PokeMakeovers: Pokemon X & Y’s Renovations

My first Pokemon adventure began with an impossible choice. Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander… how was I to pick just one? This was a trend that would continue in the main series of games. You picked a single starter Pokemon and went from there, and it was often impossible to obtain more starter Pokemon from the game without trading or using an event.

X & Y seem ready to break that trend by giving you both Kalos starters and eventually a choice of Kanto starters. The latest Pokemon Direct video was filled with news, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Kanto Starters Are Back

Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander return to the fold with new tricks up their sleeves. Their respective final evolutions, Venasaur, Blastoise, and Charizard, all get Mega Evolutions. 

• Mega Charizard gains the game-changing ability Drought, which casts an eternal Sunny Day on the field.
• Mega Blastoise gains Mega Launcher, an ability which supposedly boosts the power of moves such as Dark Pulse and Water Pulse
• Mega Venasaur finally compensates for some of its weaknesses with the ability Thick Fat, halving damage from Fire and Ice type attacks.

You gain these starters from Professor Sycamore in Lumiose City, and you’ll get your original starter pick – Froakie, Chespin, or Fennekin – from a friend in your home town. 

Making Bank

A new paid service is coming to Pokemon: The Pokemon Bank. Currently announced at an annual price of $5, this function will allow you to store up to 3,000 Pokemon in a cloud storage system. That’s a lot of Pokeballs!

This service features 100 boxes, and a special search system with many parameters to keep searching through the boxes from becoming a chore. The Bank has safeguards to prevent cheat/hacked Pokemon from entering storage. This feature is compatible with Gen V games, allowing for you to transfer Pokemon from Black/White and B/W2 to X & Y. 

More To Come?

Keep in mind that these are just the announcements from the 9/4/13 Pokemon Direct. Previous renovations to the series – such as riding Pokemon and diagonal movement – have been announced before, and we still have time before the games are out for even more exciting news!