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Pokémon Sun and Moon get release date, starter Pokémon revealed

Let's have a Pikachu.

The Pokémon Company has revealed new details on Pokémon Sun & Moon, the latest instalments in the phenomenally successful RPG series, showing off the starter Pokémon players will be setting out their adventures with and announcing both games are set to release in Europe on November 23rd - some five days after they're out in North America.

Pokémon Sun & Moon are both exclusive to Nintendo' 3DS and 2DS systems, and will introduce the Alola region - a gentle riff off of Hawaii, as the name not so subtly suggests - while marking the first all-new mainline Pokémon game since 2013's X & Y.

A new video introduced the starter Pokémon, with grass and flying type owl-like creature Rowlet, fire type Litten - an adorable black kitten - and water type Popplio, an acrobatic sea lion. And if you're thinking of picking Popplio over Rowlet or Litten you should have words with yourself.

The video shows a slight progression from Pokémon X & Y, with a wider variety of trainers available, and with trainers visible at the outset of a battle. Pokémon Sun & Moon will be available simultaneously in multiple languages, and players can transfer Pokémon from the original games via their Virtual Console versions, a feature previously announced when Sun & Moon was first unveiled.

This weekend sees the Pokémon National Championships hit Liverpool, and a trio of Twitch channels have been set up to stream the action. You can follow the card game championship here, the video game championship here and the Pokken Tournament competition over here.

Watch on YouTube