On October the 12th, Pokémon X and Y will hit shelves across the world, a first for a Nintendo published game.  Among other distinctions, it has become the most-reserved title ever for the 3DS in Japan, not including copies of game bundled with the handheld.  The two titles have already received near universal praise, earning a 9 out of 10 from IGN and Eurogamer, 8.75 from Game Informer, and 8 from both Nintendo World Report and Edge.  With the introduction of Generation VI of Pokémon and the franchise’s transition to 3D, fans around the world are eager to see what improvements and modifications have been added.

In addition to Pokémon themselves rendered in 3D for the first time, X and Y boast a slew of new features.  Trainers will be customizable in appearance and gender with the ability to gather other unique items along the way.  A new type of “Fairy” Pokémon is introduced, the first new type since Gold and Silver back on the Game Boy Color.  Several new species are added as expected, including the legendary Xerneas and Yveltal.  Some classic Pokémon from the original games of the series, Red and Blue, will also be available during the course of gameplay.

Nintendo has big plans to integrate previous titles with X and Y, much like with the Transfer Pak for the N64 and the varied uses of the GameCube/GBA link cable pertaining to GBA releases.  Players will be able to import Pokémon from White, Black, White 2, and Black 2 as well as connect with other players for battling and trading of creatures.  These features are expected to persist through future Pokémon titles as well.

Mega Evolution, Horde Encounters, and Sky Battles are a few of the new gameplay mechanics announced and are fairly self-explanatory.  Mega Evolution will give fully evolved Pokémon the chance to temporarily enter an even more powerful evolution, and Horde Encounters function similar to encountering wild Pokémon except that they now appear in numbers.  Sky Battles are confrontations only between flying Pokémons.  One feature I’m especially looking forward to is the new Super Trainer option, the ability to bulk up the stats of a given Pokémon outside of endless rounds of combat.  Hopefully this won’t involve an equally exhaustive set of actions.

Unfortunately, the franchise continues its trend of dominating Nintendo’s handhelds, and I’m not entirely eager to huddle up with my 3DS for the long hours it’ll take to progress in these titles.  At least with the GBA Pokémon releases that I’ve been exploring as of late I’ve been able to play on the big screen via the Game Boy Player peripheral for the GameCube.  I still have so many other great 3DS titles to play through that I’ve barely touched.

I’ll be out Saturday to pick at least one of these up, probably at the discretion of my son.  Realistically it’ll take some time before I get around to playing it enough to warrant any sort of competent review, but it’ll be up here someday…

Oh, and if you don’t have a 3DS already, bundles with both X and Y will be hitting stores simultaneously!

Written by The Cubist