Pokémon X and Y

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y are 2013 role-playing games developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company in Japan and Nintendo internationally. The video games were released on October 12, 2013.

In October 2024, a data breach, dubbed the "Teraleak", occurred, and tons of assets, pre-release data, beta content, concepts, and scrapped projects relating to Pokémon were leaked. This included changes to content due to rating boards issues and political reasons.

Pre-release censorship

• The Pokémon Tyrunt (Chigoras in Japan) originally had orange skin. This was changed to the Pokémon having brown skin due to copyright reasons (Resembled the DIGIMON character Agumon)
• Two Pokémon titled "Peanuts 1" and "Peanuts 2", amongst an variety of other Pokémon, were planned to be featured in Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. They were removed due to copyright reasons ("Peanuts 2" resembled an unspecified character)
• The Trainer class Team Flare Grunt originally had blonde hair. This was changed to vermillion, or reddish-orange, due to copyright reasons (Resembled the Ghost Trick character Sissel)

Censorship due to Japan

• The Pokémon Binacle (Kametete in Japan) originally had four claws on its head. Due to the Pokémon's resemblance to a human hand and Japan's taboo towards depictions of hands in media with 4 fingers (deemed an allusion to an offensive gesture to insult Burakumin or to the Yubitsume ritual of the Yakuza, which consists of cutting the pinky finger), this was changed to the Pokémon having one huge claw in the middle of its head and two smaller claws on the side.

Censorship due to the West

• The Pokémon Klefki (Cleffy in Japan) originally had a key overlap pattern on its face. This was changed due to copyright and religious reasons (Resembled the Keys Of Heaven in the coat of arms of Vatican City)
• The Pokémon Houndoom's (Hellgar in Japan) Mega Evolution originally had a red pattern and single-pointed tail. This was changed to remove the red pattern and replace the tip of the tail to be double-pointed due to the red pattern being perceived as blood.
• The Pokémon Jynx (Rougela in Japan) was planned to have a Mega Evolution. This was removed due to worries of resurfacing the Jynx skin color controversy years prior.
• The Pokémon Hoopa's shiny version originally had the Pokémon with brown skin and red hair and patterns. This was changed to yellow skin and brown hair and patterns due to religious reasons (Resembled Hindus, followers of Hinduism).
• The character Lysandre (Fuladari in Japan) originally had spiky mutton chops and thick, wing-shaped, spiky hair. This was changed to have him with a spiky Dutch beard and full-blown spiky hair due to copyright reasons (Resembled the Marvel character Wolverine).
• The Trainer class Lass (Miniskirt in Japan) had their skirts lengthened due to being perceived as too revealing.
• The Trainer class Punk Girl (Bad Girl in Japan) originally had marks on their shirt that accentuated the breasts. These marks were removed for that reason.
• The male Artist Trainer of the Trainer class Artist Family had his skin lightened due to being perceived as not matching the girl's skin tone and resembling a non-relative.
• The female Tourist trainer had the markers on the top of the guidebook she held changed to be on the side of the guidebook due to being perceived as looking like a pack of cigarettes.
• The trainer class Fisher originally was posed from the front with the ends of their fishing rods held near the crotch. This was changed to have the Trainer class posed from the back with their fishing rods closer to their chests due to being perceived as phallic and obscene.
• The Trainer class Beauty (Grown-up Woman in Japan) originally had two Poké Balls and a baguette in their grocery bags. This was changed to replace the Poké Balls from the grocery bag with another grocery item due to being perceived as phallic and obscene.
  • Additionally, her pose was changed to have her left arm holding the bottom of the bag and left hand holding a Poké Ball instead of being on the side of her body with no held item.
• The Trainer class Hiker originally had their right hands opened in the form of a greeting. This was changed to having them hold a Poké Ball in their right hand due to being perceived as resembling a Nazi salute.

Censorship due to China

• The Pokémon Pangoro (Goronda in Japan) had its Chinese name Liúmáng Xióngmāo, meaning Hooligan Panda changed to Bàdào Xióngmāo, meaning Domineering Panda.

International censorship

• The move Death Wing was changed to Oblivion Wing in Western and European releases due to the reference to death.
• When you play the games on your birthday, in the Japanese version, a cover of Happy Birthday To You plays. This was changed internationally to be a music box version of the Pokémon Centre Theme due to copyright reasons.
• The Trainer Beauty Nova in the Japanese and English versions was implied to be transgender. This was changed internationally to remove the implication, while the English version slightly toned down the implication.
  • The dialogue in question:
    • Original Japanese dialogue (rough translation): "Half a year ago I was a Karate King! The power of medical science is amazing, isn't it?"
    • English dialogue: "Yes, a mere half year ago I was a Black Belt! Quite the transformation, wouldn't you say?"

Other Censorship

• The Mic Test feature was removed from Generation VI onwards due to the potential that players were using this feature to say profanity, discriminatory slurs, and other inappropriate things.