History AndTheFandomRejoiced / PokemonXAndY

* After [[SequelGap 11 years]] of fans clamoring for a ''"Pokémon Z"''... they finally got their wish with the announcement of ''Pokémon Legends Z-A'' complete with the long-awaited return of Mega Evolution to the main series, which also acts as a follow-up to the beloved ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus''.

As the first 3D main games in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' series, ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' are well on their way to becoming huge hype machines.

** Some fans have been wanting a Pokémon based on a giant panda for a long time. Enter Pancham and Pangoro. (Who are, amusingly enough, [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda Fighting types]].)

* After [[SequelGap 11 years]] of fans clamoring for a ''"Pokémon Z"''... they finally got their wish with the announcement of ''Pokémon Legends Z-A'', which also acts as a follow-up to the beloved ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus''.

** After many generations, we finally get the long-awaited [[SoulPower Ghost]]/[[ExtraOreDinary Steel]] type Pokémon! And it's a possessed floating sword to boot. (though some people wanted it to be a haunted suit of armor). It also can learn ''Sacred Sword'', which was previously the musketeer trio's SecretArt.

** So significant are Charizard's Mega Evolutions that they've already propelled it from the depths of NU straight to proto-OU for the Gen VI metagame, making it the 2nd most used starter behind Greninja. Many Charizard fans' pants were soiled when the usage statistics came out.

* The accompanying seasons of [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries the anime]] are [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel much better]] than [[TookALevelInDumbass their predecessors]].

** After Generation V required you to connect online/go to the DreamWorld to grow Berries, you can grow them in-game now. And they [[http://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/1of28f/berry_mutations/ mutate]]!

* The accompanying seasons of [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} the anime]] are [[SurprisinglyImprovedSequel much better]] than [[TookALevelInDumbass their predecessors]].

** It has finally arrived... the ''TyrannosaurusRex'' Pokémon (a real one to. Not the mock one you get from Tyranitar), ROCK/DRAGON FOR THE WIN! [[Film/JurassicPark POKÉRASSIC PARK]] IS NOW COMPLETE!

** That's not all! Like Mewtwo, Charizard has ANOTHER Mega Evolution. It's only on the X version, and has an awesome black-and-blue color scheme complete with bright blue flames. The best part? It has Fire/''[[InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons Dragon]]'' as its typing which not only gives it '''[[OlympusMons Reshiram's typing]]''' [[note]]and Zekrom's palette[[/note]] but also turns its [[AchillesHeel 4x Rock weakness]] into a 2x one.

*** After three generations, the final evolution of the Fennekin line is ''not'' a Fire/Fighting type, but a Fire/Psychic type, a type combination that only Victini and Zen Darmanitan have - both of which aren't accessible in-game.
*** The final evolution of the Froakie line is Greninja, a Water/Dark type. It has Infernape's stats with ''more speed'', a pretty awesome design, and its Hidden Ability changes its type to the move you're using. Instant STAB and messing with your opponent to boot! It shares its type combination with Crawdaunt and Sharpedo.
*** Chesnaught, Chespin's final evolution, is Grass/Fighting. Sure, it has a crippling weakness to Flying, but this is the first time since ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' that all three starter Pokémon's final evolutionary stages are dual-typed -- and their second types form another type circle! It has a badass-looking design to. Additionally, it has a sweet movepool (considering the poor moves that most Grass-types had been stuck with in the past) and a great signature move in Spiky Shield.[[note]]Like Protect, but if a Pokemon tries to use a Physical move against it, that Pokemon is damaged![[/note]] It shares its type combination with Breloom and Virizion.

*** Its final form Aegislash is a shield-holding {{BFS}} with very high defenses and lackluster attack. Oh well, a nice tank... wait, its ability turns it into attack form when it attacks, swapping its offense/defense stats? A SignatureMove that functions like Protect but also lowers the attack of contact attacking foes while swapping it back into defense mode? OH YEAH!

** You can encounter a wide variety of Pokémon here from a multitude of generations if you look carefully enough. You can use this to build a pretty formidable early-game team. Elemental monkeys? All semi-common in Santalune Forest. Riolu? Route 22.
** Baby Pokémon[[labelnote:*]]Rather, the young Pokémon found in the Undiscovered egg group, meaning they can't breed[[/labelnote]] like Riolu and Azurill can be found in the wild! What's more, they will always carry three stats with max [=IVs=]!

