Pokémon Black & White were released five years ago today in Japan (September 18, 2010) and served as an almost reboot of the series in a sense. The games only featured newly introduced Pokémon until the player defeated the Elite 4 and also introduced 2D sprites which were constantly in motion during battle.
What were your favorite memories from the games? Anything you think should have been done differently looking back?
<3 PJ
I really liked the first play through with all new pokemon, I made sure to avoid spoilers before I played. However pretty soon I realised that they had essentially copied the format from Gen 1 and the new pokemon just had older counterparts i.e. Patrat/ Rattata.
Most gens have their own version of the rodent (pokemon is just repetitive that way.) Yeah some of the designs were clear redesigns (alomomola), but i think everything else makes up for it. 🙂
I thought they were great. I loved the abundance of new pokemon. The region was also very diverse and it was easy to be immersed in. It also introduced my favorite pokemon, Volcarona! The story was very strong and I loved how B2W2 were sequels to B/W rather than just remakes. I do however, think there were too many legendaries and some of the new pokemon were straight up ugly (Tympole & Palpitoad, Sawk Throh). But overall one of the best main games no doubt.
Best generation ever. It actually moved Gen 3 to my second favorite position. The music, the story, the characters and the designs were awesome. Just wish Unova was bigger. Didn’t care for Keldeo or the Legendary Trio this time around, but loved it. I would’ve loved for this to be this first 3DS games.
my fav gen ever
According to me, Black and White are the only games with a proper storyline in the entire series. I know these games are made for a much younger audience, but Zelda always manages to craft a deceivingly simple story with surprising depth. BW had a refreshing depth to its story, and actually made me question my ethics. I loved the fact there were only new pokemon till the elite four, and while some of the designs weren’t exactly great, every generation has had its own share of those. Most of the pokemon had great concepts behind them. Hidden abilities helped retcon older pokemon into viability in the sphere of the meta game. My favorite parts were the team plasma encounters (in my opinion the best villain team across all games) and the conversations with N. the final battle against N and the conversation leading up to it really tied up the whole game together amazingly, both gameplay and storyline wise. I also love ALL the characters, right from Cheren and Bianca to Ghetsis. All of them are very well written with fleshed out personalities. One problem may be that the game is a bit restricting due to its linearity and the experience gain model. The music was amazing and really gave the games a fresh tone. Some might say that it lost the pokemon feel, but I think that the feeling was only reinvented.
I agree. BW were the only games with a story written correctly. Wish they would make the other (future) games unique too.
Team Flare was a real letdown after Team Plasma.
Exactly! Ghetsis was hands down the perfect antagonist.
Undoubtedly one of my favorites
-they made us all use new Pokemon (which stops people from reusing the same stuff from previous gens)
-it gave use Phenomenons (shaking spots) which not only gave us a chance from rare Pokemon, it also supplied us with Audinos to countless slaughter for EXP
-Animated Sprites baby!!!
-The Inferred system and C-Gear made linking up with others a snap and a breeze
-giving us a array of new and incredibly annoying items (Air Balloon, Rocky Helmet, Evolite)
-Seasons from pleasant springtime and bitter winters
-the GTS
-FREAKING REUSABLE TMS WAS THE BEST DECISION EVER
And the one best thing in the entire game
They gave me my Pride and joy (after Rhyperior)
The Pokemon that started my first Ground Type Mono Journey
http://orig05.deviantart.net/6f00/f/2010/257/1/1/doryuuzu_v_2_by_xous54-d2yqmd8.png
EXCADRILL!!!!!!!!
Gen V had a real old-school RPG exploration type feeling to it. I can’t explain it… maybe it was the music, or the visuals, but the atmosphere was really cool. Plus all the fun stuff they did with camera angles.
The first Gym Leader I battled, when they were down to their last Pokemon and the music changed… it actually made me giddy. Man, I wish they’d kept that in Gen VI.
Gen 5 gave me high expectations for XY. I would love more complex stories.
Gen V was the very best generation to date. The environment, the pokemon, the sense of novety, the story, eve-ry-thing.
BEST GENERATION EVER!
*Hugh’s sister’s Purrloin.
Lol, editing
My second-favorite generation behind Diamond and Pearl. I loved the music, most of the new Pokemon and the beautiful story.
Not to mention the vast uniqueness of the Villainous Team
Team Plasma sought to change the world by liberating Pokemon from humans, that just so different from the average steal Pokemon or try to take over the world cliche
I just can’t get over how good this generation was but it still gets badmouthed because of a few less then favorable Pokemon (usually using Trubbish or Vanilish as a hate scapegoat)
And i think trubbish and garbador as well as the vanilluxe line are conceptually awesome.
