Tag: Pokemon Black & White

By TokoyamiTheDark

Pokemon Black and White are the newest trend in the Pokemon franchise and the games are just as great as the other generations. There are a few things I really like about this game, but we’ll talk about that later. The game begins with Professor Juniper giving a gift to you, Bianca and Cheren. The gift are the 5th Generation starters ; Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokemon, Tepig, the Fire Pig Pokemon and Oshawott, the Sea Otter Pokemon. Bianca always takes the starter who’s weak to yours while Cheren takes the one who has an advantage over yours. If you want to know the rest, then buy the games! As I said earlier, there are things I really like about the 5th Generation, and here’s a few of those things I’m delighted to have in Black and White :

– No Safari Zone : These areas are so annoying, you can’t even send your Pokemon to battle them. However, it has been completely removed from Black and White, making filling the Pokedex easier and with more fun.

– Critical Capture : Another new thing added to the 5th Gen is a mechanic called the Critical Capture. This is really helpful, exept if the Pokemon has a low catch rate. If the catch rate is 45 of below, it WILL break free of the ball, no matter what. However, there have been reports of Critical Captures still failing on Pokemon with the easiest catch rate, HP in red zone and affected by a status ailment on websites like YouTube. It CAN happen, as it happened to me once with a Whismur in the White Forest, but you really need to be unlucky for this to happen.

– Re-usable TMs and HMs : THIS is probably the best thing ever added in Black and White. In any other generations, TMs disappears once you use them, but in Black and White, they can be used indefinitely!!! No more worries of teaching a TM to the wrong Pokemon, as you can use it over and over again. It’s like if they have been converted into HMs, but moves are still erasale without the Move Deleter, unlike HMs.

– Dream World : A new online feature that happens not on the Nintendo DS, but rather on the Internet! This new feature requires an account, however, but it’s really easy and fast to create one. You can get items, befriend a Pokemon with a different ability than usual, play games, download C-Gear skins and more!

Pokemon Black and White are games that any audiences may enjoy, as they are fun, challenging, complex, and the game also change along with the seasons, where two Pokemon, Deerling and Sawsbuck, changes form when the seasons changes. I bought the White Version the same day it was released, but I first imported the Black version from Japan so I could get a taste of what’s the new generation of Pokemon. Well, have fun playing these games!!!

Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White

By forest_snivy

One of the many things that makes Black and White versions stand out from its predecessors are their large amounts of version differences. Because of this, answering the typical “which version should I get?” question is not so easy. Like every version before them, some Pokemon are exclusive to either Black or White versions—but there is so much more to each version, which creates interesting similarities and contrasts as stark as black and white.

Another simple example of differences between Black and White versions is that in Black, there are more Rotation battles, which are one-on-one fights in which a trainer can switch between three different Pokemon without taking up a turn. White version, however, includes more Triple battles—3-on-3 fights similar to Double battles.

A more major difference between the two games lies in Unova itself—Opelucid City; and Black City and White Forest. Black version places an emphasis on more “modern” qualities, such as vast, expanding cities with enormous skyscrapers and the latest technology; while White version showcases more “traditional” ideas in the form of an old-styled town and an underdeveloped, natural forest. These differences can be likened to Ruby and Sapphire’s Team Magma and Team Aqua difference, as only one team is villainous in each game. But unlike Ruby and Sapphire, Black and White’s emphasis and contrast between modern expansion and old traditions expands deeply, adding a whole new layer of depth to the storyline present in Black and White.

If you combine the version-exclusive Pokemon with the “version-exclusive” emphasis on either modern-day growth or traditional simplicity, you end up with the two “mascot” Pokemon: Reshiram and Zekrom. To an old fan of the series, the decision to make Reshiram as Black version’s cover Pokemon, and Zekrom as White version’s, may seem a bit odd at first; traditionally, the cover Pokemon is a similar color or shade of the color, metal, or gem of the game’s title. Reshiram, despite gracing the cover of Black version, is white in color, while the black Zekrom strongly rests on the cover of White version. There is actually an economic reason for this: if a person has not heard of a certain game, but is, for example, looking through a store for something to buy, they will naturally be attracted to games with more appealing covers. Now imagine walking through a store and seeing…a white game cover. Or a black game cover. No contrast, nothing interesting to catch anyone’s eye. A black Pokemon on a black cover does not seem like such a good idea anymore, now does it?

