Pokémon Black & White

Black and White are typically seen as a "soft reboot" of sorts for the Pokémon series. The biggest risk these games took were restricting the available Pokémon to only the newly introduced ones for the bulk of the game, as old Pokémon can only be found in the post-game. This does somewhat limit team building options, though I can respect Game Freak for forcing players to step outside of their comfort zone and use Pokémon that they aren't familiar with instead of supplementing the regional dex with old Pokémon. The Pokémon designs themselves are pretty solid for the most part; there are plenty of really cool Pokémon like Bisharp and Hydreigon, though there are a handful of Pokémon that are pretty underwhelming as well.

Black and White also put a larger emphasis on narrative than previous Pokémon games did, and while many fans praise its story as the best in the series, to me it is a huge waste of potential that takes an interesting premise and trips over itself in the end. The plot of Black and White revolves around Team Plasma, who are presented as an activist group that act in the interest of Pokémon rather than being an obvious criminal organization that either uses Pokémon to turn a profit or realize some sort of selfish goal. The goal of Team Plasma is established very early in the game; they seek to free all Pokémon from captivity, as they see the relationship between them and humans as one sided and limiting to their freedom. This is by far the most interesting goal that any Pokémon antagonist could reasonably have and it's honestly surprising that a developer famous for playing it safe would even go in this direction to begin with, though this narrative is completely destroyed the instant it's revealed to be a red herring. We're led to believe throughout the game that the leader of Team Plasma is N, a seemingly benevolent young man who truly does have the best interest of Pokémon in mind, though we eventually find out that Team Plasma as a whole was an elaborate setup devised by N's father, Ghetsis, who manipulated his son into leading the effort to release Pokémon from captivity so there would be no trainers left to oppose him. This awful plot twist completely disregards the moral question that was initially posed by the game and takes away any nuance that this game's writing had, as you are fighting yet another overtly evil antagonist who seeks world domination instead of engaging in a morally gray conflict that leaves you questioning if your side is even right.

Another way Black and White deviates from past games is by being the first pair of games to be set in a region outside of Japan, as Unova is set in the east coast of the US, specifically being based on the state of New York. The change in culture is refreshing, though the region itself is quite linear in design. This isn't to say that previous regions aren't linear, as progression in Pokémon typically leads the player down a set path with little deviation, though previous regions are at least designed in a way that makes the world feel more organic, with towns being separated by splitting paths that require backtracking; in contrast to this, Unova starts as a single straight line that leads into a giant circle that you are only able to travel one direction in. I do like how the geography of the region itself is designed and there are some pretty neat areas, though the sense of exploration is more limiting than that of previous games.

As with every new generation of Pokémon, Black and White bring a variety of various mechanical changes. By far the most impactful mechanical change was making TMs reusable, something that honestly should have been in the series since the beginning. TMs are the source of most Pokémon's good moves, so it was always frustrating that previous games limited most TMs to 1 use per save file, necessitating complicated breeding chains, trading with other players, or buying a second copy of the fucking game and playing through it just to be able to get a second run of all the good TMs. Beyond the change to TMs are a handful of quality of life changes, such as 60 FPS battles, EVs being calculated into stats instantly instead of on a level up, battle music changing based on certain conditions, more boxes for storage in the PC, being able to register multiple key items for instant access, as well as some other neat changes. Outside of game mechanics, by far the most notable advancement made by Black and White is the addition of animated battle sprites, making battles feel more kinetic than those of the previous games, which used static sprites. Overall, the game's visuals are probably the best of any mainline Pokémon games; the environments look nice and they are complimented by a season changing system, which adds diversity to the world's appearance and makes the world feel a little bit more alive. The music of these games is also excellent, featuring some of the best tracks in the series and further complimenting the overall aesthetic design of Unova quite well.

Not every mechanical change introduced to Black and White was positive, however. Most of what I'm about to go over won't really matter if you're a casual player, but if your main priority is competitive play, then this section is for you. The biggest complaint competitive players have with the fifth generation of Pokémon is the fact that weather summoning abilities stay in effect permanently. This technically isn't anything new, as permanent weather has existed ever since the introduction of abilities in the third generation in the form of Kyogre's Drizzle and Groudon's Drought, and Tyranitar having Sand Stream is a large factor in its dominance in OU across multiple generations, though the latter two of these Pokémon are banned from the standard level of competitive play under Smogon's rules, and despite sand being a great weather condition, it can still be played around, and not every team will have Tyranitar on it. Where Black and White upset the balance of weather is by introducing Drought and Drizzle as abilities for Pokémon that aren't banned, kicking off what players like to call the "weather wars", as nearly every serious team revolves around a weather condition, with players constantly fighting over who gets to have their weather up. Rain in particular is extremely overbearing and it requires abilities such as Swift Swim to be restricted just to even be remotely fair in the format. Even with the restrictions placed on rain, the 50% power boost to water type attacks is absolutely massive considering that Keldeo is one of the most dangerous threats in the tier. Black and White also introduced gems, which are one time use items that boost the power of any move that matches its type by 50%. This may seem balanced at first due to the fact that they're only usable once, though on the right Pokémon, gem boosted moves can reach unreasonable levels of power. Take Volcarona for example; it is a very dangerous special sweeper, though due to Tyranitar resisting one of its primary types and having such immense special bulk under sand, it should be able to switch in and threaten a one hit KO with Stone Edge, being able to survive a +1 Bug Buzz quite easily. This matchup is flipped completely on its head by the bug gem, giving Volcarona a 75% chance to OHKO Tyranitar from full health before it has the chance to even do anything. Simply put, gems allow Pokémon to muscle past opposing Pokémon that should be reliable checks to them, which ultimately only further destabilizes the metagame, leading to their inevitable ban from Smogon formats. By far the nastiest change to competitive play, however, is the new sleep mechanics. In most generations, sleep works by immobilizing a Pokémon for up to three turns, and in this regard it isn't any different in the fifth generation, though the important distinction is that the sleep counter resets back to 0 upon switching rather than keeping the counter between switches. Not since the first generation has the sleep status been so overpowered; if your Pokémon is afflicted with sleep, their entire purpose in that battle has been reduced to being a sleep absorber, as there's almost no way a Pokémon will be able to burn all of its sleep turns without giving the opponent crucial turns to turn the tide of battle with, which, much like gems, led to Smogon banning the use of sleep moves entirely. Power creep has always been a problem with Pokémon's competitive design, though Black and White is where it really started to get out of hand given the aforementioned mechanics as well as the handful of powerful new Pokémon added to the fray.

