What was it about 2013 that just changed everything? In 2012, there was B2W2 and it felt like a celebration of all previous Pokémon titles. In 2013, the anime decided to reintroduce Ash's Charizard. It gave Iris a Dragonite. It did a movie about Mewtwo. The Origin comes out and it's about Red and his Charizard going through the FRLG story, with the climax being Mega Charizard X vs Mewtwo. Charizard and Mewtwo get two Mega Evolutions in X and Y, there's the sleeping Snorlax with the Poké Flute, getting the choice of a secondary set of Kanto starters, a guy gives you a Lapras, Santalune Forest is identical to Viridian Forest, the Unknown Dungeon with Mewtwo, the Legendary Birds, Kanto getting a disproportionate amount of Megas, etc. It never felt like that in previous games. Yeah, Charizard was always more special than the other Kanto starters, but it never felt overbearing. It was utterly absent in RSE, DPPt, BW, and B2W2 apart from the questionable Charizard Bridge. Even in GSC, it was portrayed more as a fearsome badass dragon that you can't even obtain in-game (but it appears in the intro, on Lance's and Red's teams, and gets a unique party sprite). HGSS removed it from the intro but allowed you to receive a Kanto starter after getting all 16 badges, though it's an equal choice. I think there was also a Charizard-themed boat in Platinum's Wi-Fi Plaza.
