Pokemon Sun and Moon early purchasers get Munchlax for free

Nintendo has just held a new Direct broadcast entirely centered around the 3DS, and as expected, Pokemon Sun and Moon led the charge. This time around, there aren't many new reveals, but Nintendo did announce that there will a bonus for early purchasers of the game, just like those who bought Pokemon X and Y at launch.

Those who purchase Pokemon Sun and Moon between launch day and January 11, 2017 will be able to receive a Munchlax through mystery gift. On its own, Munchlax wouldn't really be much of a bonus, but this one comes holding Snorlium Z. Once Munchlax evolves into Snorlax, it can use that Snorlium Z to pull off its special Z-Move, Pulverizing Pancake. Sounds tasty, but it's horrifying in practice, as Pulverizing Pancake has Snorlax leaping into the air to body slam its opponents.

The Nintendo Direct broadcast also revealed a single Alolan form. Rattata, of all Pokemon, is getting a new form in Pokemon Sun and Moon, turning into a dual-type dark/normal Pokemon. Apparently this Alolan form is the product of a Rattata infestation in the Alola region. When the sheer number of Rattata became too much for the residents of Alola to deal with, they introduced Yungoos to the region to take care of the problem. In order to avoid encountering Yungoos, Rattata became nocturnal, and thus its dark/normal variant came into existence.

So, not a whole lot of Pokemon Sun and Moon news today, but the promise of a free Munchlax will certainly be a nice bonus for people who were already planning to buy the games around launch. The revelation that certain Pokemon will have their own Z-Moves is interesting as well, since it should greatly expand the roster of Z-Moves to discover. Pokemon Sun and Moon launch for Nintendo 3DS on November 18.