Completing the National Pokedex in Pokemon White 2

Last week I put the final touches to the primary version for my Walkthrough and Guide for Pokemon White 2 over at SuperCheats.  

My guide for White 2 is actually the third guide I have written for the fifth generation of the Pokemon game franchise, and my seventh guide overall for the series.  That says a lot, particularity when you consider that the average play time for one of those games when you are doing a guide is more than 300 hours.

That actually surprised me - it was not that I had forgotten the guides I had written so much as that I did not realize there were so many, starting with HeartGold (August 2010),  LeafGreen (November 2010), FireRed (March 2011), Emerald (March 2011), Black (April 2011), Black 2 (December 2012), and finally White 2 (May 2013).

Of the Pokemon guides I believe that White 2 was the most ambitious, since it covers game play and information beyond just completing the story and challenges in the game. 

Writing a Pokemon Walkthrough and Guide

The process of writing a game guide and walkthrough is pretty similar from game to game, and even from genre to genre in that it largely entails playing the hell out of the game so that you can cover every aspect of play for the main and secondary story lines.  You have to cover all of the plot elements, and in the process provide step-by-step instructions and strategies for beating boss mobs and the more complicated parts of a game.

In addition to all that, these days you also have to shoot game play videos to include as part of the illustrations for the guides - that was not always so - with the focus for each video being examples of how to do strategic things, and beat specific mobs, bosses, or enemies.

The Pokemon game series is even more challenging because in addition to all of that, you also have to keep track of and report which Pokemon are found where, and a major element for both play and the guides includes leveling up and evolving the different Pokemon lines.

If you are not familiar with the games, in addition to a story element and the basic goal of beating the regional Pokemon Gym Leaders to obtain their Gym Badges so that you can then go on to challenge - and hopefully defeat - the currently serving Regional Pokemon Champion - there is also the challenge of completing the Pokedex for the region covered by the game, and then going on to complete the National Pokedex, which includes the Pokemon from all of the regions in the canon, past and present.

The Regional & National Pokedex

If you are wondering just what a Pokedex is, well in simple terms it is an electronic encyclopedia of Pokemon, and it plays a major role in the games in that every Pokemon Professor from the first game and game generation all the way to the current game has asked the player to assist in completing the current National Pokedex, which is a complete record of all of the Pokemon known to exist at that time.

The National Dex is partly behind the slogan "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" and in some ways it is the bane of the existence for many Pokemon Trainers (Pokemon Trainer is what the player is called).

Once you complete the story in each title and beat the Regional Champion to become Regional Champ yourself, there is still the matter of completing the National Pokedex.

When I finished the game in White 2 I had seen something like 450 Pokemon, and I had captured and collected something like 370 or thereabouts.

At the present time the National Pokedex consists of 649 unique Pokemon - and when the newest games that make up the 6th Generation are released later this year that number will be very close to 1000!

Using a combination of previous generation titles, related offshoot games in the Pokemon series, special real-world and WiFi events, and trades with other Trainers (players) you can easily complete the regional Pokedex, but completing the National Dex is still something of a challenge!

Actually completing the National Dex is rather unusual.  In addition to writing the unofficial guides for many of the games, I happen to be a fan of the series, so I would have played the games whether I had been tasked with and assigned to write the guides or not.

I was introduced to the series with the title Pocket Monsters Green, when I was doing a contract in Japan, so it is fair to say that I have been playing these games since the very start, and even then thanks to the fact that there are special and rare Legendary Pokemon that can only be obtained by attending real world special events, a quick mental review of the games - there have been 21 games in the main series mind you - I have only actually fully completed the National Pokedex in 2 of the games, despite having played them all.

Completing the National Pokedex is important to most players - for bragging rights to be sure - but also because in addition to ensuring that you have at least one of each Pokemon it also lets you obtain special rewards, get a specially colored Trainer ID card in the games, and yeah, bragging rights.

