I never did make it too far in White. I guess I'll just hold off at this point, and put the effort into White 2 instead. So long as I can eventually import all of my SoulSilver critters over.

Well, I guess its better than Pokemon Grey...
Still, why on the DS? why not 3DS?

The fact that it's not a 3DS release means I have pretty much zero interest in this.

Seconded.
Even if it becomes a 3DS release if its in 2D only I have to say how could you mess something like that up on a game where 3D should be super simple.

Be reasonable! To completely revamp this for the 3DS would require every part of the graphics to be overhauled (considering the first one had no consideration for the 3DS screen), and entire new features would have to be added before any of the bonus stuff can even think to exist. If it can go fullscreen on the 3DS, I won't need to break my DSi out, which would be great. One other thing: if it releases in June rather than Septemberish (as usual), methinks this game might come out here before 2013. Especially since it has already been announced for stateside.

I smell news at E3!

Awesome.  I still don't have a 3DS and don't plan on picking one up soon.  I've been meaning to try out a Pokemon game for a long time but never have, almost bit on either Black or White when they were on sale but never did.  Going to have to finally bite on this one.

It is kind of sad, however, that the DS seems to be getting about as much support well after 3DS release as the Wii is well before WiiU release.  At least NOA got smart and realized that Xenoblade and The Last Story needed to get out here somehow to help fill out the schedule.

I knew this would be for DS, Gen 6 will be 3DS.

The real question will this actually just be a Gray, or will this be a new adventure set in Unnova or somewhere else? Either way I don't care cause it just means 100% legit access to hidden abilities! I also read it could be out as early as this June! That seems super soon, but it said Internationally released in June. I'm certain that was an absolute mistake. Would be nice though.

It's not really that surprising, is it? Just look at the time span between R/S and D/P, or D/P and B/W. The new generation game will be for 3DS, but the continuation/expansion of the current game is on the platform that the originals released on. I'd prefer they not shoehorn the DS games onto 3DS, and instead build wholly original games for the system, which is exactly what they're doing.

Personally, I can't wait to find out more about these games!

I'm very glad that this is on the DS, as a competitive player, means that I can keep my set up for recording and uploading battles ^_^

http://kotaku.com/5888311/pokemon-black-2-pokemon-white-2-coming-this-summer

Released in Japan in only a few months! Please let this come out quicker than the usual time it takes between Japanese and American versions!

Red, Blue: 2 years, 7 months
Yellow, Gold, Silver: 1 year, 1 month
Emerald, FireRed, LeafGreen: 8 months
Crystal, Diamond, Pearl: 7 months
Platinum, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, White: 6 months
Ruby, Sapphire: 5 months

For reference to how long previous mainline games took to get to North America after Japan (all came out in North America first after Japan, except Crystal which came out in Australia 1 month before North America and Black/White which came out in Europe 2 days earlier).

I am curious if this is a actual sequel, if it would be considered General VI, or if it's just another expansion but with 2 games.

Omgggggg I'm so happy, this is amazing. I can't wait untill it comes out! I really hope to see N again <3

"The fact that it's not a 3DS release means I have pretty much zero interest in this."

Same here.

Updated the article again. The forms are unique Pokemon now.

You mean like every other DS game?

I see that's what he say's but I honestly don't believe that. If instead of alternate forms they are brand news that would be a first. Wonder if we'd see any other new none legendary pokemon? Sure would like to see a few new evolutions to Primeape and Rapidash...

"You mean like every other DS game?"

Yes, but what if the game has 3DS enhancements?

And what if I farted rainbows?

I mean, it'd be cool, but until they say anything, I don't think we can go around thinking that's what makes this game's DS release okay.

To those saying they won't buy it or have no interest because it's a DS game (even though you can play it on your 3DS), why? Did you play Pokémon Crystal? In North America it came out after the Game Boy Advance launched. I am sure the proper sequels (i.e. not just expanded versions) will be on 3DS.

3DS enhancements? Gyro control? Um.... other stuff? It's always been a 2D sprite game Even the battles.

Not saying you should be interested, but to not be because of some mysterious, vague, non-existant 3DS only feature seems a little silly to me.

B&W is easily the best since the original, but I'm not interested in a midway sequel. Too soon for me. Hell I haven't even finished Skyward Sword.  :-X

Here I was thinking that they were going to have to figure out a 3rd way to express the version differences (Black City/White Forest and the two different Opelucid City themes being the two major ones) in a single, unified game. Turns out they won't have to.

