Pokémon Trainers: Our time is almost here! On Tuesday, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company released a video on their website, on YouTube, and on various social media showcasing gameplay, footage, characters, as well as the starters and legendaries from the next generation of Pokémon games: Sun and Moon. This will be the seventh generation of games that began in 1996 with Red and Green.

The video gives us glimpses of both male and female main characters in different cut scenes that are presented in the two-minute video. The next installment of the series takes place in a region that seems to have Hawaii as the inspiration. It’s called the Alola region, and the video Nintendo uploaded gives a nice mini tour of what it has to offer. It appears very tropical, green and lush, and the map revealed gives us a good idea of what our playing field looks like. I’m visualizing a lot of awesome spots to encounter wild Pokémon and it brings about the question – aside from the three starters, their evolutions, and the new legendaries…are there other new Pokémon that will call the Alola region their home? 

The first thing they dove into was the introduction of the new starter Pokémon, which of course is the thing we were all waiting for. Without fail. they stuck to the constant of fire, water, and grass being the three types to choose from to begin your journey. Since this was pretty much the most important part of yesterday’s reveal, let’s check them out!

New Starters

We’re introduced to Litten, Rowlet, and Popplio. My immediate thought? So. Cute. 

Litten is our fire-type, a mega cute small cat that coughs up hairballs…but not just any hairballs – fire hairballs. Litten also comes with Ember already in its skill-set, so you can set other Pokémon ablaze from the start.

Rowlet is the grass/flying-type, an adorable tiny owl with the ability to turn its head 180 degrees. It’s said to not make any sounds when attacking. Interesting! You’ll receive Rowlet with Leafage in its skill-set, sounding similar to Razor Leaf in how it attacks with leaves.

Last but not least, Popplio is our sweet water-type, a small seal-like Pokémon that can snort out balloons made out of water. From the description on the official Pokémon website, it sounds like Popplio loves to put on a show. It’ll already know Water Gun when you receive it, so that should be fun to watch.

New Legendaries

The last major thing that caught my eye, and I’m sure everyone else too… The quick glimpses of our legendaries. They look sick. The legendary for Moon gives me the impression that maybe it’ll be a psychic-type Pokémon? Sun’s legendary is making me think fire-type or electric-type. Either way, they both look very powerful and like they’ve got some exciting stories behind their existence and what roles they’ll play in the Alola region.

Sun and Moon are set to come out pre-holiday rush: November 18th, 2016. Just in time for Black Friday and all of the fun winter holidays. It’ll definitely be in demand, so if you’re as excited as I am be sure to get a pre-order in to your local video game store to reserve your copy! GameStop and I have already chatted and they already have taken my money.

What are your thoughts on yesterday’s Sun and Moon reveal? What are you excited for? Who’s ready for more Wonder Trade and GTS surprises? Let’s chat, trainers! We’ve got six months to go!

ETA: Guys. You must check out the Japanese commercial/trailer for Sun and Moon. Extreme. Feelings. And we get a bit of a better look at bits of game play, as well as main character selector! Look at the options! I’m even more ready.