Lumiose City (Japanese: ミアレシティMiare City) is a large city acting as a prominent central hub located in the north-central part of the Kalosregion, known for being the second most populous city in the currently known Pokémon world, behind Mesagoza.
Famous for its landmarks like the Prism Tower and the Lumiose Museum, the city attracts many tourists. Its diverse shops, cafés, and restaurants are popular among both visitors and residents. The city's architecture features tall office buildings and wide boulevards on the outskirts, with smaller Parisian-style buildings lining the inner avenues. The Saison Canal runs diagonally through the city, and the roadways accommodate both automobiles and Gogoat traffic.
The city has five gates connecting it to outside routes. In the southeast is the Route 4 Gate, in the southwest the Route 5 Gate, in the northwest the Route 13 Gate, in the north the Route 14 Gate, and in the northeast the Route 16 Gate. It is connected to Kiloude City via train from Lumiose Station.
Initially in Pokémon X and Y, a blackout restricts access to most of the city, leaving only the South Boulevard open and suspending the Lumi Cab service. Full access is restored once the blackout is resolved.
The whole of Lumiose City is shaped like a spoked wheel. The outside "wheel" is split into North and South Boulevards, while the spokes are divided among several avenues and plazas. The boulevards and avenues are lined with the city's many establishments, while the plazas are primarily open gathering spaces, with an occasional establishment or two on the outskirts. The center hub is a wide, open area with Prism Tower at its center.
In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, Lumiose City is undergoing an urban redevelopment plan, driven by a large corporation called Quasartico Inc. The city has been outfitted with "wild zones" in an effort to help humans and Pokémon share the city.
South Boulevard is the southern half of the outer rim of the Lumiose City. The two boulevards are divided by the Saison Canal that runs through the middle of the city. Locations on South Boulevard include the PR Video Studio, Professor Sycamore's laboratory, and Coiffure Clips.
South Boulevard and Vernal Avenue are the first parts of Lumiose City that the player can explore in Pokémon X and Y. Due to a blackout affecting Lumiose City, the other parts are blocked until the player has defeated Team Flare at the Kalos Power Plant and has watched Clemont relight the Lumiose Gym. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the player first arrives in Lumiose City by landing at Gare de Lumiose, a train station that has been constructed in South Boulevard.
Café Soleil and the Route 5 gate are inaccessible until the player has talked to Professor Sycamore at the Sycamore Pokémon Lab in Pokémon X and Y. This is the first area to be unblocked during the course of the story.
South Boulevard is laid out as follows, moving along the street in a clockwise direction:
North Boulevard is the northern half of the outer rim of the Lumiose City. The two boulevards are divided by the Saison Canal that runs through the middle of the city. Locations on North Boulevard include the Galette Stand, Lumiose Museum, Hotel Richissime, the Battle Institute, Lumiose Station, and the Looker Bureau in Pokémon X and Y. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the Looker Bureau has been relocated and the Lumiose Station does not appear to be present; instead being replaced by Gare de Lumiose in South Boulevard.
North Boulevard is laid out as follows, moving along the street in a clockwise direction:
Four avenues in Lumiose City connect the boulevards to Centrico Plaza. These avenues are connected by a continuous ring of roads to each plaza in Pokémon X and Y, while these connecting thoroughfares are less prominent with the more complicated city design in Pokémon: Legends Z-A. Groups of randomly battleable Trainers lurk around alleyways connected to the avenues in Pokémon X and Y.
The city's spokes are laid out in the order given below, moving through them in a clockwise direction starting from the first spoke connected to South Boulevard. The left and right sides referred to below presume the player is facing away from Centrico Plaza.
Sectors are introduced in Pokémon Legends: Z-A as the wedge-shaped location between each avenue (and Saison Canal as a border of a sector on the right) which encompass each of the five small plazas around Centrico Plaza. There are five sectors: Vert Sector, Bleu Sector, Magenta Sector, Rouge Sector, and Jaune Sector. Each of the sectors are divided into numbered sections (such as Vert Sector 1).
