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Publication: Brock Press, , Brock University , St. Catharines, ON
Click here to read the first part of this Pokémon retrospective, which focuses on Pokémon Black and White.
Though Pokémon X and Y attempted to modernize the monster-catching franchise, they were actually the first sign of its eventual downfall.
After the controversial yet revolutionary release of Pokémon Black and White, Game Freak started developing the next generation of Pokémon. The sixth generation was meant to thrust the franchise into the modern age; it would abandon the 2D sprite art that had become synonymous with the franchise’s mainline games in favour of a 3D art style. The games would do this by taking advantage of Nintendo 3DS hardware, which was a significant graphical upgrade from its predecessor, the Nintendo DS.
Visual aesthetics were a major priority throughout Game Freak’s development of these titles, with director Junichi Masuda revealing “beauty” to be a core theme throughout the development process. This would inspire the look and feel of the game’s setting, the Kalos region, which is based on France.
As such, many of the game’s settings and locales are based on locations in France, with a museum based on the Louvre and the game’s “Prism Tower,” which is strikingly similar to the Eiffel Tower.
The core theme of beauty extends into the game’s plot, with the villainous organization Team Flare seeking to destroy the world using a doomsday device in hopes of creating a more beautiful one, while vanquishing anyone who refuses to accept their ambitions for a prettier existence.
It’s an interesting concept in which the villains seek something that, when isolated as an independent vision, is quite understandable. Still, this does not justify the sacrifices they are willing to make in order to achieve their goals; namely, destroying the current world and murdering countless individuals in the process.
Team Flare may not be quite as interesting as Pokémon Black and White’s Team Plasma, who questioned the entire ethicality of the franchise’s core monster-capturing formula, but they still serve as adequate antagonists for a game centred around the core concept of beauty.
As with any other generation, Pokémon X and Y introduced a roster of new Pokémon to...