Nintendo of Japan Announces Pokemon Black/White, also Speculation Thread

[CodeBrain]

Time to bring this thread back from the dead.

Content is spoilered for obvious reasons (its spoiling the game for you lol)

• There are 156 new Pokémon within this generation; 153 within normal gameplay and further 3 event Pokémon (#647, #648 & #649) that will be distributed in a manner similar to Darkrai, Shaymin & Arceus in the previous generation
• In regards to a few numbers and details;
  
  • #633 through #635 are a Dark/Dragon-type evolution chain
  • #638 is a Steel/Fighting-type Legendary
  • #639 is a Rock/Fighting-type Legendary
  • #640 is a Grass/Fighting-type Legendary
  • #641 is a Pure Flying-type Legendary
  • #642 is an Electric/Flying-type Legendary
  • Reshiram is to be #643
  • Zekrom is to be #644
  • #645 is a Ground/Flying-type Legendary
  • #646 is a Dragon/Ice-type Legendary
  • #647 is a Water/Fighting-type Event Legendary
  • #648 is a Normal/Psychic-type Event Legendary
  • #649 is a Bug/Steel-type Event Legendary
  
  
• In Hiun City, the boats will take you to various islands.

Smugleaf's evolve chain:

Pokebu's evolve chain:

Otter's Evolve chain:

Note that the above evolution pictures caused quite a stir, 4chan believes the pictures to be fake, while Serebii believes them to be real. I am not certain on whether or not they are legit, but I am just going to post it for the sake of posting it.

Now for my opinion...

About the new pokemon, I love these new types. That Dark/Dragon 3 chain evolve sounds like the new "Pseudo legendary" of this generation. I also love the types on the legendaries. There has not been a pure flying type, nor a dragon/ice type yet. There also hasn't been a ground/flying, rock/fighting (maybe), and a grass/fighting (again, maybe) pokemon yet, so this is exciting to me.

[thehoodedsmack]

Gligar and Gliscor are Ground/Flying, and Breloom is Grass/Fighting. But other than that, you're right about the new type combinations. To me, it seems weird having a pure Flying-type, just because it's never been done before. Even things you'd expect to be straight Flying-type, such as Pidgey or Spearow are dual Normal/Flying types.

Also, those evolutions are probably fake, save for the Grass and Water starters' first evolutions, which were leaked in the past. There was an interview released last night talking about the new starters and their evolutions, where the Water starter's final evolution is described as using its shell as a samurai sword. That interview can be found here.

In all honesty, don't trust a word that Serebii says, and just wait for the official reveal.

[CodeBrain]

I also received an email from Play-Asia, the company that I preordered the Japanese version of Pokemon Black/White from:

This is an important update regarding your Pokemon Black / White Japanese
Version pre-order.

According to the official website, Pokemon Black / White include DSi
enhanced features and we know from our experience that some other games
sporting DSi Enhance functions are region locked on DSi systems. However,
there is no firm rule on it.

Please understand that we are not able to accept returns due to region
lock issues. We are sending you this email to keep you informed and to ask
you to make a decision based on this information.

First off, if you have a Nintendo DS or DS Lite Console from any region
then there should be no problem

However, if you have a Non-Japanese DSi / DSi XL console then the title
might not work at all on your console or the DSi Enhanced features might
not work. Please keep in mind, in worst case, you will have a situation
where you cannot play the game you bought.

Please make sure that you either have a Nintendo DS / Nintendo DS Lite
- or -
a JAPANESE DSi / DSi LL to ensure that you can play the game.

More info on this matter has been compiled here
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-dsienhanced.html

If you are currently in possession of a Non-Japanese Nintendo DSi or
Nintendo DSi XL and you want to play this title, we recommend to check our
selection of Nintendo DSi & DSi LL models here (only those marked Japanese
will play the game 100%)
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-14-71-170-49-en.html

We need to stress the fact that the game might work perfectly on
Non-Japanese DSi's, then this email would not be necessary, but it just is
a high risk to take. We simply don't know if the game will work or not. We
received conflicting statements from all our vendors.

