The XY Files: The Lost Plotline of Pokemon’s 6th Generation
Scrapped, Leaked, Posted and Forgotten
Game Freak and The Pokemon Company have always been very secretive. Alpha and Beta builds of their games are almost mythic in rarity, and we so rarely get to see early or scrapped Pokemon designs. Everything remains in the vault, even the garbage.
This secrecy has engendered a history of speculation regarding upcoming games and Pokemon designs. It didn’t help that the franchise was born along with early widespread internet; rumours of Pikablu and Pokegods ran rampant on schoolyards during the heyday of Pokemania.
In recent years however, things have been… especially leaky.
Partly, this new wave of leaks is a problem of Game Freak’s own doing. In the transition from 2D to 3D games, the studio’s hodgepodge packing of data allowed for some unintentional information getting out there.
Notoriously, the free demo versions of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and Sun and Moon versions contained massive amounts of superfluous data. Once hackers like Kaphotics and SciresM cracked them open, data involving dialogue, plot, models, and the entire Pokedex could be pulled from just the demo.
Furthermore, once the games were released, information could be datamined that either wasn’t implemented, or not yet announced. Heartbreakingly, Sun and Moon contained walking and running animations for every single Pokemon, suggesting that the much loved overworld walking partner mechanic (not seen since 2009) was scrapped very late on in development.
Thankfully the mechanic made a triumphant return in Let’s Go Eevee and Let’s Go Pikachu, and were likely not included in the “Ultra” iterations of Sun and Ultra Moon to push the wow factor of the first Switch titles.
On top of everything, plain old anonymity allows people to safely distribute forbidden knowledge. With something like the global Pokemon franchise, there are so many moving parts that it’s reasonably impossible to keep everything under wraps. The final evolutions of the starter Pokemon from Sun and Moon (Incineroar, Primarina and Dicidueye) were leaked months prior in an animation style guide.
Truly, we are on the cutting edge of Pokemon Espeonage. With so much information, it can be difficult to tell what’s fabricated nonsense and what’s a legitimate peek. But as the following example illustrates posted by Twitter user Nibelion sometimes the Real Ones™ slip through the cracks.
So, if you would, travel back in time with me. We are going to visit the dangerous chronoscape of 2014, to see a very specific, mostly forgotten post on 4chan’s “/vp/” image board regarding the weird development of Pokemon X and Pokemon Y.
(Content Warning: The link to the archived post contains, in true 2014 channer style, racist, ableist and homophobic language. A set of cropped screenshots, minus the trademark channer dreck, can be found here. The original, unedited archived thread can be found here.)
It’s a weird one, but it’s stuck with me for years now — mostly because almost everything this post suggests has been realized in some regard by Gamefreak’s later works. After seeing the April fool’s Let’s Go Pikachu leak retroactively proven true, I felt this old post needed to see the light of day. It needed justice.
Like I said before, the studio never throws out their garbage — it just stays in the vault.
So let’s dig into the garbage:
Welcome to the XY Files
In 2013 the hype cycle for Pokemon X and Pokemon Y was in full swing. And with good reason: the first ambitious jump into full 3D was truly a watershed moment for the franchise, and speculation ran wild as to what surprises were on the horizon. After all, Mega Evolution was announced — a feature that brought to mind the heady Grade 3 afternoons of trying (unsuccessfully) to ascend your Charizard into godhood.
Anything could happen.
Alleged leak posts of the time usually promised insider information on future implementations and titles. However, this post stood out. It was unusual.
Written by a contributor who went by “XYSider”, it was a description of cut content and various scrapped ideas that never made in into the release of Pokemon X & Pokemon Y. In a few months, the long awaited 3DS remakes of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire would be announced, but this post made no claim to predict anything upcoming.
In terms of credibility, they didn’t have much reason for people to believe the content: “I have no actual proof this is real since they cannot release prototype sketches, but the sources are from people I’ve been in contact with who worked on XY, mainly ones that did lesser work, at various points in production” What followed was “…a culmination of the various cut elements I’ve learned about.” In due fairness providing proof for content that wasn’t made is clearly ridiculous. At face value, at least.
