He has a distinct style of linework and shading that we wanted to faithfully translate into 3D. “The biggest hurdle was translating the established 2D art style of (longtime Pokémon artist) Ken Sugimori into a 3D world. Meet TyrantrumWas the shift to 3D a challenge? “Yes,” said Yoshida. It’s less about finding famous places and more about finding locales that would work well in-game.” One of the reasons we base Pokémon settings on real-world places is that we think it’d be fun for players to discover real-world similarities. I’ve travelled in my own time to places for inspiration, and France really stuck out in my mind. “One of the themes of Pokémon X and Y is ‘beauty’ – Kalos is actually the ancient Greek word for beauty – and I thought France fit that ideal. I wondered if the choice to base Kalos on France – a country known for its art culture – had anything to do with the new visual elements. I was struck by how different many areas of the game looked from my expectations of a fully cel-shaded, cartoony world many of the backgrounds have a visual style inspired by classic art landscapes. “Beyond the simultaneous release, one of the most-discussed changes to Pokémon X/Y is the shift to fully 3D visuals in both exploration and battle sequences. I headed to town, met a group of friends/rivals, picked my starter Pokémon, took a letter from Professor Sequoia back to my mom, and I was running off with a satchelful of potions and Pokeballs.

I was able to go through the first hour or so of the finished ROM, and rather than bogging me down with explanatory text and justification for my trainer’s Pokémon journey, the game seemed determined to get me out and catching critters as soon as possible.

It’s these bits of streamlining that stood out to me the most in the preview session of Pokémon X/Y. It doesn’t sound like much, but those who have slogged through the intros of Pokémon games time and time again while enduring your trainer’s languid initial walk speed will be as ecstatic as I was. As someone who has played Pokémon since its original releases, the first thing I noticed about Pokémon X and Y was something that might seem minor to the uninitiated – you can hold down B to run from the very beginning of the game, rather than waiting until you’re given a pair of running shoes.

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