History YMMV / PokemonXandY

** Charizard was a TierInducedScrappy before and [[ThrowTheDogABone deserved a buff]], and giving it a Mega Evolution was a good way to do so. Its Megas are SO good, in fact, [[http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/xy-ou-viability-ranking-thread-v2.3502428/ Charizard shot up to the top of Smogon's OU tier and its Mega Evolutions are 2 of the most dangerous Pokémon in the game]].[[note]]Note, however, that this is after the banning of several other Mega Evolutions that were proven broken - Blaziken's, Gengar's, Kangaskhan's and Lucario's.[[/note]] Depending on who you ask, it's either [[GoneHorriblyWrong Game Freak caving in to fan demand and making Charizard into a potential]] GameBreaker, [[GoneHorriblyRight a necessary buff that might have worked a little TOO well]], or [[TakeAThirdOption a completely balanced (if a bit over-hyped) addition that makes Charizard relevant again]]. Mega Charizard X also panders in two other ways; it finally made Charizard part-Dragon, and it resembles normal Charizard's popular Shiny form somewhat, just with the red replaced with blue.

** Mr. Bonding is being called out as one of these amongst the fanbase for his generally [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything suspicious]] behavior. To elaborate, he is always found either alone in a hotel room (if the town/city has a hotel) or in the Pokémon Center facing the wall (doing [[ADateWithRosiePalms God knows what]]), and when spoken to, he exclaims, [[UnusualEuphemism "It's bonding time!"]] as the screen goes black and the player is rewarded with "[[AccidentalInnuendo O-Power]]."

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot

** Not only does this entry in the main franchise introduce the least new Pokémon ever, it also features the largest regional Pokédex of all the games. As a result, unless you're very familiar with all the Pokémon of the previous generations, chances are you're not going to notice new Pokémon, or at least go "Huh, is this a new one or an old one?".
** Given Shauna's affinity for the appearances of Pokémon compared to their battle ability and her Goodra's tendrils matching her hair, one would think she'd also have a Gothorita (both have skirts with bows down the front).

** Sky Battles are this for some Pokémon. The only Pokémon that can participate are Pokémon that are either part Flying-Type or have Levitate as an ability. However, not ALL Pokémon that meet these qualifications can do this, only the ones that are ''already'' flying/levitating in their animation. For example, Chatot and Hawlucha cannot participate, due to their game models always being on the ground. Even more ridiculous, this means that Haunter can participate in Sky Battles, but Gengar cannot. If they can give some flying Pokémon grounded models for Pokémon-Amie, many people think that Game Freak could have done the inverse with little effort.

* AnticlimaxBoss:

---->[[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/562/999/0b8.png still not confirmed still not confirmed still not confirmed still not confirmed still not confirmed]]

** Fairies are succeeding Gen I Psychics and Dragons as the most powerful type. They're strong against many types and difficult to counter if you don't have a Poison- or Steel-type Pokémon on your team. Even using those types has its drawbacks: most Poison-types, bar the likes of [[GameBreaker Mega Gengar,]] are too frail or overspecialized, and their attacks are mostly Special-oriented (most Fairy-types have high Special Defenses). Steel-type moves aren't very common due to it being a previously defense-oriented type. Not to mention the low distribution of Poison and Steel moves in general, while Fairies generally have access to many coverage moves against Poison and Steel. It doesn't help that many Fairy-types ''also'' get powerful abilities that compound their stats and movepools, such as Prankster for Klefki, Pixilate for Sylveon and Huge Power for Mega Mawile.

** Fairies are succeeding Gen I Psychics and Dragons as the most powerful type due to their strengths against many types and being difficult to counter if you don't have a Poison- or Steel-type Pokémon in your team. Even when given those two weaknesses most Poison-types bar the likes of [[GameBreaker Mega Gengar]] are too frail or overspecialized and their attacks are mostly Special-oriented, which bounces off most Fairy-types' high Special Defenses while Steel-type moves are not as common due to being a previously defense-oriented type. Not to mention the low distribution of Poison and Steel moves in general while Fairies generally have access to many coverage moves to hit back hard in return. It doesn't help that many of them get powerful abilities that compound their stats and movepool such as Prankster for Klefki, Pixilate for Sylveon and Huge Power for Mega Mawile.

* FirstInstallmentWins: In terms of the 'regional-gimmick' that these games started, Mega Evolution remains the most popular out of all of them, with [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Z-moves]] considered fairly one-note yet unpredictable, [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Dynamax]] being outright broken, unpredictable and coming at the cost of the previous mechanics, and [[VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet Terastallization]] being less broken than its predecessor but still bordering that line, again, partially due to unpredictability. Being the first mechanic to be introduced also helps its case along with breathing life into generally mediocre/forgotten Pokemon such as Mawile and Beedrill. It also helps that it's(currently) the only mechanic to have made it into a second generation, with its mechanics being refined to criticism at that point[[note]]Mega Evolutions had their speed updated so that they would have the speed of their current form on the turn they Mega Evolved, instead of their regular forms, and many Megas considered too strong were nerfed - such as Mega Salamence's Aerilate becoming weaker and the second hit of Mega Kangaskhan's Parental Bond being halved.[[/note]].

