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Why didn't XY get a "second wave"?

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gentwoer

Well-Known Member
The first four gens got a 3rd version. Gen 5 and 7 got sequels. Gen 6? Nothing. Just XY and the Hoen remakes. Why no Pokemon Z or Pokemon X squared/Y squared?
 

RileyXY1

Young Battle Trainer
The first four gens got a 3rd version. Gen 5 and 7 got sequels. Gen 6? Nothing. Just XY and the Hoen remakes. Why no Pokemon Z or Pokemon X squared/Y squared?

Maybe GF didn't think that XY needed one? Either that or they wanted to get a new gen out by the 20th Anniversary.
 

Mr. Reloaded

Cause a pirate is free
Either that or they wanted to get a new gen out by the 20th Anniversary.


Looking back, this was most probably the case.

Sure Zygarde got shafted hard, but it is what it is.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
Between Zygarde's additional formes and other factors like Eternal Floette, it's obvious that a third Kalos game - a "Pokémon Z" - was intended at some stage but was never realized.

I agree that it was probably a casualty of the behind-the-scenes shuffling of Generation VII and/or the Switch, but we're unlikely to ever know the full story.
 

Taodragon

Training Anaylst
Small nitpick, but Gen 7 was a third version as it doesn't continue SM's events, it just retells them with new things.

Anyway, as said before it's likely due to the 20th anniversary coming up and likely not wanting a third version for the milestone, thus "Pokémon Z" ended up being skipped over due to its timing.
 

Satoshi & Touko

Peanuts aren't just a nut.
It still stings for me that Gen 6, a region that had trainer customization, had to be the first generation to not get a third version. At least both gen 7 games have it though so everything's all good.
 

Tsukuyomi56

Sky High Knight
Mostly likely the 20th Anniversary is the reason Kalos is the only region without a third version, to Game Freak ending said anniversary with a third Kalos game is underwhelming compared to releasing a game centered in a new region.
 

Trainer Yusuf

VolcaniNO
Why no Pokemon Z or Pokemon X squared/Y squared?
As many have said, it likely had most to do with 20th anniversary and Switch's early release. There were two other games planned for XY as seen in game's code, but they didn't materialize due to this.

Another issue is likely to do with continuity. Unlike Regigigas, there wasn't anything they could add for Gen 7 from Gen 6 besides maybe something Volcanion related, so they repurposed Zygarde for Alola.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
X/Y always seemed complete to me since they had so many available Pokemon. I didn't think they needed a sequel, and even to this day the "Gen 6.5" fan theories make me chuckle. That always seemed so absurd to me, personally.
 

Nightlingbolt

AKA Nightlingbolt
I've always nursed a sort of pet theory that half of Zygarde's cells were in Alola to monitor the Ultra Beast situation via some connection between Terminus and Resolution Caves, and when the Team Flare crisis was resolved, the Zygarde that was in Kalos left to fortify its counterpart in Alola, thus resulting in the Zygarde Cell sidequest in Sun/Moon. I dunno, maybe Zygarde has some sort of connection to the tapu, even if only a passing acquaintance (I only suggest this because the Pokedex calls them Land Spirit Pokemon)?
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
Because Game Freak was more obsessed with shoehorning in a new generation we didn't really need for the sake of the anniversary than making an actually good game.

Another issue is likely to do with continuity. Unlike Regigigas, there wasn't anything they could add for Gen 7 from Gen 6 besides maybe something Volcanion related, so they repurposed Zygarde for Alola.

Don't see why this is needed. Most generations don't really have a Regigigas kind of situation, why does Kalos?
 

Kage-Pikachu

Well-Known Member
2015 looked like a year of wasted potential since there many elements of X and Y that had not been expanded upon but as what was mentioned before...it is what it is...

I'm guess development for Pokemon Sun and Moon was likely the main reason for this. But seeing as how they often have two teams (one to work on main games and one to work on remakes) I don't understand why they didn't made a continuation (Z or whatever) for 2015 AND Sun and Moon. The sales for X and Y were great and for a while they were the best selling games on the 3ds.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
2015 looked like a year of wasted potential since there many elements of X and Y that had not been expanded upon but as what was mentioned before...it is what it is...

I'm guess development for Pokemon Sun and Moon was likely the main reason for this. But seeing as how they often have two teams (one to work on main games and one to work on remakes) I don't understand why they didn't made a continuation (Z or whatever) for 2015 AND Sun and Moon. The sales for X and Y were great and for a while they were the best selling games on the 3ds.

