Two of the more popular games of 2016, Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon, will be released very soon. The two handheld role-playing games are also getting several official game guides. So are the Official Strategy Guide, Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Edition and Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Vault worth buying? You can find out with our buying guide below.
Pricing
The standard version of the book is naturally the cheapest, followed by the collector’s edition. The collector’s vault is the most expensive version. You can check out the price tags for the three products with the following links on Amazon:
- Official Strategy Guide
- Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Edition
- Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Vault
About Pokemon Sun and Moon
While the core concept of capturing, raising and battling Pokemons has remained intact, the latest generation of games do made some significant changes.
One of which is the addition of Z-Moves. These powerful maneuvers can be used once per battles under the right conditions as the trainer must hold the same Z-Crystal as the Pokemon on the battlefield.
Another new feature is Hyper Training, which allows you to increase the stats of your Pokemon even after reaching the 100 level cap. To do so, you must find bottle caps and bring them to Mr. Hyper.
One other major change is how you progress through the game. Previously, you moved from town to town in order to beat gym leaders and earn badges. In Sun and Moon, however, you have to pass a variety of trials unique to the islands you visit.
As you can see above, the latest generation brings a lot of changes to the gameplay.
Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Strategy Guide
The standard edition of the official strategy guide is designed to provide a detailed walkthrough for both titles. The coverage include locations on where to catch the pocket monsters as well as providing information on all the moves, items and more. In addition to the campaign, the book is going to help readers with the multiplayer modes as well. Along with the guide, the product also comes with a pullout map of the Alola region.
You can purchase the Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Strategy Guide, if you are interested, via this page.
Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Collector’s Edition Guide
The Collector’s Edition comes with everything from the Standard Edition. Of course, there are also plenty of extras, one of which is a premium hardcover design. Furthermore, you will also be getting an exclusive concept art from Game Freak, the studio behind the development of Sun and Moon. The bundle includes a behind the scenes look at the various non-playable characters in the Alola region. Last but not least are eight high-quality double sided lithographs, featuring more concept artwork, stored inside a protective sleeve.
The Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Collector’s Edition Guide can be purchased here.
Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Vault
The Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Vault also has its own unique hardcover design, which also comes with a soft-touch dust jacket. Not to mention it has with the same aforementioned lithographs found in the Collector’s Edition.
The exclusives in the Collector’s Vault are a roller ball pen, which features the logos from both games, and full size bookmark with artwork from the games. There is also a special gold foil stamped Thank You card from the developers over at the aforementioned Game Freak studio as well as five removable decals featuring the new pocket monsters.
The standout item from this bundle is the 240-page journal, which features a debossed pattern with gold foil, ribbon bookmark and inside pocket. All of these extras, along with the main guide, are stored inside the Vault Edition box , which uses a magnetic clasp.
The Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Strategy Guide Collector’s Vault will only be available in limited quantities as it won’t get another print run once it sell out. So, it’s best to purchase it as soon as possible. You can do so via this link.
Recap
The Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon: Official Strategy Guide, which is the cheapest option out of the three, is worth checking out if you are a completionist. With that said, all of the details from the book will eventually make their way online.
Thus, you may be better off with the Collector’s Edition Guide and Collector’s Vault as they both come with some great physical extras. Not to mention that the Collector’s Vault is going to be limited in availability and will most likely become quite rare.
Nintendo will be releasing Pokemon Sun and Moon on November 18th in the North American region.