Generation VII has continued to add positive reception to the Pokémon franchise's enduring legacy, with 2016's Sun & Moon becoming the highest pre-selling Nintendo titles.
However, as with every Pokémon trainer's journey, there are always more regions to explore. Now that many fans are beginning to wrap up their time in the Alola region, the highly-anticipated Generation VIII is on the horizon for 2019 on the Nintendo Switch.
One of the great features of Pokémon games is their replay value. Even after conquering each region's Pokémon League, this does not mean that trainers have completed their Pokédex, found every item, or conquered the games' hidden challenges that are not part of the main storyline.
Just as it takes time to train one's Pokémon to challenge the next trainer, it also takes time to discover everything that each game has to offer.
The Generation VII games are no exception.
However, while Sun & Moon gave players plenty of content to browse, the two follow-ups released the following year, Ultra Sun & Moon, brought an alternate storyline, new features, and, of course, new Pokémon.
Since the Ultra games increase the number of things to do in the Alola region, players may want to take another look at the games to see what they might have missed in order to truly experience everything that the games have to offer.
Here are the 20 Things Only Experts Know How To Do In Pokémon Ultra Sun & Moon.
20. Win The Surfing Pikachu
The iconic mouse-like Pokémon may be best known for hitting enemies with Thunderbolt, but some of them are also known for hitting the waves.
The move Surf can be taught to Pokémon with the use of a Technical Machine (TM), but a Pikachu found in the games already comes with it.
However, this Pikachu is not going to be found in the wild. Instead, it is won in a mini game.
Mantine Surf puts players on the back of a Mantine on different surfing courses and has them perform tricks to add to their overall score.
If the high score for each course is beaten, players can go to HeaHea City's Surf Association office to claim their Pika-prize.
This is not the first surfing Pikachu to be found in the series, as one first appeared in Generation I's Surfing Pikachu minigame, and most recently in a special Pokémon GO event.
19. Defeat Pokémon Master Red (Or Blue)
It looks like two of Pokémon royalty decided to go on vacation to Alola. After becoming Alola Champion, travelling to the Battle Tree on Poni Island will bring players face-to-face with the now-grown-up iconic Generation I rival trainers.
Both trainers' teams are also made up of Generation I Pokémon, which is sure to please fans of Red & Blue.
Red's team is even led by all three fully-evolved Kanto starters and a powerful Pikachu. Players can only choose one to battle, but neither one is going to go down easily.
However, if a player is successful, they will gain access to the Battle Tree, where earning Battle Points (BPs) provides access to rare prizes and trainers can battle for some intense but satisfying training.
18. Earn Top Grade in Battle Agency
Located on Festival Plaza, the Battle Agency is one of the most unique and challenging battle facilities in the Alola region.
To qualify for battles, players must borrow Pokémon from other trainers.
As players win battles, they receive Festival Coins and increase their grade, which affects the level of both their borrowed Pokémon and opponents' Pokémon.
When players reach grade 10, battle settings can appear that will affect the weather or battle field.
Boss battles also begin to appear, which earn the player a Gold Bottle Cap from the reception desk for every defeated boss.
The highest grade a player can reach is 50, but the path to earning it will certainly not be easy.
17. Solve All Four Charjabug Puzzles
Ultra Sun & Moon changed several elements of the previous two games, with one being the trial of Hokulani Observatory.
In the Ultra games, players must line up Charjabug using rotating s, which Trial Captain Sophocles uses to power a Pokémon-calling invention.
After completing the trail, players can return to the observatory to solve a series of four progressively harder Charjabug puzzles. However, this time players will only have a maximum of four moves to solve each puzzle.
Once the puzzles are completed, the player will receive a PP Max, which raises the Power Points of a selected Pokémon move. While this may not compare to other challenge winnings, it does offer a nice break from battling and a good workout for the brain.
