Pokémon X and Y: What We Know So Far!
This October sees the release of the newest generation of Pokémon, the X and Y series. Over the last few months we’ve been shown snippets and teaser images of what’s to come, so let’s take a look at what’s been released!
The Trainers:
Not a lot is known about the trainer characters yet. They’ve received no names, but the rumours are suggesting that they’re going to be customizable for the first time! If true, this is going to be a brilliant feature. Players can finally create characters to represent themselves and their physical appearance. First and second generation games always had the player character as a male, and it wasn’t until Crystal, the last of the seconds generation games, that the trainer could be a male or female sprite.
The Region:
We know this region to be called Kalos. It’s based in Europe, namely France, unlike Unova which was based in America and Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, which were all based in Japan. We only know of two cities so far; Lumiose City and Shalour City. Like Hoenn, it seems to have a lot of water mass.
Gameplay:
Unlike any of the other Pokémon games, this game features full 3D rendered graphics! This means we’ll be seeing the end of pixelated sprites and saying hello to 3D Pokémon models. This may not sound like a big deal, but for those who’ve been playing since the days of Red and Blue, to see how much the game graphics and style have changed, it’s genuinely fantastic. This is certainly going to make battles more intense and personal, instead of standard animations for attacks. New battle types have been implemented, also. This includes the interesting ‘Sky Battle’ for Flying type Pokémon exclusively, and there’s also been gameplay footage of random encounters with up to four Pokémon at a time. But the biggest gameplay feature in my opinion.. JUMPING UP LEDGES. That’s right, with the aid of new Pokémon, Gogoat, the trainer will be able to jump up ledges, not just down.
Fairy Type:
A new type called Fairy type has been introduced into this generation. It’s said to be supereffective against Dragon type and weak against Steel types. Sylveon, the new Eevee evolutions is going to be Fairy type, along with older Pokémon in the series like Dunsparce, Mawile and various others!
Pokémon-Amie!
Perhaps the feature I’m most excited for! I loved in Pokémon Yellow that you could actually turn around and talk to your Pikachu. It was very personal and generally a really nice feature. It was replecated in HeartGold and SoulSilver, but in this case, you could have any Pokémon follow you and talk to you. They scrapped this idea in the Black and White series, which I thought was a shame, but with this new feature, Pokémon-Amie, interacting with your Pokémon is becoming even more personal. With a ‘Nintendogs’ style interface, you’ll now be able to pet, feed and play with your Pokémon using your stylus and the touchscreen!
Mega Evolutions:
The most recent piece of news announced is Mega Evolutions. This new feature allows certain Pokémon to change forms depending on held items. This is going to apply to Ampharos, Absol, Blaziken, Kangaskhan, Lucario, Mawile and of course, Mewtwo. We’re unsure if the Mega Stone (confirmed to change Blaziken into its mega evolution) will work for all Pokémon or just Blaziken. It’s been said that Mega Evolutions will majorly increase one stat of the Pokémon.
And last but not least…
New Pokémon!
