Here's When the Next Pokémon Games Are Coming Out

Welcome Pokémon Rowlet, Fire-type Litten and Water-type Popplio—three of the newly catchable critters crewing studio Game Freak’s upcoming roleplaying twosome, Pokémon Sun and Moon. Also revealed: the games, exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS handhelds, will be available stateside on November 18.

Those three starter Pokémon are part of the first official gameplay trailer, which opens by pulling back slowly from the eponymous celestial bodies divided in two. Then it’s off to Hawaii—err, the “Alola region,” where you’ll pick a preliminary fighting pal.

There’s Rowlet, a Grass/Flying Pokémon, the shortest and lightest of the bunch. Rowlet’s a stealthy flier capable of delivering powerful kicks, flinging razor-sharp leaves plucked from its back and swiveling its head 180 degrees to scan both front and back.

Or Litten, a slightly taller, heaver Fire Cat Pokémon that converts its hairballs (obtained from self-grooming, of course) into fireballs it can hurl at opponents. When it molts (because this is Pokémon, so cats can molt), all its fur goes up in a blaze, presumably signifying a devastating special move.

And then there’s Popplio, a bulky Sea Lion Pokémon that can blow balloons of water from its nose, then use them to perform various attacks, jumps and acrobatic stunts.

Like 2013’s Pokémon X and Y, the last two games to deliver new Pokémon, Pokémon Sun and Moon should transpire in another vast, fully 3D world. And as noted in earlier announcements, you’ll be able to plug Pokémon from select older games into Sun and Moon by first uploading them to a cloud storage service dubbed Pokémon Bank.

Write to Matt Peckham at matt.peckham@time.com.