You've finally beat the Elite Four. You're the Champion of Alola. But honestly, the real game is just starting. If you think you're done after the credits roll, you're missing out on the absolute chaos that is the Ultra Warp Ride. This mechanic is basically a love letter to long-time fans, but it's also a total headache if you don't know the specific rules for finding ultra sun and moon all legendaries.
Tracking them down isn't just about flying into a random hole and hoping for the best. It's a grind. A long, beautiful, sometimes frustrating grind.
The Version Exclusive Divide (And Why You Need a Friend)
Look, Game Freak loves making us trade. It's their thing. If you want every single legendary sitting in your PC boxes, you literally cannot do it with just one cartridge. You’ve probably already noticed that your box art bird or lion is unique, but the version exclusives go way deeper than just Solgaleo and Lunala.
Ultra Sun players get the "hard hitters" like Groudon, Dialga, and Heatran. On the flip side, Ultra Moon owners are the ones who get Kyogre, Palkia, and Regigigas. It’s a classic split.
Version Exclusives at a Glance
In Ultra Sun, you're hunting for:
- Ho-Oh (Red Wormholes)
- Raikou (Green)
- Groudon (Yellow)
- Latios (Blue)
- Dialga (Green)
- Heatran (Yellow)
- Reshiram (Green)
- Tornadus (Red)
- Xerneas (Green)
- Buzzwole & Kartana (White - Ultra Beasts)
But if you're rocking Ultra Moon, your list looks like this:
- Lugia (Blue)
- Entei (Green)
- Kyogre (Blue)
- Latias (Blue)
- Palkia (Yellow)
- Regigigas (Yellow)
- Zekrom (Green)
- Thundurus (Red)
- Yveltal (Red)
- Pheromosa & Celesteela (White - Ultra Beasts)
There's no way around it. You're going to need to trade or own both games to fill that National Dex.
The "Secret" Duo Requirements
This is where it gets kinda tricky. There are five specific legendaries that won't even show their faces unless you have their counterparts in your party. No, they don't have to be from the same game, but you need both.
Take Rayquaza, for example. He won't spawn in a red wormhole unless you have both Groudon and Kyogre in your active party. Not in the PC. In your party.
The same goes for Suicune (needs Raikou and Entei), Giratina (needs Dialga and Palkia), Kyurem (needs Reshiram and Zekrom), and Landorus (needs Tornadus and Thundurus). It's a lot of juggling. If you're hunting for Landorus, you'll be diving into red wormholes, but he won't trigger if you're missing one of the genie brothers.
Finding the Right Hole
Wormholes aren't all created equal. You've got four main colors for legendaries:
- Red: The sky dwellers. Birds, dragons, and genies.
- Blue: Water and psychic types. Think Lake Trio or Lugia.
- Green: Generally land-based powerhouses like Mewtwo or the Swords of Justice.
- Yellow: The cave dwellers. The Regis and Groudon live here.
Don't ignore the rings. A plain hole is basically a waste of time. You want the ones with double rings or the "flowery" aura. Those are your golden tickets to a guaranteed legendary encounter.
The Necrozma and Tapu Situation
While the Ultra Wormhole is where the "old" legends live, Alola has its own home-grown powerhouses. These aren't in space; they're right under your nose.
Necrozma is the big one. You’ll find it weakened at Mount Lanakila after the main story climax. It’s level 65 and frankly, it's a bit of a pushover to catch compared to the fight you had with its Ultra form. Don't forget to grab the N-Solarizer and N-Lunarizer from Colress nearby so you can actually use those fancy fusion forms.
Then you've got the Tapus. They are the guardians of the islands, and you catch them at their respective ruins:
- Tapu Koko: Ruins of Conflict (Melemele)
- Tapu Lele: Ruins of Life (Akala)
- Tapu Bulu: Ruins of Abundance (Ula'ula)
- Tapu Fini: Ruins of Hope (Poni)
Most people forget that you can also get a second Cosmog. If you take your cover legendary to the Altar of the Sunne/Moone at the "wrong" time of day, you can pass through a portal to the "Reverse World." Go to the Lake of the Sunne/Moone, and a cutscene will give you a level 5 Cosmog. It's the only way to get both Solgaleo and Lunala entries on one save file (via evolution and trading).
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Shiny Hunting: The Light-Year Myth
Let's clear something up. People think traveling 5,000 light-years guarantees a shiny legendary. It doesn't.
What it does do is maximize your odds. The further you go, the higher the chance that the game "rolls" a shiny for the standard Pokémon found in those holes. However, for legendaries, the shiny status is determined the moment you step through the portal and land in their arena.
This means you can soft reset.
Save your game right in front of the legendary. If it isn't shiny, L+R+Start (or Select) and try again. And again. And probably five thousand more times. Unlike the Alolan starters or the Tapus, these wormhole legendaries are NOT shiny-locked. You can get a lime-green Mewtwo if you have the patience of a saint.
Navigating the Warp Ride Without Losing Your Mind
The motion controls are terrible. Seriously, they’re the worst.
Go to the Game Freak office in Heahea City. Talk to the NPC in the bottom left of the room. He will let you switch the Ultra Warp Ride controls from motion sensing to the Circle Pad. This single change makes hitting those orange orbs and avoiding the blue electric clouds a thousand times easier.
To find the best legendaries, you need speed. If you hit too many blue clouds, you lose momentum and get sucked into a low-tier hole. Stay fast, stay centered, and look for those double-ringed portals far into the distance.
The Mythical Problem
Just a heads-up: don't go looking for Mew, Celebi, or Marshadow in the wormholes. They aren't there. Mythical Pokémon are almost always event-only. The only "Mythical" you can get easily is Magearna via the QR code scanner (which still works in 2026, by the way). You just scan the code, go to the delivery man in Hau'oli City, and boom—level 50 Magearna.
Zeraora and Marshadow? You're out of luck unless you find someone willing to trade an old event clone.
Your Next Steps in Alola
Catching them all is a marathon. Start by focusing on your version-specific legends first to clear the pool.
- Switch to Circle Pad controls at the Game Freak office immediately.
- Stock up on Quick Balls and Timer Balls. Legendaries in this game have notoriously low catch rates, and battles often drag on past 30 turns.
- Prepare a "Catcher" Pokémon. A Smeargle or Parasect with False Swipe and Spore is mandatory.
- Track your light-years. Aim for at least 3,000+ light-years to start seeing the high-tier, double-ringed wormholes consistently.
Once you've cleared out the singles, start trading for the opposites (like Kyogre if you have Sun) so you can unlock the "trio" encounters like Rayquaza. It takes time, but seeing that completed Pokédex is worth the flight.