Plazas
Lumiose City has six different plazas: Centrico Plaza is a large plaza located at the very center of the city, while the other five smaller plazas are arranged as the points of a pentagon centered on Centrico Plaza. The plazas are connected as a pentagon by small alleys that cut across the avenues. The alley between Vert Plaza and Jaune Plaza includes a bridge over the southeast end of the Saison Canal; Magenta Plaza itself is built on a bridge over the northwest end of the Saison Canal.
Each of the small plazas is named after a color in French. All of the small plazas contain an obelisk of the same color as the name of that plaza in Pokémon X and Y. The obelisks are retained only in Bleu and Magenta Plazas in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and are instead white in color. During the events Legends: Z-A, each plaza is eventually turned into a wild zone.
Centrico Plaza is located in the center of Lumiose City. The Prism Tower, which hosts the Lumiose Gym in Pokémon X and Y, is at the center of the plaza. There is a Photo Spot at Prism Tower, between the connection to Vernal Avenue and the alley to Vert Plaza. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the tower and surrounding plaza are initially undergoing construction, and are later converted to Wild Zone 20 after damage to the Prism Tower.
Named streets are introduced in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, although these thoroughfares are present in Pokémon X and Y. Much like avenues, streets begin from the boulevards and continue centrally, although they are slightly smaller in size and may not continue all the way through to Centrico Plaza. They are named the same as the plazas that the streets connect to.
In Pokémon X and Y, the Magenta Pokémon Center is the landing point when flying to the center of Lumiose City which is located in the street leading from Magenta Plaza to Centrico Plaza.
Lumiose City has five gates connecting it to outside routes. Route 4 Gate, in the southwest the Route 5 Gate, in the northwest the Route 13 Gate, in the north the Route 14 Gate, and in the northeast the Route 16 Gate.
In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the gate to Route 4 is replaced by Gare de Lumiose, a train station which the player uses to first enter Lumiose City. The other gates are closed and cannot be accessed by the player.
Lumi Cab is a taxi service that lets the player travel between many stops around Lumiose City for a fee, with destinations that are farther away costing more. If the player has 140 or more style, the fare will be half price. If the player does not have enough money to pay for the ride, the driver will challenge them to a battle.
Gogoat Shuttle
Artwork of Calem riding the Gogoat Shuttle
Gogoat Shuttle is a service where the player can travel between many stops around Lumiose City for a flat fee of $200. The service allows people to ride a Gogoat around North Boulevard or South Boulevard. The Gogoat Shuttle stops are marked by black signs with blue screens located on the outer side of the boulevards; the player can initiate the service by interacting with the Gogoat Shuttle stop signs.
When the player boards the service, they are asked whether they want to travel east or west along their current boulevard; however, if they are already at the eastmost or westmost stop in that boulevard, they are only given the option to travel to the opposite end. The Gogoat Shuttle cannot cross between boulevards. The Gogoat Shuttle stops at each shuttle stop along its path, giving the rider the option to dismount at each one, until it reaches the final stop at the far end of the boulevard, when the rider is forced to dismount. The Gogoat moves automatically between stops, without the rider being able to control it. The name of each stop is announced by the Audio Guide in the Gogoat Shuttle stop signs.
The following is the list of Gogoat Shuttle stops in each boulevard, listed from east to west (i.e. the order the stops will be presented in when choosing to travel west).
The Gogoat Shuttle service has been discontinued in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, due to the presence of wild Pokémon in the Wild Zones making the Gogoat skittish.
The following is a list of places of interest in Lumiose City. This list excludes places of interest located on boulevards or avenues, as those are detailed on the pages for those streets instead.
Lumiose City has four restaurants located throughout the city: Restaurant Le Nah, Restaurant Le Yeah, Restaurant Le Wow, and Sushi High Roller. At each restaurant, the player can pay to be served a meal where each server will battle the player before each course. Battles are conducted in special formats—Double Battle, Triple Battles, or Rotation Battles—with the player's pool of options depending on the restaurant. After finishing a meal, the player will receive a reward: a number of some valuable item, depending on which restaurant the player is in and how well they did.
A red café located near Magenta Plaza. It grants the player access to Lysandre Labs, one of Team Flare's hideouts in the Kalos region. Despite the small size, it serves as an important location in both the main plot line and the after story sideline plot with Xerosic.
