fyi, I greatly enjoy Smash 4 as a game. I was actually pretty hyped pre-release and I'd argue that I follow the Smash 4 competitive scene more than anyone in this site (let alone the Melee scene lol). Of course in my perspective, Smash 4 will always be inferior to Melee mechanic/competitive wise because the fact is that it's just slower in every way. I knew that, but I don't let it affect how I view it overall as a game, as I love Smash 4 and I don't mind most of the competitive aspect of it either (zzz camping Sonics).

I think some people are going overboard with all these Sun and Moon criticisms, like seriously wait until you read the entire book instead of judging it on its cover.

I might want to contest that.

I think this discussion has mostly run its course, but I have to point out your point about change is very inconsistent.

Ever since Pokémon began, it has always remained mostly the same. Changes in how IV's and EV's work, the addition of Natures and maybe even Abilities, double/triple/rotation battles, new villains, 2D to 3D (merely aesthetic change), night and day cycle, and even new types... those are either natural evolution kind of changes (such as graphics), subtle changes (like IV's) or additions to the battle system to make it more balanced and/or more varied (types and abilities).

Case in point, the biggest changes in Pokémon from 1996 to early 2013 were the additions of the Dark, Steel and Fairy types as well as the addition of Abilities. That's not a lot of big changes, if you ask me - and that's because Pokémon has always been an "evolutionary" series, in the sense that every game just keeps building content on top of the last one.

The first truly big change in the history of Pokémon ever since its beginnings was Mega Evolution. Back then, it was also the only one, with the rest of the game (X/Y) remaining mostly very true to everything the franchise had ever been.

Now with Sun/Moon, there were A LOT of huge changes like Mega Evolution (UBs, Z-moves, Alola Forms and the lack of gyms altogether), to the point where it just becomes weird and hard to accept for a lot of people. I actually know a lot of friends who were super hyped for Sun/Moon and eventually grew to the point of disgust just like I have, and that's because all of them, and myself, feel like they no longer know the same franchise.

Having new villains, new regions based on other places, new extra features... all that stuff is fine. I'd probably be very hyped for Sun/Moon if it simply didn't have the Alola Forms, Z-moves and Ash-Greninja, and instead had focused its trailers on an interesting new story about Ultra Beasts and Team Skull, while still being on Alola and not having gyms. Not having gyms and having these UBs would already be a big enough change to make this game VERY different from the rest of the series, actually.

The problem isn't that they're changing the formula and creating new, different content - the problem is that they're changing stuff we already know and love and turning those things into something completely different that we don't know and love.