Pokemon Black and White 2 announced for DS

[KDub]

The more I thought about it, the more I like this reboot idea. I also feel like the series peaked at with the Gold/Silver/Crystal trilogy.

But there are some good mechanics from the later games that could be implemented in a reboot.

I say make a proper story line go back to Johto like in Red and Blue, then go through Kanto like Gold and Silver and then back through a Johto story before the final four. Cut back down on the amount of Pokemon and for the first time ever make all of them available one one cart.

[Erik_Twice]

You can tell they're getting lazy just with the stupid Pokemon designs. Floating masks, walking garbage bags and coffins, for example.

Yeah, they just don't compare to groups of eggs and mime artists.

Fair enough. But you must admit that the number of stupid designs seems to be growing.

I think the monster design is on a slow decline but it's not particularly worrying compared to new generations having new pokémon based on the very same concepts as the original ones.

This moderate drop in quality is noticiable in Black and White more than in the other games for some reason because it's not so much the outright silly concepts like Mr Mime or that Ice Cream, it's that many designs are overly complex and have very little personality to it compared to other monster designs, they seem to have more "attitude" and it feels less sincere.

That said, stuff like Rotom, Bronzong and Hippowdown is great and I will take them over many originals any day.

PD: Exeggutor rocks! Exeggute not so much tough =/

EDIT: BTW, I think that the DS remakes of Gold and Silver offer much more than the original. Best of both worlds if you ask me.

[GameMasterGuy]

I hope that they don't pull a B/W (or should they be called B1/W1 now?) and only have Unova Pokemon. B/W added many amazing things to the series, from triple battles to beautiful 3D cities. The soundtrack rivaled the Kanto and Johto ones, and in some cases (N's Farewell, Credits, Driftveil, White's version of Opelucid) *surpassed* them. The only gripe I had with them is that 90% of the new Pokemon designs were God-awful.

[YoshiEgg25]

I say make a proper story line go back to Johto like in Red and Blue, then go through Kanto like Gold and Silver and then back through a Johto story before the final four. Cut back down on the amount of Pokemon and for the first time ever make all of them available one one cart.

I can assure you that that will not happen anytime soon.

I hope that they don't pull a B/W (or should they be called B1/W1 now?) and only have Unova Pokemon.

It only had Unova Pokémon until after you beat the game. And actually, I appreciated that. It forced me to use Pokémon I might not have if I had the opportunity to use some from previous generations.

[Zing]

They must have realized that it would be the end of the Pokemon franchise to post the miserable sales numbers they would get with a 3DS-only release.

I do wonder why they didn't make a third entry in the black/white series, like Crystal/Platinum/etc.

[YoshiEgg25]

They must have realized that it would be the end of the Pokemon franchise to post the miserable sales numbers they would get with a 3DS-only release.

...This is quite possibly the most uninformed post I have ever seen.

I mean, seriously? Pokémon is a system-seller. Along with the fact that the 3DS had already sold 15 million as of the end of 2011, which is definitely more now, and I can't see why you could make such a claim.

The reasoning behind putting it on DS is a rather simple one, and history had pointed towards it being a DS release. No third revision had ever been released on a separate platform from the first two games (Red/Blue/Yellow were GB, Gold/Silver/Crystal were GBC, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald were GBA, Diamond/Pearl/Platinum were DS). Pair that up with the newest Pokémon game, Pokémon + Nobunaga's Ambition, being released on DS, and there was zero reason to believe this would come out on the 3DS other than it being Nintendo's newest system. Hell, even Emerald (GBA) was released after the DS was released.

I do wonder why they didn't make a third entry in the black/white series, like Crystal/Platinum/etc.

Uh, there is. It's just that there's a fourth now too. One game for each Kyurem form.

[GameMasterGuy]

And judging by the red and blue rocks in the logos, one for each Hoenn legendary.

[Lokkenjawnz]

And judging by the red and blue rocks in the logos, one for each Hoenn legendary.

Can't tell if you're joking or not, but the red and blue are almost certainly not anything to do with Hoenn. Most likely they're referring to the second types of Zekrom and Reshiram, fire and electric (or do I have those switched?).

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to this. It makes sense it's going to be on the DS, it would be kind of a dick move to have the continuation of the story on a different system, especially for kids. I figure we'll see Pokemon on the 3DS at the 6th gen, which hopefully won't be too far off!

[GameMasterGuy]

I'm not, it's possible that they're pulling a Johto and having you go back to a different region after beating the game. It would probably be announced in the first month or so, so we'll have to wait and see.

[Key-Glyph]

The stuff that a lot of you guys are saying on this thread is making my day, because it's validating my own point of view when I thought I was alone in my opinion. I agree with everything General_Norris said and what many others agreed with: the slow decline in monster design, the peak of Gold/Silver, and the greatness of HeartGold/SoulSilver (how on Earth did they think of ways to improve on that excellent source material?!).

It bothered me incredibly that White/Black did the best in sales of any Pokémon game, because I feel that HeartGold/Soulsilver was leagues superior in feel, personality, graphics, and innovation. I hate that as the series progresses it pushes its graphics further and further towards 3D. HG/SS stepped backwards from that, which was a step forwards in my book. I will take the loving details of HG/SS towns -- moody streetlamps coming on at night, Eckruteak City building's "subdued coloring" being explained in-game as more "historically accurate," the beautiful introductory stills that set the mood upon entering important landmarks like Tin Tower -- over the muddy awkwardness that was W/B "realism."

Also, your pokémon following you. How was that overlooked in W/B? Terrible move!

HG/SS had miles of heart and W/B had, I don't know, online content. That I'll never use. W/B felt like a disappointing departure from the atmosphere of the rest of the pokémon series -- and believe me, I really, really tried to like it.

And I love the pokéwalker. For me, the point of playing these games is just as much the emotional component as the winning aspect. To really imagine myself as the main character, training up the pokémon I'd have with me if I lived in that world, is what I'm playing them for, and being able carry my pokémon in my pocket like a actual trainer would do -- and then see a summary of our walk together -- was fantastic. I love that kind of fantasy. And I think that W/B, unfortunately, moved away from the magical wonderment and took it closer to dystopian dissonance, and it feels unpleasant to me.

Sorry for ranting!