One of the headquarters hideouts of Team Flare. It is located beneath Lysandre Café so it is accessible through a secret passage behind a china cabinet in the café. It is also where the ultimate weapon is activated from, even though the weapon itself is in Geosenge Town.
A hotel owned by AZ in which he lives alongside his Floette. It is also where Urbain/Taunie reside and work. Additionally, it serves as Team MZ's headquarters during their quest to save Lumiose city.
The office building of Quasartico Inc., the multinational company that leads the urban redevelopment plan for Lumiose City to make it a city for both people and Pokémon.
Areas constructed using cutting-edge technology to give Pokémon places to live. Within wild zones, Pokémon can be battled and caught by having Poké Balls thrown at them. They're part of Lumiose’s urban redevelopment plan driven by Quasartico Inc. More of them are constructed over the course of the game. By the end of the story, a total of 20 wild zones are built.
Every night from dusk till dawn, an area fenced off in red with cutting-edge holographic technology (like the wild zones) will appear somewhere within the city. Trainers compete in fierce Pokémon battles within these zones as part of the Z-A Royale.
Within Lumiose City, the player has a degree of style which can be raised by doing things around the city. The value of style ranges from 0 to 255. If the player has a high style, prices may be lower, more items and services may be offered, and certain establishments may be accessible that were not before.
Demographics
Pokémon X and Y
The population of Lumiose City is 416, making Lumiose City the second most populous city in the world of Pokémon behind Mesagoza of Paldea.
Ash and his friends along with Serena arrived again at Lumiose City in Grooming Furfrou!, where they went to a grooming salon owned by Sherman. In Clemont's Got a Secret!, the group went to the Lumiose Gym for Clemont to get the ownership of the Gym back from Clembot. Finally, in Mega-Mega Meowth Madness!, the group went back to Professor Sycamore's lab, where Clemont was given a Chespin, after which they left the city again.
Ash, Serena, and Bonnie reunited with Clemont in Confronting the Darkness! for Ash's Gym battle against Clemont. However, the match was interrupted by Officer Jenny who arrested Clembot for the crimes committed by Dark Clembot and Belmondo, who were eventually found outside Lumiose Museum. Lumiose University, an electronics store, a high-end boutique, and a 3 star hotel were also featured in this episode. In The Moment of Lumiose Truth!, Ash eventually had his Gym battle against Clemont and his Bunnelby, Heliolisk, and Luxray, and won with his Pikachu, Hawlucha, and Goodra. This victory earned Ash the Voltage Badge, his fifth Kalos League Badge overall. Following the Gym battle, the group took a visit to Professor Sycamore again in Garchomp's Mega Bond!, after which they left the city.
Full night view of Lumiose City from a cliff
As revealed in Seeing the Forest for the Trees!, Lumiose City would be the site of the Kalos League. The Lumiose Conference began in A League of His Own! and ended in Down to the Fiery Finish!, with Alain as the victor. As the closing ceremonies were underway, Team Flare, having secretly taken over the Prism Tower, took control of Z2 and forced it to transform into its 50% Forme. After doing so, it attacked the city with massive roots, causing serious damage to it, Prism Tower, and the stadium where the Lumiose Conference was taking place.
Lumiose City was put under siege by Team Flare, using the roots created by Zygarde, from A Towering Takeover! to Forming a More Perfect Union!. In Battling with a Clean Slate! and The First Day of the Rest of Your Life!, after the Team Flare crisis ended, Lumiose City began a process of rebuilding. In Till We Compete Again!, Ash and the gang returned to Lumiose City to bid farewell to Alain, Mairin, and Professor Sycamore before Ash and Serena left the Kalos region for Pallet Town and Hoenn, respectively. After both Ash and Serena departed through the Lumiose airport, Clemont and Bonnie returned to Prism Tower.
In XYS06, Cilan visited Lumiose City for a fishing tournament, where he met Clemont and Bonnie, asking the former to take him to Prism Tower. On the way, the trio also explored the Lumiose Subway system. After getting to see the tower, Cilan departed to go see the Tower of Mastery in Shalour City.
