RELATED: Pokemon: All the Similarities and Differences Between Ruby, Sapphire, and EmeraldĪs with every generation of Pokemon games, Black and White complement each other. How the Unova region is shown to players changes as well in the sequel games. While team Plasma continues to be the villainous group that the player battles. Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 remained true to much of Black and White’s base game but also introduced a new story. This means introducing new Pokemon in Gen 5 along with things like seasons and replacing Pokemon Contests with Pokemon Musicals. Like every generation of new Pokemon games, there were new features introduced and changes made to the core series. With 8 generations of games and 24 different Pokemon starters, it can be cool to look back and see how Pokemon got to where it is today.
Both sets of games are remembered fondly by fans of the series, with the legacy of the Pokemon’s Nintendo DS and DSi releases bringing up memories of fantastic new regions and Pokemon to catch. Obviously, this was a bit different as it was a direct sequel as opposed to a special third game. Like most generations of Pokemon, they also received a follow-up when Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 released two years later. The upsides greatly outweigh the downsides of this game, which are minuscule (with exception of that dialogue! What happened to you, translation team?) I fully recommend that you get it.Pokemon Black and Pokemon White kicked off the fifth generation of Pokemon games when they were released in 2010. As some people have mentioned, it isn't as 'fresh' as BW - but do you honestly expect it to be? Keep in mind, this is the equivalent of Platinum, or Emerald - it's leagues ahead of any Grey version we might have gotten, and all of the changes still ignite the feeling of exploration, albeit not as much (and please don't complain about there not being any new Pokemon - this is not a new generation!) Still, this game is another incredibly fun romp through the land of Unova. It's so incredibly clunky and badly written that I found myself wincing more than once (and even at one point believing that my game had miraculously become bootleg). Another thing that really bothered me was the dialogue and general plot progression. I have not yet touched the Challenge Key, but that will hopefully solve the difficulty curve once I acquire it (still, the wide variety of Pokemon can offer you different gameplays, if you are one to plan your team ahead of time). There are a couple of downsides to BW2, however - first of all, because the selection of Pokemon at the beginning is so varied and, well, good, I found the playthrough to be a bit easy compared to previous games. New Hidden Hollows, areas where you can catch Pokemon with their hidden abilities, are also a joy to discover. Tiny things, like sunbeams shining whenever you come out of a building, to moving NPC sprites (finally!), to the "battle platforms" for your Pokemon (simple coloured circles, be gone! Depending on your location, you can get grass gently blowing in the wind, to rippling waves, etc.) all add a sense of pleasure and detail to your playthrough that had never been seen before (at least, it does for me - I love small details like that). Along with the large features, Pokemon BW2 really shines in the details. Of course, some of the features from BW return in this game, such as the Musical Contests and the Battle Subway.
Gamefreak also added in tons of things to keep you busy, whether it's collecting the 200+ medals (the equivalent of achievements or trophies), to making movies in Pokestar studios, to playing Funfest Missions, challenging the towers in White Forest/Black City, and finally challenging the top trainers in the World Tournament. Each gym has its own exclusive track (from Elesa's fabulous "Are you ready?" electronic theme, to Burgh's cool, creepy (and by far my favorite) one)), and have great setup. Another neat thing to notice are the gyms - what they lost in complexity (which was a bit disappointing), they gained in originality and character. All locations have changed in some way or another, whether it's adding new buildings/gyms, to revamping cities, to completely new cities, and it's nice to see how it had developed over the two years (in addition, the cities and towns are the largest yet). With new characters, new music, new locations, "new" pokemon (pokemon from previous generations, unlike the Unova-specific preE4 roster from BW) and a new plot, it's quite fun. With new characters, new music, new locations, "new" pokemon (pokemon from previous generations, unlike the Pokemon BW2 is an excellent game.