Thing is that Game Freak has never been able to release games 4 years in a row, it's not surprising that 2015 was a break year. What's really questionable in all of this is why they thought a second 3DS generation was a good idea. The last time they did that (with BW), the games felt shoehorned, cut into the lifespan of the next gen hardware, and left everyone questioning why they didn't jump to the new hardware sooner. It was already a bad idea then, let alone when the 3DS still had a third version they could release before needing a new generation.
 

Taodragon

Training Anaylst
They likely didn't jump to the new hardware sooner because they weren't prepared for it. It's already been stated officially that they didn't start development on XY until around BW's release, so it's entirely possible they didn't have the tools to handle it before then and only started once they had access to them. Even assuming that they did, you have to remember that XY itself is already considered to have its own woes to begin with, so having less development time under it could've been even worse for its state whether mechanically or otherwise. In the end, it could've been deemed to be a better idea to eat the loss and properly prepare for the system by giving them a couple more years then patch together a game that potentially could've been a mess in design.
 

Kage-Pikachu

Well-Known Member
Thing is that Game Freak has never been able to release games 4 years in a row, it's not surprising that 2015 was a break year. What's really questionable in all of this is why they thought a second 3DS generation was a good idea. The last time they did that (with BW), the games felt shoehorned, cut into the lifespan of the next gen hardware, and left everyone questioning why they didn't jump to the new hardware sooner. It was already a bad idea then, let alone when the 3DS still had a third version they could release before needing a new generation.
My only problem with Black 2 and White 2 was that they were two games, similar to my problem with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. They stated that when they created X and Y they felt they had pushed the 3DS to its full capability before realizing that they hadn't quite reached it yet. I don't mind having more than one gen on a single console, to me it just saves me money on buying a new console. I just wish Zygarde could have had a DLC story mission added in X and Y, for a gen with only 3 legendary Pokemon you would expect all of them to get equal focus...
 

Nightlingbolt

AKA Nightlingbolt
Or instead of the Sun/Moon demo, give us Ash-Greninja in the form of a story using the XY engine connecting Kalos to Alola and explaining why Zygarde was in Alola to begin with.
 

Kein

AKA Silktree
In the end, it could've been deemed to be a better idea to eat the loss and properly prepare for the system by giving them a couple more years then patch together a game that potentially could've been a mess in design.
There was no loss. SM have been about as successful as XY (and RS), and BW barely fell short of that (a 4% difference). Game Freak would have been making less money if they'd listened to Bolt's advice.
 

Xuxuba

Well-Known Member
They said on interviews that they wanted to surprise people and since everyone was expecting a third version/sequel, i guess that was their way of surprising us. Things like Complete Zygarde were probably created to throw us off.

I would've much rather not be surprised though, since XY actually needed a second wave and the Kalos region had a lot more to be explored than Alola. They could've used the time between the second wave and the new generation to fix some of SM's problems, without having to release USUM. Instead of USUM, we could've gotten DP remakes, but once again, they wanted to surprise us...
 
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DuquÊ?

Too lazy to pick a pic
Maybe GF didn't think that XY needed one? Either that or they wanted to get a new gen out by the 20th Anniversary.
To be totally honest, if we had a Pokemon Z, with a Zygarde centered plot, Complete Zygarde and Ash-Greninja, I wouldn't bother myself into buy SM/USUM.

I would've much rather not be surprised though, since XY actually needed a second wave and the Kalos region had a lot more to be explored than Alola. They could've used the time between the second wave and the new generation to fix some of SM's problems, without having to release USUM. Instead of USUM, we could've gotten DP remakes, but once again, they wanted to surprise us...
I'd prefer a DP remake than USUM, honestly. I got bored of USUM in two weeks and went back to play X.
 

Baggie_Saiyan

Well-Known Member
They said on interviews that they wanted to surprise people and since everyone was expecting a third version/sequel, i guess that was their way of surprising us. Things like Complete Zygarde were probably created to throw us off.

I would've much rather not be surprised though, since XY actually needed a second wave and the Kalos region had a lot more to be explored than Alola. They could've used the time between the second wave and the new generation to fix some of SM's problems, without having to release USUM. Instead of USUM, we could've gotten DP remakes, but once again, they wanted to surprise us...
DP remakes deffo wouldn't have happened anyway, that would be too many generations for the 3ds.
 
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