** Much in the same vein as ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', Eevee gets a new Eeveelution named Sylveon. With a hidden ability that changes normal moves to fairy type and gives a 30 percent boost to boot!
** Axew can be caught before you reach the second gym. [[DiskOneNuke Sweet]]!
** Like ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', Combee can be found in the wild! Remember how frustrating it was trying to find that female Combee after waiting several hours for the honey?
** There's an area where you can now encounter ''wild Zoroark'' (compared to its predominant event-only status during the first half of Generation V)!

** Flareon can learn Flare Blitz now! Why is this such a good thing? Well, Flareon had the misfortune of having its "Attack" power as its highest stat, and most of the STAB moves it could learn were Special attacks (even after the Physical/Special split in Generation IV) or had under 80 Base Power (if it was a Physical attack). Sure, Flare Blitz hits with recoil, but this has been something that fans have been begging for since the ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' era (Generation IV)!
** Wait, Entei still doesn't have Flare Blitz?! Come on Game Freak, give the Movie 3 star some...it knows Sacred Fire? Well, it's not Flare Blitz, but it's better than nothing.

** You can fully customize your character! From their hair and skin color, to the clothes they wear, the sheer variety of customization means you're unlikely to see two trainers that are identical.
*** Except you must always wear a [[IconicItem hat]].
** The limit for the number of characters/spaces in names has been increased from seven to ten. Now names like "Consuelo", "Catherine", and "Samantha" don't have to be shortened!

** A Pokémon evolved via evolutionary stone normally doesn't learn any more moves save for a few level 1 moves... Kalos Pokémon evolved by this method can relearn ALL the moves their previous evolution had/would have learned!
** Pokémon can now relearn any Egg Moves they once knew!

** While there are some people that miss the song that plays [[BackgroundMusicOverride when a Pokémon's health gets too low]], pretty much everyone is glad that the [[CriticalAnnoyance beeping]] only plays for a second now.
** After Generation V's controversial changes to the experience system, which made leveling up easier for low level Pokémon but harder for high level Pokémon, these games return to the old system with a twist: experience is no longer divided between Pokémon, meaning every Pokémon that participates in battle now gets full experience.
** In all five previous generations, knocking out a Wild Pokémon netted you experience points, but ''catching'' it got you a big fat zero. Not anymore; you now gain experience points for successful Wild Pokémon captures!
** The Experience Share (Exp. Share) is now a Key Item that allows ALL of your Pokémon to gain experience! Unlike the Gen I version, which did the same but split the Exp. between all six Pokemon, Pokemon who battled gain full experience, while the rest get half. This makes grinding ''much'' easier.
** Until now, receiving a Gift Pokémon necessitated a free spot in your party; if you didn't have one, you wouldn't get the gift Pokémon until you went all the way back to a PC, put one of your party in, and went all the way back to the Gift. Now, though, if you receive a Gift Pokemon while your party is full, you're given the option to send one of your party to the PC right then and there!
** A minor one, but where all previous games required you to have all eight Badges before Poké-Marts would sell you Full Restores, with ''X & Y'' you only need five.

** Legendary Pokémon now always have at least 3 perfect [=IVs=].
** In the past, saving your game took a few seconds (or more, if it was Sinnoh). In ''X & Y'', when you save your game, it's near instantaneous.

** There's a new item called the Ability Capsule that allows you to change your Pokémon's Ability.
*** Unfortunately, the only place you can get it is at the [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard Battle Maison]], and it costs 200 Battle Points, so it might just be easier to put a bit more effort into making sure your Pokemon has the ability you want from the get go.
** The Pokemon Safari is back. It's no longer a ScrappyMechanic either; it works by gathering your friends, and you can battle those mons there like normal.
*** The Pokémon you can get in the Friend Safari Zone are extremely good to. They always have at least 2 of their [=IVs=] set at maximum, and depending on how far your friend is in his or her game, they might have up to three Pokémon available. Just what sort of Pokémon can be included? It's possible to get Kanto and Kalos mid-evolution starters, Ditto (which, combined with the perfect [=IVs=], makes it very helpful for breeding), and a slew of other really good Pokémon, all with the chance to get their Hidden Abilities.
*** Some people happened to have liked the original Safari Zone and dislike the Friend Safari, but it is FREE, so that's something good about it.

*** Not only that, but you can also win essentially free, random Pokeballs, ''including a Master Ball'' via the Mine Cart minigame, for 20 (1 Pokeball per game), 100 (5 Pokeballs, except Master Balls where you only get 1), or 200 (10 Pokeballs, except Master Balls of which you get 1) [=PokeMiles=] each. Means you can get things like Net, Dive, and Quick balls for basically free.

