With the announcement of Pokémon Black and White, GAME FREAK has promised that the games will revitalize the game franchise which has lead to high expectations and a lot of speculation regarding these upcoming games.

Various screenshots and a video have already been released showing parts of the games. Has GAME FREAK delivered on its promise already or are you expecting more from these games?

Pokémon Sunday and Coro Coro have been releasing information monthly which are then posted on the official websites. Has their marketing campaign been good for these games or could they stand to do a better job? What would you change if you were in charge?

What new features are you expecting/wish/recommend should be in Pokémon Black and White?

It has been stated that Pokémon Black and White will be for the Nintendo DS like the previous 4th Generation games. With the announcement and launch of the Nintendo 3DS being so close to the release of the new games, should they have been 3DS exclusive titles? Should the games include 3DS only features?

GTS has been plagued with hacked Pokémon and a general lack of focus regarding trades online. What would you do to improve the GTS system for Pokémon Black and White?

The Nintendo Wii games Pokémon Battle Revolution and My Pokémon Ranch both had compatibility for some of the DS Pokémon games. Should Nintendo release update patches for these games to support Pokémon Black and White, similar to the Platinum patch for the Japanese version for My Pokémon Ranch or should new games be released for the Nintendo Wii that are compatible?

Pokémon Black and White are 5th generation Nintendo DS games and the previous 4th Generation Nintendo DS games had support for the 3rd Generation GBA titles through the use of the Nintendo DS's GBA slot and the Pal Park feature. Should Pokémon Black and White retain the GBA 3rd Generation compatibility? Should Pal Park remain or should a new implementation be created?

With the release of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the PokéWalker added a new dimension to the gameplay experience. Should the PokéWalker be compatible with Pokémon Black and White?

I was disappointed to hear that B/W was gonna be on the DS instead of the 3DS. What a launch title that could of been. since its around 3 years between each gen then the 6th gen could appear half-way into the 3ds lifespan !!!!.

If they want to re-invent the game then they should do it on a system that could re-invent the game industry.

Still all in all, it will be fun to see the new pokemon unveiled slowly among all the fakes.

Yea, I was saying the same thing . Especially with the rumor that 3DS might hit in Q4 2010. And Black & White is around that time also, I thought it was actually going to be a strategic move by Nintendo. Yea, fail.

But, it might still work with 3DS, you never know.

Personally, I'm on my toes with Black and White. I think it was a pretty foolish move to put Black and White on the DS instead of the 3DS. Were they so excited about how it was turning out that they couldn't wait for the new 3DS? Bah, whatever.

When I saw the screenshots, I felt kinda disappointed. I guess it was easy to expect for them to look the same as D/P/Pt/HG/SS, but it wasn't just that. The view of the city looks cool, but the overworld sprites of the human beings are just too small. On the DSi or DSi XL, it might look okay, but if you're using an original DS or DS Lite, it's probably going to make you squint most of the time. The battle scene looked okay I guess, but something just didn't look right. Maybe it was the lack of the text box. I'm too used to it. Also, the protagonists look a bit too generic. Maybe it was just the sprites though. We haven't gotten their official art yet.

Zorua and Zoroark are okay I guess, although Zoroark looks somewhat silly due to some certain patterns, but there's nothing terribly wrong with them.

Something else is how fast this is coming in. Usually if a new generation is coming, we get hints very gradually, like Pokemon in movies (Snubbull, Marill, and Donphan in the first movie, Lugia and Slowking in the 2nd, the Latis and Wailmer in 5th, Munchlax in 7th, etc.), but we're just now getting a 5th generation Pokemon in probably the last movie of the D/P/Pt series, and now we're getting all this news at one time. It gives me an uneasy feeling that they've rushed all of this in; however, they could've just been keeping this secret all this time and giving us the news faster so the fans aren't whining about waiting so long for the next generation. Still, as I said, it feels too early.

I'm trying not to be to negative about it though. I'm probably poking at all the bad things and not noticing the good things, but sometimes it isn't easy when you always have high expectations for a series like Pokemon.

Anyway, to the things Black and White should have. Since it's on the DS, it should have 3rd generation compatibility, unless Nintendo's pretending that the DS and DS Lite never existed and just focus on the DSi. Yes, you could just transfer 3rd gen Pokemon to the 4th generation games and trade with 5th generation, but that's a little too much work. It'd get pretty annoying to have to do that. A patch for My Pokemon Ranch would also be nice, but I doubt they'd do that, but if they did, it would give NoA a good reason to finally update it. As for PBR, they'll probably just make some new game, but now we'll get all these people begging for Pokemon Stadium 3 (which I really don't see happening).

And the Light-type. It's been a pretty big debate. Personally, I don't see it necessary. It might be cool, but it really isn't necessary. I don't really like the idea of it, but if they do it, I won't really care either.

As for the Pokewalker, it would be awesome if it worked on it, but again, probably not. The Pokewalker is basically just the equivalent of the Pokemon Pikachu 2 for Gold and Silver. It was more of a nostalgia factor than something they'd actually use for new, upcoming games.