The Rising Volt Tacklers as a whole arrived in Lumiose City in HZ142, meeting Emma and her new assistant Navi. While helping Emma in solving the case of a missing Carbink, the children also met Ivor, who challenged Roy to a Mega Evolution battle, which ended in Roy's victory.
In The Beauty Eternal, many citizens in many areas of Lumiose City were going about their daily lives after the release of the Holo Caster. Café Soleil was also shown, with Lysandre discussing with Diantha about the concept of eternal beauty.
In The Investigation, Looker confronted and chased down Essentia through Lumiose City, before eventually cornering her in Lysandre Café and revealing her as Emma.
In The Redemption, a parade was held in Lumiose City to celebrate the new Kalos LeagueChampion, Calem. During the parade, AZ appeared and challenged Calem to battle. He lost, but was still relieved of having freed from the part of him that had built the ultimate weapon 3000 years earlier. Hearing this, his long-lost Floette returned to him, causing him to break into tears.
The city reappared in What Does Charmander Do When It Dozes, where X, Y, Tierno, Trevor, Shauna arrived in the city. Following Trevor's suggestion, the group decided to visit Professor Sycamore, delivering his lost Charmander, which they had found on Route 4, back to him in the process. Seeing X's negative mood, Sycamore decided to cheer him up by challenging him to a battle. After the battle, Sycamore gave Charmander to X, and was also surprised to find out that X had come to accept the Chespin he had sent to him.
Meanwhile, Trevor had his broken Holo Caster fixed by Lysandre, although he felt himself extremely nervous around the man's presence, having recognized his figure from one of the pictures taken during Vaniville Town's destruction. Lysandre later sent his Pokémon to surround the children, but they were saved by the arrival of Diantha.
The group later visited the Prism Tower in order to ask Professor Sycamore about something they forgot before, not aware that the interview Professor Sycamore had gone to have at the tower was already over. Once there, the group found Alexa being attacked by the Lumiose Press editor-in-chief, who, having allied with Team Flare, was trying to silence Alexa to keep her from spilling out the truth about the destruction of Vaniville Town. X battled and defeated the editor-in-chief, allowing the group to escape the city. An Electrike from the tower became interested in X during the battle and subsequently started following him as the group left Lumiose City.
The group returned to Lumiose City in Xerneas Gives. Much to their shock, the people of Lumiose City seemed to be completely unaware of the recent events involving Team Flare and treated them like scum in spite of their role in stopping the villainous team. Despite this, they stopped AZ's seeming attempt to use the ultimate weapon again, leading to the weapon's key getting destroyed. AZ then revealed that he was merely testing them to see if they'd choose the same path as Team Flare. Having felt a change in AZ's heart, his long-lost Floette then returned to him. Professor Sycamore suggested a parade for the group to celebrate them saving the Kalos region, but they declined the offer, choosing to return home for now instead. Three months later, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor had all moved to Lumiose City, with Shauna becoming a Furfrou stylist, Tierno teaching the Lumiose Gang how to dance, and Trevor taking over Sina and Dexio's role as Sycamore's assistant, while the duo headed to the Alola region to study the sightings of Zygarde made there.
In Magearna Moves, Essentia seemed to resurface in Lumiose City by attacking the Lumiose Museum. As surveillance camera footage showed the culprit with the Artificial PokémonMagearna, they were initially assumed to be working together, but Trevor soon realized that Magearna was innocent. The Mythical Pokémon also helped him to defeat the culprit and expose them as a robot constructed by Xerosic that had reactivated on its own after being abandoned.
Lumiose City was introduced as a Stadium card in the Pokémon Trading Card Game during the English Mega Evolution Series (the Japanese MEGA Series). It was first released in the Japanese Nihil Zero expansion before debuting in the English Perfect Order expansion, with artwork by MARINA Chikazawa. A Full Artultra rare version with artwork by the same illustrator was released in the same sets. It lets players search their deck for a Basic Pokémon and put it onto their Bench; however, if they searched their deck in this way, their turn ends.
Lumiose City is also featured in the illustrations of the following cards. This list does not include cards depicting indoor locations.
Lumiose City Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
If the player enters Lumiose City and gets on their bicycle, the music does not change.
