Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration

By Jorge Ba-oh 24.04.2014

When making Pokémon X & Pokémon Y, the creators wanted to use "beauty" as a theme - hence the word Kalos literally meaning "beauty" in ancient Greek. Given the natural association, developer Game Freak decided, to use France as their inspiration.
 
Producer Junichi Masuda said: "A country that is very particular about fashion and the aesthetics of their cuisine, a country concerned with the beauty of words."
 
The first and perhaps most obvious of the similarities is that the map itself is a mirror of Northern France, and when layering these over one another, it's clear to see the resemblances between the location of towns and landmarks.

 
Some of the inspiration within Pokémon X & Pokémon Y are:
 
1.    The stones in Geosenge towns are based around Carnac Stones in Brittany.

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration

 
2.    Parfum Palace is based on the Palace of Versailles. Both have garden mazes, halls of mirrors and stand at a very similar size.

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration

 
3.    Lumoise city is designed with Paris as its basis. The Prism Tower that dominates the skyline is based on the Eifel tower. It also has roads connecting to all parts of Kalos, just like Paris' railroads.
 

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration


4.    Shalour City's Tower of Mastery is based off the Mont Saint Miker. This is clear from the thin path that leads from the land to the tower, as Mont Saint Miker is only accessible on foot at low tides.
 

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration


5.    The port city of Coumarine based on the largest port in Northern France, Le Havre. Both have large docking areas and a lighthouse.

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration

 
6.    Although they're not specifically French, the islands just north east from Coumarine City are based on the channel islands.

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration

 
7.    Terminus Cave based arguably based on the Courrieres mine, as both are disused mines (although for different reasons).

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration

 
8.    The mountain in the north west of the map is based upon Mont Blanc, albeit moved from South to North France.
 

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration


9.    Laverre City is likely to be based around Boulogne-sur-Mer, a heavily forested city just like Laverre.

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration


10. Couriway Town based around the Alps of southeast France with it waterfalls, as well as one of the small nearby towns.

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration

 
11. Snowbelle City is based on Grenoble. A mountain city that hosted the Winter Olympics in 1968, due to is large number of ski resorts.
 

Image for Feature | Pokémon X and Y - The French Inspiration


Have you noticed any of these landmarks within the Kalos region?

Box art for Pokémon X and Y
Developer

Game Freak

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

Turn Based RPG

Players

2

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  9/10 (42 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now    Also on Also on Nintendo eShop

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