Well it's about time. The next core series Pokémon game has been announced–Pokemon X & Y will be released worldwide this October for the 3DS. And guess what? It looks pretty darn cool.

To accompany the unveiling, Nintendo has released a Pokémon X & Y announcement trailer, filled with interesting details to absorb. We’ve watched the trailer several times and pulled out everything of interest. This is what we found...

We've been updating this as we found more stuff, check it out!

For the first time, an actual entry in the core Pokemon franchise is in 3D. The characters, the world, even the Pokemon are fully rendered in 3D. Hooray! Here, we're taking a look at what appears to be the Pokémon X & Y hero, in what looks like his house. Does the mirror hint at some element of being able to customize the hero’s appearance for the first time? Note the hero is equipped with a bag, so it's fairly safe bet it’ll be used again for carrying items, medicines, TMs, and so on. If this is the hero’s room, we’re willing to bet it contains a TV and Wii U somewhere.

Each Pokemon game is defined by its region. The earliest regions, Kanto and Johto, were clearly inspired by different areas in Japan, while Black and White’s Unova region appeared to be linked to New York City and other American settings. X and Y takes players to Kalos, a setting divided into three sections that has a decidedly European feel to it.

When you take a closer look at the above map, you’ll see castles, windmills, and Stonehenge-like rock circles, clearly showing its Euro roots. In a way, it happily reminds us of Ghibli films, such as Howl’s Moving Castle. Is Nintendo going for a similar Euro trip via Japanese sensibilities? One of the games major cities indicates as much…

This area was already seen in multiple screens and trailers, and we now have a name to fit to this Parisian metropolis. Lumious City has cobblestone streets, numerous boutiques, and a dead ringer for the Eiffel Tower. Even the name, Lumious, sounds like Luminous and is a clear reference to Paris’ nickname as the City of Lights.

Honestly, we’re surprised it took this long for Pokemon to visit Paris in some form or another. Generally speaking, Paris’ fashion and style are held in high regard in Japanese society. In fact, there’s a rare psychological disorder called Paris Syndrome that some say is caused by Japan’s deep fascination with Paris. We hope our trainer doesn’t suffer from a similar Lumious Syndrome.

In the original Pokemon game, you had the choice of one of two boy trainers. Pokemon Crystal introduced the ability to play as a female trainer, and each subsequent game has been co-ed. X and Y is opening up the series to a whole new level of customization for your main trainer, allowing you to change skin tone and hair color for your avatar.

The interesting changes don’t end there. You’ll also be able to change your hero’s clothes and accessories at some unnamed points in the game. Sunglasses options are all we've seen thus far, but we hope things go a good deal deeper than that.

Speaking of the different character models, it's obvious that this time around the character models are totally different. Is this, in a way, related to the name X and Y? Some think that sexes, likely of the Pokemon, might be more important in this game--will the Legendary Pokemon of X and Y have different male and female versions? Or maybe X and Y refer to the X and Y axis (that make up 3D space)? We don't know for sure.

The fight montage gives us a first look at the new fully animated battle scenes, which appear more cel-shaded than the rest of the game (at least based on the trailer’s footage). They're also in full 3D! Yay!

We’re guessing this is the animation we’ll get every time a wild pokémon appears. We do like the idea of grass parting to reveal a rare pokémon. A bit of added excitement.

Pokemon Black & White made a big deal about not showing old Pokemon until after the game was completed. It seems that X & Y won't continue this trend, as we get glimpses of Pokémon from nearly all previous generations: Magikarp (Gen I), Golurk (Gen V), Munchlax (Gen IV), Kirlia (Gen III), Pansear (Gen V), Patrat (Gen V). Later fight sequences also reveal Psyduck (Gen I), Litwick (Gen V), Audino (Gen V), Weavile (Gen IV), Mienfoo (Gen V), and Dratini (Gen I). The only generation not represented in the trailer is Gen II.

But enough of old monsters. Let's see the new guys...

A first look at some new Generation VI pokémon, in this case the Pokémon X & Y starter Pokémon. First up is Chespin (chesnut + pin?), a grass-type that looks like a ferret wearing a hat. AKA, most adorable thing ever.

Too bad no one will play the adorable Chespin, though--not with the fire-type fox that is Fennekin (fennec + kindle?). We assume its evolutions will be equally cute.

Last of the starters is Froakie (frog + croak?), the least cute of the trio. This water-type frog does have his own charm, though, in that it'll be the best option for beating jerks using the fire-type Pokemon starter.

Sylveon is the newest evolution of Eevee, or Eeveelution for short. We don't yet know how you transform a standard Eevee into this lovely creature, but we bet it involves a heretofore unseen, new item. We also don't know Sylveon's type. Could it be a unique combination or even a whole new type of Pokemon?

Currently unnamed, it's not hard to think of the Pokemon this one is related to. As seen in clips for the next Pokemon feature film in Japan, first gen badass Mewtwo seems to have found a way to transform and become even more powerful. But what secrets is this 'mon hiding?

