Are there any new ways or changes to the ways of getting hidden abilities in X and Y?

Question

I know that hidden abilities can be obtained in a horde and the friend safari, and in the past in the dream world, and I've heard that your starter has a small chance of having it when you pick it in the beginning of the game.

Also, there were a lot of changes, some minor, some major, to breeding in X and Y, such as egg moves from the mother and things like that. But I also have a more specific question. It's hard to explain so i'll give an example. These Pokemon are not in the same egg group, but for this example, pretend that they are.

Torchic
Carvanha
Yanma

If I have a Yanma with speed boost, and I breed it with a torchic without speed boost, is it possible for the child torchic to have speed boost, even though it is not Yanma's HIDDEN ability?

What if I breed Carvanaha with speed boost, it's hidden ability, with a torchic, once more, without speed boost. Will speed boost now be passed onto the torchic child?

OR can this only happen if the mother has speed boost?

If the above scenarios with Carvanha and Yanma do not work, then does that mean there are some Pokemon who's hidden abilities simply cannot be obtained by any means?

Answer 1

I've looked into this, and I concur the answer is no.

For your examples, you say that if you have a Yanma with Speed Boost and want to produce the Torchic, this means your Yanma is Male, and your Torchic is Female. When breeding with Pokemon of the same egg group, only females can pass down the Hidden Ability. Male and Genderless Pokemon must breed with Ditto.

Here is another example, from Pokemon in the same egg group (Primeape and Krookodile):

Say you want a Sandile with Anger Point, and you have a Male Primeape with Anger Point, and a Krookodile with Moxie. Try as you might, but Sandile will never have Anger Point, because the mother needs to have the Hidden Ability, and Krookodile doesn't (Moxie is a normal ability).

Source
Source

So, there are some Pokemon that cannot obtain their Hidden Ability by any means, such as Contrary Serperior.

Comments

Well, you COULD get "legit" HA Gen 5 starters; you'd just need to hack a female Contrary Serperior, then breed it to get a "legit" baby female Contrary Snivy. Still required hacking, but the baby will pass the hack check and will be able to be mass-bred and sent out to Wonder Trade / GTS. (PLEASE do this!)

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Hmmmm. I guess you can do this.

Still requires dat hax

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Thanks. ;) I thought maybe I had found some possible way around that. Oh well.