Pokemon X & Y

This week marked an important time in the handheld market as the Pokémon Company International and Nintendo official blew our minds with the announcement of new instalments in their key franchise. Interestingly the pre-announcement speculation was about a new movie or spin off title so this event went down even better than expected with the industry as a whole.

Pokémon X and Y will mark the very first entries in the next generation of Pokémon (which is Generation VI, for those of you keeping check). They’re also the first set of core games to use the 3D graphical capabilities of the 3DS system. Marking another first for the series – both games have been confirmed to be launching worldwide in October this year. This means that all Pokémon fans will be able to start the game at the same time rather than watching the Japanese market for 6 months first.

Outside of the trailer and the screenshots released very little has actually been revealed but speculation is already growing. Of course most of the information listed below is speculative but based on the usual formula we can expect this to be pretty close to the truth.

Firstly the biggest announcement was the introduction of new Pokémon to the series again and therefore new starters – Chespin (Grass), Fennekin (Fire) and Froakie (Water). These actually look like reasonable character designed but if Fennekin is another final form Fire/Fighting monster I’ll kill myself.

The trailer showed off the new dynamic battle camera. No longer stuck behind your critter it looks like we’ll be treated to several angles and movement dependant on attack, and possibly battle area. It should make the usual experience grinding a bit more exciting and with such a large move pool this has to be a welcome addition for most fans.

Incidentally the 3D Pokémon models look very similar to those in the Pokedex 3D Pro application that released late last year (and ironically was touted in one of my previous articles as a stop gap for these animations in a core game – GO ME!)

Although the trailer was brief, at around 1 minute, it did also give us a glimpse of the legendary monster titles in the game names. The monsters themselves look like the letters of the games with the Y-shaped bird monster Yveltal and the X-shaped deer Xerneas on show.

It also appears, from the trailer at least, that you will be playing as either a male or a female trainer who maybe a bit older than in previous generations. That could just be down to the new viewpoint but who knows….

It’s also worth noting that the cute mouse Pokémon Pikachu was also on display. It’s probably therefore a safe assumption to think that this new installment will not be a new Pokémon only game, a’la Black and White, as you appear to be able to catch monsters from the previous generations too. This also means that trading between these instalments and the DS generations will likely be a possibility sooner rather than later.

The trailer also showed off several varied locations from standard towns to roaring deserts. Interestingly one of the shots shows the trainer running down a route that appears to be marked with a ‘3’. This could be interpreted that the map layout and progression will be akin to the other games of the past. There is also ‘long grass’ on show and waiting trainers for all you Pokémon battle needs.

One other side note is that we can also see the male trainer rollerblading through a city. Some people have already speculated that this could replace the bike as the fastest means of transport as we also get a shot of the female trainer running over a bridge. Another point worth noting is the Eiffel Tower style building in the background of the shot, suggesting that perhaps this region is based on ‘Europe’ or ‘France’.

There also appears to be several puzzle areas on display within the trailer which, due to past histories, are likely to be gym trials. The first one is almost certainly a gym with a symbol on display on the two columns by the front door. The room materialises from nothing and could outline a psychic gym again. The second shows some ‘electric’ style webbing which you can bounce on and also some vines to swing on. This could well be the return of a bug or poison gym.

Finally there is also a temple of some kind with giant columns of fire. If this is also a gym then it’s probably the largest yet but then again it could also show that the standard world map will also have different puzzles and movements based on the different routes. Perhaps it is somewhere you meet one of the legendary monster, perhaps even the flying Yveltal.

It going to be an exciting year for Pokémon Masters everywhere and it is sure to also include several minor releases over it’s duration. How many more monsters will there be? How big will the gameworld be? Will there be any changes to the tried and tested formula?

Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below….