‘Pokemon Sun’ And ‘Moon’ Hairstyles And Detailed Trainer Customization Put An Exciting New Face On The Games

One of the most underrated features brought to the table in Pokemon Sun and Moon is the huge variety of the hairstyles and clothing customization, a tweak that is really bringing a whole new element to the games.

Pokemon was absolutely huge in the first few years of the 21st century, but many of the revolutionary RPG franchise’s early fans lost interest as the Pokemon fad known as “Pokemania” died down around 2004. It is mainly due to the recent success of the impossibly popular mobile app Pokemon Go that Pokemon has managed to rocket back to the mainstream, and many players that have not really been in touch with the Pokemon games since Pokemania ended are becoming interested in buying Pokemon Sun or Moon, the two latest entries in the series.

The fact that those fans have only experienced the earlier Pokemon games means that they are more than likely familiar with these characters:

The male protagonist player character sprites from the early Pokemon games were definitely some of the most iconic images of the franchise. After all, the character’s image remained in the center of the screen for nearly the entirety of the games.

Unfortunately, there was virtually no way to give the character any kind of personalized flair. Sure, Pokemon Gold and Silver did allow the player to choose whether to use the male or female character, but they could not change anything else about the sprite.

The inability to change the appearance of the main character was a big part of why the old Pokemon games looked rather dull, and many who were around for Pokemon’s early years might still harbor a view of the games as unvaried and flat in terms of visual stimuli. That idea could not be more wrong, thanks in large part to Pokemon Sun and Moon’s massive character customization system.

Character customization beyond just choosing whether to be a boy or a girl was first brought to the series in Pokemon X and Y. At that point, though, it was still quite limited. A player could choose from a few skin colors, a handful of boring hair styles, and a small selection of clothing items. The pickings were especially slim for male characters. The whole character customization was cool to have in Pokemon X and Y because it was a new idea, but it did not actually add much to the game’s visual feel.

Trainer customization is awesome!!! What does your protagonist look like? ? [Rocket] pic.twitter.com/miwXESr5oy

— Poké Advent (@PokeAdvent) October 17, 2013

With Pokemon Sun and Moon, however, customizable hairstyles and outfits become real game-changers. The options for both males and females are very extensive, with boutiques and salons in many in-game cities offering a veritable cornucopia of options. All the variety allows Pokemon trainers to express themselves in a virtually infinite amount of ways, and that means that a totally customizable (and variable) face is slapped on the game.

Again, the appearance of the player character is one of the main elements that defines a video game’s visual feel. With Pokemon Sun and Moon’s hairstyles and killer clothing customization, players can make their game take on whatever feel they want. Not only that, but Pokemon trainers can easily switch up their hairstyles and outfits on different days based on their mood!

That is not to mention Pokemon Sun and Moon’s extensive online features, which allow players to show off their carefully tailored looks to other Pokemon fans around the world. This adds more to the seamless online battling and trading systems Pokemon games began to develop during the franchise’s fourth generation.

Pokemon Sun and Moon are anything but visually dull. The games have really worked on improving their visuals even over X and Y’s by adding full-scale 3D modeling, colorful backdrops, full-bodied scenery, and colorful new Pokemon on top of the new trainer hairstyles and clothing customization system.

In short, Pokemon games have never looked better than they do now. Consider that alongside the extremely well-received Pokemon Sun and Moon gameplay, which highly-regarded gaming review sites like Game Xplain say is a step up from any other Pokemon game, and there is really no good excuse not to at least give Pokemon Sun or Moon a try.

[Featured Image by Arkeis-Pokemon/Deviantart]