Like a lot of Trainers I like to attend regional and national Pokemon events where I can pit my teams against the teams of other Trainers for battles -  informal and official - as it is a lot of fun.

Plus there is the fact that often the only legal way to obtain the full set of Pokemon for each game is to attend those events, as that is often where the rarest of the Pokemon are distributed.  Though that is changing, with WiFi-based distribution getting more popular.

Going for the Gold: The Pokemon White 2 National Dex

The challenge for completing the Unova Region Pokedex (that is the regional 'dex for the Black/White/Black 2/White 2 games) came down to a handful of special events and actions...  

You might find it interesting to learn how it all worked out for me, so I thought I would explain it.  It all started with the release of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, which took place on 7 October 2012.

The first significant aspect that you will need to understand is that the rare and legendary Pokemon that are called Legendary differ slightly from the regular and rare Pokemon in that for one thing you cannot breed them.  They can only be caught and collected, not created.

There are actually several types of Legendary Pokemon - there are the regular Legendary Pokemon that area captured in the games, usually with each of the titles in a series having one of a related pair of Legendary Pokemon.

For example in Black/White and Black 2/White 2 there is a set of two Legendary Pokemon: Reshiram and Zekrom, each of which appears only in its designated game.  To obtain both of them you would have to own both games or get someone who owns the other game opposite the one you have to trade it to you.

The thing is, each game only has ONE of the Legendary.  So you basically have to either own both games or get some other player to give you what amounts to the only one of that type Pokemon in their game.

To get another they (or you) would be forced to delete your game save and start over again - and you may be shocked to learn that a lot of players do that when they first start out...  But the veteran players are more likely to buy an extra copy (or copies) of the games so that they have the freedom to play and restart in order to obtain additional Legendary Pokemon they can trade without disrupting or destroying their primary game save.

That should give you a pretty good idea of how all of this works, so back on subject again, the process of obtaining (or at least incorporating) many of the special Pokemon actually began with the two previous games in the current generation, Pokemon Black and White, but I will start at the logical beginning for White 2, which is my currently active title.

Once the game was advanced to the point that trading Pokemon between versions was possible, I traded in the special Pokemon that I needed for my version and stuck them in a box for later use or, in the case of regular Pokemon, version specific Pokemon, or the ones that were the first in an evolution series, they waited for me to have the time to evolve them in order to complete their entries in the dex.

So this is the order in which the first through final stages of completing first the Regional and then the National Pokedex occurred:

(01) Genesect - #300 in the Unova Pokedex.

Genesect is a rare and Legendary Pokemon..  Obtained via WiFi distribution through the Nintendo WFC in the game, simply by being sure to purchase it as soon as it was available.  For a few weeks starting when the game was officially released Nintendo was offering players who owned the games the ability to connect their game to the Internet and obtain this first special and rare Pokemon.

(02) Victini - #000 in the Unova Pokedex

The first Pokemon to ever have a dex number of #000, Victini was the early adopter reward for Pokemon Black and White.  If you bought the game when it first game out, you could obtain the special Wondercard via WiFi and then pick up a special item called the Liberty Pass at your local Pokemon Center.

Using the Liberty Pass, once you reached the city of Castelia in the game, you could  board the boat for Liberty Garden and capture and collect Victini there.  That was (and as far as I know still is) the only way to get this particular Legendary Pokemon.  Which means if you did not get it then, you are not getting it now unless you find someone willing to trade you one.

(03) Keldeo - #298 in the Unova Pokedex

On August 27th, 2012 Nintendo launched its first real-world Legendary Pokemon distribution event at GameStop stores throughout North America. Gamers could appear at their local GameStop with a copy of Pokemon Black or Pokemon White and receive one of this rare and special Legendary horse Pokemon. So I did that with my copies of both Pokemon Black and White...

Amazingly enough Nintendo offered Trainers a second opportunity to obtain this Legendary Pokemon, as between January 25th and February 12th, 2013 they made it available via the Nintendo WFC (a WiFi event basically) that allowed any Trainer who owned a copy of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 to log into the WFC using the Mystery Gift Selection from the game main menu and download the Wondercard for this Pokemon.

