In Unova, trainers have a Pokemon sign based on their birth month, with the most common being Sawsbuck (Capricorn) in January. The season is Spring, and the lucky item is a slow Pokémon, Klink. This type of Pokémon can form lifelong bonds with others, making it an ideal choice for those who need them.
The Unova region has a diverse lineup of quirky Pokémon to fill the twelve slots of the Zodiac signs. Crustle represents July in the Unova horoscope, and it is the only Pokémon in Pokémon Shuffle that can take a maximum of 8 Raise Max Level Enhancements. Aries, known as Braviary, is the most popular Pokémon in Unova, with its origin dating back to a Unova television program.
Tyranitar, the Armor Pokémon, is built with nearly insurmountable strength and courage, able to withstand almost everything it faces. Each zodiac sign corresponds to a star sign of the real-world zodiac, but each Pokémon represents a specific month. For example, the Crab Zodiac, which represents Cancer, is represented by June, Klink, Summer, July, Crustle, Autumn, August, Braviary, Winter, and September.
In summary, Unova’s unique zodiac system allows players to find their Pokémon representative based on their birth month and zodiac sign. By understanding their zodiac, players can better navigate the world of Pokémon and develop stronger relationships with their chosen Pokémon.
📹 What Kind of Pokemon are you in Zodiac Sign
There is a Horoscope Pokemon TV Show in Unova where apokemon represent a specific month. Based on that I decided to do a …
📹 Pokémon’s Unova Region: United Through Diversity
This is the fourth of a four-part series analyzing my favourite Pokemon regions – Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova! Johto analysis: …
This is the fourth of a four-part series analyzing my favourite Pokemon regions – Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova! Johto analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=nTpS62NRTA8 Hoenn analysis: youtube.com/watch?v=rYJXnL-tDYU Sinnoh analysis: youtu.be/B3ewaW4SqPs With regards to this specific article – the first few minutes consists of the first time I recorded using my new mic. There are already multiple articles from the past couple of months that have been recorded using it, but the beginning of this article was my first time using it. As a result, along with my being slightly sick when recording, you may feel like the commentary sounds a bit different. That will correct itself after the first bit of the article, however, as I got more comfortable with the mic as I went on. Additionally, I meant to say “climatic” at 8:07, not “climactic.” Also, last thing is that you’re gonna have to forgive me for any mistakes I made for the pronunciation of some of the towns – Generation 5 has always been a bit tough for me in that regard and I double-checked the ones I was least sure about but I’m pretty sure I still made some mistakes, haha. Hope you enjoy regardless!
I’ve always viewed Black City as a more corrupt version of Castelia – a large city, instead of being based on love and harmony, is based on greed. It’s an interesting take, especially since it’s such a futuristic city. I imagine that the people there became so enveloped in advancing, they simply forgot the values of the rest of the region. A darker version of Opelucid and Castelia. As for White Forest, it’s the exact opposite. It’s incredibly similar to both the Abundant Shrine, and Opelucid – living with nature, the people here value the past and remember their roots. Both of these ideas are covered in other cities, but I feel like Black City and White Forest tie the ideas presented throughout the region together in different ways, which is nice.
Part of me thinks that if the reception to Unova wasn’t so initially split, then GameFreak would’ve been more willing to take the same risks in the later Gens. B/W didn’t just try to have a good story and new gimmicks, it tried to improve Pokémon as a whole. People complained about the restricted “Unova Only until Post-Game” PokeDex but I LOVED that idea and it’s something I wished they still did. I think it may help make production easier if they can just focus on new Pokémon and only keep the more popular older ones for Post Game. Though, I also know that’s just my wishful thinking and there’s no good “satisfy everyone” solution to fix the overwhelming PokeDex issue for future Gens. Still is kinda funny that it took years after B&W and B&W2 for many fans to be more accepting of to. Or maybe it’s cause people’s vitriol shifted to X/Y and then they realized “oh snap maybe Gen 5 wasn’t that bad after all.”
