2013, Role-playing (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS)
WISE Score
The 2013 3DS Pokémon game that introduced Mega Evolution, set in a region modeled on France.
X and Y are good, gentle Pokémon games and the origin of Mega Evolution, which Pokémon Legends: Z-A brought back in 2025. A Pokémon fan of 7 to 12 who reads well will enjoy the journey.
The hard part is getting it running. It needs a Nintendo 3DS or 2DS, the 3DS shop closed in 2023, and online play ended in 2024, so it means a used cartridge and a used handheld.
Best from about 7 or 8, when a kid can read the dialogue and type matchups on their own; Common Sense Media puts it at 8+. Younger Pokémon fans can play with a parent reading. It stays fun through about 12; older fans looking for a challenge usually want the newer games.
Rated E for Comic Mischief and Mild Cartoon Violence: Pokémon faint rather than get hurt, and the story is about friendship with your team. The villain wants to wipe out humanity, told in cartoon form.
A whole region modeled on France, 72 new Pokémon and the first Mega Evolutions, with room to build a team your own way.
No purchases inside the game, and 3DS online features ended in April 2024, so there are no strangers to meet. Trading still works with friends nearby.
Type matchups and team-building are real strategy, and the game asks for steady reading.
Pokémon X and Pokémon Y came out on October 12, 2013, the first main Pokémon games released worldwide on the same day and the first in full 3D. Game Freak set them in Kalos, a region modeled on France, and added 72 new Pokémon, the Fairy type and character customization. The headline addition was Mega Evolution: in battle, a fully evolved Pokémon holding a Mega Stone can transform into a stronger form until the battle ends.
An early battle: Chespin, one of the three starters, against a wild Fletchling.
You choose Chespin, Fennekin or Froakie and travel Kalos collecting gym badges on the way to the Pokémon League. Professor Sycamore later hands you a classic starter, Bulbasaur, Charmander or Squirtle, with its Mega Stone. The villain group, Team Flare, is led by Lysandre, who plans to use an ancient weapon to wipe out humanity. The game resolves it with the legendary Pokémon on your cover and a reunion between an ancient king and the Pokémon he lost 3,000 years earlier. It is a darker plot than most Pokémon games, told entirely in cartoon form, and rated E.
Mega Blaziken, one of the Mega Evolutions the game introduced.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A came out in October 2025 and returns to Lumiose City, the capital of Kalos, with Mega Evolution back at the center. A kid who fell for Megas there may want to see the original. The Super Training minigames and Pokémon-Amie, where you pet and feed your Pokémon on the touch screen, are both from X and Y too.
Super Training: kicking balls at a Geodude balloon to raise your Pokémon's stats.
This is the hard part. X and Y run only on the Nintendo 3DS family, the 3DS eShop stopped selling games on March 27, 2023, and Nintendo ended 3DS online play on April 8, 2024. Playing now means a used cartridge on a used 3DS or 2DS. Local trading and battles with a friend in the same room still work. If your kid wants Mega Evolution on a Switch, Z-A is the way in, and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is another 3DS Pokémon game with Mega Evolution.
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