Pokemon Black and White.

New for Black and White: General
-The new region is Isshu. A portion of the new region
-Unlike Gen I to IV games, the age of the player characters will not be 10. They are believed to be around the age of 16. The new player characters.
-The new professor is female and named Araragi. (Will probably be given a tree as a name like usual for the English version. Maple? Ivy?) Her appearance.
-The new region is farther away than the most regions so far, and given that Hoenn and Sinnoh were on the edges of Japan, with Kanto and Johto taking dead center, this will be the first main series game to take place in a region not based on Japan.
-This game will use more visual effects, and many other NPCs in the game will be busy with their own lives.
-Given that this game is a Nintendo DS game, the system clock will most likely play a big role in the games like it did in Gen II and Gen IV.
-Speech lines are added to character's dialogue.

New for Black and White: Battle System

-For the first time, Pokemon have battle animations.They don't just stand there anymore. Attacks can scale in and out of view. The text box is also transparent.
-Weather Indication is shown at all times on the lower screen. If it is raining, you won't have a turn that says "HEY BUDDY IT'S RAINING", it will just be raining. (More field effects are also rumored).
-Hitpoints apparently decrease at a faster rate when hit (Visually, not statistically) increasing the speed of battle.

New for Black and White: Cities and Buildings.

-Hiun City is the largest city in Pokemon to date, literally being a massive city with tall buildings. There are also people who walk the streets and are busy, which is new for the series. Considering in all of the older games, everyone just stood around all day.
-The Pokemon Center now offeres Global Terminal services (such as online trading) as well as the inclusion of the Poke-Mart. Although there will probably still some Poke-Marts seperate from Pokemon Centers (Most likely a department store)

New for Black and White: Online Play.
-Random Trainer Battles will be available in the Global Terminal, most likely at Level 50 rules, of course.
-Black and White allows you to upload your save file online. Whether this is for online backup or just for bragging rights is still unknown.

RUMORS (these are from sources that have currently been right in the past, one of which even nailed the names of the new starters and professor. But again, they are still officially unconfirmed)
-There will be 157 new Pokemon, bringing the total amount to 650.
-Black and white, good versus evil, and yin and yang are going to play a major part in the plot. However, unlike previous Pokemon games, the decisions and choices you make will "influence" the plot of the game. If you make "good" choices, you might get certain help or items, whereas "bad" choices could have negative effects. The point is that the plot will not be as cut-and-dry as previous games, changing depending on the player's actions.
-In previous games, either through moves or through abilities, players were able to alter the weather conditions of the battle field to boost certain types. For example, Groudon's Drought summons sunlight, which boosts Fire-type moves by 50%. In Black and White, players will be able to collect certain items that alter the weather conditions of the battle field. Approximately twenty of these items will affect the weather conditions so that they will boost certain types, with some types getting added bonuses depending on the item.
-One example will be setting up a Poison Field, which causes all Poison-type attacks to gain 30% accuracy, Sludge Bomb to have a 100% poison rate, and the effects of Toxic Spikes' poison to have an immediate effect.
-Much like how Gen III introduced 2 on 2 Double Battles, Gen V will bring forth 3 on 3 Triple Battles.
-The name of the new Evil Team will be Team Plasma.
-The majority of the plot will not focus around getting badges and taking on the elite four.

Updated the thread with better info.

I agree with Hafkles. People that move around. Decisions that affect the plot. Better battle animations. No badges or elite four!? ONLINE PLAY! This is great! I hope it comes out with some kinda pokewalker thingy too...

I'm definitely getting the black version; that guy looks way cooler than the white legendary. Love the red eyes.

Yeah, the Pokemon Black's Reshiram is the first Dragon/Fire Pokemon ever. You think they would have had that type combo by now. Way better than Dragon/Electricity combo of Zekrom.

Reshiram is weak to Ground, Rock, and Dragon. It takes 1/2x from Bug, Steel, Electricity, and it receives 1/4x damage from Fire and Grass!

Zekrom is weak to Ground, Ice, and Dragon. It takes 1/2x from flying, steel, fire, water, and grass, and 1/4x from electricity.