Back around 2010 or 2011, my love for Pokemon started to dwindle because I thought Generation 4 will the end of the series. Mostly because half of the Pokemon introduced were evolutions and pre-evolutions of older Pokemon, making it feel like a finale end to the series. Not to mention I’ve grown tired of seeing Generation 4 stuff for so many years. As a result, I dropped it and didn’t hadn’t payed any attention to Pokemon for a year. That’s when I accidentally discovered the existence of Generation 5, the 156 new Pokemon, the Unova region, the Gym Leaders, the games, and anime, and I was blown away by it! After years of seeing Generation 4 related stuff made the series grow stale in my eyes, Generation 5 reinvigorated my love and interest for the franchise. Every new Pokemon felt like a breath of fresh air, and way more unique than the ones previous four Generations. I loved them so much that I bought a spiral, Math notebook and for the entirety of my Summer Vacation I drew every single Unova Pokemon, from Victini to Genesect on each and every page. Years later, I was finally able to play the Generation 5 games, with my first choice being Black. To this day, Black version and its sequel remains my favorite games in the entire franchise.
Gen 5 was my introduction to the Pokémon Series my mom and dad took me to the game stop at the mall and told me I could pick a game, Pokémon X and Y was out but I didn’t have a 3DS so I picked White. I still remember vividly picking Oshawatt as my starter. My nostalgia might make me biased but in my opinion this is the best generation in the series with the richest story and best characters
I may be reading way too much into this, but I can’t help but notice how N’s sprite animation at the beginning of his battles is him going from crossed arms to open arms, similar to how he changes in his character arc- from refusing to understand others’ opinions, to becoming more open minded and seeing both sides of the situation.
Favorite gen for me. So much love for the cast in both parts and their stories. Visuals are the best in the series and soundtrack is just out of this world. N’s development and views on certain points in pokemon world made games more interesting in a more complex way which would really be explored in real world which is even more of a reason to play it over and over again and never get bored of it.
These two games are my favorite games of all time, and it is not even close. By introducing a great new cast of Pokemon, a region outside of Japan with so much depth, a very solid evil organization, a masterfully executed story, and so much more, there is no reason Gen 5 became the greatest generation.
This was a pleasant surprise. Black/White 2 are the best in the series (in terms of options, difficulty and playtime, in my opinion) and Black/White are quite memorable. With the PWT, the White Tree, the subway and so many legendaries, I have never restarted Black 2. I honestly think they’re the peak of the series.
Maybe Black City and White Forest openly challenge the player’s ability to accept the NPCs’ one-sided viewpoints, that might be opposed to their own? I guess it just so happens that a lot of players, including myself, are more likely to be opposed to the viewpoints of pure ambition and greed (or just the desire for a fast-paced lifestyle) presented in Black City, but I can still respect the people that may be drawn to these themes and view them positively.
This is such a cool and thoughtful essay on the games where (imo) the Pokemon series peaked. I’m not one of those sword/shield haters it just feels like Black and White were the first and last time the series was so ambitious and earnest in its storytelling. Going through Unova bit by bit to show how a region often accused of being disjointed is actually cohesive when considering the games’ themes was really satisfying, and I’m really glad this article exists 🙂
Unova was always my favorite region, the way they decided to do something diffrent from the set formula which was a trided and true method. They always put in a bunch of lovely gold nuggets, like the amazing amount of mythicals or limiting the pokedex to only Unova. The winter opening up new areas was always so cool imo when I was a kid.
Gen 5 was my first and favorite generation currently. I love how in depth this region is and how much you can see through the design and story and even some of the Pokémon the origins looking like they’re should be in different regions but live happily together. Also what an aspect I like about gen 5 and onwards stories is even though they are bombastic the character face pretty down to earth issues and trying to give positive morals in life, along with the villains “trying” to add some depth I hope in gen 9 we get a story on par or better because even being aimed at kids that should no hinder quality as Pokémon is for All ages.
