Pokémon Sun and Moon

Development Info Prerelease Info

Unobtainable Shiny Pokémon#

For the sake of consistency, every Pokémon in every Pokémon game is given a Shiny variant. Most Shiny Pokémon have been obtainable through random chance encounters or event distributions, including most Legendary Pokémon. However, a few Pokémon cannot be obtained in this form without hacking, and as a consequence, normal players would never be able to see their Shiny coloration. Note that some Shiny Legendary Pokémon or Ultra Beasts, despite the species being Shiny locked in their normal in-game encounters, were still accessible via distribution-based events, trading, or via importing them through Poké Transporter.

• Cosmog and Cosmoem - The Cosmog that is obtained as a gift during the postgame is locked to never be Shiny. Since the only way to obtain Cosmoem is to evolve Cosmog, the player can't obtain a Shiny variant of this Pokémon, either. In spite of this, Solgaleo and Lunala have had their Shiny variants made available several times.

• Magearna (both Formes) - The event distributions of this Pokémon are Shiny-locked, so the player cannot obtain a Shiny Magearna by any means. Normal Form Magearna’s Shiny palette is most likely a placeholder, seeing as how future Pokémon games ended up giving it a new, metallic Shiny palette.

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Can we get an animation of its Zenith form rather than showing the unchanged normal form?

• Marshadow - As with Magearna, Marshadow is an Event Pokemon and cannot be obtained as Shiny. Note that the Shiny coloration only affects its Zenith form (which appears while it's attacking), changing its flames from green to purple.

• Eternal Flower Floette - Still left over and unused from X and Y. As a result, it's still impossible to get a Shiny variant of it.

Unused Items#

Once again, every item in the index of the previous games is in the game files, used or unused. While the Apricorn Balls are now obtainable again and the Key Stone is now obtainable as well, everything else that was unused before remains unused in this game as well. See this page for details.

Unused Moves#

In the source code from the Teraleak, two functions for move effects can be found that don't appear anywhere in-game.

Japanese	Translation	Move Effect
To do: it's not "ひっくりかえす", that's Topsy-Turvy	Aim Punch	If your move targets a Pokemon that turns out to be Protected by a Protect-class move, and there are any other enemy Pokemon that aren't Protected, the move redirects to one of them (picks at random if more than 1).
こごえるはどう	Freezing Waves	Lowers target speed 2 stages if it is Hailing

Changed Item Descriptions#

To do: Check whether any of the other localizations have description changes like this.

Once again, some of the leftover unused items had their descriptions retranslated in the English localization of the game.

Ride Pager#

Was apparently going to be a Key Item at one point. Since the Ride Pager can be used by simply pressing Y once it is obtained, this item goes unused.

Unreleased Hidden Abilities#

In the Generation VII games, it is possible to find Pokémon with special "hidden Abilities". However, some Pokémon cannot be obtained with their hidden Abilities through any legitimate means, rendering the hidden Abilities unused in normal gameplay.

Pokémon GO Gift#

To do: There's an unused origin mark for Pokémon originating from Pokémon GO, which is a G symbol. It's used in the Nintendo Switch Pokémon games for Pokémon transferred from GO.

There's text for an unused Pokémon GO Mystery Gift / Wonder Card in the game files:

"Pokémon GO" is also listed in the location table as both a special location (like "a link trade", "the Kanto region", etc.) at 0x753C, and as a gift location (like "a faraway place", "GAME FREAK", etc.) at 0x9C94, implying that it would have been possible to transfer Pokémon from Pokémon GO into Sun and Moon. Connectivity with Pokémon GO would later become a central feature of Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, and the location listing would be used there. However, in those games Pokémon are transferred via GO Park, rather than through Mystery Gift. There were no Mystery Gifts distributed based on usage of Pokémon GO. It would also be possible later on to transfer Pokémon obtained in Pokémon GO to Pokémon Home as well to future games that support Home.

Unused Audio#

Eternal Flower Floette#

300px Just like in X and Y, AZ's Floette has its own unique cry, a slightly modified variant of Floette's normal cry. However, because this Forme was unobtainable prior to Pokémon Legends: Z-A, its cry goes unused.

me_nj_test13#

A slightly extended version of the basic "obtained an item" jingle, me_nj_item.

bgm_xy_vs_secret_01#

As in Pokémon X and Y and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, a remix of the "Battle! VS Champion" theme from Red and Blue is included for use in the finals of the Pokémon Video Game World Championships tournament. It is identical to the one in the Generation VI games.

Unused Text#

'...But what does it mean?' This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation!

Unused options for when Kukui in the player's house at the start of the game ask them if they are excited to meet new Pokémon. The final options are "Of course!"/"もちろん！" and "I guess..."/"どうだろ……？".

Unused text for receiving Poké Beans from the Mystery Gift woman.