Is this going to involve chasing down Ghestis after he got away last time? Will N join you? (Will we find out where the hell A through M went?)

There ya go.  It might be petty but its part of the reason I haven't been able to really get into any of the GBA on games.
Mostly because I've played Stadium.

This is the fourth set of Pokemon games on the DS. I already own Diamond, Heart Gold and White, and I don't think I've actually completed any of them, let alone getting anywhere close to a completed Pokedex. 3DS enhancements would be enough for me to get a new one, especially with my tendency toward buying every single 3DS game (30 and counting), but if I'm going to play a DS Pokemon, I'll go with one of the ones I already own.

Maybe it's because my general interest towards playing games has dropped, but I never got into Black. I bought it and played it for maybe 2 hours. I didn't hate it (like I did with Ruby), I just lost interest in it. It doesn't helped that I sunk hundreds of hours into Diamond AND Platinum, just to have them stolen.

I was hoping for it to be on the 3DS. I'll probably skip these games. This is just a lazy cash in which by most of the comments, is going to work well.

We don't even know if it's an all new adventure or just a quick "gray" cash in. Let more info about it get out first.

I want Pokemon with different abilities, than alone is enough for me. You don't want it, don't get it.

Aww, I was looking forward to Pokemon Gray.


Anyway, this version 2 seems like a baby step for the main line of series. I guess it's too early for the next generation Pokemon game to come out.


EDIT: Knee jerk reaction over.
It is too early to tell what to make of this game. The English subtitle of "Version 2" indicated to me that the game will be a great big content patch or expansion pack like the other third versions of Pokemon generations. However, the Japanese title is just a plain "2" which indicates a narrative or full sequel of Black & White or something in the ball park of Final Fantasy X-2 & XIII-2; that sounds quite exciting.

So this is an expansion pack of sorts?

Hmm from the 2 in the title I hope this is a direct sequel!

I'm curious as to how these games will work. I don't think they they're gonna be the sixth gen, but some more Pokemon are gonna be needed. Perhaps there will be more Pokemon from earlier generations. But if it IS a sequel, will the journey still start the same way? You pick your starter, set out for adventures and save the world? I don't think it would be the same game with extras tacked on to the end because of the "2" thing. But that does beg the question of will we be picking from the same starters, importing our BW data or what.

Don't read too much into the "Version" part, that is in EVERY game outside of Japan. For example, technically "Pokemon Diamond" was "Pokemon Diamond Version".

....I think I get it when they talk about "2d on the 3ds". Ya know when you play a ds game on 3ds its a square screen because its made for ds. They'l probly make it a full sreen on the 3ds or something like that. That's a good idea i think, a better presentation for the 3ds owners! If that's the case.

red14, that's what I was guessing.

With that said, I have no idea if that's even possible.

Nintendo has done that kind of thing before, and it wouldn't be surprising to me if they did a few things like that assuming they had the foresight to design the system in a way that it's possible.

I don't trust that Nintendo had the foresight to design it that way, unfortunately.

For them though, this is a wise move - these are going to be system sellers, either selling the last of the DSs that they make a mint on, or 3DSs to expand the userbase for that system even if it's a suboptimal experience. Either way, win-win.

Yeah, foresight hasn't historically been one of Nintendo's strong suits. And from a business perspective I get why they'd want to wait so the massive upswing of 3DS sales that would come from the first real 3DS Pokemon game happens when they're not taking a loss on the hardware.

There were a few previous gen games that were able to detect that they were running on new hardware. But it might take a lot of work to actually make them able to use new hardware features.

That doesn't make sense unless there was some sort of target number that they wanted to hit by a certain time, otherwise, they just want to sell as many as possible. But the Pokemon games aren't 100% Nintendo-controlled anyway.

