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artikgato · 4 years

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2011 in review: Pokemon Black and White

Although these games came out on September 18, 2010 (and I did get a Japanese copy of White and play it on my not region-locked DS lite), they didn’t come out in the US until March 6th, 2011, so I’m counting them as my game of the year for 2011.

My experience with Black and White was very special. Like many people my age, I was obsessed with Pokemon from 1999 to 2001 when Red/Blue and Gold/Silver were coming out here in the west. I was in high school when Gold/Silver came out, and after that the fervor kind of died down. I was aware of Ruby/Sapphire when they came out, but didn’t have the means to buy a GBA at the time, and the same was true for Diamond/Pearl and the DS. A mystery gift-giver and HGSS got me back into Pokemon, but it was Black and White that really got me back into Pokemon. It was the first new generation since Gold/Silver that I got to be on the hype train for. It was the first one I was on the internet during and let me tell you, each new reveal of a Pokemon or character or location was a big hit of dopamine. I was hooked.

I had been into cosplay for years by then, of course, and I had done a couple of Pokemon cosplays but never anything serious. And then May’s Corocoro leaked and I saw the design for Touko/White/Hilda and went “I can make that in two weeks” and I did, and there’s a reason she was my favorite cosplay of 2010.

HGSS may have kick-started the decade for me and made the 2010s solidly the Decade of Pokemon, but Black and White really amped it up. I was at Anime Weekend Atlanta the weekend that they came out in Japan and one of the vendors just so happened to have a few copies, and I just so happened to have a non region-locked DS Lite to play it on. I knew enough Japanese to kind of grasp what was going on, and I had played Pokemon enough to be able to play blindfolded, so I played through the game entirely in Japanese and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. I played until my battery was exhausted and the impatiently waited for it to recharge so I could keep playing. I’m sure I did other things that weekend, but once I got my hands on that Japanese copy of White, that’s all I wanted to think about.

I stumbled across new Pokemon and characters and locations, and I’ve been chasing those highs for years now. Sword and Shield came close, but only because I intentionally stayed off of the internet for three weeks to avoid spoilers.

Playing it in English was of course a lot of fun, too. I made all of the opposite choices in my copy of Black, including playing as the guy, picking Tepig instead of Oshawott, and trying to only use Pokemon I never picked up in my Japanese playthrough.

Like I said in my HGSS post, I understand why many people consider those games to be the best in the franchise, but Black and White absolutely are my favorites. Black and White have some of the best characters in the entire franchise. The main characters have great designs. Cheren and Bianca are great rivals. This gen gave us our first female professor! Sword and Shield may have been more dramatic about it, but this gen was the first time there were different gym leaders depending on the version with Iris and Drayden! We had iconic, memorable gym leaders and elite 4. And, of course, the VILLAINS. Ghetsis is one of the most iconic villains in the franchise, and EVERYBODY loves N. (And if you don’t like N, you can catch these hands.)

And speaking of N and Ghetsis, Black and White had THE best story in the franchise. What have the villain teams done since Black and White? NOTHING. Team Flare was a joke, Team Skull weren’t even evil, Aether Foundation wishes it had what Team Plasma had, and Team Yell barely did anything at all.

Unova is one of the most memorable regions in the game, with scenery so diverse it puts even SWSH to shame, and actual SEASONS! Black and White also had some of the best music in the series! I mean, just try to listen to the Team Plasma battle theme without ROCKING THE FUCK OUT. You CAN’T!

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This generation also gave me a whole new appreciation for bug types. Before Gen 5, if you had asked me my favorite type it would have been ice (because my favorite Pokemon always and forever is Articuno). And then Gamefreak blessed us with all of these:

No other generation has been this good to bug types. I was never a huge fan of bugs IRL before 2010. At best I thought butterflies and moths were pretty. After this game? I think beetles are CUTE. I love horseshoe crabs. I try not to squash spiders. I rescue crickets that have gotten into places they shouldn’t have. I LOVE butterflies and moths. ...I still hate ants a lot, but I’ve got to draw the line SOMEWHERE. Anyway I’ve been the bug-type gym leader in my local anime convention’s Pokemon League since 2011, and all because Unova brought it’s A-GAME.

But it’s not just bugs, there are a lot of AMAZING Pokemon in Generation 5. Anyone that doesn’t like Trubbish or Vanilluxe can CATCH THESE HANDS. And there were some real standouts in the Gen 5 dex. All three starters are amazing! The regional Pika-clone is a FLYING SQUIRREL. We got the Litwick line and the Deino line both in this gen. We got the ultimate good boy Stoutland! Whimsicott and Lilligant! KROOKODILE. Maractus! Zoroark! Gothitelle and Reuniclus! Jellicent! Ferrothorn! Golurk! Braviary and Mandibuzz! The Muskedeers! The tao trio! Meloetta! ICONIC.

To summarize, Black and White are my favorite Pokemon games in the entire series (yes, even more than the Kanto games) and a strong contender for my favorite game(s) of the decade.

#arti's big 2010s retrospective #pokemon black and white #unova #generation 5

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