Alolan Rattata and Raticate

Just like that, we've begun the seventh generation, the tropical Alola region, so fresh at the time of this writing that I'm still playing it myself! We just saw a lot of creative effort poured into X and Y, but I'm not exaggerating when I say Sun and Moon already blew it out of the water - and may be the most exciting generation yet.

I know everyone on our last page was anticipating my reviews of the new starters, but if we're reviewing pokemon in pokedex order, then it only makes sense to start this region off with the new forms it gives to a small but interesting selection of first-gen pokemon. Sun and Moon's "Alola region" was inspired by Hawaii, and as the first Pokemon region to be based on a series of tropical islands, Gamefreak saw fit to populate it with unique, evolutionarily divergent versions of select classics like Rattata here.

European rats are notoriously destructive to fragile island ecosystems, and invasive Rattata introduced to Alola follow suit by evolving into dark/normal types. Its new black and tan color scheme feels much more befitting of a rat than its traditional purple, and I like the spiky new tufts of fur - though it otherwise doesn't differ all that much.

Alolan Raticate strays a bit more from its traditional design, round and fat with bloated cheeks to reflect its gluttonous new lifestyle, fed by its Rattata underlings with little ecological competition. It's a shame that, competitively, a dark/normal Raticate only has more weaknesses than regular Raticate, but it's the thought that counts.

An even ratlier rat than it ever was.