This is gonna be the greatest Pokemon game ever!  :D

At first I was hopeing for a ruby/saphire remake. Obviously we shall have to wait. However, there have . been clues to indicate they will be remaid. The most recent one is the colours on the new logo, red and blue. Whilst this may just indicate electricity/fire, I'll keeo my hopes up ^-^
However, onto the fact this game may be a sequel, not a remake. Obviously "2" indicates a continuation from the original story, but has anyone noticed the anime may give some clues. In 4 gen, it took ash the whole time between diamond/pearl to black/white to beat the league. Now he's approaching the 6th gym in just under a year. It was stated that the anime would be much faster than before. Is it possible that this is due to the fact that a further storyline will be revealed for ash to venture on by the time black 2 and white 2 come out? I hope they're sequel's, not remakes. But honestly, I'll buy them regardless, so long as ruby/sapphire come out on the 3DS. Actually I take that back. So long as they come out! ^-^

Very short localization process. Coming out this Fall in Europe and America.

I wonder why? Hopefully this becomes the norm with future releases.

Yup. I was actually thinking about this earlier today, whether localization becomes a shorter amount of time as a series becomes higher profile. I mean, to copy TJ's post:

Red, Blue: 2 years, 7 months
Yellow, Gold, Silver: 1 year, 1 month
Emerald, FireRed, LeafGreen: 8 months
Crystal, Diamond, Pearl: 7 months
Platinum, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, White: 6 months
Ruby, Sapphire: 5 months
------
Black 2, White 2: 3-4 months?

I mean, it's nothing more than a correlation at best, but besides Ruby, Sapphire, and one or two others, there seems to be a quickening of localization as the series progresses. Part of me wonders if Pokemon could soon be like 3D Land (10 days between Japan and US) or Skyward Sword (released in all territories within 6 days).

Well, this is certainly... odd. I guess there's no real information yet as to what these games are, but I have a bad feeling that it's still the same old enhanced version of the generation, but this time, they are making two versions of the special version. I'm sure they have noticed how crazy people are for the games, for whatever reason, and are going to push that even further than they already were.

Yeah, I'm sure they're just now realizing that people go crazy for Pokemon games. I mean, they only made so many Mystery Dungeon games.

Is this a real sequel or a bullshit third version like Yellow, Crystal, etc?  If after all this talk about how there would be no Pokemon Grey, if Nintendo is essentially releasing one but have now split the rip-off third game into two titles, well that would be pretty fucking lame.  It would also make them liars and in that lawyer-speak technicality way as well, the WORST way.

I think it is sad that we have to wait and see if this a real sequel or not.  When Nintendo announces a new Mario I never for a second assume it's just a re-release with a small amount of new content but for Pokemon I always do.

No one is forcing you to buy it, nor would you need to. If you already have Black or White, you can just trade Pokiemanz with someone who has the new version over this wonderful invention known as the Internet. Isn't technology grand?

No, no one is forcing me to buy it.  But when a company makes a lousy product and idiots eat it up it still affects the people that don't buy it because the company is encouraged to make further lousy product which is typically in place of good product.  Pokemon is a great example of that.  The fans that are not complete suckers have to hunt through a large thornbush to access the sweet berries hidden within.

What you call "a lousy product," I call "not for you." I presume you already own Black or White, correct? While Nintendo certainly wouldn't mind people who already own the original Black/White double dipping, the 3rd/4th version of Pokemon games (like Yellow and Crystal) always seemed geared toward people who don't have any version of the game. I look at them in the same vein as Game of the Year Editions or Unrated versions of movies that have like 4 minutes of additional footage reinserted in the theatrical cut. Some people wait for that version (I did for Uncharted 2), some people like double dipping for their collections and whatnot. The suckers are the people who buy these versions and don't know better. For example, if someone bought Pokemon Blue then a year later bought Pokemon Yellow expecting it to be a completely different game. It's the same game with minimal changes. It's not for you. If anything, it's for people like me (even though I haven't bought Pokemon anything for myself since Blue and don't plan on buying any version of Black/White). If you have Black/White, move on. Pokemon 3DS is coming.

I am no sucker and I buy the updated versions purely for competitive reasons or to be able to hold more pokemon.

But Corocoro states that this game is indeed a brand new story with new features. I am not sure yet if it is in the same land or what. Cause Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum were all "new stories" with new features as well. Still not sure if this is Grey X2.

http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml


In June the Global Link will go down for renovation, when it's back up it will include B&W2.


I guess no new evolutions...

Platinum had the most new story, but they were all essentially the same as their counterparts with one new thing added. In crystal, it was Suicune; in Emerald it was Rayquaza; in Platinum, it was Giratina. In all cases, you got the same plot with some newness kind of tacked on at the end. By "new story" I'm hoping they mean new plot from start to finish.