Pokémon Black and White

• 1. Introduction

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  Pokémon Black and White, a pair of role-playing games for the Nintendo DS, began with a rule that broke a long habit of the series. After the first generation, every new set of games had mixed fresh creatures in among old favorites. Pikachu, introduced in Red and Green, had been obtainable in Blue, Yellow and every main series game after them. In Black and White, Pikachu could not be obtained from the start of the game. Instead, the games arrived with 156 new Pokémon, five more than the previous record holder, Pokémon Red and Blue.

  Why would designers hide the most familiar faces on purpose? What kind of world did they build to hold so many strangers? And how did players and critics react when a series with a long history asked them to start over?

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• 2. A Deliberate Reset

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  On the 29th of January 2010, The Pokémon Company announced that a new game was in development for the Nintendo DS, due later that year. Director Junichi Masuda said that several aspects of the series were being revamped for the new generation. On the 9th of April 2010, the Japanese website gave the titles as Pokémon Black and White and promised a release in the third quarter.

  On the 3rd of August 2010, Masuda wrote on his blog that the games would at first contain only brand-new Pokémon. The aim was to recreate the feeling of the original releases, when everything on screen was unfamiliar. Asked later why the games carried over 150 new species, he said veterans would not be able to tell which Pokémon were strong. That, he argued, would level the playing ground for new players.

  Masuda described his method as looking at every previous element and deciding what to adapt. His reasoning was that, in his words, "people may not like what they like in the past, trend wise". The team wanted the games to be fun for newcomers while also winning back people who had not played the series in a while. He admitted that balancing those two audiences was hard. For new players, the games explain how to play carefully. He also contrasted the two new battle styles: triple battles take more strategy, while rotation battles take more luck to win.

  The presentation changed too. The games use more 3D computer graphics than any other handheld entry in the series. They are also region locked on the Nintendo DSi and 3DS.

  The music came from a team led by Masuda, who was both game director and composer. The four-disc soundtrack was released in Japan on the 20th of October 2010, with scores by Masuda, Go Ichinose, Shota Kageyama, Hitomi Sato, Morikazu Aoki, Minako Adachi and Satoshi Nohara. Ichinose directed all of the Pokémon voices, while Adachi produced every sound effect.

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• 3. Unova Seen From Afar

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  Unova is modeled on New York City, an idea Masuda developed when he visited the city for the launch of Diamond and Pearl. Earlier regions had been based on real places in Japan. Unova sits on a continental mass far from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh.

  Castelia City, the region's central metropolis, carries the clearest New York echoes. Its Skyarrow Bridge is described as a Brooklyn Bridge-style suspension bridge, and the city has huge skyscrapers. Masuda also wanted the streets of Castelia to convey a feeling of communities.

  The region holds large urban areas, a harbor, an airport, an amusement park, several bridges and several mountain ranges. Its people are varied as well, differing in skin tone, language and occupation. The Japanese name for the region comes from two Japanese words, one meaning many kinds and the other meaning one kind. Up close, the many kinds of people and Pokémon look distinct; from afar, they look like a single kind of life.

  Eight of Unova's cities and towns are home to Gym Leaders, and each victory over one earns the player a Badge on the road to the Pokémon League.

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• 4. N and Team Plasma

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  Professor Aurea Juniper opens the story by giving the player a choice of three Starter Pokémon: Snivy, Tepig or Oshawott. The player character is Hilbert or Hilda, depending on whether the player chooses a boy or a girl. The friends Cheren and Bianca double as rival Trainers. Cheren picks the Pokémon with a type advantage against the player's, while Bianca picks one with a type disadvantage. As in earlier games, the story is linear, with its main events in a fixed order.

  The antagonist is Team Plasma, a group described as Knights Templar-esque. They claim that humanity oppresses Pokémon and that Pokémon must be liberated from their Trainers. Their leader is N, a young man raised alongside Pokémon who sees them as friends rather than tools for sport. N says that if he captures one of Unova's Legendary Pokémon, Reshiram or Zekrom, and defeats the League Champion Alder, he will be recognized as the region's hero. Then he can convince humans to part with their Pokémon. N captures Reshiram in White and Zekrom in Black.

  After the player beats the Elite Four, the Champion's chamber holds a surprise. N has already defeated Alder and become the newest Champion. He summons a large castle around the Unova League and challenges the player to find him for one last battle. To earn that fight, the player must capture the other Legendary Pokémon, which is Reshiram in Black and Zekrom in White.

  When N loses, he laments that his ideals may be mistaken. Then Ghetsis intrudes and angrily reveals his real aim. He wanted to use N to ensure he would be the only human left controlling Pokémon, so that he could rule the world. He had groomed N since childhood as a pawn. In his rage, Ghetsis demands a true final battle, and after his defeat he is arrested. Alder takes back his place as Champion and pardons N. N thanks the player for helping him see his mistake about people and their Pokémon, then leaves the castle on his dragon for a far-off land, hoping to learn more about the world.

