#8: Pokemon Black/White
Nintendo DS
Nintendo
Released March 6, 2011
What a great year for games. Playing this back in March I thought this would be my game of the year for this, but it only makes 8th on the list. Still, Pokemon Black/White are the best Pokemon games since the first generation, and one of the best games of 2011.
Pokemon B/W starts like any Pokemon game; you get your starter, Pokedex, and Pokeballs and are sent into the world of Unova (based on New York City, which was pretty cool) to get your eight gym badges and beat the Elite Four. Black and White, unlike the past three generations, specifically does not let you catch any of the old generation Pokemon (all 493 of them), providing the player instead with only the newer Pokemon to use and catch. Some of the new Pokemon seem very... unoriginal (Klinklang, for one) but most seem like great new additions. The game also introduces Triple Battles and Rotation Battles, though either mechanic is pretty non-existant in either game, unfortunately.
Some people have compared the gameplay of Pokemon to an animal fighting simulator, and for the first time the game recognizes this with its 'evil team', Team Plasma. The story behind this game actually looks at this part of the game, and showcases Team Plasma's quest to liberate Pokemon from the trainers of the world of Unova. Team Plasma is the first team to actually be somewhat successful, and you'll see that if you play the game.
The graphics that were first transitioned into 3D in Diamond and Pearl have been vastly improved and look much better especially in Castelia City, the city designed after downtown NYC. The soundtrack has some great new songs and probably has the best soundtrack of any Pokemon game, and I've included some links below to check them out yourself.
Lastly, like any Pokemon game, there is plenty of post-game content. The entire east side of the map is completely unexplored when you've beaten the game, allowing a whole region of new areas and the other 493 Pokemon ready to be caught, as well as some surprise guests from other games. For once, the Pokemon levels of post-game content go up to obscene levels, making it the best game to level up Pokemon in any generation. The Dream World, which uses an external site, adds a Neopets-like area for Pokemon that allows people to get rare berries and Pokemon, as well as other items.
Pokemon Black/White, simply, is an amazing game and definitely deserves a place on anyone's top 10 list of 2011.
Also, I played Pokemon White, if anyone is wondering.
Soundtrack Links
Driftveil City -
Ending Theme -
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog
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