While not a banner year for gaming of all kinds, and certainly not a banner year for the world at large with celebrity deaths, political and social upheaval and the murder of an innocent gorilla, 2016 did have a few gaming gems to keep us occupied in our respective disaster shelters. Many games that were cultural phenomena this year like Overwatch, the new Doom, and Uncharted 4 were technically derivative of games from years past, but their new features, graphics, gameplay tweaks and characters helped them elevate gaming as a whole to new heights. The same is especially true for our 2016 Game(s) of the Year, Pokemon Sun/Moon.
Pokemon has been around since 1996 and a lot has changed over the past twenty years to bring us to the latest entry in the series. While by no means a wholesale perfect game in every way, Pokemon Sun/Moon was as big of an evolutionary step for Pokemon as when it first went 3D in 2013 with Pokemon X/Y. While the battle system still bears great similarity to the simple monster catching mechanics introduced with Pokemon Red/Green in Japan, it’s the hundreds of quality of life tweaks added to the game to modernize it for contemporary audiences of all kinds (from hardcore breeders and IV trainers to casual kids) that make them, in our eyes, the best games of 2016. Getting Exp. Share early on, having notifications on what moves are effective or not right in the battle menu, being able to see which specific areas Pokemon reside through the Pokedex, having a proper full 3D world and wide-ranging story with more developed characters than usual, giving new forms to classic Pokemon, not tying navigation to specific moves so you can free up slots instead of having so many HM moves, and many more details made 2016 the best year ever to be a Pokemon gamer whether you were lapsed since the Game Boy days or picking it up for the first time.
Selling more than 3.7 million units in less than two weeks in the Americas alone, if you have access to any of the 3DS family of consoles you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t give Pokemon Sun/Moon a try and experience the Game Usagi 2016 Game of the Year.