So, going on faith and piqued interest, XYSider claimed that what they were posting was “planned content and elements for Pokemon X and Y..that were cut due to time constraints, or dropped for other reasons”, mostly pertaining to “plot elements, and original character designs, that never materialized and probably will never resurface in future instalments”.
Here’s the kicker: the elements XYSider claimed to leak absolutely did resurface in future instalments. With scary accuracy.
The Scrapped Plot
The main topic of the posted information was the initial vision for the plot of Pokemon X and Y. According to XYSider, the instalments were initially meant to have a very X-Filesian “paranormal bent”. This was in stark contrast to the the finished plot — which could be described as sparse dressing on the standard Pokemon fare.
You met a few friends, encountered some baddies, beat the baddies when they wanted to blow up the world with an ancient crystalline Nuclear Bomb metaphor, all the while getting badges and eventually beating the Elite Four, becoming Champion.
At the end (spoilers) “AZ”, an inexplicably massive old man who invented the not-Nuclear Bomb congratulates you at your award ceremony, and a Pokemon (that he initially invented the not-Nuke to resurrect) returned on good terms. All is forgiven.
Fin.
How It Was Supposed To Go
In the initial story plan, the game’s evil organization of Team Flare was an ersatz Men-In-Black. They consisted of aliens posing as humans with aims to destroy the planet. Their mission? Hunt down AZ, a fellow alien who had crash landed on Earth long ago. The giant, wandering wiseman AZ was meant to destroy Earth and its warring inhabitants, but had a change of heart and defected upon meeting a Floette. Unlike the final produced story, AZ would have Floette as a partner throughout, but his Floette’s flower would be the key to a doomsday weapon.
AZ’s unique Floette was never distributed, but it could still be found in the game’s code, with special stats and even a special attack in Light of Ruin, which doesn’t sound important at all.
This prototype timeline could have given the unique Floette more plot importance — in the finished story, the key to the ultimate weapon was, well… just a set of plain looking key around AZ’s neck.
The Team Flare that we got was an evil organization that planned “to make the world better and more beautiful.” (???) Out of any context, X and Y failed to deliver any readable motive for Team Flare — even their name didn’t really line up with their goals.
Yet, we see footprints of their original mission. This little bit of trivia from Pokemon wiki Bulbapedia.com tells it all: “The names of Team Flare’s scientists are possibly a reference to solar flares, which are classified as A, B, C, M, or X according to their peak flux range. Those are the scientists’ initials in each localization of the games.”
It’s almost as if the initial context was supposed to be extraterrestrial.
Regarding the “Ultimate Weapon” that becomes the climactic terror of the X and Y storyline, the box legendaries Xerneas and Yveltal were slated to be far more intrinsic to the threat. “(Xerneas and Yveltal were)…alien lifeforms initially, and were basically living superweapons, as opposed to being the power-source for the weapon like in the final version.”
It didn’t end there. Many other characters and Pokemon received haphazard changes to their design after the plot moved away from the paranormal and extraterrestrial.
Moon Fairies
Pokemon X and Y brought with it the surprise of a new Pokemon type — a shakeup that hadn’t occurred since the release of Pokemon Gold and Silver. Some earlier generation Pokemon like Clefairy and Jigglypuff were even retconned into this new Fairy type, fully or partially. However, the aesthetic of the fairy type seemed a little haphazard, and many fans initially considered it a slapshod mechanical excuse to nerf the powerful dragon type.
There may have been a more solid, if not ludicrous justification.
XYSider’s post notes that “Fairy-type Pokemon had more plot presence, an idea being that they’d be aliens from the Moon who came to Earth even further in the past and had learned to live with humans in peace.” This lines up — Clefairy, the literal “Fairy Pokemon”, has strong associations with the moon (everyone fondly remembers the anime Clefairy and their inexplicable UFO). The fairy-type move Moonblast was introduced in X and Y, and the healing move Moonlight was retconned to fairy type.
