It was an overcast Saturday morning in Manhattan as Pokémon fans gathered on 48th Street in front of the Nintendo World Store. The anticipation was high for the lucky fans who waited on line that morning. Nintendo employees gave out paper hats of all three starters to the anxious crowd that awaited something magical. Once the clock struck 12 noon, security ushered fans in ten at a time to try out the demo of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. The event took place entirely on the second floor, so space was very limited. While I was waiting on line, a Nintendo representative gave us the opportunity to try out the Nintendo 2DS (which I documented on my video overview below). Despite the vast majority of negativity surrounding the console's upcoming release, the 2DS felt very natural in my medium adult sized hands. The balance and button placement of the console made it comfortable to hold. The L/R trigger buttons also felt miles better than the ones on the original Nintendo 3DS. I would definitely recommend purchasing one if you're on a budget or looking to get a second console for trading Pokémon into this new generation of games.

Unfortunately, the staff had forbid me from taking any video footage of the demo. Therefore, with the images below, I shall describe my experience. The overall appearance of the game engine has vastly improved since the beginning of the year. Once I was dropped into the demo and encountered a wild Pokémon, I was very impressed on how much detail they put into this masterpiece. The character models in battle move very fluidly, like a pat of butter on a hot griddle. The way the engine handled attack moves impressed me the most. For example, the move Stomp completely flattened the 3D model of my Fennekin. There was absolutely no visual tearing or stuttering for that move's effect. The battle screens themselves looked polished, and at this point the games look almost as vibrant as GameCube titles. At the end of the demo, Professor Sycamore challenged me to a battle. I was given a level 100 Mewtwo with its Mega Stone to help defeat him. I triggered the Mega Evolution when instructing Mewtwo to use Thunderbolt. Once again, the smoothness of the 3D animation was very satisfying, and I can't wait to play the full game once it's released this Saturday. Overall, the demo put to rest about any doubt I had for the upcoming 6th generation. Once I completed the demo, my left hand was stamped and I received a gift bag which contained six Pokémon X & Y art cards (which I will add to the article later), Pokémon X & Y Dogtags, and a small Pokéball tabletop ornament which can be used to store three Nintendo DS or 3DS cartridges.

Afterwards, I toured the new Pokémon display on the second floor (which is also featured on the video footage below). This display chronicles every generation of the Pokémon universe thus far. Once again, Nintendo World did a fantastic job in organizing the shelved displays.

Despite the fact that this Pre-Launch event was a last minute announcement (it was only announced a few days prior to the actual event), there was quite a large turnout of fans. The upcoming event on Friday is expected to be just as large as previous launch events, and I'm looking forward to bringing every single detail to our loyal readers.

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Images from the Event