wow, thanks for this. I’ve never played like 98% of pokemon games but your talk of differences and acceptance really hit me. I had been pondering a long time about that sort of thing. “Even though it would be the noble thing to accept the thoughts of other, doesn’t that just minimizes the views and values of your own if you accept EVERYTHING? If everything is equal, then doesn’t that mean that there is no meaning to anything at all? Grey and neutrality just seem so useless,” That’s how I thought, but your article kinda gave me kind of an awakening in that they all may have their own unique meaningfulness
I usually play articles in the background while I do other things, but I love Gen 5 so much that I couldn’t get my eyes off of this article. Gen 5 took what the previous generations did and decided to discard it and do its own thing, it’s beautifully experimental and its payoff I still think is the moment Pokemon peaked as a franchise. The standoff between both the player and N, both having Legendary Dragons, ready to have the duel of the millennia, with my favorite music track in the history of Pokemon. I can’t say a single thing wrong with BW’s final chapter and it floors me with emotion everytime. Thanks for making this article, your passion for this franchise gleams through every retrospective of the generations.
Best gen by far. The ost, the plot and the gameplay too! Like the presentation of the fight with the sounds used like the glass breaking when you fight legendary pokemon, sounds when the ability notification pop-up when you fight, pokemon screams, ect… Excellent presentation. Character dev at its peak with real rivals. Best gen for sure followed by Silver/Gold et Sun/Moon
I’ve played Pokemon since its very inception and this generation stands above all of them easily. Every one after it has yet to fill the enormous shoes it left behind. I’ve always loved how it forced you to learn the advantages and disadvantages of all the new Pokemon, putting even veterans of the series at nearly square one. It felt like exactly what the single-player needed at the time. Its graphics were such an improvement over the last generation too, despite it being on the same hardware. I feel like a lot of people still think it shares an art style with DPP when there’s a huge emphasis on both verticality in terms of map design and bright pastels in terms of color design when compared to gen 4.
I think one of the coolest details in the game is the enforcement of the idea of yin and yang and making opposites stronger through contrast and acceptance through reshiram and zekroms signature moves, fusion flare and fusion bolt, where the moves become stronger if the other move was used directly beforehand
Unova has a very special place in my heart, when I started working I bought a DS and Pokemon White, I picked Pokemon White cause I knew that N would get the opposite so for me, personally, thought it fitted N more the “truth” and the player the “ideal”. This article really brought memories from when I played it, I had to get used to the new Pokemon but eventually got used to the designs, it had been a while I got very invested in the story and by the end, when Ghetsis reveals his real plan, I really wanted to beat him up not only for being a scum but for what he did to N, I recall the battle was quite difficult but managed to beat him. And that bit of N and the player walking got me, I felt very sorry for N and I didn’t want him to go but at the same time it felt fitting for him to leave and see things with his own eyes now knowing the other “truth”. What I wanted though, was a reencounter between the player and N in the post-game or in the second game.
I always knew that the characters, story, & pokémon of Unova reflected the themes of diversity creating harmony, but your previous articles helped me realize how the locations implement this theme. Your Hoenn article especially helped me realize this since Unova is basically the antithesis to how it achieves harmony (one with the land and people coexisting together, and one with a variety of stark differences naturally blending together),
I have been blessed.i mean,a 1 hour 22 minute aleczandxr article that not only talks about pokemon,but about gen 5?!I’m having a fucking heart attack.ill watch this article with great pleasure.thank you alexzandxr you just made my day,my week,my month,my year,my decade.now bye I gotta watch this big boi.
Sinnoh was my first generation and deals with subject matter that still strongly interests me now years later. But in contrast to Black and White and their sequels I don’t feel like I was “too young” to experience it back then. Maybe because the story is more fantastical and bombastic and less philosophical and intimate as it is in Black and White but I feel like replaying Black and White now that I’m much older would provide me with a very different experience compared to my first playthrough years ago. Personal sentiments aside this was a great article. I always enjoy these extensive explorations of Pokemon regions. Truly a joy!
it’s articles like this that help me remember why i loved gen 5 so much and remind me that pokémon games can have secrets and exploration and locations that aren’t necessarily relevant to the plot because a region is a big place and doesn’t have to be a straight sequence of cutscene backdrops.. cough cough
I always saw Opelucid City as a challenge to the player. Nature represents Truth- Nature imposes itself on us as it is, and changes by its own whim only. Mankind can’t change nature, we can only try to understand it, and conform ourselves to it if we are to survive. Technology represents Ideals- it can be whatever we want it to be, changes as we will it to change, and can adapt it to do what we want, conforming it to us. I always thought they were a challenge to the player- Black’s Opelucid brings Reshiram’s hero of truth into a city shaped by ideals focused on the future, and White’s Opelucid brings Zekrom’s hero of ideals into a city shaped by nature and the recollection of history. I suppose the same could be said about Black City and White Forest too.