This big, fancy gentleman is Yveltal, the cover Pokemon for Y. How do we know? Well, Nintendo told us, but even if they didn't he flies into the sky and makes a giant "Y," so, yeah.

Xerneas is the second legendary Pokemon we know of, acting as the cover star of X. We know this because Nintendo told us, and because he is blue and has an X in his eye.

The first of the sixth generation monsters, Helioptile has a look to match his Electric/Normal type. But it’s a bit harder to guess what animals Helioptile is based on. From the neck down it looks like a lizard, but then there’s that dopey, froggy face. This guy seems almost too cute to not have a tougher evolution. Also, does Helioptile have a mask tied around its eyes? Or does it screw on the top of its head?

We do know that Helioptile is the first Pokemon to have Normal as its second listed type, and that the scaly guy collects power by soaking in the sun. This Pokemon’s trademark move appears to be the new Parabolic Charge attack, which the official website says, “heals the user for half the damage it deals to enemies.”

We don’t want to judge Fletchling before all the facts are in, but our gut tells us he’ll be joining the unwanted company of Pidgey and Spearow. This little guy looks friendly and common enough to be that one Flying-type Pokemon you’ll be battling for most of your early encounters, one that you’ll grow to hate as you face it for the 300th time. It’s a role some poor creature has to occupy, and it looks to be Fletchling’s turn.

Fletchling is a Normal/Flying type whose early descriptions sound fairly boilerplate. We do like that design seems inspired by a Japanese Robin, a cute bird that’s rarely seen outside of East Asia.

This might be our favorite of the new group. Pancham is a charming panda-like Pokemon, but unlike that goofball Spinda from Ruby/Sapphire, Pancham looks to take his job a bit more seriously. According to the official site, he uses his determined expression to intimidate enemies. That’s probably why he keeps a leaf in his mouth at all times, because it reminds people of the matchsticks hanging out of the mouths of tough guys starring in action films.

Pancham is a pure Fighting type from his scruffy head down to his adorable feet. However, we don’t trust this Pokemon to stay cute forever. By the time we’ve got him to level 50, we bet he’ll have evolved into a formidable (and menacing) kung fu panda.

Gogoat is the last of the four new ‘mon, and he leans toward the similar deer-meets-forest theme of many previous Pokemon. An imposing Grass type, Gogoat has the move Horn Leech, a health-stealing attack that was introduced in Black and White. Gogoat also has the unique ability to connect with its trainer whenever they touch Gogoat’s horns.

That particular power of Gogoat’s will definitely come in handy with one of to X and Y’s newest innovation…

Transportation in Pokemon has slowly grown over the generations. First you could run, then hop around the map via flying Pokemon, and you could even ride boats and trains to visit some far-off areas. Now trainers will be able to ride some of their Pokemon from place to place. It’s a move so obvious, it’s crazy that it took so long to happen.

It’s not clear which Pokemon will allow you to ride them, but we got our first example with Gogoat. It’s a long-overdue ability, but we wonder what advantages it will have in-game compared to the traditional bicycle. And will any older Pokemon have the ability to be a mount? We’d feel like a baller riding Snorlax downtown.

With all these new Pokemon, you’ll still need your Pokedex to keep track of everything. The portable Pokemon encyclopedia has seen another update this generation, becoming a much hipper, tablet-like device. Aside from its appearance, we haven't seen much about how it'll be different, but we hope the Pokedex has some fun apps on it. Perhaps the interface will even mimic the Wii U’s.

We’re going to stick our necks out and say this is a gym and those people standing about are other trainers waiting to battle. It looks like it might be insect-type, since there's, you know, a spider web.

And this looks like another gym. Probably occupied by... let’s see... a master of fire-type pokémon perhaps? That, or it's the entrance to one of the Elite Four's rooms--it's pretty darn fancy, after all.

If we had to guess--and we do have to guess--we’d say this is a lobby for battling other players over Wi-Fi. The room is very digitized, and literally forms around the player, so that makes us think that it's some sort of hub. Also, look at that guy on the left, he looks familiar...

Here’s what both versions of the game will look like on retail shelves, and they basically follow the same format of most of the previous generations. You’ve got the respective legendaries front and center, likely implying each legendary monster is exclusive to their version. Still, we’ll give Pokemon Company credit for making the backgrounds a little more interesting this time around.

Does the cover sway you readers in one direction or the other? Or are you still waiting to learn more about Yveltal and Xerneas before you make up your mind?

And there we are, the new Pokémon X & Y trailer completely undressed with our eyes. We think we’ve been pretty thorough but even we are fallible, so if there’s anything you think we missed, be a darling and tell us (and everyone else) about it in the comments. Thanks awfully.

For more Pokémon, please allow us to suggest for your pleasure our What would the original 151 Pokémon taste like? and History of Pokémon box art features.