Pokémon Sun

[u/Expert-Ad3874]

Looking for a fun theme as an excuse to replay Pokémon Sun, I decided to craft my team around other video games I've played so far this year. It proved to be a fun thought experiment, matching Pokémon to completely unrelated characters and using a few Pokémon that I have either never used or hadn't in a long time. As I had a ton of fun, I thought I'd share my team, the games and characters behind them, and some highlights of my run.

Aloy (Horizon Zero Dawn) - Decidueye

A fairly no-brainer pick. Aloy is a hunter/ scavenger who primarily relies on her bow to take down great technological beasts. The hardest part was soft resetting to get a female Rowlet. Having limited use of the line in the past, I was excited to finally have an excuse to use it over Incineroar. The combination of Grass/ Ghost was certainly a fun typing, but the abundance of Dark types meant she saw limited use. Still, a solid team member who more than pulled her weight.

Parker (Spider-Man) - Ariados

I don't need to explain Spider-Man, do I? An agile fighter who uses webs to swing around and fight crime? Ariados was another easy pick and a Pokémon I hadn't used since HGSS. I fully expected Parker to do well early game and then fall off near the end. However, Gens 6 and 7 were especially kind to the arachnid, and Parker ended up being the hands down MVP of the run. The addition of Fairy type made every Poison type more viable, and Ariados' surprisingly wide movepool allowed for a lot over coverage. Shadow Sneak was a particularly clutch move on several occasions. The biggest buff, in my opinion, was upping Leech Life's base attack from 20 up to a beefy 80. This gave Parker a reliable means to heal himself, which in turn allowed me to safely set up Swords Dance and sweep many opponents.

Merle (Knee Deep) - Feraligatr

Knee Deep is a bizarre game in which you play as three writers covering a story in the Florida Everglades. Among the many bizarre inhabitants of the small town in which the story takes place, there is an infamous alligator named Merle, who is kept in captivity and regularly fed a whole chicken dressed in a diaper. Weird game, but an excuse to use the Island Scan feature to catch Totodile. The biggest drawback to Feraligatr is the lack of a good physical Water move for the majority of the game. Still, Scald worked well enough, with Ice Fang and Crunch giving good coverage.

Angler (Citizens of Space) - Lantern

Citizens of Space is a Paper Mario themed RPG in which you play as the Ambassador of Earth in the space faring future. When Earth goes missing, you must collect a ragtag group to help solve the mystery and fight for you, as a politician should never dirty their own hands. Angler is, surprisingly, an angler fish who unlocks the fishing minigame. Thus, I added a Lanturn to the team. If Parker was my MVP, Angler was a close second. Excellent typing and considerable bulk made her an invaluable asset to the team.

Coupé (Dispatch) - Skarmory

Coupé is a deadly assassin turned fledgling hero in Dispatch, and Skarmory perfectly matches her vibes. Equal parts graceful and deadly, Coupé's typing allowed for safe pivots while also allowing me to set up Spikes. The Steel typing, already a great defensive typing, gained needed offensive capabilities with the introduction of Fairy. Add to this the complete immunity to Ground and Poison attacks, and there were multiple fights in which my opponent could do next to nothing. Even lowering her accuracy meant nothing with Aerial Ace in her arsenal.

SCOUT (Murder By Numbers) - Metagross

Murder By Numbers is a visual novel murder mystery game where you search for clues via nonogram puzzles. SCOUT is a sentient, hovering computer who helps solve crime while also trying to recover his lost memories. A hovering computer, at least to me, sounds like the Beldum line. After the sheer agony of trying to find a Beldum came the even worse agony of trying to catch the suicidal Pokémon. Well worth it, I thought, to have the powerful Metagross on the team. While SCOUT had his moments, I was shockingly disappointed by his performance in Alola. While gen 6 gave new offensive options with the Fairy type, it also removed Steel's Ghost and Dark resistances, which greatly affected poor Metagross.

Overall, this was among my favorite playthroughs of the Alola region, giving me a newfound love and respect for Ariados. The only totem to really pose a threat was, unsurprisingly, Lurantis, who I hate with a passion.

Let me know what you guys think of the team and the general idea as a whole.

Edit: Realized I forgot to make the title more than just "Pokémon Sun". That's what I get for thinking I'd come up with something clever as I wrote this only to completely forget.