10 Things Nintendo’s Best Video Games Can Teach Pokémon Sun & Moon

Ever since Pokémon Red & Blue launched twenty years ago, the games in the franchise's main series have scarcely struggled to attain critical acclaim. Reviews over the years have been glowing, with even the majority of the 'remakes' scoring extremely highly when they were reintroduced on a newer system with better hardware.

With the early trailers and pre-release information for Pokémon Sun & Moon pointing to a number of good things for the upcoming seventh generation, it's hard to imagine that that trend is going to be bucked any time soon. New features and upgrades have always been forthcoming enough to keep the success rolling in; Pokémon is still a powerhouse of modern gaming.

But continued innovation is key to a twenty year old series, and we know that critics may just need to see a little more from the second original set to arrive on Nintendo 3DS devices. A daunting task, of course, but luckily Nintendo has plenty of material to inspire right under their own noses.

To that end, it's time to consider which of their very best games could influence the Pokémon series for the new generation. Here are ten things that we think Nintendo's best can teach Pokémon Sun & Moon.

10. Be Smart With Mini Games - Mario Party

As the franchise has spanned handheld console generations, moving from GameBoy origins to arrive eventually at the 3DS, Pokémon games have started to pack a few extra features into the famous formula. Mini games have started to feature heavily in some of the later iterations, but with X & Y this aspect was threatening to get a tad uninspired.

Looking to a series like Mario Party could be just the remedy for this affliction. With the 3DS' touch screen options supplemented by a useful button set for alternative control, a number of the mini games from Mario Party could easily be transposed into Sun & Moon to form exciting new options for training your Pokémon.

Super Training was a big hit in X & Y, but since it operated in a very limited field it was easy to get bored of it fast. Rather than have nearly every version of the training depend on simply hammering the touch screen, the games could focus on the trainable attributes instead. The likes of 'Dungeon Dash' would be great for boosting speed, while the 'Buried Treasure' game could be a fun activity for increasing the effectiveness of Ground Type Pokémon.

The possibilities for this are virtually endless, and Mario Party offers the perfect inspiration.