News Desk: Pokémon Director Offers Vague New Details on Pokémon X and Y

Developer’s blog teases a new battle mechanic that will affect how your Pokémon grow.

By Kevin Knezevic. Posted 01/21/2013 10:00 3 Comments     ShareThis

Earlier today, Pokémon director Junichi Masuda revealed some vague new details on Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, the next two installments in the popular monster catching franchise, on his personal blog.

While the post largely reiterates many of the details announced during Nintendo’s “Pokémon Direct” presentation, it does offer a bit more insight into the games’ new features. For one, Masuda confirms that Pokémon X and Y will be placing a bigger emphasis on Internet connectivity than previous titles by offering “an innovative communication system that will make you feel connected with players from around the world as you play the game.” Whether this will be through online co-op as we’ve speculated, or through more passive means like something akin to Wii U’s Miiverse, has yet to be seen, but it certainly sounds like the series will be embracing online play in a unique and engaging way.

Masuda also hints at some changes to the series’ battle mechanics, particularly those that govern your Pokémon’s stats. According to him, Pokémon X and Y will feature “a new battle mechanism that allows your Pokémon to become even more powerful when the bonds you share grow stronger.” Fans may recall that something similar was mentioned in the games’ debut trailer (which can be seen above), but we now have confirmation that this will be a genuine feature of the titles and not simply an empty marketing phrase. This leads to some interesting questions about the games. Just how will this new mechanic work? Will it render the Pokémon that fans have already caught in previous versions incompatible with the new titles? In any case, it’s clear this feature has the potential to really shake up the series’ gameplay.

Aside from those tidbits, the blog post also confirms that Masuda himself will once again be taking up the role of director for X and Y, and that the games will feature a storyline and music that “can be enjoyed by all” (the fact that these two elements were singled out is certainly good news considering that the pair’s immediate predecessors, Pokémon Black and White, had one of the series’ best soundtracks). While none of this is particularly revelatory, it’s certainly enough whet any Poké fans appetite, though it does make the wait for new information even more excruciating. Fortunately, it shouldn’t be too long before we get more details on the games, as Pokémon X and Pokémon Y are set to launch around the world this October.

Source: Hidden Power of Masuda

3 Responses to “News Desk: Pokémon Director Offers Vague New Details on Pokémon X and Y

  • 285 points
    Kyle England says...

    Hmm, I wonder what the new battle mechanic could be. Something that immediately popped into my mind was factoring a Pokémon’s tameness into its actual battle stats. Perhaps now the more a Pokémon likes you, the more it stats will grow?

  • 132 points
    gekslupis says...

    Could the new mechanic change the EV training mechanics with it?
    Glad to hear they listened to the fans and sticked to working on music and story.

  • 57 points
    Po-Yi Ho says...

    I hope this mechanic can make weak but cute pokemons super strong. Like Ash’s Pikachu. Yeah that would be awesome.

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