** There's a cave where you can find wild Wobbuffet, with its infamous Shadow Tag ability which prevents you from escaping or even changing Pokémon, and its usual Movepool[[note]]Counter and Mirror Coat both have a chance to hit hard, depending on the classification of your previous move, while Destiny Bond outright knocks out your Pokémon if Wobbuffet faints[[/note]], which means that if you have no move to OHKO it (a Dark-, Bug- or Ghost-type move from a decent-leveled Pokémon) or no Ghost-type Pokémon/Pokémon with Run Away in your team, you're likely dead. Stocking up on Poke Balls and capturing them to get around their Destiny Bond can work but their capture rates make this frustrating too. And we thought Patrat's line was bad enough for Nuzlockers...

** The (other) rival, Shauna, is a happy go-lucky GenkiGirl who smiles just as much as a Chespin and is TheChick.

** Sky Battles are this for some Pokémon. The only Pokémon that can participate are Pokémon that are either part Flying-Type or have Levitate as an ability. However, not ALL Pokémon that meet these qualifications can do this, only the ones that are ''already'' flying/levitating in their animation. For example, Chatot and Hawlucha cannot participate, due to their game models always being on the ground. Even more ridiculous, this means that Haunter can participate in Sky Battles, but Gengar cannot. If they can give some flying Pokémon grounded models for Pokémon-Amie, many people think that Game Freak could have done the inverse with little effort.

* JerkassWoobie: AZ might have [[spoiler: caused destruction from his ultimate weapon, but his best friend Floette died in war[[note]]This is made even worse when you [[FridgeHorror realize that he's]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortal.]][[/note]] (though of course she came back to life with the aforementioned weapon), and Floette left AZ, horrified at her master's choices. Thankfully, Floette does return to him.]]
* JustHereForGodzilla:
** Some of the individual Mega Evolutions have been a selling point for the games, most notably with the [[PanderingToTheBase Dragon-type]] Mega Charizard X.
** Some fans find the Looker post-game quest to be more entertaining than the main plot, with more coherent storytelling and better characters.

** ''X'' and ''Y'' aren't the first games to change existing Pokémon's types: with the introduction of the Steel type in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', Magnemite and Magneton we're changed from pure Electric-type to Electric/Steel.

** It's become common to associate Tyrunt and Amaura with the movie WesternAimation/TheLandBeforeTime considering they're both dinosaurs. Tyrunt's evolved form Tyrantrum, meanwhile, has spawned a huge number of ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' comparisons and macros.

* {{Padding}}: There's an unusually long time between the first and second gyms due to the player needing to complete the two deadend paths that lead to the Parfum Palace and Glittering Cave landmarks. This results in the player being required to traverse 6 routes and 3 major cities before finally reaching the next gym city. It's made even more annoying if you don't like Mega Evolutions and all your friends can mostly say "MEGA EVOLUTION" every time you meet them. On the other hand, the gap between the first and second gyms usually allows one to formulate their team in that timespan. Given the massive number of Pokémon available, there are ''plenty'' of options.

** Collecting all Vivillons, most of the time, you have to trade a legendary for one in GTS, but that's not counting shinies which are almost impossible to obtain due to people asking for Pokémon that can't be traded over the GTS

* {{Padding}}: There's an unusually long time between the first and second gyms. Made more annoying if you don't like Mega Evolutions and all your friends can mostly say "MEGA EVOLUTION" every time you meet them. On the other hand, the gap between the first and second gyms usually allows one to formulate their team in that timespan. Given the massive number of Pokémon available, there are ''plenty'' of options.

* TransAudienceInterpretation: One Beauty named Nova that can be found in the Battle Maison says that she was once a Black Belt half a year ago and that she's transformed into a Beauty. The thing is, Black Belts can only be male. Thus, a majority of trans fans interpret Nova as being [=MtF=] post-transition.

** Similar to [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 Iris]], [[spoiler:Diantha]], the Champion, is seen by some as this due to falling to PoorPredictableRock, considering half the team are weak against [[ColdIron Steel-type]] [[WeaksauceWeakness attacks]] (though, of all types to attack with, Steel is the least common to have), but four of them are weak against Ice. The difficulty of the Champion, of course, is dependent on how much you use the [[GameBreaker game breakers]] available to you. But, in general, the main flaw in the Champion's team is that most of the team is very slow and almost all have multiple common weaknesses, even if all the Pokémon hit hard. Team ace Mega Gardevoir however, is commonly agreed to be hard to beat.

** It's odd that Mega Evolution wasn't showcased by way of giving the fully-evolved Kalos starters their own Mega forms. Even more so since the fully-evolved Hoenn starters received Megas in ''ORAS''.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Some people label certain aspects of the game as this, usually the rivals (especially Shauna), the Fairy type, and/or the ending AwardBaitSong.