How to get Ash's Greninja in Pokemon Sun and Moon (February 2023)

While the latest Pokemon Scarlet and Violet titles have received a lot of attention lately, many players have turned their focus over to the seventh-generation games, Pokemon Sun and Moon. This is because these titles house one of the rarest creatures of all time, Ash's Greninja. But what makes this creature unique compared to others of the same species?

Before the games' initial launch, Game Freak launched a special demo exclusive to the Nintendo eShop for players to see the new interface, graphics, and gameplay changes. Rather than catching Pokemon of their own, trainers took on the challenges of this demo with a special Greninja that their avatar found in their mailbox.

What really made this demo worth playing was the fact that players could find a way to take this special Greninja into their save file upon the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon.

To make matters better, players can still install this demo to get the special Greninja right now. So how can they do it?

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Complete Pokemon Sun and Moon's special demo and transfer Ash's Greninja to a copy of the games

Ash-Greninja as it appears in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

This special Greninja's main attraction is its special ability: Battle Bond. Though the recent Greninja raid in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet gave players a chance to catch a Greninja with the same ability, the trait has undergone a rework that fans are not happy about. As such, this is the only way players can experience what makes Battle Bond such a special ability.

In the Kalos season of the anime, Ash and his Greninja were a duo so in sync that the pair could share each other's energy and feel each other's pain. This bond between trainer and Pokemon helped Greninja ascend even further past what its species was capable of, achieving a new form unlike any other in the franchise: Ash-Greninja.

The only way players can obtain a Greninja with the ability to transform into the powerful Ash-Greninja is by completing Pokemon Sun and Moon's special demo. However, a lot of players who want to get a hold of this special Greninja may not know if the demo is still available.

Players can still download both Pokemon Sun and Moon as well as the demo with Ash-Greninja as long as the Nintendo eShop is still online. Sadly, this will be changing shortly as the eShop is closing forever on March 27, 2023. After this date, only players with the demo installed will be able to obtain Ash-Greninja.

To transfer Ash-Greninja to a copy of Pokemon Sun and Moon, players will first need to complete the demo fully. This should take no longer than 20 minutes, as the tasks are not very long or difficult. Once trainers have done so, they can talk to Professor Kukui at the Pokemon Center to transfer Greninja, as well as the items they collected, to their save file in the full title.

Players should keep their Ash-Greninja in Pokemon Sun and Moon as well as the Ultra titles. These are the only games where Battle Bond can activate properly, thus allowing the creature to change forms.