By Bryan Creevy (@BCreevyDaWriter) – Entertainment Editor

The release of “Pokemon Black 2” and “Pokemon White 2” in October 2012 marked the end of generation five in the Pokemon series. Many fans questioned what was next in the franchise. Some guessed that it may be over, that Nintendo might just do remakes of the previous games for the Nintendo 3DS starting with Generation three.

The world got their answer on January 8 with the reveal trailer for the games “Pokemon X” and “Pokemon Y,” the first two games for Generation six of Pokemon.

The trailer first reveals that the game will be the first to be released for the 3DS. It is not mentioned if any version of the game will be released for the Nintendo DS or DSi.

Immediately after, one cannot help but notice that for the first time in the series handheld history is the character full bodied. To put him in perspective, instead of looking like a small dot filling one square of space on the screen, the character looks like the playable characters in “Pokemon Colosseum” and “Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness” released on the Nintendo GameCube. Their heads are no longer as big as his body. Instead, characters actually look more like real people.

The world has also been graphically enhanced to the next level. The standard routes which normally consist of trees, tall grass, and trainers still consist of trees, tall grass, and trainers, however the camera is no longer viewing the protagonist from above; the camera seems to follow him from behind. The colors and scenery also seem much more appealing than in any previous game. Everything seems to pop out through the screen even on just the trailer.

One new item that has got many fans exciting is a pair of rollerblades or roller-skates seen being used by the male protagonist in one scene of the trailer. It is not specified if they are replacing the fan-favorite bicycle or if the gamer gets both or a choice of either one.

Something else that hasn’t been seen before is the character actually performing actions to scale various terrains. In a forested area, the character is seen on a small footprint icon and then swinging from a rope to cross a gap between ledges in a giant tree. To the side of that gap, another footprint icon is seen next to a rope that goes between different levels of the tree showing once again another way that the character can travel past obstacles without his Pokemon.

Battles now look more epic than ever. Each Pokemon is still standing in a circle on the battlefield, but now it feels once again like “Pokemon Colosseum” and “Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness.” There is now scenery depending on where the battle takes place. In a forested area, trees can be seen all around and grass is laid out around and between the two battling Pokemon. One thing that is different from the GameCube titles is that, for physical attacks, the attacker can be seen traveling over to the enemy Pokémon’s circle to actually inflict the damage. Throughout the trailer, it is not shown if the trainers are visible throughout the battle like they were in the GameCube titles.

All three new starters Pokemon have been revealed through these battle sequences. Chespin, the grass starter, though not based off of any reptile looks like a cute mole with a green hat or hoody over its head. Fennekin, the fire starter, is based off of a Fennec fox. The final starter is Froakie, the water starter who is based off of a frog.

The last interesting clips that were released were videos of the two new main Legendaries. Throughout the video only their images were shown, but the following day, their names were revealed. Xerneas is a stag looking legendary that has a black and white body with white antlers that glow a beautiful blue, red, and yellow color is several spots. The pupils of Xerneas are both shaped like an “X” which shows its relation with the title “Pokemon X.”

The second legendary is named Yveltal. This Pokemon looks like it could be of three different types: Dark, Flying, or Dragon. This winged Pokémon’s body is shaped like a “Y” when its wings are spread out with slightly curved wings and a long flat tail. It seems like at the end of its red wings are giant, black claws or hands. Neither of the pronunciations for these two Pokemon has been released as of now.

The third legendary that always follows after the main two has not been revealed yet either, but the Pokemon community knows that it is coming sometime soon.

Many of the Pokemon fans that have been around since Generation one had started to lose faith in the whole franchise. This new powerful title with its revolutionary changes to the handheld game series may be just what the fans need to feel confident about the series once more. The starters have already become greatly praised in the little time that the trailer has been released. Hopefully, these two new titles could be what bring the praise for the series back to the levels of the originals.

(Photo courtesy pokemon.com)