this was a lovely article. when I was younger I never touched a Pokemon game until I got a 3ds for my birthday. it came with Mario and I think I got Pokemon from the store. Pokemon black version was the first ever Pokemon game I played, and it always stood out as a challenging yet unique experience filled with unexpected turns every step of the way, and the most context I had in the games was just the anime so I knew none of the staples of the games themselves, so you can imagine when I played other future and old Pokemon games it felt, not like something was missing, but something simpler was running the show.
Now that we’ve had Legends Arceus, the whole lore of Lacunosa and the Giant Chasm makes me think a game exploring its origins and relying a lot on the day/night cycle could be really interesting. …It’ll always be fun to mention Legends Arceus and Black/White in the same breath for me, because they’re both games that brought me back to the series after I was starting to drift away.
10/10 article, really loved to watch the whole thing in one sitting with my cat resting on my side and remember so many things about these games i had forgotten due to my busy life, but i think you should have talked about Cheren and/or Alder, i really loved to see Cheren questoning his life mission, seeing Cheren react to the “After you become the strongest trainer of the region…what will you do next?” question given by Alder because the character actually gets some development through the story just like Bianca does, and finally in B2/W2 you can see that development was real and he understood the true meaning of being the strongest trainer
This game has tons of charm that I didn’t appreciate when I first played it. I was totally burnt out from Heargold and Diamond and when I started playing black I was literally falling asleep while playing it. When I beat it I didnt even bother with the endgame and when I heard B and W 2 was a thing I didnt even bother. Sad cuz I hear they were incredible.
I know I’m biased and have nostalgia but black and white 2 are my favourite pokemon games. They are the games that introduced me to the Pokemon series and I wouldn’t have wanted any other games to start me off. I love the designs of gen 5, especially the bug types, they really hit the nail on the head with them. Obviously I don’t like every design, I hate Audino and the garbodor line. But the pacing and challenge of the games are great, black and white 2 in my opinion are some of the hardest in the series, looking and Cheren, clay and iris. Also the soundtrack is amazing, best in the series. The final N battle, N bridge, Elite four theme, Iris theme, Reshiram/zekrom fight, legendary battle and of course the route 10 theme. And the pixel art is so beautiful, by gen 5 they really mastered the pixel are design and the colours pop out and are so beautiful, much more colourful than the 3d at least. Overall, gen 5 is amazing
Black 2 was my first Pokémon game. When I play it again, Unova reminds me of the time spent battling my friends, discovering Legendaries in the postgame, feeling genuinely excited about getting my next call from Yancy, or messing around with my Action Replay once I’d beaten everything. I’ll never forget sweeping Iris with my overleveled Lucario. Unova reminds me of my horrible teams and even worse sets from before I even knew what EV’s were. It reminds me of me and my friends laughing in the back of the classroom because, look, it’s a fucking floating ice cream cone. Most of all, Unova reminds me of home. I grew up in New York City. I’m leaving for college soon, and I’m scared to leave because everything and everyone I love is here. I’m going to miss it. I think I’ll replay Black 2 when I leave, maybe I’ll feel at home while I’m gone.
Very nice article 🙂 thanks for sharing your perspective and oppinion to the certain aspects of the games with us. I would love to see even more Pokemon related stuff like this. I realy enjoyed listening and i got a new perspective on the Unova region thanks to you which made me fall in love with it even more. I think you also summed up what for me personally is the crack point with the series which makes it different from others and that is telling a story through geographic and culture and the dynamic of all places and how they flow together. I always thought that but never realy seen anybody talk about that in depth like you. I am looking forward to more of that amazing Pokemon content. Keep it up :). You are probably the closest person who understands how i feel about the games and my love for them but i never could turn that into words so im glad you could. I probably could talk with you hours over hours about a single game wow you realy hit the right spot on me with that article like i said i love that way of expression. Just as a little critique but its realy just small is that i wished you would have gone a bit deeper into that final in N´s castle and talk about his room and the music and his final realization and good bye. I also would love to see a bit more perspective about the stuff in black/white 2 like the changes that happened between those games and how the world changed and the people too and also of course about the new citys. For me personal is virbank city a pretty interesting town that was added especially because of its music.
