"A retrospective on the increasing scope for third/enhanced versions over time, and why USUM could potentially have much more to reveal."

Concerning third versions/enhanced versions/follow-ups, Gamefreak in my opinion has quite the good track record. I was very satisfied with how good Emerald, Platinum, and B2W2 were, which naturally meant that as soon as Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were revealed, I preordered it as soon as I had the money, perhaps even foolishly, depending on who you ask.While some people won't find USUM as appealing as others, which is perfectly understandable and fine, I also wanted to present a different perspective of how much I think USUM will "enhance" SM, based on what Gamefreak did with previous third/enhanced versions. For this post, although USUM are not considered sequels, I will still look at what Black and White 2 added, because both sets of games have their similarities; both were/are going to be released quite late into their respective platforms' lifespans, and both are split into two versions. Please also keep in mind that I am not analyzing how good the game is, and I am not trying to imply that Platinum is better than Emerald for example; I am simply analyzing the changes over time regarding the amount of content that is added in a third version.Pokemon Yellow-Redone sprites-Various changes to reflect the anime-Slight redesigns-Ability to get all 3 kanto starters within the game without trading-Pikachu following behind you-Pokemon encounters adjusted)-Learnsets adjustedAs seen, Pokemon Yellow in terms of third/enhanced versions added the least in terms of extra content compared to the originals, however we will see that the amount of content that is added will increase over time.Pokemon Crystal-Female player character added-Slight redesigns-Pokemon have animations when coming out of their pokeball-Sprite changes-"Buena's Password" radio show added-Suicune is more prominant in the story-A new character; Eusine-Dragon's Den events alteredIn terms of scope, Crystal raised the bar for how much Gamefreak would add to a third/enhanced version; an example would include the fact that Crystal was the first third version to include a notable storyline difference in comparison to the originals (suicune has a greater focus).Pokemon Emerald Starting from this game, the third version additions actually become quite numerous, so I will link the Bulbapedia page directly: http://ift.tt/2hbox3T is where the third version differences began to become very plentiful, with many story and gameplay additions. It increased the scope in several ways by introducing to third editions the addition of several battle facilities, much greater post-games, new setpieces in existing locations (battle tents and mirage tower for example), and player character designs.Pokemon Platinum http://ift.tt/2xeqyFA brought us to a whole new level in terms of third versions by introducing several new expectations for a third version: "fixes" to problems with the original games (D/P with the lack of fire types and slow pace for example), an increased pokedex, pokemon forms that can be changed rather than differing depending on the version with Deoxys, graphical changes not just in the sprites but also in the area design itself, overworld gameplay changes such as the surfing speed, etc.Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 http://ift.tt/2hb4DWu are the most recent "enhanced" games that have come out until USUM (in my opinion anyway, even though B2W2 were sequels they still technically "enhanced" the unova experience, but I agree that there is definitely room to disagree; however, even if you don't want to compare B2W2 to yellow, crystal, emerald, and platinum, the point I make later will likely still stand), and also have the biggest scope for "enhanced" versions so far, with arguably the most amount of changes compared to Black/White; most notably, B2W2 introduced the idea of having brand new towns and gyms, which hadn't been seen before in an enhanced or third version before.As you can see, the scope of how many additions a third/enhanced version will have compared to the originals increased over time, and even with the limited information we have about USUM, we can already see that this trend still continues; USUM introduced two new pokemon mid-generation, something that has never happened before.So what does this mean about USUM? In my eyes this could potentially mean that USUM will have the biggest scope so far of the third/enhanced versions, meaning Gamefreak still has a lot to reveal, and could feature many changes and additions and could potentially have the most content when compared to the other pokemon games on 3DS, but the only way to know if this will be true is to wait for Gamefreak to reveal more.Regarding that, please note that I am not trying to hype people up and get people to preorder USUM, I am simply providing some context as to why I am personally looking forward to it, and if you are someone who is cautious of USUM, I encourage you to continue to wait for more information before making any purchase decisions. Thanks for reading.EDIT: Slight formatting and wording edits to make the post clearer to read. via /r/pokemon http://ift.tt/2fdk0kv