I know, we all know excessive pollution can cause undesirable lifeforms but i found Trubbish very adorable, and i really don’t see Vanillite as a ice cream, more of living Snow and ice
Exactly, Vanilluxe isn’t even supposed to be an ice cream pokemon. according to vanillite’s pokedex entry: “This Pokémon formed from icicles bathed in energy from the morning sun. It sleeps buried in snow.”
so yeah.
Trubbish/ garbador are a great example of the cute into menacing evolution lines (axew and haxorus), and the concept of a life form born out of garbage and pollution has so many notions. What makes it ironic is that i see garbador in a narrative sense as the unwanted or ostracised part of society (hence garbage) and funnily, it ends up being one of the least liked pokemon. I see it as the underdog that lives by its name.
I’m genuinely surprised by the positivity people are expressing about gen 5, as it was widely considered as the “worst generation” not too long ago, whether it be because of the new Pokemon, pushing DS capabilities to their limit, or whatever else. Interesting.
People hated it? I know people hate Gen 4 but not Gen 5. The only generation I hate is Gen 1.
I love gen 5. Hard to believe a generation where we got fresh, new pokemon could be a generation people dislike.
Was it? I do remember people hating on it, but I honestly don’t know why. The feel is definitely different from the rest of the pokemon games, but that’s not a bad thing
It’s funny how people’s opinions change. I remember Hoenn being the ‘hated’ region and then after HGSS suddenly the entire freaking fandom wanted Hoenn remakes because it was so beloved and nostalgic. Including people who had been badmouthing Hoenn the week before, lol. Fandoms are fickle! 😛
they ok
you ok?
I ok
I wonder if someone at GF or TPC found this and is sharing it around. That’d really let them know what fans expect
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Actually i wonder if they’re reading the comment section on this site all the time. Like our reactions to zygarde forms. :3
i hope they really did this ………understanding the fans is very important to any company .
I liked everything about Gen 5 except the Unova Region.
Gen 5 introduced some of my favourite Pokemon including Scrafty, Excadrill, Volcarona to name a just a few off the top of my head.
The concept of Team Plasma, N and Ghetsis was really cool.
Zekrom is one of my favourite box legends (after all Gen 3 ones obviously :p)
I liked how B2W2 were like sequels to BW.
Th Unova region however I found quite boring. I can’t explain why but I was never fond of Unova.
Unova is my biggest reason for liking Gen 5! No offence, but I find it so strange when people say they can’t explain why they like or don’t like something – I mean like are there no real reasons … or reasons you just aren’t aware of? I mean I like Unova because the sprite-work is the best I’ve ever seen in an RPG and the attention to detail is amazing. Like they have moss on the sides of the building, the rust on the bridges, the rattling of passing trains, the loud chaotic voices of pedestrians in Castelia – It perfectly captures New York. Im actually very curious to know if you have reasons cause my friend also “can’t explain” why she doesn’t like Unova, but she’s never been to NYC.
literally everyone on Showdown never expects Aerial Ace on Excadrill and makes a scene about it
What does that even hit tho lol
Fighting types
really a Heracross and Breloom counter or if i need to guarantee a hit, most don’t agree but it helped
I mean, you won’t see Heracross that much, and Breloom just mach punchs you lol.
I really, really love the plot of BW. Really loved how the story wasn’t “done” after we beat the Elite 4, and boy was Ghetsis’ hydreigon annoying. I also remember thinking Castelia city was like the greatest thing ever, and then came Lumiose…
Also, loved Team Plasma. I think BW2 also did a great job following up on what happened in BW, and created this Neo Team Plasma. The memory link thing was really cool as well; really helped explain a lot of things. Back to BW tho. Loved the music, and the fact that they created fresh new pokemon. I also remember the experiences I had when the games were first released in Japan and my first reactions to a lot of pokemon. Like I remember having great reactions to mons like Bisharp, Stoutland, Samurott, Scrafty, Vanilluxe, Seismitoad, Conkeldurr and Volcarona. Also, one look at Hydreigon and I could tell it was the pseudo legendary for this generation. (Also had suspicions about Volcarona initially too)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/monotype-272058041
I hate fairies…..