I actually do consider Gen 7 to carry the torch of focusing on traditional plot and character writing. Of course not many are willing to play what is mostly the same game twice back to back but, unlike something like Persona 5 Royal, if you do the multiverse aspect of the plot allows a bigger and more interesting picture than if you just played one or the other.
If you told 11 year old me the game I got for Christmas in 2012 is an underated gem in it’s series, I would have believed you. To me, this was probably the best gen of games this newcomer could’ve picked for their first Pokemon game. While Shield is my most played game on my switch, I’m still waiting like everyone for news on BD/SP, and I’ve played at least one game each from gens 6 and 7, White version and later Black 2 have been easily the two games I’ve played the most.
There’s one seemingly small change the Pokemon Special/Adventures manga makes to N that makes him a much better character in my eyes: while he’s still against humans controlling Pokemon, he’s actually completely in favor of Pokemon battling each other, believing it’s a natural behavior they enjoy. It lets BW’s story move away from being a petty strawman of people who say Pokemon is animal cruelty and it makes N less of an obvious hypocrite. It’s not just given as a minor detail either – one of the most tragic scenes in any Pokemon media, and one that forces a protagonist to actually grapple with the questions N asks about humans and Pokemon, is entirely based around the idea that N wants a Pokemon to fight.
Amazing article, just like the ones about the other regions (Sinnoh’s being my favourite). At first, as a child, I didn’t really enjoy the game, since I was more focused on building a strong team and complete the story rather than understanding it, and Unova didn’t have the same impact on me that Hoenn (my first region) and Sinnoh had, despite having so many aesthetic features. Speaking of Sinnoh, the more you talked about connections with others as well as the past, I couldn’t stop thinking about the similarities between N and Cyrus. They both wanted to achieve their utopias, and both suffered from being unable to connect to others or a feeling of not belonging, even though for different reasons (N grew up alone and he was manipulated, Cyrus had a more problematic personality). Because of this disconnection, they had to force others and they couldn’t understand how another way was possible. Yet, unlike Cyrus, N could go beyond his own Self and detach himself from his own ideas, therefore he stopped considering them absolute and beyond negotiations, taking a step back. I think that Cyrus and N are connected, from this perspective, and that B&W were the opportunity for deepening the theme of ‘world building’ from a societal perspective, while D,P and PL were more nature-oriented. If it’s possible, I would like to know your opinion about the choice of making Black version more futuristic and White version more nostalgic. Could it be related to meanings that those colours have?
I started playing Pokémon when it came out in the late 90’s on a black and white Gameboy pocket. Played Red, Blue, Yellow, and Gold. In 2011, I bought a 3DS and White to see what the games had become. Honestly, at the time, I was board with it and didn’t get very far before putting the 3DS and White on the shelf for the next ten years. This past summer, for some unknown reason, I felt the desire to play the game again. I charged up my 3DS and started a new game. I don’t get it, but this time the game felt amazing. It aged like a fine wine. Since the beginning of summer, I’ve completed White, Black, and the non-mythical BW Unova dex thanks to BW2 gift of the illusion Pokémon. Currently playing through White 2 and then Black 2, aiming to get that shinny dragon.