  In the postgame, the investigator Looker arrives in Unova and asks the player to find the remaining Sages of Team Plasma so they can be brought to justice. The Elite Four can be challenged again, as can Alder, and winning makes the player the new Champion. The eastern part of Unova opens up, holding Pokémon from earlier games. Each version also has its own area: Black City, an ultra-metropolitan home to powerful Trainers in one game, and White Forest, where humans and Pokémon live in harmony, in the other. Cynthia, the former Sinnoh League Champion, can be found and battled there.

  One more opponent is a character named after Shigeki Morimoto, a Game Freak programmer and creature designer who directed Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

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• 5. Seasons and Rotations

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  In Black and White the seasons advance every month, rather than following the real calendar. The games already kept the day and night cycle introduced in Gold and Silver, and the seasonal cycle sits on top of it. Leaves change in autumn and snow covers the ground in winter. Certain areas can only be reached in certain seasons, and winter brings different wild Pokémon than the other seasons. The Pokémon Deerling and Sawsbuck even change their appearance to match the season.

  The look of the games shifted from Diamond and Pearl. Speech balloons now appear over characters' heads, so more than one character can speak at once. Japanese players can have kanji on screen instead of only hiragana and katakana. In battle, the Pokémon sprites are fully animated and the camera moves to highlight parts of the action.

  Two new battle formats arrived. In Triple Battles, each team sends out three Pokémon in a row, and some moves only reach the opposing Pokémon on the same side or in the center. Changing position costs one turn. In Rotation Battles, each side fields three Pokémon arranged in a circle that can be rotated at will. Black has more Rotation Battles than Triple Battles, and White has the opposite balance.

  Combination Moves add another layer. A starter Pokémon can be taught one of three moves, and using them together in Double or Triple battles produces stronger attacks. In the wild, walking through darker-colored tall grass can trigger a Double Battle with wild Pokémon.

  Rustling grass and rippling water hide special encounters. They can reveal a rare Pokémon, one more common in the opposite game version, or the final evolution of a Pokémon whose earlier forms live nearby. This is the only way to capture Audino, Emolga and Alomomola. Dust clouds in caves and shadows of flying Pokémon on certain bridges lead to Drilbur, Excadrill, Ducklett or Swanna, none of which can be found in the wild otherwise.

  The Royal Unova, a cruise ship, lets the player fight Trainers aboard to win otherwise rare items. The Battle Subway echoes the Battle Towers and Battle Frontiers of earlier games, and Pokémon Musicals echo the Pokémon Contests.

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• 6. Worlds Within Worlds

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  The C-Gear takes over the DS's bottom screen, replacing the Pokétch from Diamond and Pearl. Masuda pointed to it as the feature for returning players, because it makes trading and battling easier. It runs the wireless features, including infrared communication for battling and trading, the Xtranceiver video chat, and the Entralink. It also uses Wi-Fi to sync with the Pokémon Global Link servers. A new Pass By mode lets the game communicate with other copies through infrared while the DS is asleep.

  Several small social tools hang off it. The Feeling Check tests the compatibility of two players and awards items. In Pass By, the player answers survey questions and receives one of several items, depending on how many other players they have connected with. Random Matchup finds opponents for battles. In online and infrared battles, a new mechanic called the Wonder Launcher allows healing items to be used.

  The two games are independent and share largely the same plot, and either can be played alone. Even so, trading Pokémon between them is necessary to complete the Pokédex.

  Bringing older Pokémon forward works through two features. The Poké Transfer opens after the main storyline is finished. Unlike the Pal Park of earlier games, it is a mini-game. After six Pokémon are transferred, the player launches Poké Balls at them on the touch screen to catch them within a time limit. The Relocator handles Pokémon given away in promotions for the film Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions, so the player can obtain the rare Zorua and Zoroark. It is available before the main game is completed.

  The Pokémon Dream World is unique to Black and White and depends on the official Pokémon Global Link website. After syncing the game back with the Dream World, the player can befriend Pokémon that are not normally obtainable and that have unique abilities. This works much like the Pokéwalker from HeartGold and SoulSilver. The player can keep a house there that other players can visit, and grow berries. The Entralink lets players interact and play side games, and those games award points that can be traded for temporary powers. Examples are increased experience, a better capture rate, or lower prices in Poké Marts.

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• 7. The Long Reveal

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  On the 7th of February 2010, Masuda showed the silhouette of a new Pokémon on the television show Pokémon Sunday. The March 2010 issue of CoroCoro Comic, available on the 15th of February, also featured it. The creature was named Zoroark, and it evolves from a Pokémon called Zorua. Both appeared in the film Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl The Movie: Phantom Ruler: Zoroark. Pre-order ticket holders received an alternate-colored Raikou, Entei or Suicune for transfer to Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold or SoulSilver. At the theater, players could download a Celebi. These Pokémon activated special events in Black and White involving Zoroark and Zorua.

  On the 18th of April 2010, Pokémon Sunday showed footage of a player character walking through a 3D environment. Host Shoko Nakagawa noted that the player's Zoroark was a full-body sprite seen from behind, while such sprites had always shown only a small part of the Pokémon. On the 9th of May, the show revealed silhouettes of the three starters, later named in Japanese as Tsutarja, Pokabu and Mijumaru. The game was said to take place in the Isshu Region, which includes the metropolis of Hiun City. A week later, battle footage showed the new animations and dynamic camera positioning.

