Pokemon Sun and Moon demo arrives October 18, starter evolutions revealed

A new Pokemon Sun and Moon trailer has arrived, and it shows off the first evolved forms for the games' three new starter Pokemon. Rowlet, the grass/flying dual type starter that the internet fell in love with will evolve into Dartrix, while the fire cat Litten evolves into Torracat and the water-type seal Pokemon Popplio will evolve into Brionne, referred to in Nintendo's announcement as the "Pop Star Pokemon."

Of course, starter Pokemon evolve twice, so there's still one more form to be revealed, assuming those final evolutions are revealed at all before the launch of the games. The trailer also reveals that Mega Evolution will be making a return in Pokemon Sun and Moon, though that seemed like a given considering how heavily it featured in Pokemon XY and ORAS.

We're also seeing some of Pokemon Sun and Moon's social features today. In these new games, you'll be able to visit a place called Festival Plaza, where you'll be able to see other players in-game. At the Festival Plaza, you'll be able to participate in events and missions to earn Festival Coins, which can be spent at a variety of specialty shops or on expanding the Plaza itself.

You'll also be able to send Pokemon stored in the PC to a new location called Poke Pelago. On Poke Pelago, stored Pokemon are able to explore and train, playing games to attract new Pokemon or find rare items. Essentially, this means that the Pokemon you catch will have more use beyond just filling a Pokedex entry.

Finally, the trailer reveals that a demo of Pokemon Sun and Moon will be arriving on the 3DS eShop on October 18, one month before the full games launch. Like the demo for Pokemon ORAS, players will be given a special companion to accompany them. The companion this time around is Greninja, which can transform into the powered-up Ash-Greninja from the anime. When the titles launch, you'll be able to transfer the demo's Greninja over to the full games and use him there.

We're quickly closing in on the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon, with the new games slated to launch on November 18. We'll likely have more reveals before then, so stay tuned.