric-type moves. Essentially the description for the Z-Crystals reads a little like this: (The particular description is for Electrium Z)

“It converts Z-Power into crystals that upgrade Electric-type moves to Electric-type Z-Moves.”

We also know that Alolan Raichu can use the Stoked Sparksurfer Z-Move and that some Z-Moves are specific to certain Pokémon and can only be used if they have the right Z-Crystal assigned. One such Pokémon is Snorlax, but we’ll get to that big boy in a minute, because first we have to talk about Munchlax! For anyone who purchases the one or both the Sun & Moon games early, can get themselves a very special Munchlax. A Munchlax who will evolve into a very powerful Snorlax, who when equipped with the Snorlium Z Z-Crystal, Snorlax will be able to use the very special Pulverizing Pancake Z-Move in battle. A move which is exclusive only to Snorlax! (Exciting stuff right?)

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the exclusive Munchlax who comes with the Snorlium Z Z-Crystal, is only going to be available until the 11^th of January, 2017. To make sure you get the chance to claim the Pokémon you will need to buy the game and collect it via the internet, as you would with all the other Pokémon you get distributed through the Nintendo Network. Another thing that makes this Munchlax stand out is the fact it will know the moves Hold Back and Happy Hour, two moves Munchlax don’t normally learn and if used correctly, can be a great asset for catching money and getting twice as much coin from battles. Gamers with a Japanese 3DS however will also get 12 Quick Balls for downloading the game, or a Snorlax GX card if they buy retail.

Lastly, Pokémon 2DS’ are making a comeback and this time they are special edition Sun & Moon 3DS that come with the game pre-installed and are available to Europe. That being said, regardless of what version you purchase, the 2DS for Sun and the 2DS for Moon are the same shade of blue.

And since you had to sit through my recap of today’s Pokémon news, how about we sit back, relax and enjoy the new official Pokémon trailer?

Don’t forget to let us know what your favourite piece of news from today is, in the comments below!

Source: Nintendo (YouTube) & The Official Pokémon Channel (YouTube)