Pokémon X and Y: 3D, Mega Evolution and the Fairy type

A region modeled on France, a Prism Tower that looks a lot like another tower, an eighteenth type out of nowhere and Pokémon that change form mid-battle. X and Y aren't just the sixth generation: they're the games that pushed the series into a new era.

Contents

• Nintendo 3DS, October 12, 2013: the day the whole world played at once
• Kalos, a French region through Japanese eyes
• Mega Evolution, the biggest battle idea since Abilities
• The Fairy type, the first new type in fourteen years
• Other new features in X and Y
• Starters and legendaries: two starting teams for the price of one
• Version exclusives
• Team Flare, Lysandre and the 3,000-year-old weapon
• What players remember
• The legacy of X and Y
• Pokémon X and Y at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Nintendo 3DS, October 12, 2013: the day the whole world played at once

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y were released on October 12, 2013 on Nintendo 3DS, everywhere, on the same day — both boxed and as downloads. It was a first for a physical game published by Nintendo, and it ended years of staggered releases between Japan, America and Europe.

This scheduling detail changed everything for French players. No more six-month waits and blurry screenshots from Japanese forums: the global community discovered the 72 new Pokémon at the same time, and the hunt for surprises now played out on a planetary scale.

Technically, the leap is huge. The series abandons sprites for cel-shaded 3D models, with a moving camera, three-dimensional environments and animated moves. Pokémon drawn by hand since 1996 became reusable three-dimensional assets — a graphical foundation the franchise still builds on today.

Success followed: with 16.80 million copies sold according to Nintendo's figures as of March 31, 2026, X and Y remain the best-selling Pokémon games on the entire Nintendo 3DS, ahead of Sun and Moon.

Kalos, a French region through Japanese eyes

Kalos is openly inspired by France. The map echoes the country's hexagonal shape, there are cafés, châteaux and a wine region, and the central city is home to a Prism Tower whose silhouette easily rivals the Eiffel Tower's.

The player starts out in a quiet village and is entrusted with a mission by Professor Sycamore, a specialist in a still-unexplained phenomenon: evolution. It's the first time the series has tied its professor so closely to its signature mechanic.

Another storytelling first: the hero doesn't travel alone. Four companions come along, each with their own temperament — the ambitious rival, the bubbly one with no clear goal, the dancer, and the studious one who wants to complete the Pokédex. The series trades the duel between two kids for a small group of friends, something later installments would pick up.

The eight Gyms have strong identities too: Viola in Santalune City (Bug), Grant in Cyllage City (Rock), Korrina in Shalour City (Fighting), Ramos in Coumarine City (Grass), Clemont in Lumiose City (Electric), Valerie in Laverre City (Fairy), Olympia in Anistar City (Psychic) and Wulfric in Snowbelle City (Ice). At the very top sits Diantha, actress and League Champion.

Mega Evolution, the biggest battle idea since Abilities

The principle is simple and spectacular: mid-battle, a Pokémon holding a Mega Stone can transform, gaining stats, sometimes a type and often a new Ability. The Trainer must carry a Key Stone themselves, and can only trigger one Mega Evolution per battle.

💍 In X and Y, Mega Evolution only kicks in if the Trainer is wearing their own Key Stone: you can recreate the gesture on your own finger with one of our Pokémon rings.

X and Y introduce 28 forms across 26 species. Two Pokémon are exceptions, each with two different Mega Evolutions: Charizard and Mewtwo, whose X and Y versions are tied to the cartridge you play.

The chosen few sparked plenty of debate. Alongside expected stars like Lucario or Garchomp, Mega Evolution gave a second life to forgotten Pokémon: Mawile, Absol and Kangaskhan went from extras to leading roles.

Don't mix up the eras, though. The count didn't stop there: today there are 93 Mega Evolutions for 87 Pokémon, and six species have two — Charizard, Raichu, Mewtwo, Absol, Lucario and Garchomp. The 28 forms from X and Y were only the starting point.

In story terms, Mega Evolution is presented as an emotional bond between Trainer and Pokémon, inherited from a catastrophe long ago. This somewhat mystical explanation runs through the entire Kalos plot and sets the stage for the generation's big villain.

The Fairy type, the first new type in fourteen years

The Fairy type is X and Y's second revolution. It's the eighteenth type in the series and the first one added since Dark and Steel, which appeared in the second generation. Needless to say, it was a big event for a system everyone thought was set in stone.

