The Meaning Behind the Pokémon X and Y Names

In the latest Iwata Asks feature for Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, the team were quizzed on the meaning behind the names.

With the previous generations, the differences were fairly clear cut, with Nintendo opting for the names of gems or colours to distinguish the different versions of each game.

However with Pokémon X and Pokémon Y there has been some ambiguity when it comes to the meaning behind the names - some fans think it could fit in with the shape of the legendaries, others link the names to the X and Y chromosomes.

According to Pokémon producer Masuda, the versions are defined by directional axis: X being horizontal and Y, vertical.

Masuda: Right. The world holds people with all sorts of ways of thinking, and you can get a sense that they exist in different dimensions. But if you think of them as people who think on the x axis and people who think on the y axis-horizontal and vertical axes-then they intersect somewhere.

Iwata: Even if they think in contrary ways, they agree in places, too.

Masuda: Exactly. We may think differently, but we all live on the same planet, so everyone eats, sleeps and goes about their business day after day just like everyone else.

Iwata: So the theme this time is that even if languages, cultures and mindsets are different, even if the surrounding environment is different, they overlap somewhere.

Masuda: Yes. We thought of that early on and then started building the surrounding world of these games.

What are your thoughts on the meaning behind Pokémon X and Pokémon Y?