Whether this was a good idea or a bad idea, the whole Mooninites thing was dropped and Game Freak introduced the type with minimal fanfare.
League Champion Diantha, ostensibly the games final boss, was “intended to be one of these more benevolent Moon aliens, their leader”. While in the final game she’s more of an aloof movie star, her signature Pokemon is the psychic- and fairy-type Gardevoir. She even sports inexplicable fairy wings — though maybe it’s just couture.
The design for Valerie, the fairy-type gym leader, was apparently a hold over from this moon-alien aesthetic as well. In the finished product, she holds the title of gym leader, and her gym is a giant doll house. And I can’t tell if that’s more or less unnerving.
Either way, if Valerie’s original concept was covered up, they could have done a better job of it. Valerie remains straight up alien. I mean look at this.
This ain’t human:
Mega Evolution is 1982’s The Thing, Basically
The story was apparently more intimately tied to the revolutionary Mega Stones. They were also of alien origin, being “pieces of AZ’s spaceship that spread across Earth when he landed.” According to XYSider, “the original idea for Mega Evolutions were much more alien in appearance, with elements akin to Deoxys suggesting he hailed from the same planet.”
While that may at first sound a bit bizarre, it’s worth pointing X and Y’s Japanese logos display the “sigil” for mega evolution, which has a striking similarity to the double-helix of DNA. This little sigil also appears above the heads of mega-evolving Pokemon. This motif was largely scrapped in Pokemon Sun and Moon, which started development after Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released in 2014 — the sigil has lost its “rungs” and appears more like a flame upon evolution. Perhaps at that point, evidence of X & Y’s paranormal themes had properly scrubbed and put to bed.
Looking at Deoxys design, it is clearly tied to that double-helix motif, holding the classification of “DNA Pokemon”. To further that point, most of it’s Pokedex entries describe Deoxys as kind of virus - from spaaace.
Perhaps at one point, the intention of Mega Evolution was to express the powerful influence of Deoxys essence.
There are a few facts that could give this theory credence.
Many of the first Mega Evolutions seem to hint at a kind of space-alien influence. This is clear in the space-godzilla design influences of Mega Tyranitar and Mega Abomasnow, or how Mega Mawile gets way more John Carpenter. On top of that, it’s made clear in some designs (and future literature in Sun and Moon versions) that the viral “corruption” that Mega Evolution seems to have over Pokemon — they seem to go berserk in unnatural and blind rage.
As was commonly theorized up until X and Y’s release, Lysandre was intended to be the Mr. Hyde to Professor Sycamore’s Dr. Jekyll “a scientist who was exposed to a space rock, with the Lysandre-half being when the alien’s leader takes control of him”. In short, someone who Kurt Russel would have to deal with.
So what happened to this big wild conspiracy party? The post doesn’t go into much detail, but it seems that it was a mixture of prioritizing the models and plain old trepidation.
As XYSider recounts: “This drafted plot was deemed a bit too weird, and the paranormal elements were rewrote into more mystical elements which were then further scaled back”.
Apparently the plot point of Lysandre being Sycamore’s alter-ego was still included until late on in development, but they were eventually cut into two separate buddies from college. And then fiercely shipped by very rabid fanfic writers.
However, Deoxys wasn’t about to lose it’s weird, alien influence over Game Freak.
The games following X and Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, have a post-game plot that featured Deoxys heavily. This “Delta Episode” involved a literal space mission to smash an incoming meteor with your new god-pal Mega Rayquaza. Once smashed, you find the meteor itself housed a malevolent Deoxys virus. The alien invader defeated and captured, you return to Earth.
This really cool animated short — part of the retrospective “Pokemon Generations” series, beautifully renders this haywire encounter of the third kind:
In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, this Deoxys meteor is suggested to be similar to the one that made possible the first mega evolution. This is just the author’s speculation, but this sounds like the writing team may have salvaged at least part of the scrapped plotline of X and Y.
