Anyway, Pokémon is a franchise that I associate very closely with my childhood. I can actually remember picking up my old Game Boy Color and slipping in the Red or Blue versions and just having a grand old time, trying to be the best like no one ever was. Back in that day, there were only 151 of the suckers to catch. That sounded daunting back then (I only know of two people who ever have - and, unsurprisingly, I am not one of them).
Then Generation II came out with the new region of Johto and 100 new Pokémon to catch. I played through that and, just like Red, Blue, and Yellow, I had a grand old time playing Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and can remember many a time I'd spend grinding for experience and teaching my Pokémon to understand the power that's inside. But then...something terrible happened.
I slipped into that phase of my life in my middle school years where Pokémon just wasn't cool. My peers would mock and ridicule me and, like an idiot that I am, I caved and stopped for a number of years. But the series continued to endure and developed further...while still not changing a thing in sixteen (at the time of release, fifteen) years.
Enter Pokemon Black and White. Unlike the previous games after Generation II, this one is wholly unique for a single reason: It's a brand new, never before seen region with brand new Pokémon, and literally none of the previous ones before you defeat the Unova Elite Four. And, strangely, that might be enough to carry this stable, at least for me.
You begin in Nuvema Town in the region of Unova where your two best friends (a ditz and a snarky jerkass who's a wannabe Badass Bookworm) and you have just gotten your Pokémon trainer's licenses and are heading out in the world to be the best like...yeah, you get the picture. Aiding you in your quest is the local professor, Professor Juniper, who gives you a choice in a starter Pokémon between a water ferret that evolves into a water samurai seal thing, a fire pig that turns into bacon...I mean, a bipedal fire pig, and a garden snake that becomes...a bigger...garden snake.
All joking aside, I actually like the aethestics of the Generation V Pokémon (though I question some of the choices of name as lazy) They're new and alien which I think is the point. This is a brand new place to explore. It's vastly different than anywhere we've visited in the previous games. Even the Route system is renumbered starting at 1, telling us just how far removed we are from the rest of the world. I enjoy it, and it very strongly reminds me of my days playing Red and Blue versions. A brand new world with all these strange and wondrous creatures to capture and help raise into being the best team I can possibly make them.
And as is traditional with the games, you travel across the land to gather Pokémon into your team and defeat the eight Gym Leaders in order to gain access to the Unova League and battle the Elite Four. Along the way, you'll randomly break into people's houses to see if they have anything to loot, and battle the region's criminal organization: Team Plasma. No spoilers, but they people may have the dumbest plan of any villain in Pokémon ever. Just saying.
Apart from that, I'd say go for it. If you're just a die hard fan, or if you want to try to recapture that feel of the originals from childhood. A lot has changed, but you know what they say: The more things change...
Pokémon Black and White are available from Nintendo Corporation and Game Freak, you can even buy it right here.
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