Text for a wild Pokémon in a Double Battle using Infestation on its partner, which does not occur in-game.

Text for a Totem Pokémon in a Double Battle being inflicted with Infestation by its partner who is also a Totem Pokémon, which cannot occur in-game.

Wonder Card text types that were never used for any event distributions.

The game also contains text for unused clothing items that are untranslated in all language versions with the exception of the Italian version, which translated バッグ as "Borsa".

Unused Location Header#

An unused location header with the ID 0x42 reveals that Akala Island would have featured a meadow, just like the other islands, but it was eventually included in Royal Avenue instead. This means that the text Akala Meadow is unused in the final game.

Unused Graphics#

rgba8.ctpk#

A map of Earth. This texture seems to originate from Microsoft's DirectX SDK sample programs.

Unused Models#

Placeholder Character Models#

The first two files in "a/1/9/6" contain this cube model. The skeleton suggests it was meant to test player movement or animation during the initial phase of development.

Trainer Models With Helmets#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Where were these models found? Who found them?

What appears to be a helmet worn by various trainers can be found in their files, unused.

Unused Gym#

In a/0/8/1 "039.bin" there is an unused Gym battle background model that goes unused. This seems to have been intended for the Pokémon Gyms that would be built in the post-game according to design documents leaked in October 2024. This is still unused in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, as the Kantonian Gym in Malie City has a less futuristic design and uses a generic-looking indoor background.

Unused Player House Rooms#

There are three unused rooms in the player's house: a bathroom, a laundry room, and a garage. Their models are found in a/0/8/6 "dec_0233.bin" for the laundry room, "dec_0241.bin" for the garage, and "dec_0247" for the bathroom; the textures are in a/0/8/3 "dec_0232.bin" in Pokémon Moon, while some of the garcs are in different locations for Pokémon Sun. These rooms also go unused in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Unused Overworld Zygarde Model#

Found in a/1/9/6 "166.bin & 167.bin" are models and animations for an overworld model of both 50% and 10% Zygarde Formes. The overworld model of 50% Zygarde appears in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Pokémon Animations#

To do: Find out if any of these animations are used in cutscenes.

All Pokémon in the game (including Mega Evolutions and alternate forms) have animation files for their in-battle models that show them walking and running (or flying/moving in an appropriate fashion at a slower and quicker pace). These animations are in a file separate from battle or Pokémon Refresh animations, and this file has several empty animation slots which imply other animations were planned. Pokémon seen in-game walking around in the overworld use a different and less-detailed model, with more movement animations (specifically animations for starting, stopping, and turning) that the battle models do not have. Poké Finder uses a small amount of these animations.

A lot of the walking animations would not be seen until Sword and Shield, with the running animations being used in the Isle of Armor expansion, as well as the rest of the main Nintendo Switch Pokemon games and spin-offs like Go or Masters.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAYDljMrJXPqmqkt5uoFbAR9AUHGqw68j

Debugging Files#

To do: FieldDebug.cro and SeqEditor.cro do seem to have some level of functionality; check what they do and if it is possible to force the game to load them.

Just like in Pokémon X and Y, there are leftover debugging-related CROs (the 3DS equivalent of a DLL). Unfortunately, the majority of them are useless: the game does not load them at all, and they are also stubbed, leaving only the basic CRO loading code and their filenames remaining.

AnaiTest.cro
ArakiTest.cro
AriizumiTest.cro
CharaViewer.cro
DebugBattle.cro
DebugItemMake.cro
DebugKeyboard.cro
DebugNumInput.cro
DebugPokeMake.cro
DebugWordSet.cro
DrawUtilTextTest.cro
FieldDebug.cro
FontViewer.cro
FukushimaTest.cro
IshiguroTest.cro
IslandTest.cro
KawadaTest.cro
LayoutArcTest.cro
MenuFrameTest.cro
MutoTest.cro
NakahiroTest.cro
ObataTest.cro
PeteTest.cro
PokeIconView.cro
PokeViewer.cro
RoTest.cro
SeqEditor.cro
SimpleAppTest.cro
SoundTest.cro
TakedaTest.cro
UIUnitTest.cro

Development-Related Text#

convert_test_data.gaix#

//==========================================================
/**
 * @brief GF-Archive file index definition.
 * @file convert_test_data.gaix
 * @version 4.0
 * @note This file is created by GAMEFREAK Archiver.
 */
//==========================================================

#ifndef 
#define 

enum {
  GARC_convert_test_data_test_data_1_BIN = 0,
  GARC_convert_test_data_test_data_2_BIN = 1,
  GARC_convert_test_data_DATA_NUM = 2,
};

#endif  // 

A leftover from the GAMEFREAK Archiver. To put it simply, this .gaix file is a C header that links the original file names to the GARC index; those headers are then meant to be included in the code and are used to access the files in the .garc file.