After all was said and done, themes of extraterrestrial Pokemon were lavishly explored in 2016’s and 2017’s 7th generation titles. Alien-like Ultra Beasts, wormholes, and even M.I.B.-style visitors from “Ultra Space” were all drenching the scripts with that “paranormal bent” that wasn’t implemented in X and Y.
A reoccurring character, detective “Looker” even plays a Mulder-esque investigator in Sun and Moon, a role that XY Sider mentioned was originally intended to be the case. 4 years ago.
Even if the plot was deemed too harebrained to use, it sure as sunshine didn’t stop Game Freak from doing the space thing anyway.
Sure, this crackpot theory may have been hopeful headcannon to make sense of a jumbled, messy plot. But there are several other insights shared by XYsider — specifically in scrapped mechanics, that suggest this post had more validity than it was given credit for.
Gameplay Mechanics
Apparently, the game suffered from a rushed publishing date later on in development — priorities were placed on the new 3D models of each Pokemon, and so the shipped game not only suffered from a fragmented plot, but several mechanics were thrown in half-baked.
It’s a shame, because some features that were included in the game were absolutely naff. Sky Battles come to mind, which I fear may have influenced the ludicrous “hovering statically in the air” design of the game’s flying types. I still love you Skarmory, Tropius and Xatu. Please come down soon.
Riding Pokemon
The ability to ride on the back of Pokemon was seemingly slated for a greater role in X and Y.
“The feature ended up getting put on the back-burner a bit and wasn’t as important in the final game as it was planned to be originally” XYsider claimed. “at one point riding Pokemon was meant to completely replace the Bike, but this proved difficult to do.”
While the Pokemon-riding mechanic did see limited implementation in X and Y, it came back in full force in Sun & Moon. Just like XYsider mentioned, it even ended up replacing the bike. With the ride mechanic continuing to serve this role in the recent Pokemon “Let’s Go” games, it seems realistic that the team wanted to implement the feature either way.
Pokemon Size Diversity
This is a fairly deep cut for those interested, but I think it’s enough of a called shot to back up the XYsider post. According to the post, there was meant to be a size mechanic implemented in the games — pokemon could be larger or smaller, and it could affect their stats.
Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist line (which are based off of halloween pumpkins) did actually utilize this feature, having four variations from “small size” to “super size”.
XYSider explains: “The idea of Pokemon being multiple sizes and effecting their stats, as seen with the Pumpkaboo line… (It’s) an idea the team has played around with for years but have never included due to the gameplay changes it’d cause.”
Upon the release of the mobile game Pokemon Go, followed by the Switch’s Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee games, it’s clear that Game Freak did eventually decide to implement size difference, albeit in a mechanically and visually softer manner. While sizes now differentiate between Pokemon, it doesn’t affect any stats or model renders. Who knows, if the previous claims were correct, we might see actual model variation in future Pokemon titles.
Tinfoil Hat, but make it Pokemon
I know full well that this specific, four year old 4chan post might just be some bizarre confirmation bias on my psychological part. So, just for kicks, I want to hold it up to a set of standards familiar to the Pokemon community.
“Serebii Confirmed” is an old meme in the Pokemon fandom. If something is decided legitimate by the Pokemon news website Serebii.net, then the community can rest assured that the topic at hand isn’t fabricated for clout. I’m sure the webmaster for Serebii, Joe Merrick, sees a lot of poorly stitched-together leaks and spun info. This has been his pinned tweet for the last year or so:
Do I think this is the grim line in the sand drawn by a tired, tired individual? Yes. But more usefully, let’s apply it to our XYSider post to help determine its authenticity.
At the time, it was obviously classifiable as a rumour. There was clearly and admittedly no properly supported evidence.
But elements of the post were slowly but surely given at least an air of retroactive validity. They became more true with each scrapped mechanic and plot point eventually becoming officially utilized. Does that count as confirmation?
After once asking Merrick about this post, I was promptly ignored and I didn’t see it come up in any later conversation. However, without Merrick’s direct input I feel fairly confident in calling this post a leak by the prior standards.
