Pokemon Sun and Moon’s Samson Oak is like the Alola variant of Professor Oak

Samson Oak, Professor Oak’s cousin, makes his first appearance in Pokemon Sun and Moon as a brand-new character. One of the reasons Game Freak decided to introduce him was to reflect the Alola variants of Pokemon from the original Kanto region. In a way, Samson Oak is basically the Alolan form of the ol’ professor. “The cousin character, Samson Oak – we actually put that guy in the game to represent the Alola variants,” Game Freak producer Junichi Masuda told Game Informer. “He’s kind of an Alola variant himself, and that’s kind of his goal in the Alola region: to research these Pokémon that have adapted to the Alolan environment and changed how they appear. There are some other characters that may show up and may be recognized by fans of the previous games. So there’s some characters recurring, and maybe they show up with a different look than they had before. But in terms of Oak’s extended family, I think this is the only guy in Sun and Moon.”