But is that really the only reason why Game Freak made the decision to have Reshiram and Zekrom put on their respective version box art, to maximize on profit? Actually, that plays only a small role in their decision. In order to fully understand why, we must look at what Reshiram and Zekrom truly represent.
Continue reading “The Past, Present, And Uncertain Future: Analysis Of Version Differences In Black & White”

Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White

By: Brian Hsieh

With the release and end of Carita’s Hydreigon and Janta’s Golurk events in Japan, one should wonder about events hitting America or other countries. Heartgold and Soulsilver received many events, but soon began to slow down fast between events. With Black and White, other countries have received just the Victini event while Japan has received five others. Japan has also received far more Heartgold/Soulsilver/Diamond/Pearl/Platinum events than the other countries. There are currently no events in other countries at the moment so it could be wise to at least release the ones we didn’t receive now but that seems doubtful.

I understand that it is a Japanese game first before it gets translated and ported to America, Europe, and other countries, but the length between each event causes fans to lose interest before any of the other Pokemon arrive to complete their Pokedex. A great example of this is the Celebi event. At level 50, Celebi takes the player back in time in order to see the argument between Silver and his father, Giovanni. This is an important and new development in the storyline as we have all guessed of Silver’s origins especially when hinted in the Pokemon Adventures manga, but to actually play it is something different. You even got a chance to battle Giovanni, one of the strongest gym leaders. Once fans knew of this event, they patiently waited for it to be released in the states. Unfortunately, other subpar events were released and by the time Celebi hit the WiFi scene, players Pokemon were far beyond 50 and could easily defeat Giovanni’s Pokemon, which were laughable compared to the likes of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four. Maybe this event was meant to be played a little before entering Kanto, but that does not make up for the fact that Giovanni has only four Pokemon that aren’t as powerful as the current Kanto Gym Leaders. Considering the fact that Giovanni disbanded Team Rocket to train for three years to only have his Pokemon under leveled compared to his actual Red/Blue/Green gym battle is inexcusable (with Nidoqueen actually leveled down for some reason).

This situation is unfortunately happening with Pokemon Black and White as well. Pokemon like Genesect, Meloetta, and Keldeo must be captured through a WiFi event. There’s a long pause since the Victini event in other countries, which should be filled to keep interest in the Pokemon games. What’s worse is that Japan hasn’t released these events in their own country. I’m not sure what the delay is, but I’ve only touched my DS to finish the Celebi event and am currently waiting for the other events to surface. I hope this long delay won’t cause players to overlook the events when they eventually arise. I’m unaware of the length it took between events for Diamond and Pearl, but from the time I bought Heartgold, the events were pouring in right after another ended.
Continue reading “Pokemon WiFi Events”

Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White

By Jack Snell

Pokemon Red and Blue (Green in Japan) were the games that started the behemoth Pokemon franchise. An intensely addictive pair of games built around catching and growing 150 different creatures and having them to do battle for fortune and glory. One of the most notable things about these two games is that they are essentially the same game, but with different encounter sets. In other words, if you wanted to catch all 150 Pokemon without having to resort to cheating or exploiting glitches, you would need to buy both versions, Red and Blue, and trade the exclusive Pokemon between each game. This was a genius marketing strategy that allowed Nintendo to almost double its sales, and it’s now become a tradition in the franchise.

The games begin in Palett town, where the player meets Professor Oak and receives his first Pokemon, either a Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. From here the player embarks on a journey around the region of Kanto to defeat all eight Gym Leaders to win the eight badges required to enter the Pokemon League and take on the Elite Four and the Champion. Along the way you will capture a variety of Pokemon and raise a team that will be your main fighting force. After reaching a certain point in their training, certain Pokemon will evolve into greater, more powerful forms with increased stats and access to better moves.

The overall effect is addictive, all the while unrewarding in the end. Essentially, once you’ve beaten the Elite Four and the Champion, all the challenge is removed from the game. The only thing left is to pit your team against your friend’s team, although this isn’t something everyone can do, I know I certainly wasn’t able to do it very often in my youth. Later Pokemon games do a lot more to increase the replayability. That’s not to say there’s not a lot to do in Red and Blue, but once it’s done, it’s done and only a new game can make it fun and interesting again.

One thing I would especially like to point out is that Pokemon Red and Blue do have a certain charm to their map design and story progression that later games don’t have. You tend to revisit old places a lot more on the normal path of your journey without much backtracking and there’s usually something interesting to see or do upon your return visit that you couldn’t do before. There’s a greater conservation of detail, I guess you could say, that adds a great deal to the overall appeal of the games.

These are two genre definining games that command your attention during the time you are playing them. The story is compelling, you’ll feel the sense of caring or and raising your own Pokemon more than any other version of the game, and there are even some emotional moments, the Cubone mourning over its deceased mother comes to mind.
Continue reading “Pokemon Red Review”

Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White