Its purpose is openly stated: to rebalance a metagame crushed by dragons. The Fairy type is super effective against Dragon, Fighting and Dark, it resists Fighting, Bug and Dark, and above all it is completely immune to Dragon moves.

In return, it buckles against Steel and Poison, two types long considered weak that regained defensive value here. In a single stroke, the sixth generation reshuffled the deck of some fifteen years of competitive play.

The overhaul also worked retroactively, by reclassifying existing Pokémon: Clefairy, Jigglypuff, Togepi, Marill, Gardevoir and Mawile saw their typing change overnight.

Kalos's new fairy faces did the rest: Sylveon, Eevee's eighth evolution, Dedenne and Flabébé firmly established the type in a single generation.

Other new features in X and Y

For the first time, you choose what your character looks like: skin tone, hairstyle, clothes bought in stores. This Trainer customization would become a series staple, but it was born here, in the boutiques of Lumiose City.

🧦 X and Y are the first games where you buy your clothes in stores, in Lumiose City; your own Trainer outfit can start from the feet up, with a pair of our Pokémon socks.

The Exp. Share also changes the game: when switched on, it hands out experience to the whole team, including Pokémon sitting on the bench. The comfort is real, the difficulty collapses — it's one of the most consistent criticisms of these versions.

Two features take over the bottom screen. Pokémon-Amie lets you pet, feed and play with your Pokémon, with a measurable effect in battle, while Super Training turns the distribution of Effort Values, until then reserved for savvy players, into a shooting mini-game anyone can play.

Battles get more varied with Horde Encounters, where five wild Pokémon appear at once, and Sky Battles, reserved for Pokémon that can fly. On top of that, there's an always-on social panel to trade and battle online without leaving the adventure.

Finally, Pokémon Bank, a paid online service launched shortly afterward, lets you transfer your Pokémon forward from the fifth-generation games. Without it, the switch to 3D would have cut players off from fifteen years of collections.

Starters and legendaries: two starting teams for the price of one

Kalos offers the classic trio: Chespin the chestnut hedgehog, Fennekin the fire fox and Froakie the bubble frog. They evolve respectively into Chesnaught, Delphox and Greninja, the last of which has become one of the most popular Pokémon in the series.

A rare gift: shortly after you set out, Professor Sycamore also gives you a Kanto starter of your choice, along with its Mega Stone. Starting a game with two starter Pokémon remains unique to X and Y.

The mascots are two opposing figures. Xerneas, the Fairy-type deer, embodies life; Yveltal, the Dark- and Flying-type bird, embodies destruction. The third member of the trio, Zygarde, watches over the balance of the ecosystem and hides in a postgame cave.

On the Mythical side, the generation brings Diancie, Hoopa and Volcanion, distributed at events. None of them can be caught during the adventure: you had to go through an in-store or online distribution to obtain them legitimately.

Version exclusives

The most consequential difference involves the Mega Stones. Mega Charizard X and Mega Mewtwo X can only be obtained in Pokémon X; their Y counterparts are exclusive to Pokémon Y. Two radically different battle forms therefore depend on which box you bought.

The wild Pokémon lists then diverge across several evolutionary lines: Pinsir and Houndour in X, Heracross and Larvitar in Y. Here again, trading with friends remains the simplest solution.

The two star legendaries, for their part, are strictly tied to the version: Xerneas can be obtained in X and Yveltal in Y, and it's the creature from your own cartridge that Team Flare has captured to power the weapon buried beneath Kalos. The story stays the same; only the captured creature changes.

Otherwise, X and Y offer the same adventure, the same Gyms and the same ending. The differences here are lighter than usual, with the notable exception of the exclusive Mega Stones.

Team Flare, Lysandre and the 3,000-year-old weapon

Team Flare stands apart from previous organizations through its style: red suits, designer glasses, speeches about beauty. Behind the aesthetic lies a plan of unprecedented brutality in the series.

🎭 For Team Flare, the red suit and designer glasses matter as much as Lysandre's plan: if you're putting together that kind of getup at home, look for the hairstyle among our Pokémon wigs.

Its leader, Lysandre, is a wealthy, respected man, the owner of a café and head of Lysandre Labs, the company that developed the Holo Caster. Convinced that the world is too crowded to stay beautiful, he plans to reactivate a weapon buried beneath Kalos to wipe out everything that, in his view, doesn't deserve to live there.

