Pokemon Sun and Moon have a lot of changes being introduced that are completely new to the main series of games. I'm not just talking about new Pokemon. I thought I'd make an article sort of summarizing all the major gameplay changes you can expect these to include so far.

1. Hyper Training

Hyper Training is a new feature that will allow you to boost the stats of your Pokemon. Except in stead of training it's EV's like with the similarly named Super Training this entails actually being able to alter its IV's meaning it'll serve to further make the competitive aspect more accessible. No longer should people have to spend hundreds of tedious hours breeding Pokemon in the daycare to get good IV's. This isn't complete news as it was revealed last month but worth mentioning regardless.

2. No More Pokemon Gyms

These will be the first main series Pokemon games not to feature gyms. In stead they will be replaced by something called The Island Trials. These will consist of you doing various tasks like searching for items and calming Pokemon. After doing this you'll be able to fight a "totem" Pokemon. Which are essentially larger versions of existing Pokemon in the region. Having stat boosts and abilities like being able to call for the assistance of nearby wild Pokemon. They can essentially be thought of as Pokemon bosses. Once you defeat it you'll be able to challenge the Kahuna which is the leader of that island and can be likened to a gym leader. There will be a total of 4 of these trials in stead of 8 like you might expect so they seem like they'll be fairly time consuming compared to taking on a gym. We don't know if there will be something similar to the elite 4 at the end but we can likely expect something of the sort since not including a final boss of some sort would seem weird. While there's no telling if this means future games won't feature gyms it is interesting since it seems like an entire new spin on a formula few likely saw ever being changed. Hopefully it actually turns out making the game as fun and fresh as they would like to suggest.

3. Pokemon Riding and the removal of HMs?

The new games will make it possible to ride Pokemon. While this isn't a completely new idea as we've seen it in previous main series games notably X and Y it was heavily restricted in those games. Only allowing you to do so in specific areas using specific Pokemon like Gogoat. In Sun and Moon the number of Pokemon you'll be able to ride seems considerably higher even if you sadly won't be able to do this with Pokemon in your party. They also seem to somehow feed into the use of HMs as Pokemon can be used to traverse areas, break rocks etc. Whether this means that they will be taking the place of HMs entirely and we'll no longer have to rely on HM slaves is too early to say, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that I really hope so.

4. Region Exclusive Forms

The game will feature Alola exclusive forms. Meaning that some pre existing Pokemon will have a different typing, ability and appearance in the particular region. Notable examples being Sandshrew/Sandslash which is made Ice/Steel, Vulpix/Ninetales which is Ice/Fairy and Exeggutor which is Grass/Dragon (and is made to look like a horrifying freak of nature). While the lore behind this is kind of flimsy (something about the widely different climate affecting the Pokemon) it seems like a pretty cool new idea that has the potential to make a lot of Pokemon feel fresh especially for veterans of the series.

5. Z-Moves

So similar to how the Gen 6 games introduced really powerful forms of Pokemon in the form of mega evolutions requiring specific stones, this game will give pokemon moves the same treatment. If a Pokemon holds a crystal of a certain type, using a move of the corresponding type will transform it into an extremely powerful move of that type. It's not a direct KO but it does seem like they'll have the highest base power of any damaging moves in the games. To prevent this from completely breaking the game they'll be one use per battle only same as with mega evolutions even if you have multiple crystals. An interesting idea albeit one that seems like it could point to these games becoming even easier than X/Y if the balance isn't handled carefully.

In closing

Those are all the major gameplay changes I've spotted so far. I'll remain cautious until the games release and we get to see all of this in action. However it does seem like Gamefreak might finally be taking some risks with the franchise, at least with the exclusion of gyms and including region exclusive forms which I can't say I'm sad about at least. Personally I hope this actually means the game makes somewhat of a departure from previous ones in stead of it just being made out to seem that way. Feels like a move that could help the franchise from becoming stale for people like me who feel like the games are starting to become a bit too repetitive.

But that's all from me, what do you think about the new changes? Do you feel excited or worried? Share your thoughts in this thread!

Everything that was announced pretty much flipped my world around when it comes to Pokemon. At first I was like, "Nice, they are redesigning everything" and then even more changes came around. The thing about the gyms seems really enticing, at times it will be similar but can literally be anything and can lead to so much more.

The Alola Pokemon are also something that I'm really excited for, especially the Vulpix line and apparently Growlthie. Can't wait for all this.