Preview: Pokemon Black and White

[Lee]

I want to be the very best like no one ever was, aside from in Pearl/Diamond or Ruby/Sapphire or Gold/Silver or Red Blue. OK how about “I want to be the very best…again!” that works. Pokémon Black and White, for those who don’t know, is the latest incarnation of the franchise which has already sold five million copies despite only being released in Japan. So lets have a gander.

The Black has the White legendary one and vice versa.

For those in North America you will get the game 6th March, for the UK we get it on the 4th March which seems rather silly as the 3DS is released on the 25th but oh well. Famitsu gave the game a perfect 40/40 but seeing as they also gave Nintendogs the same score it can be taken with a grain of salt. Most people have grown frustrated with the franchise with it being the same game just with a few extra Pokémon thrown in for good measure. All in all though this seems to be a bit different for three reasons.

Visuals

Visually it’s different, it’s more like a stand up 2.5D than a top down 2D imaging, all in all from the screen shots and trailers out there this looks pretty good. Speech text is now in the manner of a speech bubble rather than the usual block of text and the Pokémon themselves are fully animated during battle. In addition to the Night/Day thing we’ve seen there’s also a Seasonal rotation (a season per month) on this which will surely give you some replay value.

Gimmicks

We had the Poké walker with HeartGold/SoulSilver Black/White has something called “dream world” which I haven’t a clue about but it sounds almost like Animal Crossing or the Chao parts of Sonic Adventure. In addition to that is the C-Gear which tells you connectivity to other players, the feeling check (seriously) which tests compatibility between players which can give you higher experience points of money off at the Poké mart. There’s also something called Pokémon musicals and the less I know about that the better!

100% brand new Pokémon

156 Pokémon available in this game (I’m pretty sure 150 are available to catch initially) yet every single one is new (until you beat the elite four the the old classics return). This I think is brilliant in that it gives you the magic of the Red/Blue games in not knowing how good each Pokémon is, taking the gamble on Snorlax etc. as you adapt your team of six to be the best. Once you got to third generation you knew full well who would be on your team and now you’re forced to start afresh on a neutral level…I like that.

Originally posted at http://nintendolee.wordpress.com/

 

[a0161613]

Sad but true: as a HUGE fan of all the previous Pokemon RPGs, from Red/Blue to HG/SS, I am really not psyched for this. It may be (my perceived) lack of hype, the arrival of the 3DS alongside all three consoles we have at home or the fact that I have grown up past these sort of games when the series has barely evolved.

I think Nintendo missed a trick with this. They should have been 3DS launch window titles and I cant fathom why they didnt push for it. It doesn't make good financial sense above all, especially at a time when they are so concerned with their financial state.

This will sell plenty but may not be as much of a success as Ninty may have wanted. As a 3DS I would have bought them both and two consoles.

 

[Decarow]

I'm psyched. I'm marking out. I lost my Pokemon Pearl last month and it's killing me inside. I don't want to rebuy it because I already have Black paid off. And 2 days laters, Dragon Age 2 comes out as well! So I'm stuck with playing Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the next 3 weeks due to financial restraints.

 

[a7xoff]

I'm really concerned about this game. I mean I love pokemon and have just about completed the national dex of HG/SS. The only missing link at the moment is Celebi, which I will be getting on Feb. 27th when the game stop event occurs. I have several EV trained teams and absolutely love pretty much the whole series, not as much 3rd gen, but whatever.

Black and White kinda of make me sad looking at some of the new pokemon. I mean some of them really look ridiculous, and since I'm not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen them, but some are just God awful looking... I really think that the designers are running out of ideas for these little guys, and who can blame them. At least there are a few new type combinations that will be exciting to try, even if the pokemon containing them look terrible.

Personally I will not be purchasing Black or White. As a result, my girlfriend is going to buy it for me as an early birthday gift cause she's getting Black, which probably means I'm getting White. I am a fan of starting out fresh though. Hopefully with this freshness, the game will have a fresh story. Should Nintendo have waited for the 3DS? Possibly, but I am glad they didn't. Sales of course will show just how good an idea it was to put it on the DS instead.

I am looking forward to the new features of the game to an extent, but overall, the game will probably keep that epic pokemon stuff we have all come to know and love and continue to expand on it. Pokemon musicals? I don't know about that, but if it manages to be as fun as the Pokeathelon in HG/SS, then I won't complain. That I think was actually a fun alternative to the main game when I'm bored.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I have never really understood the Pokemon craze, isnt it just the same thing over and over but with different Pokemon?

