Nintendo took the route that was expected with its special Pokemon focused Nintendo Direct broadcast on Monday by announcing the next-generation of the franchise for the Nintendo 3DS. "Pokemon X" and "Pokemon Y" are coming to the 3D handheld in October of this year.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata hosted the 11 minute Nintendo Direct broadcast showing Pokemon's move to the Nintendo 3DS. However, Iwata spent the first seven minutes talking about the evolution of the series since Pokemon Red and Green were introduced in Japan in 1996. This all served as a build up to "Pokemon X" and "Pokemon Y" with all of its new features.
Perhaps the biggest news with "Pokemon X" and "Pokemon Y" does not even deal with a new feature but instead with the release schedule. For the first time, a new Pokemon game will be released at the same time worldwide as opposed to releasing in Japan first and then other territories months later.
Iwata did not go into the new features that "Pokemon X and Y" will use other than to say than they will take advantage of the Nintendo 3DS hardware. Since much of the focus on the history of the series was spent on communication and trading between players, we'd say there is something new coming with that feature set as well as using the augmented reality (AR) capabilities provided by the handheld's built-in cameras.
Of course there are new Pokemon that will be featured in the game with three starters being the grass-type Chespin, fire-type Fennekin and water-type Froakie. There will be two new legendary Pokemon as well, naturally plus many old favorites including Psyduck, Dratini and Pikachu.
You can watch the announcement trailer for "Pokemon X" and "Pokemon Y" in our video gallery or watch the full Nintendo Direct Broadcast here.
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for the latest news or you can subscribe to our RSS feed or email alerts.
Comments