At the Magenta PlazaPokémon Center, a young man mentionsTeam Plasma "making news a while back in the Unova region," while a young woman mentions Professor Oak's grandson having visited Kalos to study abroad. She also tells how he used to say "Bonjour" while meeting and "Smell ya later!" while leaving. The first quote refers to the way how Blue greets the player while visiting the S.S. Anne in the original Generation I games and their remakes, while the latter quote is used whenever he leaves the player's presence.
On the second floor of the Fighting Dojo's building, a Hex Maniac will appear, say "No, you're not the one," and float away.[1]
In The Case of the Sweet Scent Incident YouTube short, (a "found footage" style teaser, exploring an abandoned building in Lumiose City, and introducing MegaVictreebel), at approximately 0:55 seconds into the video a Hex Maniac briefly appears on the far left side of the frame, and lingers there until 1:09, partially obscured behind a decorative design on the window in a room adjacent to the hallway. This is potentially an easter egg, as a nod to the original encounter in X and Y.
This incident is also referenced in Pokémon Legends: Z-A; one of the Hex Maniacs in the Z-A Royale says that she wishes to win in order to find out what that "No, you're not the one" meant.
In Jaune Plaza, there are two girls who are mimicking the sounds of Pokémon. In the Japanese version, one girl is mimicking the sound of Heatran while the other is complimenting her. However, this is mistranslated in the English version to imply that a Lava Dome Pokémon appears in Jaune Plaza.
Lumiose City in Pokémon Legends: Z-A has the most Pokémon Centers in a single city, with nine.
At the time of release of Pokémon X and Y, many players reported being unable to move after loading a save within Lumiose City. According to Nintendo.com, if the player saves the game in certain areas of Lumiose City, then ends the game, the controls will not respond when the saved game is reloaded. They provided a map indicating known areas where the glitch can occur, which includes the entire outer boulevards. On October 25, 2013, Nintendo released a patch for this glitch via the Nintendo eShop.
Fire Blast camera clipping glitch
When a Pokémon with a large hitbox (such as Rayquaza) uses Fire Blast in a battle in one of the back alleys of Lumiose City, when the camera pans backwards, it will clip through the building to the right side of the Pokémon, causing it to completely disappear momentarily.
Lumiose City is explicitly based on Paris, the capital and largest city of France.[2] Its radial layout with Centrico Plaza in the center is similar to the real-life Place Charles de Gaulle, in which the Arc de Triomphe stands in its center. However, the building in Centrico Plaza, the Prism Tower, is based on the Eiffel Tower instead. The Saison Canal that cuts through Lumiose City may be inspired by the River Seine.
The architecture style of Lumiose City is very similar to its real counterpart; Paris itself consists mostly of buildings dating back up to several centuries and the outskirts (also called the Parisian suburbs) were recently urbanized, dating back to the 1960s. Also, like Paris, Lumiose City has roads connecting to all parts of Kalos. The only difference is that Paris' connections to all parts of France are used by railroads.
The renovation project of Lumiose City in Pokémon Legends: Z-A may be partially based on the 19th century Haussmann's renovation of Paris, an urban renewal project led by architect Eugene Haussmann, which consisted of widening the streets of Paris, demolishing medieval buildings and creating a more appropriate urban layout with drainage and the construction of more elegant buildings. The Quasartico Inc. building may be based on the Tour Montparnasse, and the Lumiose shopping gallery may be based on the Galleries Lafayette store located at the Boulevard Haussmann.
Names
Language
Name
Origin
Japanese
ミアレシティ Miare City
From みあれ香 miare-kō (an incense game used in rituals to welcome deities in the Kamo shrines with the word 御生れ miare meaning "advent of a deity")
English
Lumiose City
From Paris's nickname Ville Lumière (City of Light) and the suffix -ose (full of; having) or rose
From Ville Lumière, iluminación (illumination), and possibly the Latin suffix -alia (used to form names of religious festivals or plural form of adjectives)
Location of Vernal Avenue
Location of Estival Avenue
Location of Autumnal Avenue
Location of Hibernal Avenue
Location of Vert Plaza
Location of Bleu Plaza
Location of Magenta Plaza
Location of Rouge Plaza
Location of Jaune Plaza
Location of Centrico Plaza
