Pokemon Sun & Moon demo: How to get Ash Greninja and items to transfer to the full game
How to get your hands on this powerful Pokemon.
Pokemon Sun & Moon's special demo is now available to download for Nintendo 3DS via the eShop, and offers a tiny slice of what fans can expect from the highly anticipated game that's set to celebrate Pokemon's 20th anniversary.
The demo is a pretty cool freebie since it actually uses locations and other assets from the game but is built as a small stand-alone slice of Pokemon Sun & Moon. By playing it, you're not spoiling or seeing any of the story of the actual game itself, but rather getting an introduction to its mechanics, world and characters in a one-off spin-off piece.
It gives you a small glimpse taking photos, Pokemon Battles, riding Pokemon, the land of Alola and the game's newfound sense of style in its presentation, something I greatly praised in my hands-on experience with the full version of the game.
The demo is only 30 minutes long, but it's well worth your time. As well as the introduction, you're able to unlock items in the demo that you can transfer over to the final game. In case you're at all confused or hit a road-block, here's the important stuff you need to know about that:
How to get Ash Greninja and transfer it to Pokemon Sun & Moon
Getting your hands on Ash Greninja isn't actually a difficult thing at all. You won't need to catch this Pokemon or do anything special to obtain it - in fact, the very first scene of the demo is you getting hold of it for free.
As you play through the demo you'll use this Greninja for a few battles. All of this is easy; the demo is designed to be easy-going for new players. Eventually you'll have to use the Poke-finder to find 4 Pokemon as part of the storyline - do so. If you're not sure where they are, we've got you covered:
Pokemon Sun & Moon Demo: Trial Pokemon Locations
- Inside the hole that's in the wall directly to the left of the Professor when you start
- Follow the path to the Professor's left, diagonally down. At a fork in the cave, head upwards. You'll find another hole in the wall just after the fork.
- Continue on the path from the previous bullet point down and to the left. Don't fall down the ledge, and you'll find this Pokemon at the path's end.
- Leave the cave from the exit in the top left exit, and then head north from there - it's right in front of you.
After all this, you'll find yourself going through a few more battles and also have access to a Pikachu for your troubles. Eventually, you'll battle Team Skull Admin Plumeria. This is the final battle of the demo, but is still really easy, so don't sweat it.
How to transfer Ash Greninja to Pokemon Sun & Moon
Once you've completed the demo, you can restart the demo over and explore the city of Hau'oli. There are some extra goodies you can find post-completion if you explore around, but more important than that is that this is where you'll get the chance to send Greninja over to Pokemon Sun & Moon proper. Here's how you do it.
- Once you have the full game either on a cart or as a download, have it downloaded to your 3DS or have the cart installed. If you have both the cart installed and the digital version downloaded for some reason, the transfer will default to the cart rather than the download.
- Load up the demo again and head to the city's Pokemon Center.
- Inside the Pokemon Center, chat to Professor Kurui.
- He'll chat to you a bit. When given the chance, select 'send to full version. He'll do the rest.
The Ash Greninja actually has some pretty impressive stats. I'll let this excited Pokemon fan on YouTube explain - he crunches the numbers and realizes it's quite an impressive Pokemon, and thus a decent bonus.
Other bonuses you can transfer
In addition to Ash Greninja, there's also other bonus items you can find once the demo has been completed. Watch the little trailer for the full game, then boot right back into the demo.
You'll pick up where you left off and with freedom to explore. You'll also be given a Ride Pager, and this will let you ride a Tauros and smash through rocks, which will open up a few extra areas of the demo as a result.
There's also NPCs who seem to hint that events are going to happen inside the demo in the coming days based on the real world date. We'll check up on some of this and update this page as we figure all that out - so stick with us. We'll update this page.