If you did so you could then open a spot in your active party and obtain this Pokemon from the delivery boy at your local Pokemon Center. I did that for both Black 2 and White 2, so I ended up owning four unique Keldeo.

(04) Meloetta - #299 in the Unova Pokedex 

On 4 March 2013 Nintendo began to distribute, for a very limited time only, this Rare and Legendary Pokemon via GameStop stores in North America.

On 4 March you showed up at your local GameStop with your DS/3DS and your copy of Pokemon Black 2 or White 2, and you could receive one of this rare Pokemon to add to your game and your dex.

I did that for both Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, and for Pokemon Black and White, giving me four unique Meloetta to add to my collection and Pokedexes.

(05) Tornadus - #198 in the Unova Pokedex

A member of the “Kami Trio” which consists of three Legendary Pokemon: Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. See the entry for Landorus for more details and on how I obtained them.

(06) Thundurus - #199 in the Unova Pokedex

A member of the “Kami Trio” which consists of three Legendary Pokemon: Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. See the entry for Landorus for more details and on how I obtained them.

(07) Landorus - #200 in the Unova Pokedex

While there are other ways to obtain this Pokemon, which is known as a member of the Kami Trio in the games, the easiest method for obtaining it was to purchase a copy of the Nintendo 3DS digital game Pokemon Dream Radar ($2.99 from the online Nintendo Store), and then play the game until you unlocked this Pokemon, whereupon you capture it and then transfer it to your game - which in my case was Pokemon White 2. So that is what I did.

The Kami Trio consists of three Legendary Pokemon - Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus (with Landorus being the controlling member of the trio). Both Tornadus and Thunderus could be obtained as version-exclusive Legendary Pokemon in Pokemon Black and White (respective) in their “Incarnate” form.

Once you had captured/collected both (one in each of the games) you had to trade the one you did not have in your game so that you had the pair in your active party, you could then journey to the Abundant Shrine at the top of the Waterfalls on Route 14 and, presenting yourself to the Shrine, you would then spawn the controlling member of the trio, Landorus, who you could then capture and collect.

All of the trio collected in this manner were in their Incarnate forms. You could then trade them to Pokemon Black 2 or White 2 to add them to the dex in those games (these Pokemon were not present in either Pokemon Black 2 or White 2).

If you obtained the trio via the side-along game Pokemon Dream Radar they were collected and captured in their alternate form, which is their “Therian Forms” as this was the only way to obtain them for Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 if you did not trade them in from Black or White or both.

Obtaining the trio from Dream Radar was the preferred method however because if and when you did that, you could add the Therian Landorus to your party, visit the Abundant Shrine, and in recognition be gifted with a special devide that is called the “Reveal Glass” that allows you to transform any member of the trio from Therian to Incarnate form, or from Incarnate to Therian Form.

You could transform these Pokemon using the Reveal Glass, and you could also do the same to the Incarnate trio obtained from Pokemon Black and White.

Post-Champion Completion Efforts

Having at this point completed the main story and having beaten the Elite Four and the Unova Regional Pokemon Champion, I was ready to start seriously working on completing the National Pokedex.

To do that first I had to trade all of the version-exclusive Pokemon from Black 2 into White 2.  If you are working towards completing the National Pokedex or for that matter the Unova Regional Pokedex this is an obvious next step!

(08) Weedle - #013 in the National Pokedex

This is a regular Pokemon that is exclusive to Pokemon Black 2 - while I could “see” it in my version of the game by battling one or more of the NPC Trainers in the new area that is opened up after unlocking the National Dex, which consists of the cities or towns of Nacrene, Striaton, Accumula, and Nuvema, Routes 1, 2, 3, 17, 18, and the Pinwheel Forest, Wellspring Cave, Dreamyard, Plasma Frigate or the P2 Lab, I could not actually capture or collect it that way, as it has to be traded with Black 2...