* Multiplayer has gained some improvements:
** Set levels are returning for online battles. After being absent from Generation V, it was a ''very'' welcome return. And this is only one part of the long-awaited battle rule customization feature.
** While you're choosing what to do in [=WiFi=] battle, after a bit of idling the game starts to show some information about you and the opponent, such as the amount of BP you earned, how many Pokémon you obtained, or the registered location. It's quite interesting to learn something about the player you're facing.
** You can select battle music in multiplayer battles!
** Previous generations were plagued by people {{ragequit}}ting when things didn't go their way. Now, if someone attempts to rage quit, it counts as a loss for the rage quitter.
** Another thing plaguing online battles in previous generations (and even for a part of Gen VI) was people using illegal Pokemon (such as Huge Power Slaking, unreleased Pokemon, etc). With the 1.3 update, however, this issue is gone, as the online battle system has a significantly more improved hack system.

** Type chart has been revealed - among that, Fairy-type being weak to and resisted by Poison-type, which really needed help. Also, Wondereye and Wondertomb (Sableye and Spiritomb with Wonder Guard hacked onto them) are no longer useful, since Fairy is super effective against Dark-types and neutral to Ghost-types.

** Additionally, Steel types have received a slight {{nerf}}. In exchange for being strong against Fairy both defensively and offensively, it now takes normal damage from Ghost and Dark attacks.
*** This change also {{nerf}}s Pokémon like Metagross and Bronzong because they are now vulnerable to Dark and Ghost types along with their Fire-type and Ground-type weaknesses (and making the "guessing game" for Bronzong, which can be immune to the Ground type or the Fire type depending on whether it has the Levitate or Heatproof ability, null and void as there are two guaranteed weaknesses now).

** Mawile was speculated to gain Fairy via retcon. Well, fans [[IKnewIt were right]]. Oh, and that Mega form we were talking about? It gets a big defensive boost and '''[[SuperStrength Huge Power]]'''. TookALevelInBadass indeed.
** Meanwhile, Kangaskhan is getting a Mega Evolution where the baby ''[[BadassFamily comes out of the pouch to kick ass alongside its mother.]]'' It also gains an ability that allows them to attack ''twice in one turn''.

** What's more, as long as you have the Mega Stone, you can Mega Evolve at any time in battle with just a simple button -- and it doesn't even cost you a turn!
** The fandom quaked in horror when Mega Garchomp was first revealed, as many felt it would be an overpowered GameBreaker. Thankfully, Mega Garchomp actually has less Speed than regular Garchomp; not only averting this, it gives Garchomp a brand new way to fight.

* Competitive players were very pleased with the following changes:
** [[http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/defog.3490309/ Defog]] now removes ''all'' entry hazards on the field, including [[ThatOneAttack Stealth Rock]]. It's like Rapid Spin but better: unblockable and learnable by everything that can fly in the Generation IV games. Charizard lovers of the world, rejoice.
** Many competitive battlers, tired with the endless "weather wars" of Generation V, were ''very'' happy that permanent weather Abilities are no more. Now, the weather Abilities work exactly like their move counterparts[[note]]They summon weather for five turns -- eight turns if the summoner is holding a rock specific to their weather effect. Switching the weather-Ability Pokémon in question back into battle while the weather is still occurring won't reset the turn counter[[/note]].
* Pokémon breeding has been greatly improved in these games:
** Trying to find a Pokémon with perfect [=IVs=] in just one stat was a pain in previous generations. In these games, Baby Pokémon encountered in the wild always have at least three perfect [=IVs=], while Pokémon in the Friend Safari (including [[AnythingThatMoves Ditto]]) always have at least two. This provides players with multiple stepping stones that make breeding for perfect [=IVs=] much easier.
** Lo and behold, along with female Pokémon, '''male''' Pokémon [[http://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/1of8dt/sylveon_with_its_hidden_ability/ can now pass on Hidden Abilities]] to their offspring! This change allows for Dream World-exclusive Abilities to become ''much'' more widespread, rectifying a persistent frustration that existed for Pokémon Breeders and Pokémon Trainers alike in Generation V.
** Females can now pass egg moves as well--not just males. This removes annoying illegal egg move combos from previous generations such as Belly Drum + Aqua Jet Azumarill.
** Breeding for good [=IVs=] is now a godsend (Arceussend?) in Generation VI. The held item Destiny Knot, normally a somewhat useless item[[labelnote:*]]If a Pokémon holds it, and they become infatuated, the opponent does to[[/labelnote]], now has a vital function in breeding. If one of the parents holds the item, a total of ''five'' [=IVs=] instead of just three will be transferred to the offspring! This effectively multiplies the chance of getting a flawless breed by over ''one thousand'' times.
** In previous generations, a common annoyance when breeding for Egg Moves was to constantly remove your Pokémon from the Day Care and rearrange its moveset as it levels up, or else it will forget the desired Egg Moves and waste your time. While Pokémon still forget their moves as they level up, the changes only apply when they're removed from the Day Care, meaning you don't need to pull them out all the time anymore.
* The Global Trading System has made ''a lot'' of improvements since the previous generations:
** You can now search for as many Pokémon as you like instead of being limited to seven.
** You can filter results so you only get people who want a Pokémon you have.
** You can trade for Pokémon you've never even seen just by typing in its name.
* {{Critical Hit}}s have been {{nerf}}ed and buffed.
** On the nerf side, instead of doing 2x damage, they do 1.5x damage, meaning strategies are less likely to fall apart because of a(n un)lucky crit.
** On the buff side, it's now possible to land critical hits all the time. The critical hit system was changed so that one boost increased your chance to 12.5%, two boosts increased it to ''50%'', and three boosts increased it to '''100%'''. This means any Pokémon with Focus Energy can land guaranteed critical hits if they have an item that boosts critical hit rate. This turns strategies that relied on critical hits to go from a gimmicky LuckBasedMission to a legitimate strategy that can be used very effectively by some Pokémon like Kingdra and Hydreigon.
* Some attacks like Hyper Beam and Psychic-type moves have their SFX from the first two generations. Nostalgia fans are quite nicely served this game.