I had the original Red version when that came out years ago, but all these new1s just look the same basically, with slightly improved graphics.

Can you use Pokemon from the earlier versions on the later games, like import them or something? And in total how many Pokemon are there?

 

[a7xoff]

I have never really understood the Pokemon craze, isnt it just the same thing over and over but with different Pokemon?

I had the original Red version when that came out years ago, but all these new1s just look the same basically, with slightly improved graphics.

Can you use Pokemon from the earlier versions on the later games, like import them or something? And in total how many Pokemon are there?

The games are similar to each other, but the improvements that have come in seemingly every generation really keep the series worth playing. Some examples would be the day/night cycles from Gold and Silver (generation 2/games after Red and Blue), weather from Ruby and Sapphire (generation 3), Use of the DS touch screen and global trade station in Diamond and Pearl (generation 4). Up until Heart Gold and Soul Silver was released, it was very hard to get some of the Johto (generation 2) pokemon. Overall though, the stories do not vary too much, but Black and White's look totally different. I mean they all have their individual stories, but it's always been battle evil organization and get 8 badges, except in Gold and Silver where you could get sixteen.

In Black and White all 493 old pokemon (I own 492 of them... Celebi will be mine Feb. 27th) will be in the game, but from what it looks like, we won't be able to catch them until after beating the pokemon league. Which will add the surprise factor as well as creativity that really hasn't been seen since Red and Blue.

As far as importing older pokemon... You can do so in all the DS games through something called the PAL Park. It allows you to transfer pokemon from a Game Boy Advance cartridge like Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red, Leaf Green (Red and Green are just remakes of Red and Blue). I hear you will be able to get pokemon from all the DS games to Black and White, but I seriously don't know how that is going to work off hand. Outside of the new pokemon, black and white, as with every generation before it supplies us with brand new moves, locations, items, and a whole plethora of new items and things to do. Hope this all helps you understand the madness, yet amazingness that is what I call the Pokemon Virus.... It actually exists and is quite beastly in training pokemon...

 

[Sparky]

My inner nerd is speaking when I say I can't wait for this. except for pokemon pearl that I brought a few weeks ago, I haven't played a pokemon game since Crystal. I have preordered pokemon black because everybody was getting the white and I prefer to be different. I always had trouble deciding what one to get, I guess it don't matter as there isn't much difference but meh...

You're right though, even though they make a few minor changes it always seems to be the same kind of storyline/theme. They would sell way more if they changed it.

I'm not looking forward to the 3 on 3 battles I prefer it when it's one on one.

 

[Decarow]

I agree with Sparky to an extent. It does bring up a question: How would they change it? Pokemon has always been about catching and training pokemon to be the best. And a team of jackasses is always in the way, kind of a side-story. They tried to change it up (the Pokemon Ranger and Mystery Dungeon series) but for some reason most people don't really associate them that much. Many Nintendo games are always the same concept to an extent (Mario saves Peach, Link saves Zelda, etc.)

But like Sparky, I have also preordered Black. But that was due to the fact that I flipped a coin. But there is a pretty big difference in these two games. White has the White Forest and Black has Black City.

I do think this generation will sale a lot though due to the fact that the only Pokemon are the new gen pokemon. It's less Pokemon than Silver/Gold/Crystal, Ruby/Saphire/Emerald, and Pearl/Diamond/Platinum. They've basically gone back to their roots.

 

[a7xoff]

I'll be getting White Version. My decision came down to the exclusives of each version. I personally like the look of White's exclusives better.

I am not at all looking forward to 3v3 battles. 2v2 is a lot of fun, I'll give it that, but 3v3? Come on... At least when it's 2v2 you can be down to your last pokemon against your opponents 2 and still have a chance to win. On the flip side of that... I don't think there is much of a chance in a 3v1. I think the 3v3 will be dominated by moves like Muddy Water, Earthquake, and other moves that hit all combatants or just all opponents.

Outside of the two cover legendary pokemon... I am not really liking the new legendary pokemon. Some of them look like they will be decent, but others just look well..... poorly designed?

I think that all the new features and the fact that this is basically starting fresh... Will be more than enough to usher in plenty of fans who may think that the series has gone stale. Also. This will probably bring in a new generation of new players who may not have gotten into pokemon in the past.