(09) Kakuna - #014 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(10) Beedrill - #015 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(11) Magmar - #126 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(12) Spinarak - #167 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(13) Ariados - #168 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(14) Sudowoodo - #185 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(15) Heracross - #214 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(16) Magby - #240 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(17) Plusle - #311 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(18) Volbeat - #313 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(19) Spoink - #325 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(20) Grumpig - #326 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(21) Registeel - #379 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(22) Buneary - #427 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(23) Lopunny - #428 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(24) Stunky - #434 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(25) Skuntank - #435 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(26) Bonsly - #438 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(27) Gible - #443 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(28) Gabite - #444 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(29) Garchomp - #445 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(30) Magmortar - #467 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(31) Cottonee - #546 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(32) Whimsicott - #547 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(33) Gothita - #574 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(34) Gothorita - #575 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(35) Gothitelle - #576 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(36) Vullaby - #629 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(37) Mandibuzz - #630 in the National Pokedex

See entry (08) for details...

(38) Latios - #381 in the National Pokedex

This is the second of the pair of unique Rare and Legendary Pokemon from a previous game and region that can be obtained in the Dreamyard - though this is the one that is exclusive to Pokemon Black 2 mind you... Since I already had captured and collected Latias for White 2, trading this one in next made the most sense.

(39) Zekrom - #644 in the National Pokedex

This is the second of the pair of unique Rare and Legendary Pokemon from the Gen V games and Unova region that is obtained as part of the story.

(40) The Big List

At this point having either captured and/or traded all of the Pokemon that are available in Gen V into the game, it was time to figure out what was required from the games in the previous generations.

While theoretically that could run up to and including the Gen III games from the GBA, it would not actually be necessary to first collect and transfer Pokemon from them into Gen IV and then to Gen V because in addition to the core games from Gen IV that I owned (which meant Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum) I also owned a copy of Pokemon HeartGold as a result of my having written the guide for that game.

Subsequently between all of the Gen IV games I had access to all of the Pokemon I would need to complete the Gen V National Dex, just not as individual Pokemon. And even if I had been able to obtain them as individual Pokemon the number of Pokemon that would entail would have ended up overwhelming my Pokemon Storage System in White 2!

What I ended up doing was sitting down with White 2, loading the National Dex, and making a list using just the numbers (so it would fit on a single page of paper) of all the Pokemon. Basically that meant creating a bunch of columns with the numbers 1 through 649 on it, with a little box next to each that could be filled in or ticked to indicate that I had that one.

With that done I then consulted the National Pokedex on SuperCheats.com and drew arrows connecting the first form in each set through its evolutions. That way I could figure out which Pokemon I actually needed to have, and then I could evolve each of those to cover the rest of the forms in their specific evolutionary chain!

With that accomplished I began to transfer each of the required Pokemon until I had them all.

(41) Legendary Pokemon from Previous Generations

The next to final task was to look in the special boxes that I had set aside in each game to see what Legendary Pokemon were present.

Because I plan to compete with Pokemon White 2 (and later either Pokemon X or Y) I needed to be sure that all of the Pokemon I transferred in to it were completely legitimate - I know that some of the trades I did in previous games ended up getting me hacked Pokemon (I did not know that they were hacked at the time or I would never have traded for them), so I needed to access the different database and Legendary Lists online to verify the OT and ID No of the Legendary Pokemon I owned, being certain only to transfer the ones that were legitimate.

The End Results

Well, there you have it. The end results are that I now have on my game all of the Pokemon that I will need to complete the National Pokedex - I just need to evolve them all through their full chains.

There is still a lot left to do beyond that mind you - I still need to fully upgrade the shops in my Join Avenue Mall, and I want to go back to N's Castle and fully explore it as I did not do that to my satisfaction before.

There is also the matter of the pass that Professor Juniper gave me that allows me to use the airport in Mistralton City to fly to the Pokemon Nature Preserve, where I understand that in addition to some hard to find Pokemon with potentially great natures and abilities, there is also supposed to be a Shiny Hacorus that is literally there for the taking!