** Addressing a flaw from ''[[VideoGame/MyPokemonRanch My Pokemon Ranch]]'', any Pokemon can be withdrawn by any Game Card, even if it's not the original file.
** After two months, Pokémon Bank has finally been released worldwide.
* The Base Power for the move Hidden Power has been set to 60. While that means it has gone down by 10, it also means that you won't need to wrack your brains out over having to breed for the highest possible BP for it. This also means any specially-oriented Technician users can abuse it even more.

* Pangoro can have Scrappy, making it the first Fighting-Type Pokémon with the ability. This allows it to use Fighting-type moves on Sableye or Spiritomb, both of which were Pokémon with no weaknesses prior to the Fairy type.
* Your rival this gen. The Gen 5 rivals are divisive, with many fans considering them missed opportunities, and the opposite gender rival has always been seen poorly within a fandom. This time the opposite gender [=NPC=] plays your rival instead of being a childhood friend like in [=HGSS=], a new friend like in [=DP=], an irrelevant character like in [=BW=], or a psuedo-rival like in [=RSE=]. They're less of a FlatCharacter than previous ones and they're not a shabby rival either.
* The early days after the release were tarnished by the discovery of a nasty GameBreakingBug which got everyone paranoid about saving in Lumiose City. Now they issued a free patch on the e-Shop that fixes this glitch, as well as another minor glitch on the GTS. While most early players still surely won't dare save in Lumiose City, it's still a good thing for both the games' and the company's reputation, and lets everyone enjoy the huge content with much less worry.
* Many people feared there would never be any fair battles again when someone created a program that allows people to cheat online. Fortunately, a patch was released that prevents this program from working now.
* The Battle Maison (the Battle Tower/Subway equivalent for Kalos) has some new features that make it much more enjoyable than the previous post-game facilities:
** You can now choose between four songs for battle music.[[note]]the Wild Pokémon Battle theme, the regular Pokémon Trainer Battle theme, the Rival Battle theme, and the Gym Leader Battle theme.[[/note]] Cool!
** Previously, you had to win a set number of battles in a row before you could receive any Battle Points (BP), and if you lost any of them, you didn't get any BP. Now, you immediately get Battle Points each time you win a battle.
** Creator/GameFreak must be feeling really generous this time, as you win a boatload more BP overall per fight than previous titles! [[note]]That's up to 7BP for each regular battle at higher streaks, unlike up to 10BP for 7 battles before. And a whopping 50BP for only that single fight with the boss at the 50th, rather than for the seven battles from 43-49.[[/note]]
** You can now suspend your winning streak whenever you like. This allows you to leave the facility and do whatever you want before continuing where you left off. You don't even have to use the same Pokémon.
** Many of the Trainers will use Pokémon with their Hidden Abilities, which, depending on what they have, can catch you by surprise.

* The new ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games have implemented a few Kalosian changes, to.
** Charizard is his own fighter: Mega Charizard X is his Final Smash.
** Lucario is ''also'' getting his Mega Evolution involved.
** Greninja has been introduced as a new fighter.
** Mewtwo FINALLY returns to the roster in Spring 2015 as a DLC fighter.