I do hope Game Freak means it when they say they're revitalizing the series with these games, and in a good way. Pokemon's one of my most loved franchises, as well as for others. Until then, we'll just have to see what they have in store.

Pokémon Black and White and the accompanying 5th generation of Pokémon has promised to bring new life into the games which has the potential to revitalize the game franchise and in turn all the other aspects of the Pokémon franchise. This has lead to high expectations and a lot of speculation regarding these upcoming games.

Various screenshots and a video have already been released showing parts of the games. GAME FREAK has promised that Pokémon Black and White would enhance most aspects of the games but from the first screenshots and video, it appears that very little has changed. Sure, the camera angle has changed and there are new Pokémon but the overall feel still seems too familiar. A recent hack for Diamond and Pearl allows players to adjust the camera angle of the engine to something similar to what we are seeing in the Black and White screenshots. It appears that GAME FREAK did something similar with the game engine for Black and White.

The sprite system should be at its end but it appears that it will return once again for the battling system. Final Fantasy IV for the DS has shown that it is possible to have a 3D battle system that looks good on the DS. It's unfortunate that Pokémon still has 2D sprite battles when the rest of the game is in 3D. The Zoroark battle screenshot highlights the dated battle system as the pixel resolution is too low.

Pokémon Sunday and Coro Coro have been releasing information monthly which are then posted on the official websites. Obviously the Pokémon franchise doesn't need too much promotion anymore as the various news media outlets more than sufficiently inform players. Their marketing campaign is already in full swing with events and tidbits released throughout the year to build up the hype.

It has been known for quite awhile now that Pokémon Black and White would be released on the Nintendo DS like the previous 4th Generation games. With the announcement and launch of the Nintendo 3DS being so close to the release of Pokémon Black and White, it seems as though they should have made the games 3DS exclusive titles to help promote the system and take advantage of new features. It would be nice if the games include 3DS only features similar to how some DS games have DSi enhancements. On the other hand, there are millions of DS systems on the market now allowing those that have the system to be able to play without having to buy a new system. If the Wii launch is any indication, system availability may have been the determining factor in deciding which system the games would be made for.

Pokémon Black and White are 5th generation Nintendo DS games and the previous 4th Generation Nintendo DS games had support for the 3rd Generation GBA titles through the use of the Nintendo DS's GBA slot and the Pal Park feature. Pokémon Black and White should retain GBA 3rd Generation compatibility allowing people to take advantage of that feature. I was never a fan of Pal Park and did not like the fact that transferred Pokémon were not put in a storage box. Recapturing your Pokémon in any manner is counterproductive and is strange from an ownership point of view.

Nintendo seems adamant that they will never have a MMORPG for Pokémon. The franchise is perfectly setup to be a MMORPG and many of the aspects would translate perfectly. While the previous 4th Generation games expanded upon the online multiplayer options, it unfortunately pales in comparison to what other games are currently doing online. GTS has also been plagued with hacked Pokémon and a general lack of focus regarding trades online. The GTS website cannot be accessed in game and players are forced to use a simplistic interface. Accurate hacked Pokémon detection as well as a more refined GTS interface are musts for Black and White.

The Nintendo Wii games Pokémon Battle Revolution and My Pokémon Ranch both had compatibility for some of the DS Pokémon games. Nintendo should release an update patch for My Pokémon Ranch for it to support Pokémon Black and White. Pokémon Battle Revolution 2 seems inevitible but it needs to return to the days of Pokémon Stadium which featured a more robust list of game features. Pokémon Battle Revolution seemed rushed and its successor should incorporate Pokémon Black and White a bit better than Diamond and Pearl where in the original Pokémon Battle Revolution.

It was stated in the press release that these games are expected to bring new life into the franchise, but I really think that's just Game Freak trying to hype up crap that no one really cares about. They have a tendency to do that, after all. "Hey look, Contests are now called Super Contests and you can dance with the touch screen." "In Heart/Gold, you can get your own Pichu with fucked-up fur just like in the movie." "This special Riolu can get an attack its evolved form already gets, making it a mere novelty that would lose its entire point if it does evolve." And so on... I'm sure there was crap from earlier generations as well, but it's not coming to mind. So overall, I'm not expecting too much from generation 5 in terms of game mechanics. There might be several gimmicks, but I doubt there'll be much that's actually revolutionary.

Just bring on the new Pokemon, new moves, and with any luck fix certain movesets that they apparently dawdled on doing even in spite of Platinum and Heart/Soul's release being perfect chances to do so. I'm hoping those shiny legendary beasts are packing future tutor moves (much like the Regigigas that came out before Platinum). God knows Entei needs that Flare Blitz, and speaking of which [cough]Eeveelution[cough].

My expectations are minimal. Just produce the same fun game that has been produced with some interesting extras such as the Pokethalon (sp?). I will save my extremely high expectations for Dragon Quest X.

i'd personally really wish they' take out their battle cries and replace it with more proper stuff =\

i'm wondering if they will make a manga on this, just like they did with the other game generations.

I think this fifth Gen is going to be really good and probably the last Pokemon game before the 6th gen is realsed on the 3ds and changed forever with 3d pokemon like from stadium and have it a somewhat mmo.