I’ve always seen Black City and White Forest as being the representation of what happens when you take that game’s theme to its farthest logical conclusion, stretching it as far as possible without any attempt at balancing it out. Let me explain. The theme of Black and White, to me, is about balance, and this strikes through with every aspect of the games. The main conflicts of the game are all about fighting to take one side of an issue as far as possible while pushing away any attempts at balance, and it’s the protagonist’s job to restore this balance. You talk a lot about this in the article, so I won’t dwell too much on it, but it’s important as a baseline of what Black City and White Forest mean. You talked about the version differences we see through the games in the cities themselves, such as the greenhouses versus open land, or the large difference in Opelucid city. These are the evidence that we see through the game of each individual version’s theme – Pokemon White is about the past, nature, and tradition, while Pokemon Black is about the future, technology, and progress. This is exemplified really well in Opelucid City already – in White, the residents cling desperately onto the past while refusing to change or adapt to modern times and advancements, only to wish they had the conveniences that they so vehemently denied, while in Black, the residents rush blindly towards the future while refusing to remember where they came from and learn from their history, only to yearn for the simplicity and calmness that they threw away.
Holy shit I don’t know if it’s true but Reshiram is fire/dragon and if you play white his color the towns are more olden like when fire was mostly the source of energy like his element. The mascot in white is Zekrom which represents futuristic theme using electricity as the main source. The same can be said in black where the cities are more modern and the mascot is reshiram who represents the past.
I had a feeling there was much more to Black/White that made me enjoy it so much (I played the main story, like, three times in a row between Black, White, and Black again). This is a pretty solid explanation of one of those aspects, with the setting and overall message tying to each other so nicely. My guess for Black City is, well, it’s pretty much what one would normally expect Castelia to be, with the greed of advanced technology making humanity lose sight of the importance of cooperation, and I suspect this is where most of the Pokémon that N experienced the troubled feelings of could’ve come from since most of these people seem like battlers who don’t see much interest in anything else (including their Pokemon’s own feelings). In contrast, White Forest provides a sort of Opelucid-style contrast to it, being an idealized opposite where people stayed in the past and valued caring for their Pokemon and traditions, with the only “flaw” of it being that it’s technically “stuck in the past” (another Opelucid throwback), having not advanced their settlement much farther than the strictest necessary. Personally, I headcanon Black as the main version because I think it covers N’s backstory better, there has to be darkness somewhere for there to be light, and most of the region’s NPCs seem to care for their Pokemon otherwise (I don’t think the biker gangs and such would be enough, and I doubt Ghetsis went overseas to find Pokemon abused by, say, Team Rocket or something). White Forest is probably what one would’ve hoped for instead, like some kind of Zekrom illusion of their ideal life, reflecting a civilization of ages past without much technology.
I see black city and white forest as almost an answer to the “what if people and pokemon were seperate?” question. Both in its appearance at the end of the game, as an almost conclusion to the ‘pokemon have been liberated’ conclusion team plasma saught; if the player had lost, this is what would have happened. A city for people, filled with human corporate greed. A joyful sounding forest filled with shallow shrubbery of pokemon in a wide expanse. The city lacks heart and soul that comes with the bond between people and pokemon. The white forest can barely be called a forest- it is small bunches of shrubbery in a flat empty plain. It is quite barren compared to pinwheel forest or route 6, which still have the presence of “people” and “town” to them. Its emptiness and “life that is somehow still lacking life” represents the emptiness pokemon have despite their own ‘autonomy’; that without people, pokemon are still lonely. These two areas, to me, are the two sides of the coin- what happens to people and pokemon- when you seperate them. EDIT: Another thing I forgot to mention is the other 2 emphasis on “truth” and “ideals” in the game. In this region, we have two scientists, Juniper and Fennel, team plasma conducting research on muna (and in BW2, taking on Colress). We have the season research lab. We have Bianca choosing to lean into research. We have historians. These are all people who search for the TRUTH. On the other side of the coin, we have artists and artistic expression.