Honestly I would put Gen 5 as a whole as the best gen to date. It had a compelling story, good post game, and decent characters. It really felt like an adventure and that the world was lively. If X&Y had the story of Black and White then it would have probably been the best, but alas it didn’t and it was really as looks and no substance. Maybe whatever we get next will b as great as BW story-wise and obviously have the graphics of ORAS…..wow that would b a pretty awesome game! lol
Black and White are my second favorite games in the series.
The direction they took these games was amazing, as it was overwhelmingly dark for a Pokémon game. The story was just perfect, and the Pokémon were so memorable.
Now I know what you haters are thinking, “But Trubbish is a pile of garbage and Vanillite is a freaking ice cream cone!”
Yes, that’s true. But why are you hating on them? Because they’re inanimate objects? If we rewind to Gen 1… I recall that we have a Pokémon based on a pile of goo and a magnet. So there you go.
I love everything about Gen 5 and Pokémon Black and Pokémon White. They are the most important games to me in the whole series, and the ones I love the most. Well, besides Black and White 2. Which did everything good a lot better!!
see every time it’s Trubbish and Vanlilite
Trubbish and Vanillite are good in my opinion, they’re designed very well. But I can’t say the same thing about Garbodor and Vanilluxe. I think they’re not designed well.
Vanilluxe is simply a double scoop of ice cream, and Garbodor is a bigger pile of garbage. Like how Grimer evolves into a bigger pile of goo.
I know their concepts but I don’t like how they are implemented, how the thought is executed.
Well me this Dae Ask game out of the blue for a random question
But me personally
I HATE Black and White
LEt me give you some reasons
-They changed the age of the starting trainer to like 16?? Seriously GF, why is that a good idea, I like 10 year olds saving the world, not a near adult!!
-The starter choices were are just plain weak! None of them even stood out in the slightest, the only cool one was samurott and that’s HORRIBLE in competitive!!!
-ANOTHER FIRE FIGHTING TYPE!!! and this time it’s absolute trash!!
– SOOOOO many of the pokemon are homages off of Gen 1 pokemon!!! (I already made a list of it before so just check my previous comments!!
-The anime was a turn off to nearly everyone, it was absolute elite trash
– The movies are easily the worst in the whole franchise!
– It had too many pokemon!! Seriously 156 pokemon, is just too much so they don’t spend time on making each pokemon unique!!
– with 156 pokemon they were a LOT of forgotten ones, I would list them, but they are forgotten!!
– What in the world is trash and ice cream doing as pokemon?
– Post game? What post game?
– the whole competitive was just weather, WEATHER, and DRAGONS!!
– OMG the PC boxes are super cramped! like each pokemon looks squished!
– The animated sprites look awful! you can SEE the pixels!
– Dream World was absolutely awful!
– I want some old pokemon because I don’t want these trashy pokemon (literally)!!!
– Team Plasma was all just Hypocrites, ALL OF THE STORY WAS HYPOCRITICAL!! (and their outfits are awful)
– Um why are the first gym leaders not Triple/Rotation Battles??
– This was the first game to start the Gym leaders only use 2-3 pokemon evil trend!
– N was pathetic, all of his character was just pathetic! “Plz don’t hurt pokemon or use them” “omg I can talk to pokemon!”
– Unlike the gym leaders, the E4 had no role!
– Alder had the WORST champion theme!
– Floating gears?
– Battle Subway Get out Battle Tower Rip Off
There are a million MORE reasons to add on to this, but This is all I can think of, of why Gen 5 needs to disappear! (lul jk i luv gen 5)
Wait, wait, wait….you made this entire list as a joke? -_-
No I HATE it for the Lack of Battle Frontier
You mean like ORAS 😛
I dislike ORAS for that
ORAS gets a pass because Hoenn
But not Uno-moreremakes-orsequels-please-va
Grrrrrr!
I disagree with everyone of your statements
Black and White were sort of like the bridge between the classic series (Gen 1-4) and the modern series (B/W2 and gen 6). I think this because Black and White introduced less natural looking Pokemon and more controversial topics (i.e. “Is Pokemon battling really moral?”)
All in all, I prefer the Classic series for its more light hearted take on the world. I also am not really the biggest fan of post Gen 4 designs. Not because they’re bad, mind you, but because they’re totally out of place compared to older Pokemon.
What do you mean out of place?
We have our regional dog, rodent, bird, and even a goat now.
In all honesty they just continued the trend making Pokémon more close to the original 151.
The only over-designed ones that could be argued are the Kyurems. But even so, we have had pretty complicated designs of Pokémon in the past. ex: Claydol