Because if it wasn’t a leak, it was an extremely spooky set of called shots.
Giving it Time with Game Freak
Obviously at the time of XYSider’s post, people were skeptical and uninterested. There was a lot of information, and none of it was promising anything new. It wasn’t the kind of leak people would want.
A few months later, Hoenn was finally confirmed, and Pokemon X and Y never received a satisfying director’s cut a la the Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum versions.
It’s a shame, because there are so many open threads in that game that they actually obscure its strengths. Pokemon X and Y was a big mechanical leap into 3D, a first for the mainline Pokemon series. Lumiose City’s over the shoulder camera angle was a really cool experiment, and the notion of seeing wild Pokemon in the overworld were first realized. Hidden stats were less obscured, and competitive battling was made more accessible than ever.
But there’s that locked door in the Kalos Badlands. Massive, promising buildings with nothing to offer. There’s the creepypasta-style ghost that says “you’re not the one”. There’s the totally bizarre inclusion of Zygarde, “protector of the ecosystem”, only to be realized in Sun and Moon minus any context whatsoever. The X and Y era leaned heavily on the anime for any plot whatsoever surrounding the games biggest elements.
What are Yveltal and Xerneas about? What did they do? Did they interact? Why is one a cocoon and one a tree. These feel less like mysteries and more like jumped narrative-ships.
If XYsider’s claims are at all valid, Game Freak seems to consistently bite off more than they can chew. To compound that eagerness, massive changes happen very late in development, possibly hurting both narrative and mechanics as publishing dates draw near. Developer crunch is unfortunately common in this industry, but the scope that Game Freak yearns for seems to get them in a real hot seat.
In the fantastic Gameinformer feature “The History of Pokemon” by interviewer Kyle Hillard, director Shigeru Ohmori describes the implementation of one of Sun and Moon’s core concepts, the scrapping of Gyms for the Island Challenge.
Notably, it was a late implementation — during the debugging phase.
‘It was so late, in fact, that the programming and art teams were not able to lend much help for the trials’ creation. “I had to figure out a way that just us game designers could create these features and figure out the content of the actual trials. So we had a basic scripting language we could use, but obviously we couldn’t create new visuals,” Ohmori says. “We were trying things like maybe we have a sound quiz or something, so we came up with a lot of ideas based in the restrictions we had.”
I do love this series, and I truly believe there are some geniuses of the art form behind every Pokemon entry. But boy, do they shoot themselves in the foot. Game Freak’s resourcefulness to make an engaging island challenge was evidence of their talent in spite of restriction, but I dream of the game they can make given more time. More resources. More possibility.
The studio is notorious for always seeming a bit behind the curve, and I don’t sit comfortably with feeling that the most ambitious leaps are always the weakest versions of their potential.
However, Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, despite not being “core” games, have been such a nice trip through what Pokemon can be. If the result of their lofty aspirations is coming to a head, Let’s Go feels promising.
It may take years (and a few games) for Game Freak to realize their ideas, but they’re good ideas. If the XYsider post holds water, almost all the scrapped concepts of X and Y have finally seen utilization.
Does Game Freak has to be secretive about it? Well, I suppose it’s better to surprise than to disappoint. The first promo video of Pokemon Sun and Moon featured concept artwork — a firetruck with a Blastoise instead of a hose. A mobile, Ambulance-style pokemon centre. A trainer, riding on the bed of a truck with their pokemon. These didn’t make their way into the final game.
Some more lofty ideas left on the floor? Who knows — we may see something like it in the upcoming 2019 entries? Perhaps I can finally realize my “Studio Ghibli but Pokemon” moment, and belt out “Take me Home, Johto Roads”.
Maybe I see Game Freak’s potential as a double-edged sword — their enthusiasm getting stuck in “blue sky” brainstorming, burning them in the implementation stage. Though, maybe that’s why I love Game Freak. Their unbridled passion to make a warm, peaceful world just that more believable remains unmatched.
Maybe at the of the day…