The feature they speak of is probably the video chat, and if thats the case then that doesn't really make sense. Think of it this way: Japanese gets the games first, then the US, followed by Europe and the rest of the world (supposedly) Japan makes D/P/Pl and HG/SS. They realize most of their features are Japanese only until the other countries receive the game. Before they release the games to the west, they add in our alphabet so the games can communicate between each other. Likewise, the European and American versions have japanese characters in them so they can communicate. This is why we can connect to the Japanese and have no issue. Black/White has the video chat, so it shouldn't be that different at all.

But, if someone who is Japanese wants to speak to an American, or European (or anyone really) that cannot actually communicate with them, then what is the point of speaking to them? That might be their reasoning to "region lock" the game so that doesn't actually happen.

Either way, I don't have an actual problem with it, considering I have two DSi's (one of them is a japanese dsi, got it when they first came out in japan, and then an American DSi XL) and if the American one cannot play it, then Ill just use my Japanese one instead.

[Aerowyn]

I am disappointed by all the "Legendary" pokemon. They lose their value as being rare when anyone can have one. Hell, I plan on buying a DS/Pokemon White/Action Replay anyway, so it won't be hard to catch all the LEGENDARY OMG Pokemon.

As for the starter evolutions.... I happen to think grass pokemon are a very risky move, since grass pokemon are weak to so much. As cool as Smugleaf's final form is, I don't think it's a good bet in the long run.

I normally choose Squirtle as my starter pokemon, so I was inclined at first to go with the sea otter evolution chain.... but I don't know, something about it just seems off to me. Chances are I am going to roll with the firepig, at least to start out (since Rapidash will ALWAYS be the fire pokemon for me). So excited for this.

[thehoodedsmack]

The following is an ass-load of new information.

Well, shit. The leaked evolutions appear to have been legitimate, judging by the latest CoroCoro release. The magazine includes a whole cast of new Pokemon.







As well as official art of the starters' first evolutions:







Awesome. Another Fire/Fighting type starter.

One thing I found interesting is the first Gym-Leaders, which can be seen in the first image. When you challenge the first gym, you'll face the leader who has a type-advantage over the starter you chose. Pretty cool.

Finally, FUCK YEAH, AFROBULL!

[CodeBrain]

The following is an ass-load of new information.

Well, shit. The leaked evolutions appear to have been legitimate, judging by the latest CoroCoro release. The magazine includes a whole cast of new Pokemon.







As well as official art of the starters' first evolutions:







Awesome. Another Fire/Fighting type starter.

One thing I found interesting is the first Gym-Leaders, which can be seen in the first image. When you challenge the first gym, you'll face the leader who has a type-advantage over the starter you chose. Pretty cool.

Finally, FUCK YEAH, AFROBULL!

Loving this extremely

[Aerowyn]

Right-hand side pokemon look cool. My only thing is.... a pokemon that is an Egyptian sarcophagus? Also, the steel badger thing at the bottom looks wicked.

Finally, FUCK YEAH, AFROBULL!

YES, YES, YES. I am SO hoping that that thing evolves from Tauros. It would make my life complete, I've always thought Tauros was an under-appreciated pokemon. I assume it's a normal type?

[thehoodedsmack]

It is a Normal-type, but not a Tauros evolution. They've repeatedly stated that there will be no Gen. V Pokemon that evolve from, or into, any Pokemon from previous generations.

It's been revealed that the new region is based on a Pokemon-styled New York City, much like the previous generations have been based on Pokemon versions of various Japanese locations. So since it's technically around the world from where we're usually accustomed, you'll find similar, yet unrelated species of Pokemon.

Edit: Also, that Steel-Badger is a Ground/Steel type, which means that, like Steelix, it's going to be weak to Ground, ITS OWN TYPE, as well as BOTH FIRE AND WATER ATTACKS.

WHAT... THE... FUCK...

Seriously. Typing needs to be redesigned.

[ICEE]

Tauros evolves into afrobull... but only if you play on black version.

[DarkHalo003]

The right side's Pokemon with the Golden Armor looks freaking sick. I hope it has a balanced stat base (normally fast, normal defense, normal specdefense) and a higher attack (kind of like Scyther's stats, but more specdef). I also hope it's another Ground type. Another Ground and Dark type would be nice.