Pokémon's Big Bang

Last Saturday was a big day for gaming; the newest generation of Pokémon games was released, Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, respectively. These games were released only for the 3DS, which was a big gamble for Nintendo, as Pokémon is one of the biggest franchises in video gaming, and not all their fans may have had a 3DS. That announcement really upset me, as I did not have a 3DS. I eventually found one I could borrow, and man, was it a good decision.

The first big change you’ll notice immediately about the game is diagonal movement. Now characters aren’t just defined by directional arrows to determine where they go. It’s a big change, and they integrated it perfectly. The second is the character customization. Players are now allowed to express themselves and make their characters reflect, on a minor level, who they are to other players. And a third, really big change is the addition of a new type of Pokémon: the fairy-type. The fairy-type is super-effective against dragon-types and dark-types, and weak against steel-types and poison-types. The story is just like any other story in the Pokémon world: an evil team is misusing Pokémon; you and your friends destroy their operation. Nintendo tried to emphasize friendship through four friends your character meets and travels with throughout the game.

With the story in mind, it is incredible just how little involvement of the evil team, Team Flare, you see within the first hours of the game. Really, I had a full team of level 30’s when I reached the 3rd gym leader, and I had only heard of Team Flare in-game about twice. This progression, I find, is way better than any other Pokémon game. I felt more connected with my team, and I’ve mostly used the same few Pokémon as I had in the beginning. That being said, two new features to connect you and your Pokémon are the Pokémon Amie, and the Super Training. Pokémon Amie allows you to play, pet, feed, and just be around your Pokémon, getting them to love and trust you more. The Super Training allows you to train with your Pokémon to “bring them to their highest potential.” There are secret aspects within the programming of the Pokémon called EV’s, and the Super Training allows you to bring out their EV’s and make them stronger than one without their EV’s.

Another change is the lack of legendary Pokémon native to the region you travel through, the Kalos region. In fact, there aren’t that many new Pokémon either, only 69! But I find this a necessary change, as there would be too many unnecessary "legendaries” that served no purpose other than to just be there. With this, the two games begin to focus on an “ultimate weapon” powered by the Pokémon on the covers. I have the Y version, so my legendary Pokémon was Yveltal, the Destruction Pokémon. No spoilers, but you do run into Yveltal near the end of the main story.

I finished the main story, or defeated the Pokémon League Champion, in about 29 hours. I’ve seen reports about people beating it in less time, which is understandable. The new games were way easier than past games, with increasing difficulty. I was always 7 levels higher than the wild Pokémon or the trainer’s Pokémon of that area.

With all this, Pokémon Y is one of my favorite games. I find the pacing nice, story mediocre, new Pokémon amazing; I like just about everything in this game. I would give these games a 9.5/10.

-Kevin Brown