Hello Alec, I want to thank you for these amazing articles. I fondly remember perusal them sometime ago and how happy it made me feel to see that my favourite generation finally received some recognition for its narrative prowess, superb world building and beautiful graphics and scenery. Thank you so much. I have a request though, and I completely understand if you cannot or do not want to do it. I was hoping the article could be reuploaded without visuals or with Chugga edited out completely. Recently, he was exposed for some horrendous acts, and it has left an incredibly sour taste in mine and others’ memories and I would rather move away from him at all costs. He was a childhood hero for me, however it turns out he’s a complete disgrace and I feel like he stains this and the other Pokemon articles. I understand his playthroughs were purely used for background footage and had little to no impact on the script writing. I acknowledge I can put the article on in the background and just listen to your voice, and I fully admit that what I’m asking is unreasonable. To re-edit and reupload a 2 year old article, especially after you’ve confirmed countless times that this is all the content you’ll cover on Pokemon on your website, is almost selfish of me. This is your platform and I don’t want to impede on it. I was just hoping that this would be possible and considered. Once again, thank you so much for the amazing content and I hope you are well and continue to flourish
Great article! This gave me a much greater appreciation for the detail that went into each town of this region. Pokémon has always been good at this subtle thematic reinforcing for its games, and Unova is no different in that regard. However, I can’t help but feel like the game completely undercuts its own themes with Team Plasma. Not only we don’t have any context for how people can be harmful for Pokémon (aside from the Swords of Justice, which are an optional side quest), but the way Team Plasma is framed makes them completely unsympathetic to the player. We see the grunts trying to forcefully take children’s pets away and even physically harm them on ocasion. In that sense, N’s point of view is never treated with much respect, and the player is basically told they’re in the right for the entire story. And not related to the themes, but the fact that the Pokémon distribution and balance in this region is frankly quite awful makes this pair of games quite hard to come back to
I love Gen 5. While I think Gen 4 is my favorite for purely nostalgic reasons, I think Gen 5 might be the best objectively, especially when it comes to the story. I feel that it struck the perfect balance of having well-written, fleshed out characters and a good plot without becoming too obtrusive to your journey like Gen 7 was. Also, perhaps I’m reading too deeply into it, but am I the only one who feels like the conflict with Team Plasma may have been based on the argument over gun rights? Of course, they are undoubtedly based on animal rights activists as well, but considering Unova is based on the US where that argument is most prominent, I think it’s at the very least possible. Pokémon in-universe are essentially necessary for protecting oneself when traversing the world, since anyone who ventures into the tall grass can be attacked by wild Pokémon. Team Plasma want to essentially disarm people. N represents the more noble side of that argument, as his goals are simply out of a desire to keep others from being harmed, but on the other hand you have someone like Ghetsis who merely wants to consolidate power for himself.
Black and White was my very first Pokémon game when I was 11/12 😀 it’s absolutely my favorite generation but my favorite game is heartgold. Black and white have my favorite story, favorite evil team, and I love N to death. Like, I can actually understand team Plasma bc it’s realistic and something that would actually happen if Pokémon was real. Idk I could gush about this game all day I love it sm
Over an hour long deep dive on unova?! Let’s gooo 🔥🔥🔥 Edit: and for all of those in the comments giving this generation it’s praise, I was around and remember when it wasn’t loved!! People hated on this Gen initially, which is reflected in the sales, and only became loved as gamefreak began producing worse games each generation
shocked how little you touched ont he environmental storytelling done through the POKEMON themselves. It’s not as big and important, but even N’s last pokemon teams in BW and BW2 is very thematic where he possesses pokemon who don’t really have any place int he world (fossil pokemon, manmade pokemon, pokemon who can only survive in certain seasons and disappear most of the year/when their habitat is destroyed) and the pokemon you can find in routes almost all carry important implications for the route their in compared to past and future games where there’s usually only one or two pokemon highlighted on specific routes. Even the pokemon you can catch in the region all have heavy storytelling tied to them there aren’t really any “filler” pokemon.
These games nowadays put me a bit on-edge because some of their themes, well… they kinda touch on some of the most pertinent issues in the world, and ESPECIALLY America today. The black & white theming, the questions of whether Pokemon being in Pokeballs is a form of slavery, the crucader knights-inspired designs of the evil team (Like the you-know-who klan in america)… it all just seems to skirt right on the edge of alluding to these in spite of this being a Pokemon game and having to be family friendly. It just puts me on edge, is all.
I really like your articles, they have so much insight and heart to them. But I do wonder about your hesistance when it comes to explaining kalos alola and galar (especially galar since that’s one of my favorite regions along with unova) since you said you won’t cover them. Do you mind of I ask why you won’t cover those regions?