Reshiram loses that strength against water, but... it's no longer weak to ice. Oh man I hate ice moves.

ya that's weird that they did a ghost dragon before a fire dragon...but people have been whining about that since Charizard...

I also hate ice moves. Looks like I'll have to teach it some super fighting, water, or grass move to deal with ground/rock pokemon...of course I'll have Smugemon already so I think I'll have them taken care of already.

off topic: seeing the buildings and battles from this makes me wonder how intense the pokemon games will get when the 3ds is released...

Several steps away from the traditional RPG feel. It will severely damage the nostalgia, which is incredibly important to me for some reason. Otherwise, it looks like a beast of a pokemon game.

Rat wrote:

Several steps away from the traditional RPG feel. It will severely damage the nostalgia, which is incredibly important to me for some reason. Otherwise, it looks like a beast of a pokemon game.

To be honest, I think it is time for Pokemon to move on. It's been relying on the same "Professor gives you a Pokemon, evil team is causing a ruckus, collect eight badges and beat the elite four, hey look at this legendary, complete the pokedex" formula since the beginning. Sure, it will be different. but I think it's long overdue. The basic gameplay will still be there.

i'm going to have to agree with eric here, it was good for 2, possibly 3 games, but it's getting boring.

Yes, another game built on the same formula would be stupid. It needs a new direction, but I don't like this direction. I'm just gonna miss 2D pokemon.

The Black and White battle interface:


The significant changes are at the top of the screen, with time, different wireless connections and a battery meter added. As well as the weather indicator, which shows that it is raining in this battle. I'm wondering exactly why time, Wireless connections, and battery meter were added to the battle screen. Even stranger, this looks like a wild battle (Given that there are only 6 player pokeballs on the screen, and the bottom screen also shows how many pokemon the opposing trainer would have too.) So far, those look pretty unnecessary, but then again, that was just wasted screen space in old games anyway. Maybe Black and White have time based attacks?

Also, this apparently means that the IR sensor that was in the Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver game cards is back. Perhaps we can use the Pokewalker with the new game?

----------------------DPPt--------------------------------------------HgSs--------------------------------------Black and White

All in all though. Not too different at all from the past incarnations.

New videos of battle action on Pokemon Sunday.

It's hard to hear, but it looks like the battle music changes when you fall into the red, as opposed to the famous annoying noise that the Pokemon series has had for 4 generations. The noise is still there, but the low-hp battle music is in time with the annoying noise, making it a lot less annoying.

And like we have already seen, the battles are very animated, and much more "alive" than they have ever been before. Looks great.


Also loljapan.

http://pokebeach.com/2010/06/new-pokemon-revealed-on-oha-suta

Triple Battles Confirmed.

Eight new pokemon revealed. One of them looks like a humanlike gothic lolita type. One of them looks to be Bug/Electric. Holy Poos one of the best type combos ever.

Looks like all of the rumored info is slowly becoming true.

So watch out for Team Plasma.

Bug electric...drool...

by the way...

WHAT THE HELL WAS NINTENDO DOING NOT SHOWING OFF BLACK AND/OR WHITE AT E3 THIS YEAR????!!!!????!!!!????

Well, they never really show off Pokemon at E3. Also, the 3DS would be getting way more attention than a lame-old DS game anyway.

well Pokemon Black and White should be launching with the 3DS anyway in my opinion...

Eh. I don't think so.

However. I do think that the third version Pokemon Beige will be 3DS, making the most significant third version upgrade ever.

Triple battles:




They work just like double battles, but they added some more strategy to the mix. The Pokemon in the center can hit all three opposing pokemon, while the Pokemon on the left and right can only hit the two Pokemon in front of them.. Center Pokemon also get slight attack bonuses, but some slight defensive deductions as well. So, obviously, you probably want your party tank running the center. Also, during triple battles, a fifth move opens up which lets you switch you position. Unsurprisingly, this move is called "Move",




I think the defensive deductions are a bit overkill, to be honest. You can get hit three times in one round by taking the central position, that's harsh enough, in my opinion.

