5 Things to Look Forward to in Pokémon X & Y

With no contest, having at least 100 new Pokémon is the most exciting thing about the new generation—but there are also plenty of other things to look forward to! Here are the five most exciting things about the upcoming Pokémon games.

5) ‘Bonding’ Feature

Shortly after the announcement of the new game, game director Masuda hinted that there would be a new battle mechanic that involved bonds with your Pokémon. The stronger your bond with your Pokémon becomes, the stronger it becomes in battle. This sounds like it’s either a reworked Friendship system or EV system. If it’s the former, it would put Frustration users at a disadvantage. If it’s the latter—well, that saves competitive players a lot of time, and is something the fandom has been requesting since the start of the series.

4) Fossils

I’m most excited about the fossils for this generation. My favorite Pokémon has always been Aerodactyl, but Archeops is also up there on the list. In a European setting, you can expect to see the dinosaurs Compsagnathus, Hypsilophodon, Iguanodon, Dacentrurus (a spiky Stegosaur), Megalosaurus, and a plethora of early Sauropods. Iguanodon is of special importance because it was the first dinosaur recognized by the scientific community. However, there’s a large chance that the fossils won’t be dinosaurs. The region is well-known for its extinct mammals as well, meaning we might see unconventional fossils such as extinct horses, rhinos, elephants, bats, cats, dogs, bears, and whales.

3) New Eeveelution

Although a lot of the Eeveelution rumors lack credence, there’s still a high chance that Eevee will see a new release. The old Eeveelutions cover all of the special types of attack in the old games—this leaves all of the physical types. In the past, the silhouette of a spiked, dog-like creature was found by decompiling an official flash game. This might mean we’ll see a rock or dragon Eeveelution with this generation. With Nintendo promotions practically screaming about Eevee lately, we’ll probably see this one before the games come out.

2) Customization

Different parts of the trailer had the character with different accessories. This means we’ll finally find some customization in the games. Hopefully we’ll also be able to customize character hair and color, or online multiplayer battles will still consist entirely of cloned trainers. Even if you change your trainer card to identify yourself as a different kind of trainer, that trainer never showed up in online battles. Either way, being able to customize your character is a huge improvement, even if this customization ends up being small.

1) Parisian Setting

In the past, games have focused on very specific regions. This one will definitely take place in Paris and might incorporate other areas of France, such as Versailles and its beautiful coastal regions. France is notable for being the only self-sustained country in the world, so we might see a bit of that in the plot. It also has plenty of Alps, farms, and ancient landmarks, making this one of the most beautiful places in the world that a game could take place. The region has an interesting history of control, with the most notable influence coming from Roman Invasions (during which the Romans focused on building bathhouses everywhere). Not to mention the present-day cities!