Pokemon X and Y – How to Evolve Inkay into a Malamar

Find out how you can evolve Inkay into a Malamar in Pokemon X and Y.


For many gamers, leveling up their Inkay to 30 was a fairly uneventful experience in Pokemon X and Y. I myself was surprised to find out that it even had an evolution past that point.

Nintendo seem to have gone batty with the whole Mega Evolution thing, because now they’re just introducing completely inane requirements from evolving your Pokemon.

For more help on Pokemon X and Y, read our HM and TM Locations, EV Training and IV’s Guide.

Throw out all your knowledge of regular old evolutions and rubbing magic stones over your Pokemon in the hopes that they mutate, because we’re not playing around anymore.

If you want to evolve your Inkay into a Malamar, you’ll have to take things into your own hands (literally) and flip the 3DS upside down.

Was that the sound of your brain coming to a screeching halt? Why yes it was! Believe it or not, this is the only way to evolve this Pokemon. When your Inkay is hitting level 30, turn your handheld upside down to trigger the evolution.

When you examine the differences between an Inkay and a Malamar, the method suddenly starts to make sense. See the tentacles on the Malamar’s head? Don’t they look just like Inkay’s legs? And the pattern of the crown on top of the Inkay’s head looks just like the lower half of the Malamar’s body.

Still I’d be surprised if anyone managed to figure out this evolution on their own. Good luck and Catch ‘em All!

Yet another one of our many staff and a long-time contributor (We need all the staff, how do you think we keep it so busy around here?), Salman is one of our many news writers. ...