I also need to show Professor Juniper my Unova Pokedex now that I have the Kami Trio in my dex and collection so that I can obtain the reward for that - which is an Oval Charm that according to the rumors makes it easier for the Daycare Man to find eggs. That could come in handy for completing the National Dex Collection since some of the Pokemon I need for that can only be obtained by breeding.

Rumor has it that the reward for showing the Professor your Dex after you have completely filled it is a special Shiny Charm that makes it exponentially more likely for you to encounter Shiny Pokemon in the wild - that would be pretty cool considering that throughout the entire span of the decades that I have been playing the games I have only managed to capture a total of eight (8) Shiny Pokemon...

If you are curious, my collection of Shiny Pokemon consists of:

• #078 - Rapidash. I named him Oranoco, and he was captured in Kanto.
• #130 - Gyarados. I named her Lucy Rouge, and she was captured in Johto.
• #172 - Pichu (SPR2010). I named him PICHU, and he was captured in Sinnoh.
• #244 - Entei (GAMESTP). I named him ENTEI, and he was captured in A Special Place.
• #340 - Whiscash. I named him HIRO, and he was captured in Sinnoh.
• #373 - Salamence. I named him Javier, and he was captured in Hoenn.
• #455 - Carnivine. I named him Sweet, and he was captured in Sinnoh.
• #624 - Pawniard. I named him Brightone, and he was captured in Unova.

Of the eight above only three are wild captures - my Rapidash, Carnivine, and Pawniard. The Whiscash and Salamence were obtained as trades so I did not capture them, while the Gyrados is the Shiny you got automatically from a previous game. The Pichu is the Pointy-Ear give-away one, and the Entei is, of course, also a give-away one from GameStop.

That pretty much wraps up the National Dex completion report. I would be interested to hear your story of how you have completed or are working on completing your National Dex for Black 2 or White 2- will you have it done before X/Y release? That is my goal :)

Pokemon Black/White 2 and the National Dex

The question of the day is, should I/We/You move Pokemon forward from Generation to Generation?

If you are a gamer who happens to be a Pokefan, you probably don't need me to explain this to you - but if you are not yet a Pokefan, perhaps you do?

The reason that this is a question has to do with the fact that I am usually assigned to write the Walkthrough/Guides for the Pokemon games at SuperCheats.  If you check my history/portfolio you will note that I have caught the following assignments in the realm of Pokeguides:

• Pokemon HeartGold
• Pokemon LeafGreen
• Pokemon Black
• Pokemon Emerald
• Pokemon FireRed
• Pokemon Black 2
• Pokemon White 2

You will notice that there is a mixture of current and retro - that is because they were building up the Pokemon Library for Guides - but generally I have kept current with the games, which is how I found myself asking the question of whether or not I should carry the teams forward both to the next gen and next game?

On the one hand there really is no point in leaving them behind with each new generation and game when I think about it.

The mechanism built into the games started with Gen III to transfer Pokemon forward into the next Gen of the games, which meant that players no longer were forced to abandon their Pokemon when a new Gen was released - and that is a really good thing when it comes to event Legendary Pokemon.

But the real question that has been bugging me is this: should I move my teams / Pokemon forward into the new games within the current Gen?

On the one hand, that puts a lot of already leveled Pokemon into the game, which sort of detracts from the whole discovery and leveling process of the story, but on the other hand if I don't move them forward into the current title, then they basically are dormant and never used again...

Would it be better to wait until after the game is completed and the guide written so as to avoid even the whiff of compromising the game play process with respect to the guide?  Considering that my guides do not include the very long process of completing the National Pokedex, on the face of it that seems like a reasonable compromise...

But then if I were to transfer already leveled Pokemon into the games as I played them, that would pretty much eliminate a lot of the level grinding that is a requirement for these games...  I have to confess that there is significant temptation present for just that reason...