** [[MundaneMadeAwesome Sitting]]. You can '''sit''' in Pokémon games now. What's next, lying down on beds?

* Your rival this gen. The Gen 5 rivals are heavy {{Base Breaker}}s, with many fans considering them missed opportunities, and the opposite gender rival has always been seen poorly within a fandom. This time the opposite gender [=NPC=] plays your rival instead of being a childhood friend like in [=HGSS=], a new friend like in [=DP=], an irrelevant character like in [=BW=], or a psuedo-rival like in [=RSE=]. They're less of a FlatCharacter than previous ones and they're not a shabby rival either.

*** [[BaseBreaker Some people happened to have liked the original Safari Zone and dislike the Friend Safari]], but it is FREE, so that's something good about it.

** An online Pokémon Bank. It's not meant for in-game money. [[BagOfHolding It's meant for stored Pokémon.]] '''[[http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/09/nintendo_launching_cloud_based_pokemon_bank_service_alongside_pokemon_x_and_y Up to a whopping three thousand.]]''' (The fact it has a [[BaseBreaker yearly fee]] does little to reduce the hype.) It helps that this yearly fee is only $5/500 yen, which is less than your average lunch.

* Your rival this gen. The Gen 5 rivals are heavy BaseBreakers, with many fans considering them missed opportunities, and the opposite gender rival has always been seen poorly within a fandom. This time the opposite gender [=NPC=] plays your rival instead of being a childhood friend like in [=HGSS=], a new friend like in [=DP=], an irrelevant character like in [=BW=], or a psuedo-rival like in [=RSE=]. They're less of a FlatCharacter than previous ones and they're not a shabby rival either.

** Mewtwo FINALLY returns to the roster in Spring 2015 as a DLC fighter.

** The limit for the number of characters/spaces in names has been increased from seven to eight. Now names like "Consuelo" and "Samantha" don't have to be shortened!

*** Chesnaught, Chespin's final evolution, is Grass/Fighting. Sure, it has a crippling weakness to Flying, but this is the first time since ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' that all three starter Pokémon's final evolutionary stages are dual-typed -- and their second types form another type circle! It has a badass-looking design too. Additionally, it has a sweet movepool (considering the poor moves that most Grass-types had been stuck with in the past) and a great signature move in Spiky Shield.[[note]]Like Protect, but if a Pokemon tries to use a Physical move against it, that Pokemon is damaged![[/note]] It shares its type combination with Breloom and Virizion.

** It has finally arrived... the ''TyrannosaurusRex'' Pokémon (a real one too. Not the mock one you get from Tyranitar), ROCK/DRAGON FOR THE WIN! [[Film/JurassicPark POKÉRASSIC PARK]] IS NOW COMPLETE!

** The "IV checker"/Stats Judge returns, ''and'' [[http://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/1oeczc/found_the_iv_checker/ tells you if you have any bad IVs]], too! This is an Arceussend for those breeding for Trick Room, where a low Speed IV is ''extremely'' desirable.

*** The Pokémon you can get in the Friend Safari Zone are extremely good too. They always have at least 2 of their [=IVs=] set at maximum, and depending on how far your friend is in his or her game, they might have up to three Pokémon available. Just what sort of Pokémon can be included? It's possible to get Kanto and Kalos mid-evolution starters, Ditto (which, combined with the perfect [=IVs=], makes it very helpful for breeding), and a slew of other really good Pokémon, all with the chance to get their Hidden Abilities.

** To add to this, the Fairy type means one more option compared to Ice (which is fragile and hard to find a decent mon of that type) or risk using its own type knowing it has a weakness too. Dragon mons who neutralized their ice weakness might be in trouble.

** It has the ability ''Drought'' too -- the ability that was exclusive to Groudon and singlehandedly made Ninetales OU.

** Breeding for good [=IVs=] is now a godsend (Arceussend?) in Generation VI. The held item Destiny Knot, normally a somewhat useless item[[labelnote:*]]If a Pokémon holds it, and they become infatuated, the opponent does too[[/labelnote]], now has a vital function in breeding. If one of the parents holds the item, a total of ''five'' [=IVs=] instead of just three will be transferred to the offspring! This effectively multiplies the chance of getting a flawless breed by over ''one thousand'' times.

* The new ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' games have implemented a few Kalosian changes, too.

** It has finally arrived.....the ''TyrannosaurusRex'' Pokémon (a real one too. Not the mock one you get from Tyranitar), ROCK/DRAGON FOR THE WIN! [[Film/JurassicPark POKÉRASSIC PARK]] IS NOW COMPLETE!