Oddities#

To do: Add video or screenshots of Tapu Village and Route 14 transition. Were the Ribbon bugs fixed in Generation VIII?

Vast Poni Canyon Trial#

The ambiance that plays in Vast Poni Canyon's Trial area is referred to as an encounter theme (alongside the other encounter themes, such as the regular Trainer theme) internally in its file name, yet it does not play for any encounters (not even Totem Kommo-o).

Tapu Village and Route 14#

Normally, there is a brief loading transition between Tapu Village and Route 14 where the screen fades to black. The camera angles when entering and exiting between these two areas make it appear they are two separate loaded areas. However, to the right of the normal path between these two areas is a fence with a Fisherman and a Beauty standing in front of it. The road is destroyed. If the player character clips through the fence and towards the broken road, Route 14 is already loaded into memory and completely accessible. The loading between these two areas is artificial.

Gold Contest Memory Ribbon#

From Generation VI and onward, any transferred Pokémon that obtained ribbons from Contests in Generations III and IV will have all of them replaced with the Contest Memory Ribbon, with the number of Contest Ribbons it once had being displayed next to the name. If a transferred Pokémon obtained all possible Contest Ribbons from both generations, the Contest Memory Ribbon will become a gold-colored version, which was how it worked in Generation VI. However, due to a glitch in Generation VII, the gold-colored version instead appears on a Pokémon with at least one previous Contest Ribbon and at least 39 other preserved Ribbons, which is impossible to achieve under normal circumstances.

Gold Battle Memory Ribbon#

In a similar case with the Contest Memory Ribbon, any transferred Pokémon from Generations III and IV that obtained ribbons from the battle facilities of those games when brought over to Generation VI and onward will have all of them replaced with the Battle Memory Ribbon, with the number of Battle Ribbons it once had being displayed next to the name. If a transferred Pokémon obtained all possible Battle Ribbons from both generations, the Battle Memory Ribbon will become a gold-colored version, which was how it worked in Generation VI. Also like the Contest Memory Ribbon, due to a glitch in Generation VII, the gold-colored version instead appears on a Pokémon with at least one previous Battle Ribbon and at least 7 other preserved Ribbons, which, while possible unlike the Gold Contest Memory Ribbon, is not its intended function.

Old Amber#

Unlike the rest of the fossils, the Old Amber is not normally obtainable within Sun and Moon (with an Aerodactyl instead being obtained through a gift in Seafolk Village at Level 40), although should the item be hacked into the game, it can still be taken to the Fossil Restoration Center on Route 8, in exchange for a Level 20 Aerodactyl. This also used to be true for the Dome, Helix, Root, Claw, Jaw, and Sail fossil (Kabuto, Omanyte, Lileep, Anorith, Tyrunt, and Amaura respectively), which were unobtainable until the release of Ultra Sun and Moon, where the fossils can be traded to Sun and Moon and revived as normal. However, as the Old Amber is also not obtainable in Ultra Sun and Moon either, there is no legitimate way of obtaining an Aerodactyl through this method in Generation VII.

Version Differences#

To do: Add reliable sources.

Each update is required to go online, and Battle Videos recorded prior to their release can no longer be played.

Version 1.1#

This patch was released on January 11, 2017.

• Two Memento bugs were fixed.
  • When used as a Z-Move, it now heals the sent-out Pokémon after switching as intended.
  • Using a Darkinium Z with the moves Memento and Parting Shot in Battle Spot no longer crashes the game. Previously, in addition to the crash, it would assign victory to the user of the moves, which forced their temporary ban from Battle Spot.
• In online battles and local battle facilities, the Pokémon not holding Rocky Helmet is now the winner if the last Pokémon of both Trainers faint. The original behavior, while carried over from older games, did not correspond to the official tournament documentation.
• Pokémon are now able to learn post-evolution moves if the move is also part of their level 1 learnset.
• Some NPC rosters were tweaked to remove illegitimate moves:
  • In the Battle Tree, a Kommo-o had Shell Smash and now has Draco Meteor.
  • In the Battle Royal, a Shuckle had Stockpile and now has Double Team.
• A duplicate of the Hawlucha holding a Salac Berry in the Battle Tree was replaced with a Pidgeot holding a Charti Berry.
• A typo in the Japanese-language text involving Buzzwole was fixed.

Version 1.2#

This patch was released on May 17, 2017.

• A user of Sky Drop is no longer unable to use moves or switch out if it faints due to damage from Spiky Shield.
• Activities in the Poké Pelago are no longer completed if the date changes to a new month.
• Evolution items that are in the last-used slot of the Bag no longer trigger a crash.
• Scatterbug can now learn Egg Moves in all circumstances.
• No Eggs are given a held item anymore.
• Tournaments now proceed accordingly instead of being ended when pre-registered for an online Friendly Competition.