The Next Next-Gen Pokemon Games

The word is out - the Nintendo DS / DSi is a dead platform.  At least that is how we have to interpret the announcement by Nintendo that its flagship game series - Pokemon - will no longer support the DS and DSi.

This is not the first time something like this has happened, so it should not be all that great a shock really - my first exposure to Pokemon (then called Pocket Monsters) was when I was in Japan on a work contract back when the series was first released, and some of my colleagues got me hooked on the game.  I actually learned a lot of Japanese just to be able to read the screens on Pocket Monsters Green.

New Pokemon are on the way with Pokemon X and Y

That was a Game Boy game - the original Game Boy I mean, black and white and really a handful compared to the current Nintendo handheld platforms.

Pocket Monsters Green made the transition to English (and other) language, and became Pokemon Red and Blue, then Silver, Gold, Yellow etc.  The first generation was Game Boy, second generation was Game Boy Color, and then the third generation was the first to cut its ties with the previous games, as it moved onto the Game Boy Advanced platform, completely severing all of the games from the previous generations.  Players were not real happy about that.

But the massively improved graphics, deeper game play, and more involved story plus the extras more than made up for that, and the GBA had a fair run of titles in the third generation.  The fourth generation arrived on the new Nintendo DS platform, but those wizards at Game Freak figured out a way via Pal Park and the fact that the DS had a GBA cartridge slot as well as DS to allow you to move your Pokemon forward into that next gen.

And that was good.

A lot of my Pokemon - and in particular the Legendary Pokemon - made that transition!  In fact in the current generation (Gen V) I actually have Pokemon I play with that started out in Gen III!

The Next Next-Generation of the games is Pokemon X and Y, which as I noted above, Nintendo has made clear will ONLY support the Nintendo 3DS.  It was partly that announcement last fall and partly my need to be able to play through Pokemon Dream Radar in order to write up that for the current generation walkthrough and guide that caused me to have to buy a 3DS - but I was happy with my DSi Fattie really.

Sometimes we have to be forced to upgrade.

Pokemon X and Pokemon Y

The technology with which Game Freak creates the games has come a long way it seems.  At least that is true judging by the fact that they have confirmed that for the first time in the history of the series the next generation will be released worldwide at the same time, as opposed to being released in Japan and then a year later worldwide after it gets converted to the other languages.

They have already started to let us have a peek at the new games that are coming our way this summer, starting with some of the new Pokemon and the new map (see the map embedded below)...

Pokemon X and Y will fully support the 3D capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS, and they will both feature new aspects to being a Pokemon Trainer, from new forms of transportation, new collections, and of course a huge selection of new Pokemon for this new region, including new legendary types.

The word is that Nintendo will be leveraging the WiFi Connection more than real-world locations for the legendary and special Pokemon give-aways, and that is cool.  But even more important is that they will be carrying forward with the online multi-player live competitions as well as online special events that they largely introduced with Black/White and Black 2 / White 2.

I have to say that is exciting - and equally exciting is the word that they will be expanding the limited multi-player events in the form of new and different mini-games, but this time around instead of making them locally-focused (as in opponents need to be in the same location) they will be more Internet focused.  Very cool.

The question of moving Pokemon from the previous generations into the new generation has not been completely addressed, but there are hints that the games will include that ability - and that is good news really if you think about it, considering that the National Pokedex will, with the addition of this new region, be rapidly approaching 1000 Pokemon!

The images of the characters that we will play in the games have received a major makeover, and it appears that their age is more mid-teens than the 9 year old that the games started out with.

The 3D aspect and the revamped game world (and characters) will make this an interesting change, I just wonder if they will alter the camera angle like they have with other games in the 3D realm?

It is going to be an interesting summer...

. . . the Life of a Modern Day Pokemon Master

Depending upon who you are speaking with, most adults who are not gamers do not think much of Pokemon if they think of them at all.   Although they know what Pokemon are and what a Pokemon Trainer is, more often than not they personally define the world in which Pokemon exist and the respective video games, animated television shows, and feature movies, as realms created exclusively for children in which adults do not belong.  

