Why…the names X and Y

Maybe it’s not like this for you all, but the first thing we think of when we hear X and Y are genders, or at least the chromosomes responsible for them. And when we pitched this question, that’s how we worded it, asking if that’s where the inspiration for X and Y came from…we were totally wrong.

Mr. Masuda set us straight, “So the X and Y actually come from the two axes, the X and the Y axes,” Masuda said. “These are used as kind of a way to express different ways of thinking—different opinions—and it’s actually tied into the themes of the games, which is expressed through certain differences in the story between the two versions. So there will be slight differences to the story in X and Y. It also ties into the message we want to convey with these games: Even though X and Y are representing these two different ways of thought, there’s a point where they overlap. So we really want to convey the message of finding these points that we as humans share in common, rather than focusing on the differences we have.”