The addiction to Pokémon is back in a big way, and we had to reluctantly wrest ourselves away from our copies of Pokémon X and Y in order to bestow it October's Game of the Month accolades. At their semi-conjoined heart, Pokémon X and Y basically follow the same addictive formula we have all known, loved, and devoured since Red and Blue on the Game Boy, but with plenty of small tweaks that add up to the smoothest and most immersive Pokémon experience to date. The overhauled graphics, with their seamless toon-shading, properly proportioned characters, and vivid colors make each play session feel like interactive episodes of the anime. The various gameplay tweaks, including the extensive online components that truly globalize trading and battles, make for a thoroughly fluid playing experience. Players are not just playing a game. They are experiencing a world and a community greater than their imaginations. Every Pokémon trainer is given an in-game spiel like that prior to their journey, and Pokémon X and Y allow players to viscerally feel that spiel the way the main characters do. For taking Pokémon from a "friendly neighborhood" RPG to a special experience showcasing staggeringly immersive heights of Poké-community globalization, there is zero doubt that Pokémon X and Y deserve October's Game of the Month award.