Pokemon Sun & Moon Demo: A Review

So yeah, around a week or so ago, Nintendo released the Pokemon: Sun & Moon demo. They first did this demo with Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, unless I'm misremembering my Pokemon knowledge, and it's basically a very truncated version of the full game, allowing you access to only one city and one route, showing off the game engine, battle system, how you move around (the 3D movement actually feels 3D, not 3D-on-a-2D-grid like the sixth generation) some fancy new Pokemon and some additional features.

It's... a very, very short demo, and I get that it's supposed to appeal to people who have no idea how to play a Pokemon game, but a good chunk of it is just exposition to tell us about the new Alolan region and just walk around the small city (Hau'oli... I will never remember these cities whose names aren't based off trees) where nearly everything is disabled, some dialogue with our rival buddy Hau, professor Kukui, our mom and the Team Skull admin... Plumeria?

It's a short demo, is all I'm saying. The player character, Sun, basically shows up and is given a Greninja that can transform into Ash-Greninja by a mysterious person (the Greninja's OT is Ash, though), he goes around to the immigration office or whatever where he meets Hau, they get attacked by Team Skull gangstas, meet Professor Kukui, go through a trial which is basically a highlight of the photography system, fight Plumeria, and that's it! On the way, a trainer allows you to test out the Ash Greninja transformation, the 'boss' of the trial is a Totem Pokemon, and Plumeria's fight allows you to use your very first Z-Move. And in the post-game you can summon a Tauros and ride around to smash shit up, and there's some Pokemon capture challenge I haven't played.

It's basically a demo, and while at the same time it's cool to see the new models and see a bunch of new Pokemon (just five, really -- Pikipek, Rockruff, Yungoos, Jangmo-o and Hakamo-o) it's also a bit underwhelming that we spend the entire game with previous-generation Pokemon like Greninja and Pikachu. I dunno. I guess it's cool?

Don't really have much to say about the demo. Here's some bullet points about the good, the bad and the I-don't-care.

Things I love:

• The new battle backgrounds look absolutely gorgeous. It's one thing that I really enjoyed about XY and ORAS and really hoped they did a lot more of, and it seems like they're improving on it.
• The overworld is gorgeous. We don't see a lot, but the cities look absolutely beautiful and detailed, from the PokeStarbucks, to all the little shelves in the Pokemart, to the brochures and whatnot in the ferry station and the city hall, to the water dispenser in the police station... there's just a lot of little details that really amaze me, and as someone who grew up on the old sprite games where a tatami mat, a cupboard, a table and a TV is all that makes up a person's home, it's really amazing. The Ten Carat Cave also makes the cave look so much more attractive. People wouldn't complain about Rock Tunnels and Mt. Coronets if they looked as gorgeous as this.
• It appears that HMs are all but gone, with your ability to call on Pokemon rides (like your personal Uber) taking its place. The Tauros that you ride -- WHICH IS AWESOME BY THE WAY -- seems to be the substitute to Rock Smash, because that's what it does. Also, riding Tauros itself is easily the best part of the demo. I've never really liked Tauros, but man this is awesome.
• Rockruff is adorable and he's 100% going to be a member of my team. I'm not one of those people who plan out the six members of their party before starting a game, but I'm pretty sure Rockruff will be on it.
• I love Team Skull for all the wrong reasons. I just can't take them seriously as antagonists! They're just these dudes trying too hard with some ghetto 'yo yo yo' and their stupid rapping movements (which are a credit to the animation department, by the way) as they talk, and their big bug-eyed defeat pose. Holy shit, the Team Skull grunts may be the silliest and most ridiculous grunts of all time.

Things I dislike:

• There better be a way to disable the 'this move is super effective' nonsense on the bottom screen. It's near-impossible not to look at, because whether the move is effective or not is very in-your-face, but come on now. This is one of those things that truly 'make the game too easy', as opposed to things like Super Training or Hyper Training or whatever. One of the biggest fun in Pokemon is to figure out the typings of Pokemon you've never seen before, and just giving us the answers is very irritating.
• Hau's such a nice, laid-back guy, and, wow, is a rival that's a bit of a dick too much to ask for? Blue and Silver are easily the best parts of the first two generation games, whereas all the other 'rivals' have been nice buddies... and honestly, is it too much to ask for to have both types of 'rivals' in the same game? Even as a 'friendly' rival, Hau feels way too generic. Barry, Cheren, Bianca and Hugh at least had character arcs that make them a lot less boring than just 'your buddy who likes Pokemon'. 
• Ash Greninja. The animation for the dude is cool, but really, couldn't this have been a Mega Evolution? And must it be called ASH Greninja, not Battle Greninja or Bond Greninja or Mega Greninja or Primal Greninja or something? It just bugs me. I'm not a huge fan of Ash-Greninja's head, too, though the rest of him, from his transformed limbs to the water shuriken no his back, all look absolutely cool.

Things I'm indifferent about:

• Both Professor Kukui and Plumeria are... okay. Kukui seems to be taking the 'Sycamore and Juniper are hot professors' into a far too extreme direction by literally having him wander around baring his abs and pectorals with a labcoat, and he apparently lets himself get hit by Pokemon attacks. Plumeria is... very fanservicey but not too risque, but she just feels very flat as a villain. Her weird pink-yellow hair will take time to get used too, though.
• Z-Moves. On one hand, the animation for Gigavolt Havoc is cool. On the other hand, I dunno. Maybe it's the text that shows up when the moves are used, maybe it's additional favouritism to a particular bunch of Pokemon, but I just felt like it's unnecessary. We'll see. I had similar reservations to Mega Evolution before and now I like it, so we'll see.
• Pokemon Snap. Or, er, photography or whatever. It felt too much like a weak minigame where you just take photos and do nothing, really, unlike Snap where there's a bit of interactivity to force spawning of Pokemon.

What else is there to say about? I dunno. I just felt like they could've showcased a bit more, added like three or four more Pokemon into the game to make it less small. I mean, there's like, what, a grand total of ten Pokemon in the game, total? Greninja, Pikachu, Rockruff, Pikipek, Yungoos, Hakamo-o, Jangmo-o, Golbat, plus the NPC Tauroses, Slowpokes and Machamps?