Battle Footage


Game intro:

Crap. :\

Just my opinion:

I don't think I could stand playing through this whole game. It just looks so tedious. I didn't get very far into the Platinum version, either. There's something about all of these "wow factor" visuals that they're trying to incorporate that makes this game feel... err... kinda gay. You know? Plus the new pokemon are kinda gay, too. The original pokemon were justifiably cute. How do they expect to come up with 100 new pokemon every game? They were struggling enough to hash out the first 150 of them.

Then again, it's impossible to make Pokemon a better game. It was a fantastic game when the concept was new, but now it's just tiring.

I like the new battles because the HP drains faster, and before the attack ends. It's something that will really speed up the battles.

Game Freak needs to realize why I enjoyed playing Pokemon on a Gameboy emulator more than on a Game boy. The speed button makes the battles much less tedious.

Also, people say new Pokemon are lame every generation. Then they learn to love them.

Generation II Pokemon HAD to be made. The dark type and steel type required new Pokemon.
Generation III Pokemon had new abilities, which made differences between Pokemon even greater.
Generation IV Pokemon weren't that necessary, for the most part. But they did add evolutions to Pokemon that made them really useful (And good, considering that online competitions raised the stakes even more.)

Every generation has awesome new Pokemon and lame new Pokemon. It was like this all the time. Even Gen I has some stinkers.

For every lame Pokemon like Bidoof, we get a badass Pokemon like Weavile. The awesome move-set and STAB's of Sneasel, but with a much needed stat boost, which prevented Weavile's pre-evolution fom being useful in the battlefield.


There is still type combinations that we have never had, and sometimes, just a different moveset can make a difference. Lickitung's evolution is a great example of this. STAB on Explosion? HELL YEAH. I beat Red's level 88 Pikachu in Soul Silver with my level 35 Lickilicky having STAB on Explosion. Not bad for a Pokemon I was HM-slaving with Rock Climb and Strength.

Too many Pokemon? So what? They don't put "Gotta Catch Them All" on the box anymore. More variety isn't a bad thing. We just need less Bidoofs this generation and more Weaviles,

BUMP. Playing Pokemon Black. And there is a massive problem with this game. Why is the music to Accumula Town (With added instruments) not in EVERY CITY and ROUTE in the game? Seriously, every time I walk through this town, I have to stop for 15 minutes to listen. This theme just makes me smile every time. I love the music in this game. Easily rivals Gold and Silver for my favorite Pokemon soundtrack.

As for real problems with the game:
-I don't like the map design, it feels too linear. The other 4 regions had plenty of cris-crossing and whatnot.
-C Gear really isn't useful enough to warrant using the whole bottom screen. I wish the touchscreen menu from HG/SS was here, it was very fast.
-Team Plasma is perhaps the most annoying team of all. They are in what seems like almost every single city, and you're still fighting the remaining members after the Elite Four.
-No fishing until after Elite Four? Aww.

And that's about it, no real major problems.

As for standout likes/loves with the game:
-Rotation battles are fun. Shame they aren't very common.
-Only one "bad" HM, which is Cut. The others, Fly, Strength, Dive, Waterfall, and Surf are all decently powered.
-Regarding HMs: Strength and Surf are probably the most commonly used, Waterfall and Cut are rarely used, and Dive is nearly optional. There are absolutely NO NEED for HM Slaves in this game.
-Reusable TM's. At first, I really hate these, because they essentially add another 0 to the price of the TM. But man, this is convenient.
-Turning the Battle animations off results in one of the fastest Pokemon experiences ever. The battle speed in this game is fantastic. The little things really add up.
-The music. Oh my god, the music. I love it.
-The menu system and the Select Button system have been revamped. On many screens, there is now a checkbox, and if you check it, your quick select menu instantly opens that screen. You can also quickselect key items, like before. It's really nice to have Bag -> Items quickselected for fast Repel usage. I would still rather have the touch menu, though.
-The "X" button on the PC. THIS IS THE GREATEST THING EVER. PRESSING IT LEAVES THE PC IN ONE TAP. So you don't have to slam B until you leave all of the menus.

And probably a billion other things.

I'm really loving this game.

If they ever made a pokemon game with real-time battles, I would instantly buy a 3DS to play it.