Pokémon X/Y is now 10 years old, and I wanted to talk about some of what that meant to me.
This art is inspired by one of the final scenes from the game. Xerneas awakens to help you stop Team Flare. Everything here—from the polished new graphics to the heroic soundtrack and design of the new Pokemon—left a great impression. I think it's cool that one of the most powerful forces in Pokemon's ecosystem is something so gentle looking. It doesn't speak directly, but in-game text specifies that Xerneas or Yveltal wants to join you and needs your help. I love the X version specifically, for how Xerneas' glowing colors and natural aesthetic stand against Team Flare's harsh reds and heavy technology.
I took my time and finished this game about week after it released in Oct.2013. It's a time that I will always cherish, because it was the first international launch for Pokemon. We used to get these games a year or so after Japan, but everybody was going into this one at the same time for the first time. I started playing around GSC, when it seemed like everyone liked Pokemon. But seeing the hundreds of players from other countries over the PSS completely blew me away. To go from the Link Cables to this was monumental, and I loved playing XY with my friends and community. When you finish the game, you get this message as a credits song that I felt really spoke to the shared experience.
An optimistic message from the creators to their now worldwide playerbase. I felt proud of the developers that Pokemon could reach this point, that it even had an international audience to speak to (I remember when analysts were calling Pokemon a dying fad). I got emotional reading it for the first time, and it's something that I like to think back to occasionally when things are difficult. To not lose hope in better days.
So happy anniversary to this game, and thank you to anyone who cared enough to read ✍️
