Pokemon Black 2 and White 2: Update
Kyurem's two new alternate forms, combinations with Zekrom and Reshiram, respectively.
UPDATE: Nintendo released more information regarding the upcoming Pokemon releases, Black and White versions 2.
It has been confirmed that the games are direct sequels to the original Black and White games. Although they will still be set in Unova and will retain the three starter Pokemon (Oshawott, Tepig, and Snivy), the games will feature new protagonists, new gym leaders (including a Poison-type user and a Water-type user), new cities and areas (a city known as Hiougi City and an underwater tunnel are the only ones to have been revealed so far), as well as a new rival with spiky black hair.
The storyline is set to take place two years after Black and White, and apparently large parts of the region will be covered with ice (which makes sense, given the version mascots are forms of the legendary Dragon/Ice-type Kyurem), while others will appear differently than in Black and White.
Another interesting detail is that the region’s Pokedex will feature over 150 Pokemon from previous games. The first set of games were notable for only containing brand-new Pokemon, introducing the biggest number of new Pokemon to the series since the first games in the series, Red and Blue, were released. Some notable Pokemon from previous generations slated to make an appearance include Lapras, Arcanine, and Tyranitar.
It is not yet known who the new villains will be, as well as what role they will play in the story-line. It also isn’t known whether or not N, the mysterious anti-hero leader of the villainous Team Plasma from Black and White, will make a reappearance.
Original story below:
In February 2012, Nintendo announced the next installments in the wildly popular Pokemon video game series. These games, the latest releases in the fifth generation of games that began with their predecessors Pokemon Black and White, will be called Pokemon Black 2 and White 2.
Not much information has been revealed about the pair of games at this point. Nintendo has only released the two version mascots so far, two different forms of the reclusive legendary Pokemon Kyurem that appear to have been combined with Reshiram (the mascot of Pokemon Black) and Zekrom (the mascot of Pokemon White).
IGN has speculated that these radical alterations could possibly mean that the two new games are actually sequels to Black and White, with brand-new or drastically altered storylines, as opposed to a remake with only slight alterations, as is the norm for most of a Pokemon generation’s third installments. Further fueling this idea is the English language Pokemon website referring to the games as “two exciting new adventures”.
The games are scheduled to be released in Japan in June, with a North American and European release expected sometime this Fall. They will have quite the reputation to follow: expanding upon the critically-acclaimed storyline of Black and White will be no easy task, and past generation’s third installments have been received with mixed reviews.
Pokemon Yellow (receiving a 10 out of 10, the same score as the first generation games Red and Blue) and Pokemon Platinum (receiving an 8.8 out of 10, compared to the 8.5 received by the fourth generation Diamond and Pearl games), are the only third installments to receive an equal or better review from IGN than the original games in their series. Pokemon Emerald saw a noticeable decline, receiving an overall score of 8 out of 10, compared to Ruby and Sapphire’s 9.5 out of 10, and Pokemon Crystal received a 9.0 out of 10, which is still outstanding, but lower than Gold and Silver’s perfect score of 10 out of 10. Also unprecedented is the addition of two new games into the generation as opposed to the traditional one.
Nintendo plans to reveal more information about the two games as early as this weekend. Possible information to be revealed includes screenshots, plot details, and new locations. This article will be updated as new information becomes available.