Black and White were the first Pokémon games that felt like they took some risks during development, something evidenced by the fact that they were enough of a departure to the point where fans overwhelmingly hated them at first. Of course, most Pokémon fans nowadays retroactively see them as among the best games in the series, and while I do agree that they are among the better mainline Pokémon games, they frustrate me by not going farther than they did. I really do appreciate the attempt that was made to elevate Pokémon to a grander scale, but the degree of risk that these games took is greatly exaggerated by fans of the fifth generation, and ultimately the things they did accomplish are overshadowed by their missed potential to stand as competent JRPGs, as it still sticks to the rigid formula of the series and completely fumbles what could have been an interesting narrative.

I played pokemon black and white for the first time in the great year of 2022, after beating platinum in the previous year for the first time as well, and im actually really divided between which i would consider the series best generation. As much as platinum feels like the culmination of magical old school charm, this new first entry did great things in improving the gameplay and shifting some key aspects of the games.

First of the decision of only using new pokemons for the major part of the game was great, as it really forced the players to try out new pokemons and find new favourites. Obviously some designs were bad, like in all generations there are always some bad designs, and the bad ones in this game really stick out. But there are also a few truely great designs that belong amongs the series best, and really at the end of the day i remember it for the good designs rather than the bad.

The story actually took a few big leaps from the usual fare, with nice food for thought. Them toutching on the fact that using pokemon for battles feels a lot like cock fights was impressed, even if they back out a bit of the theme at the end. They dont want to ruin the series for its fans, but its story is definitly a few notches above from what the games usually deliver.

The gameplay feels very much improved from platinum in several aspects. The gameplay of these games revolves around turn based battles, rpg progression of the individual pokemons and exploration of the world.

Well the actual battles are much more enjoyable to play this time around. They are faster, and the work done with the sprites is incredible, making them feel more more real and immersive. Lots of new moves, abilities and items were added, increasing the complexity of the games and strategic depth. The game itself feels challenging enough to make it worth devolving into its deeper mechanics, even if it is made easier for anyone who wants to grind it out. Basically it has never been as fun to battle as on this gen, due to how snappy it is and the breadth of content available.

The fact that TMs are reusable again adds a lot of depth to the game and ability to try out a lot of new movesets without being punished for it.

Exploration is also great, with more western look to the game. There are a few moments where the game shows off its visual excellence and they are great. Lots of side content and optional secrets with worthwhile loot really make it its exploration great. Its pre league content is rather linear, but i didnt find that much of a negative since the actual routes have a lot of things to discover. Post league it opens up, and really almost doubles the lenght of the game given how much content it offers.

The team that gave me the league was Krokodile (with moxie), Haxorus and Chandelure, with Volcarona, Reshiram and Zekrum being on the party for backup if things got ugly. Also used a lot Stoutland as a HM slave, and left Emboar on the PC when it started getting behind. This was the only pokemon playthrough were i didnt stick with one of the starters to the end, which goes on to show the strenght of the pokemons available in the game.

I had a fantastic time with this one, and things would only get better with its sequel.

Gen 5 is my personal favorite Pokémon game as a fan of the entire series who has been playing the games practically all my life. Although Gen 5 are not my first games, I do have a lot of nostalgia for them. I think a lot of great Gen 5 Pokémon are underappreciated like the entirety of the game itself. When people talk about Gen 5 the focus is on the story which is great and the greatest of the mainline games, but the story is not the sole reason to enjoy Gen 5. It has the wonderful pixel art style the Pokémon works so well with, in battle animations that are not 3D. The game still has HMs but it isn't shoved down your throat. Best though is a sizable after game and constantly available trainer battles so getting to level 100 is actually possible. Black and White are very fun with unique Pokémon, a great story, and the last of the Pokémon pixel art style. If you haven't played it then please do. If you did not enjoy it the first time then try it again.

best mainline game and if you disagree you're WRONG

Sure, some species designs were contentious and the story isn't some grand, timeless JRPG narrative. But the music is the most inventive it's ever been without losing the spirit of the series, the designs knocked it out of the park, the story still had plenty more bite than obligated at the end, and the entire battle system was a golden era refinement over the hyper-aggressive D/P environment.

More than anything, though, mark my words: this was the one and only new Pokemon game that has or will ever come out after Red and Green. Game Freak will never, ever again have the balls to release a new main-series game with no old Pokemon in sight - nary a Pikachu - and they will never again capture the spirit of exploring a completely uncharted world around every corner. Have your opinions about which game or generation is the best, but for whisking me back to when I was 5 and still shattering the gameplay of the previous iterations, this one's always going to be closest to my heart.

In its 5th iteration, Pokemon Black/White introduced a new urban aesthetic and actually displayed some signs of story depth this time around. It isn't that much of an improvement, but it's enough to claim its status as the best - and the least predictable Pokémon game in a long while.