Pokémon are a species of fictional creatures created for the
Pokémon media franchise. Developed by
Game Freak and published by
Nintendo, the Japanese franchise began in 1996 with the video games
Pokémon Red and
Green for the
Game Boy, which were later released in North America as
Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998. In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is to capture and use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon. Some Pokémon can transform into stronger species through a process called evolution via various means, such as exposure to specific items. Each Pokémon have one or two elemental types, which define its advantages and disadvantages when battling other Pokémon. A major goal in each game is to complete the Pokédex, a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia, by capturing, evolving, and trading with other Trainers to obtain individuals from all Pokémon species. Beauty was the core focus and Masuda felt France to be a prime example of such; he brought a team to the country for study in 2011. With the games taking place in a region based on
France (called
Kalos), design inspiration stemmed more from European culture More focus than usual was placed on giving new Pokémon unique elements for this generation. A new type was also added into the game for the first time since
Gold and Silver in 1999: Fairy type. This type was introduced to balance out the Dragon, Fighting, Poison, and Steel types. Dragon was previously only weak against itself and Ice, and only resisted against Steel. Fighting previously was super-effective against five different types (Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark and Steel) and only weak against Flying and Psychic types. Poison was previously only super-effective against Grass, resisted against itself, Rock, Ground and Ghost types and ineffective against Steel. Steel previously was only super-effective against Ice and Rock types and resisted against itself, Fire, Water and Electric types. Aside from this, Ghost and Dark are now neutral against Steel, improving the offensive usefulness of both types. Multiple Pokémon from previous generations, such as
Jigglypuff,
Gardevoir, and
Marill, were retroactively assigned the new type while 13 new Pokémon, most notably
Sylveon, donned the type. A new mechanic called Mega Evolution—a temporary form change akin to normal evolution—was also added for more dynamic battles and stemmed from the concepts of bonds and evolution. The titles
X and
Y, representing the
x-axis and y-axis—also reflecting different forms of thinking—were chosen early in development. At the request of Masuda, Normally, Sugimori designs the legendary Pokémon by himself; however, he required assistance from designer Atsuko Nishida to create Xerneas and Yveltal. Manga artist Hitoshi Ariga was requested to assist in creating Pokémon for
X and
Y; Ariga ultimately designed ten species for the games. It is speculated by fans that the designs for the
Chespin,
Fennekin and
Froakie evolutionary lines stem from typical
role-playing game character classes, such as those in
Final Fantasy. Chespin represents the knight, paladin and fighter classes; Fennekin represents the witch, mage and magician classes; and Froakie represents the ninja, thief and rogue classes. ==List of Pokémon==