  On the 28th of May 2010, the Japanese and English websites revealed the two legendary Pokémon who serve as version mascots. They are Reshiram, the White Yang Pokémon, for Black, and Zekrom, the Black Yin Pokémon, for White. The July 2010 issue of CoroCoro Comic revealed the C-Gear, the ability to upload game data to the internet, and a new character, Professor Araragi, the first female Pokémon professor in the video games. The release date of the 18th of September 2010 was announced on Pokémon Sunday on the 27th of June.

  On the 25th of July 2010, Pokémon Sunday introduced the phantom Pokémon Victini, listed as Pokémon No. 000 in the regional Pokédex. It could be unlocked only by downloading a special item from the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, DS Stations or Nintendo Zones, such as those in Japanese McDonald's restaurants. The download was initially available for a month after release. Another promotional Pokémon was Kumasyun, which is hard to find in the games unless it is winter.

  On the 18th of September 2010, the day the games reached Japanese stores, Nintendo of America sent cease and desist letters to two English-language fansites, PokéBeach and Serebii. The sites had published screenshots and other media from the new games. Nintendo cited copyright and threatened to shut the sites down under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act unless the media was removed, and the screenshots came down. Luke Plunkett of the blog Kotaku guessed the images had come from an illegal ROM image, but Jon Sahagian of PokéBeach said they came from the Japanese forum 2channel. Charlie Scibetta, Nintendo of America's senior director of corporate communications, said the company was concerned about the choice of images. He told Kotaku: "Nintendo supports and appreciates the efforts that Pokémon fans go through to create fan sites. In most cases there is no issue with the content that is posted, but on this occasion we had to contact a select few websites to ask them to take down confidential images".

  Overseas promotion began on the 22nd of November 2010, when the official site for North America, Europe and Australia revealed the English starter names Snivy, Tepig and Oshawott. Three days later, floats of Reshiram and Zekrom joined the Pikachu balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. On the 27th of December, the sites revealed that Hiun City would be called Castelia City and Professor Araragi would be Professor Juniper.

  The games reached Europe on the 4th of March 2011, North America on the 6th of March, and Australia on the 10th of March. Event Pokémon followed. In the United States, GameStop stores handed out the shiny Raikou from the 3rd to the 9th of January 2011, with Entei and Suicune in the weeks after. The Celebi arrived in North America on the 21st of February 2011 and ran until the 6th of March. Victini's unlock item reached North American players from the 6th of March to the 10th of April 2011.

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• 8. Numbers and Verdicts

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  In August 2010, a month before the Japanese release, Pokémon Black and White gained 1.08 million pre-orders. That made them the fastest Nintendo DS game to pass the one million mark. In their first two days on sale they sold more than 2.6 million copies, the biggest launch in the series' Japanese history. By the 3rd of November, sales in Japan had passed 4.3 million, and by the 9th of January 2011 they were the fastest DS titles to reach 5 million copies.

  In the United Kingdom, White and Black took the first and second spots in the overall sales charts. White became the second fastest-selling DS game ever there, after Professor Layton and Pandora's Box, and sold 13,000 more copies than Black. Together they made Nintendo's third biggest launch in the UK, behind Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii.

  In the United States, the games sold more than 1.08 million copies on day one. That broke the day-one record of 780,000 held by Diamond and Pearl. According to the NPD Group, Nintendo sold 1.3 million copies of White and 1.1 million of Black in March 2011, making them the top two games of the month. By April 2011 Nintendo reported worldwide sales of 11.5 million, the best-selling DS games of its 2010-11 financial year. Only Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort had sold more for the company. As of September 2017, combined sales stood at 15.64 million, just behind Diamond and Pearl among DS titles.

  The critics were largely positive. The games hold an aggregate score of 87% on Metacritic. The Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly gave them 40 out of 40, the 15th game to earn that and the highest score it had ever given a Pokémon game. IGN gave them 9 out of 10, higher than any other DS Pokémon game, though it complained about a weaker lineup of monsters. Annette Gonzalez of Game Informer wrote that the games build on solid features and take them to the next level. Official Nintendo Magazine called them a beautiful refinement of a great series. Edge wrote that the games give no answer to where Pokémon goes next, but "they do remind us why we'd care in the first place".

  Not everyone agreed. Jamin Smith of VideoGamer.com faulted the games for not innovating as much as some wished, yet called them the best the series has to offer. Jeremy Parish of Retronauts grew tired of the games soon after starting and found them too similar to earlier ones. He compared them to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and Final Fantasy XIII, which he said are bad before they get good. His colleague Justin Haywald questioned releasing them on a DS that had already hosted two main Pokémon games. Carolyn Gudmundson of GamesRadar wrote that the games may not break the Pokémon mold but are endlessly playable.

  Sequels, Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2, arrived on the Nintendo DS in 2012. Unova itself returned much later. The second part of the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet downloadable content, The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, is set in the Blueberry Academy, a terrarium off the coast of Unova.

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