16. Unlock All Battle Styles
Generation VII introduced Battle Styles, which gives players the power to change the way their trainer throws their Poké Balls in battle, as well as the pose that they strike when the battle begins.
There are eight Battle Styles (besides the Normal Style that players start out with) in total: Elegant, Girlish, Idol, Left-Handed, Nihilist, ionate, Reverent, and Smug.
A player's style can be changed by speaking to an old man at the Outer Cape of Malie City.
However, only the Elegant Style is made available upon speaking to the man for the first time.
The others must be unlocked through various methods, such as beating the Master Rank in Battle Royal or getting 50 consecutive Battle Tree wins.
Nevertheless, it's nice to have different styles to better fit a player's personality.
15. Collect All Totem Stickers And Pokémon
One normally doesn't associate sticker collecting with the Pokémon series (though that's what fans also said about the Mario franchise and then Paper Mario: Sticker Star showed up).
However, there are more to Alola's collectable stickers than them being shiny (and sometimes hard to find). Depending on the amount collected, players can obtain new versions of Pokémon.
Totem Pokémon are like regular Pokémon but larger in height and weight, which can affect certain move mechanics.
Once 20 stickers are found, the player will be invited to meet with Samson Oak at HeaHea Beach to receive their first Totem Pokémon (a Gumshoos in Ultra Sun and Raticate in Ultra Moon).
From there, 80 more stickers can be found, which give players access to five more Totem Pokémon.
14. Acquire Judge Function For PC
Since Generation III, stats judges have been used to determine the range of individual values (IVs), which are used in figuring Pokémon stats.
Every time a player wanted to evaluate a new Pokémon, they had to travel back to the judge.
However, in Generation VII, a judge function can be acquired for a player's PC that will evaluate Pokémon for them.
To get it, a player must hatch 20 eggs or more and get into the Hall of Fame.
After this, they can travel to the Battle Tree and meet up with the stats judge, who will reward them with the judge function.
When using it, a Pokémon's IV is ranked from 0 to 31, with 0 being "No Good" and 31 being "Best."
13. Catch Zygarde And Assemble It To Complete Forme
The Dragon/Ground Legendary Pokémon from X & Y has come to Alola, and its forms can be found on two separate islands.
After becoming Champion, trainers can travel to Resolution Cave in Poni Meadow. Zygarde’s 50% Forme can be captured in the lower level.
Next, players can go to Route 16's Aether trailer and battle Dexio for the 10% Forme.
If defeated, Sina will then also provide players with 40 Zygarde Cells.
The Zygarde Machine must be used to reassemble the parts into one Zygarde. Once in battle, the Zygarde can use Power Construct when its HP is 50% or lower to transform into its Complete Forme.
12. Fully Upgrade Poké Finder
Many Pokémon fans will the Nintendo 64 title Pokémon Snap, which centered on taking photos of wild Pokémon.
The Alola region offers trainers something similar with the Poké Finder, which players receive after visiting the Tourist Center in Hau'oli City.
The photos can be entered into a comment system, which will award players points based on the quality of the photos.
As a player builds up points, they come closer to unlocking the next version of the Finder.
There are five versions in total, with Versions 2, 3, and 4 providing different zoom upgrades and Version 5 giving the player the ability to call the Pokémon they are photographing.
Version 5 can only be unlocked with 1,500,000 points, but players would do well to give it a shot anyway.
11. Conquer Battle Royal
For players looking for a more unpredictable style of Pokémon battling, look no further than Akala Island's Battle Royal.
Located in a dome on the aptly-named Royal Avenue, this competition pits four trainers against each other in a free-for-all fight with three Pokémon each (but only one out on the arena at a time).
The pressure is on to KO other trainers' Pokémon to earn points.
To end the match, one trainer's Pokémon must all be eliminated. After this, the player with the highest number of points is declared the winner.
Winning matches will earn the player BPs, as well as unlock the next rank. A total of three additional ranks of increasing difficulty can be unlocked.
