Pokemon Black and White

[Andrew J.]

The Fifth Generation of Pokemon has arrived, at least in Japan. It won't be out in North American and Europe until spring, but it's never too early to start getting hyped! Sprites for all the new Pokemon can be found here.

[Invictus ChiKen]

There is an icecream pokemon....

[Oscar Wilde]

Well, they've basically removed the middle ground. Now all of them are either retarded looking or are almost ok.

[Dartzap]

I like the look of the Croc and Zebra. The singing monkey evolutions are just....

[Ritterin Sophia]

Looks like Tsutarja is going to be my starter, the other two's evolutions just look completely nonsensical.

I like Kenhouro and Pendoraa, the Fossil Pokemon never fail to be interesting but I'm going to try and get the Archeopteryx, though if I get the turtle one I won't hesitate to use it instead. Swanna's pretty cool looking and Mebukijka does too, Denchura looks pretty intimidating and Ononokusu's looks beastly, definitely picking one of those up. Wargle looks awesome and Sazando is the Dark/Dragon I've been dreaming of. The title Pokemon are always aesthetically pleasing. As for the rest, completely uninspired.

....
....
I'm pretty certain 574-576 are Goth Lolis and I'm not sure how I feel about that...

[Bakustra]

You're all crazy. None of you even noticed the Bambi pokemon, or the polar bear, or the giant snowflake. I mean, this has the potential to be excellent, once you add in the crocodile, the kung-fu twins, and the hermit crab. Now if only they kept back the old pokemon from being in the wild until lategame, or, rather, if they kept back Geodude and Zubat (well, we do have the cyclopean fluff-bat, so there's some hope) period.

The Goth pokemon aren't really any more skeezy than, say, Mr. Mime. They're just a goofy reference to a subculture, like Jynx was and Mr. Mime is. Granted, you'll find horrible fanart by a week from now, but you'll find it for the crocodile in another week, so that's not really a dealbreaker.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

A lot of emphasis has been put on how Black and White take place in a land far away from the others, so if any pokémon from previous games show up in the wild I'd bet it would be rare. Hell, with 156 new pokémon, I'd not be surprised if you don't even see any old ones with most of the trainers.

[SAMAS]

Actually, Game Freak has said just that. No Pokemon from the previous generations will appear in Black and White,.

[Vendetta]

Man, they made Smugleaf even smugger as it evolves. Seriously, I'm even tempted to get this, and I haven't played a Pokemon game since the first generation.

[Ford Prefect]

Man, they made Smugleaf even smugger as it evolves.

I wouldn't have thought that was possible, but here we are.

[Archaic`]

Actually, Game Freak has said just that. No Pokemon from the previous generations will appear in Black and White,.

They will appear, but only after you defeat the Elite 4 and have the...well, I guess it won't be called the National Pokédex anymore, since the setting for the Isshu region has now been confirmed in an interview as being based on Manhattan, but the equivalent of that in this game. The International Pokédex, I suppose.

There's apparently a lot of crossovers with previous games. People have already pulled remixes the Team Rocket theme and the original R/B/Y champion theme out of the game data, though no one's sure what they're linked too or if they're unused or what. Cynthia and Looker from Platinum both show up for some reason as well.

[Andrew J.]

Interesting fact: 638-640 are based on Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, respectively. Naturally the fans have started callingThree them the Three Muskedeer.

The event legendary 647 is d'Artagnan.

[Anguirus]

^ Now that's just plain awesome.

Haven't kept up with this game, been too busy to even finish up SoulSilver, but it's certainly on my radar.

[Andrew J.]

English names for (almost) all the new Pokemon have been revealed!

[Mr Bean]

I played Red/Blue back in the day. I got into Gold/Silver but after then it seems every new generation features more and more designs from the rejected pile or out and out copies of old familiar Pokemon Purrlion AKA another cat based Pokemon or Tranquill set which is like the 7th or 8th bird based pokemon.

Never mind Icecream-mon aka Vanillish

[Andrew J.]

There's always new Pokemon that slot into certain archetypes, especially in the early going. Given that B/W was designed specifically so you don't meet any old Pokemon until after the main story is complete, this is more necessary than usual for Gen 5.

FACT: Vanilluxe, Garbodor, and Chandelure are awesome.

[Dartzap]

Due to appear in Europe on March the 4th, apparently. Week later in NA

[Chardok]

Man, look, Peter Molyneux has no business make a pokem- wait, huh? Ohhhh, nevermind lawl.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Serperior... that has to be the single greatest Pokemon ever.

Still waiting for my Pokemon console RPG.

[adam_grif]

Or Pokemon MMO. Actually I would never play that, for fear of never having free time again.

[Andrew J.]

So these have been out for two weeks now. I've been busy with traveling, and I generally play games at a leisurely pace anyway, so I just finished up Castelia City and caught myself a Victini yesterday. How goes it with you lot?

[Go 2 Hell]

Forgot to save after I beat the 3rd gym leader and then Bianca again, so I haven't really played since because that gym annoyed me. Sure, the Pokemon don't look as good, and the names are pretty stupid
http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles ... ew-pokemon (hilarious link from a friend), but the gameplay is as tight as ever. Though the tutorials are more apparent (and annoying) than ever. The new menu system is slightly annoying. But outside of all that its another solid Pokemon title.

You get 3 rivals this time. A brainiac whose name escapes me, Bianca who you'll be able to figure out from the second you see her sprite fail at pulling a pokeball out of her bag, I actually feel sorry for her, and N who ... is well I haven't gotten far enough in the game to comment.

The games seems to be more story driven, with Team Plasma actually having motives that you can't help, but agree with, but they show henchmen kicking pokemon just to remind you that they're "evil". Its seems that the gym leaders get some action outside of their gyms as they help you take on Team Plasma.

My biggest issue is really with the fire starter, seriously, this is the third fire/fighting pokemon in a row, enough already, its pretty awkward having a fire pokemon whose attack is higher than his special attack.

I'll play some more to get a better impression this week.

[Andrew J.]

It's all about the Flame Charge, my friend. Not to mention there's lots of Normal and Dark types in the early game, so I find it handy to have some Fighting-type power.

I've got pretty good coverage with him, Tranquill, Pansage, and Blitzle, although I wish the latter weren't quite so much of a glass cannon. I've never had a Pokemon get knocked out so much.

Anyone who doesn't like the ice cream or ghost lamp line is a heretic and a communist. It's almost as bad as hating on Trubbish.

[Dartzap]

It's all about the Flame Charge, my friend. Not to mention there's lots of Normal and Dark types in the early game, so I find it handy to have some Fighting-type power.

I've got pretty good coverage with him, Tranquill, Pansage, and Blitzle, although I wish the latter weren't quite so much of a glass cannon. I've never had a Pokemon get knocked out so much.

Anyone who doesn't like the ice cream or ghost lamp line is a heretic and a communist. It's almost as bad as hating on Trubbish.

Gods, Blitzle is a pain in the arse. I got the electric tarantula ASAP, I was that desperate to be rid of it Beat the game a while back, and have explored the extra cities as well. Coming across trainers with lvl70's on a normal route...aint fun

[Molyneux]

I am pissed off that they didn't bring forward the Pokewalker or the idea of having your lead Pokemon follow you around - those were the two best things about HG/SS. I can't fathom why they would have ditched 'em.