This weapon is the heart of the story. Built three thousand years ago by a grieving king, it ended a war by wreaking devastation, and it made its builder immortal. The player runs into this king throughout the adventure in the form of a taciturn giant named AZ.

The story closes on a scene rare for the franchise: a reunion after three millennia apart, and an immortality finally broken. Many consider this ending the most melancholy in the series, far removed from the usual tone of Pokémon games.

What players remember

The first shock was visual. Seeing your Pokémon in three dimensions, circling around a city, watching a move unfold in 3D: after fifteen years of sprites, the sense of novelty was total, and it drove 3DS sales.

The second shock was competitive. Within a few weeks, Mega Evolution and the Fairy type had completely reshuffled the deck of online play. Previously overlooked Pokémon became must-haves, while others fell from grace without a single stat changing.

The most frequent complaint is about difficulty. Between the Exp. Share switched on by default, Mega Evolutions obtained very early and the starter gifted by Sycamore, you can breeze through the main adventure without any real resistance. It's the flip side of a generous generation.

Finally, X and Y left a sense of unfinished business. Neither a third version nor a sequel ever came out; Zygarde, heavily promoted, only revealed its alternate forms in another generation. This feeling of an abandoned project still fuels debate among fans.

The legacy of X and Y

Much of what the series does today stems from here. The 3D models created for Kalos served as the basis for later generations, Trainer customization became standard, and the idea of a spectacular in-battle transformation was picked up again under other names.

The Fairy type, meanwhile, became part of the game's foundation as if it had always existed. No new type has been added since, and the sixth-generation type chart remains, to this day, the reference chart in the series.

Kalos also got a late and much-noticed return, with a game entirely devoted to Lumiose City that revived Mega Evolution and pushed its count well beyond the original 28 forms. Few regions have enjoyed such a second wind.

Finally, there's plain and simple affection: Greninja, Sylveon and Mega Charizard rank among the franchise's most featured figures. You'll find them front and center among our figures as well as in the selection dedicated to Charizard.

Pokémon X and Y at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many Mega Evolutions are there in Pokémon X and Y?
  X and Y introduce 28 forms across 26 species: Charizard and Mewtwo each have two different Mega Evolutions. Don't confuse this number with the series' current total, which stands at 93 Mega Evolutions for 87 Pokémon, including six species with two Megas: Charizard, Raichu, Mewtwo, Absol, Lucario and Garchomp.
• Why was the Fairy type created in Pokémon X and Y?
  To rebalance a game dominated by dragons. The Fairy type is super effective against Dragon, Fighting and Dark, resists Fighting, Bug and Dark, and is completely immune to Dragon moves. In exchange, it's weak to Steel and Poison, which gave renewed defensive value to two long-neglected types. It's the eighteenth type in the series and the first one added since Dark and Steel.
• What is the difference between Pokémon X and Pokémon Y?
  Xerneas can be caught in X and Yveltal in Y. More importantly, the Charizard and Mewtwo Mega Stones are exclusive: the X forms can only be obtained in Pokémon X, the Y forms only in Pokémon Y. A few wild evolutionary lines also switch sides, such as Pinsir and Houndour in X versus Heracross and Larvitar in Y. The story itself is identical in both versions.
• What real-world place are Pokémon X and Y based on?
  France. Kalos echoes the country's hexagonal shape, its cafés, its châteaux and its wine region, and its central city is home to Prism Tower, whose silhouette directly evokes the Eiffel Tower. It's the second main-series region openly modeled on a Western location, after Unova, which was inspired by the New York area.
• How many new Pokémon appear in X and Y?
  Seventy-two, bringing the known total from 649 to 721 species. It's the smallest batch in the entire series, a choice linked to the cost of 3D modeling: every existing Pokémon had to be completely remodeled for this generation.
• How many copies did Pokémon X and Y sell?
  16.80 million copies, according to figures published by Nintendo as of March 31, 2026. It's the series' best result on Nintendo 3DS, ahead of Sun and Moon, then Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

In short

X and Y aren't the hardest Pokémon games, nor the best written, nor the richest in content. They are, however, the ones that most profoundly changed the series: 3D, Mega Evolution, the Fairy type and the simultaneous worldwide release all date back to October 12, 2013.

Thirteen years later, the type chart hasn't budged, Kalos's 3D models are still in use and Mega Evolution has made a strong comeback. Few games can be said to have laid the foundations for everything that followed.