In my head Canon route 4 was not always that way but was ruined by some sort of disaster. The topography is of course jarring and it makes little sense for the main road to Castalia to be unpaved for many years. On top of that it is widely accepted to be based on the former WTC. Perhaps an industrial center that had an accident, or it was bombed in a war.
Route 4 might be a refence where the twin towers once stood. If you look up a map of nyc manly between of lower Manhattan and midtown Manhattan its where the twin towers once stood. Gamefreak has not confirmed this. But there theory’s of what route 4 is supposed to represent but the main one is the area of the destruction of the twin towers
I love Unova region and it’s techno culture if I could live in the Unova region and settle down after defeating elite four I would live Nimbasa city it’s vibrant, upbeat, techno and alive, I would build a electric power plant using my Zekrom making good money selling all that electricity to the whole region, one lightning bolt is between 300 billion to 30 trillion watts of electricity sinse Zekrom can produce them like nothing he can sustain the power need to grow immensely and with all that Energy Unova would have development and business going up causing a thriving economy and society etc lol 😎🌆🎶⚡🎸
I find it infuriating that so mnay players are like ‘pokemon is the same copy paste game over and over’, and say they should change things up, then Black and White triedbnew stuff, were great, took risks, and theb everyone is like ‘thie is bad, i want the old stuff back’. Well fuck you, dont complain about originality then bitch when they actually try to be original, even just somewhat. At least they actually tried to take risks, and were passionate about it.
Could i ask of you, Dear Sir, (Aleczandxr.) a analisys of The “Cave Raider” and “White Wistle” of the Name Bondrewd (Lord of the Dawn, Bondrewd the Novel) from the Anime/Manga *Made in Abyss. I am (Almost.) absolutly sure this Characther will make a excellent subject and one which could please you (And your Audience.) due to he’s deep “Charactherisation” in such a Small Time Window, which is even more impressive. If you so Desire, i could also bring to ypur Research, about Bondrewd, the excellent (A must. For this Series aswell for understanding this “Man” as it should be.) Fukaki Tamashii no Reimei (Dawn of the Deep Soul.) in a Bluray Quality. Like always, i do very much love your content and mindset Sir. (So i do, of course, wish for this message to be Read… Even if my English is far from “Stellar”. My apologies Good Sir.) Thank you very much. May your Day/Night be filled with interresting new Endeavor.
Playing this game gave me PTSD of when i was a kid and everyone was telling me that animals were “just animals” I identified so much with N when I was a teenager, back then I still didn’t know antispeciesism and veganism existed, I felt I was alone in the world and he hit me like a brick, he was like my first antispe representation.. When he just changed his mind after getting beat up by ME, I actually cried, It was awful and I swore that no matter how much speciesism would be beaten into me, I would forever resist and struggle on..
My thoughts on black and white are this: Their diversity is what the word used to mean. Not the meaning it has been twisted into becoming today that gets many people to now oppose diversity due to its new meaning. And N’s ideology… that bears striking resemblance to the people of the American Left today, the ideology most prelevant in new york (the inspiration of this region) and other blue states today. Segregation of people for their own good and happiness. Despite what those people may think of that idea…
Gen 5 is probably my least favorite gen, it felt like such a slog to get through and by the time Black and White 2 came out I had no interest in playing the game past the first gym. It wasn’t until x and y that I actually really like Pokemon again and even sun and moon was actually quite enjoyable to an extent however ultra sun and moon weren’t… I felt like remaking the game with slight modifications is overly lazy on game freaks part
Here’s my opinion on BW1. It’s story is ok. N changed his philosophy which he has believed in for his entire life in 3 days and not in a believable way either. Bianca was kinda a pointless character. I don’t like the dex, the story focus (there are like 3 cutscenes in a span of 2 minutes in chargestone for example), postgame and the bw1 version of unova. Idk, I guess I just wasn’t into a story in a story focused game. BW2 on the other hand were significant improvements. The region is bigger, the beggining is less slow, the postgame is significantly better (my favorite postgame), the regional dex is better and this game just has so much more to offer than bw1. Sure, it’s story is not as strong but I think makes up for that in less cutscenes. Might be my favorites.