Only in the world of Pokemon could a ten year old be sent off into a world crawling with critters spoiling for a fight, with nothing but a pair of running shoes and a pet they've only just met - but for the past fifteen years, countless games and a number of TV series, it's become something of the norm. The games, it seems, always start in the same way, as you set off from your quiet little home town to meet up with a Professor who's spent their whole life studying the region's Pokemon, yet seemingly knows nothing about them. Enlisting your help to fill out their big book of Pokemon, it's from this very professor that you get to choose your first Pokemon, from a short list of three - and you'll need to choose carefully, as this will likely be the creature that'll stand by your side through thick and thin on the rest of your journey.
The odds are you already know about the starter Pokemon for Pokemon X and Y. With a choice between a fire, water and grass type, much like in the previous games, this time round we had the selection of the red-hot fox Fennekin, the froggie Froakie and the cute little forest rodenty thing Chespin to pick from. It was a tough enough decision to begin with, but the other thing the more fickle Pokemon trainers amongst us have to bear in mind is that the Pokemon won't stay the same way forever. Over the course of the game, they'll go from cute companion to hulking great tower of destruction as they go through a series of evolutions on the way to their final, most powerful, form. And now, Nintendo have thrown a spanner in the works of all our plans by revealing the first evolutionary stage for each of the starters. We were initially going to go for Fennekin, but having seen the evolved Chespin, we may be forced to change our mind. It's so good, we're going to save it til last.
Someone needs to shave their ears.
Speak softly, and carry a big stick.
Braixen is the name that's been given to the first evolution of the fluffy fire fox Fennekin, who seems to have developed a love of twigs and learnt to walk on two legs as he matured. Much like the love between a Farfetch'd and it's leek, it seems this twig is very precious to Braixen, and spends its time tucked carefully under it's bushy tail in case of a bad attack of the munchies. But besides being a standby snack, the twig also serves a double purpose, as it can calm the Pokemon's mind, and can even be used in battle as a flaming torch. He's also capable of learning the Psychic type move Psyshock, which deals damage based on your opponent's Defense stat, rather than taking it's Special Defense into account as is usual with most Psychic-type moves. Given all the talk about calming minds and it's ability to learn a Psychic move, we can't help wondering if we'll see a rather rare Fire/Psychic dual type for the final evolution - making it only the third one ever.
Frogadier used splash! It wasn't very effective...
The obligatory side profile.
The award for the best named middle evolution, meanwhile, goes to Frogadier, the bigger brother of Froakie. Looking kind of aloof, he has some pretty crazy jumping skills, being able to leap to the top of a 2000 ft tower with ease, while often leaping all over the shop to avoid his enemies attacks. Seeing as he seems to be able to launch himself into the stratosphere with his super-springy legs, it seems kind of fitting that he can learn the Flying-type move Bounce - which is another one of those rather useful two-turn moves where you launch yourself up on the first go before attacking on the second. Much like Fly or Dig, it's an incredibly useful way of avoiding some of your opponent's nastier attacks, as once you're off the screen you (mostly) can't be damaged. Another plus is that Bounce is super-effective against Grass-type Pokemon, who generally spell danger for watery 'mons like Frogadier.
And last but not least...
JUST LOOK AT HIS HAPPY FACE
Now with serious eyebrows!
Meet our new favourite Pokemon, Quilladin. The evolved form of the grass-type chipmunk thing Chespin, he seems to balloon upon evolving, whilst the spikes on his body grow sturdier and are able to withstand immense forces, helping greatly boost his defence. But like most big guys, Quilladin is apparently a softy at heart, and will never starts fights with other Pokemon, although will fight back when provoked. Much like Frogadier, he has a move in his arsenal perfect for taking on the very 'mons he's week against - by learning the Ground-type move Mud-Shot, which damages his opponent whilst simultaneously lowering their speed, giving him more of a chance of taking down those pesky Fire-types.
Last but not least, we have some more on the new Mega-evolutions - super powerful mid-battle transformations Pokemon can perform when they end up in perfect sync with their trainer, providing
We're not too sure about this one...
they're clutching the relevant Mega Stone. While only certain Pokemon can make the change, it seems Mewtwo was first in line when God was giving out Mega-evolutions as he gets two different forms, depending on whether he's holding a Mewtwonite X or Mewtwonite Y stone - and as you can probably guess from the names of the stones, one is exclusive to the Pokemon X game and the other to Pokemon Y. Mega Mewtwo Y is the one we've already seen with the pinky purple quiff, whilst Mega Mewtwo X is basically a bigger, beefier Mewtwo, who turns into a dual Psychic and Fighting type. Moving on from Mewtwo, it seems the powerful Dragon/Ground type Garchomp also gains the ability to Mega-evolve, turning his arms into huge blades whist boosting both his Attack and Special Attack - making his signature Dragon Claw move all the more powerful.
Pokemon X and Y hit the 3DS next month on the 12th October - and with around about a month left till launch day, there's still plenty of time for more information to be come out. Now that we've finally got our choice of starter down, what's the betting we get another curve ball, as Nintendo reveal the final evolutions for each of the starter Pokemon and send us back to the drawing board yet again?