At least part of the reason for that rather harsh assessment may be due to the disconnection that exists for most adults between the person that they are now, and the person that they once were when they still understood the joys and vivid outlook that I believe is wasted upon children, who have it in such abundance that they can blithely ignore it.  I am not saying that kids do not deserve the gift of that almost magical point-of-view, I am just saying that adults could do with a bit of that themselves.

Recently I found myself in the position of having to explain to a disgruntled and suspicious security agent in the employ of the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) the presence of Pokemon video games, a vintage Pokemon electronic Pokedex, and a small notebook containing page-after-page of tiny hand-scribbled notes created by me that among other things included my observations on the locations in which I had encountered each Pokemon, and my assessment for the best tactics to be used in their capture.  In addition to that very useful information and notes of my observations was included a series of addendum that outlined what I thought was the best method for leveling and training each of a short list of core Pokemon whose type and natural abilities struck me as making them ideal members of a regular Pokemon tournament team.

This smiling and friendly TSA Agent was NOT the Agent who was inspecting me...

The occasion that brought the contents of my carry-on bag to the scrutiny and the attention of that TSA Agent was my annual trip to Los Angeles to cover the Electronic Entertainment Expo for the different publications that I write for.  I am sure that I do not have to tell you that E3 is perhaps the most important expo event in the industry and for most gamers, and while there is always plenty to see, think about, and write up, once your work day is over it helps a lot to have something unrelated to the job to use as a way to relax.  In my case these diversions took the form of a nice thick paperback mystery novel and my Nintendo DSi XL with a handful of Pokemon games and the aforementioned accessories and paraphernalia.

Approaching The Security Checkpoint at Boston Logan

One of the cool things about living in New England is that under normal circumstances the people who live there are a friendly and gregarious bunch who enjoy pleasing and being pleased by the strangers that they meet.  Well, normally that is the case, but it turns out that there is a small -- nay, tiny -- segment of the population that pretty much always feels angry and  suspicious towards the world: they call them Transportation Security Administration Agents.  

Imagine, if you can, approaching the security checkpoint between the public areas of the airport and the restricted area where the gates are located, and finding a vision straight out of Zombieland -- a long line of passengers being examined by a cadre of security agents, and to a person every single body occupying the security checkpoint have no emotional expression on their faces.  If there had been a few frowns or a smile or two to be had perhaps my impression of the situation would have been different -- but the total lack of emotion on all of the faces (including a few young children) was disturbing on a level that it is difficult to explain.

 These were not the planes that I flew to LA to cover E3 on...

When we approached the entrance to the checkpoint shoes came off, plastic bins were lined up, computers taken out of bags, and watchful eyes tracked the bin holding my day pack with my wallet and other valuables.  I found myself being directed to the side due to my power chair -- where I would be subjected to a hand-pat-down which I was not surprised by because I was expecting it -- but then something happened that I was not expecting: the TSA Agent picked up my day pack and then began to empty it, setting each item on the desktop.

When he got to my game case he opened that and thumbed through the games inside, glanced up at me and asked me why I had so many Pokemon games?  Like an idiot I made a joke out of it, and asked if that was part of the standard security screening -- and was informed that yes, it was.

He then asked me why I played kids games?  I thought about my answer -- how I could just as easily have replied that it was part of my job, that I had to review a lot of games, not just the ones that most people think of as appropriate for adults.  I could have said that they belonged to my son, who was traveling with me, and is perhaps young enough that he would have accepted that...   Instead I told him that I really liked the games.

His reaction to that declaration was to begin removing the games from the case and lining them up on the desktop.  Then he opened my Pokedex and turned it on, and asked what it was.  He did the same for the small notebook full of notes, asking a series of questions that were, as near as I could tell, was intended to be insulting. 

TSA Security moonlighting as the Head of Security for the Electric Company

I briefly flirted with the idea of offering him a cup of tea -- but clearly even the guards in Saffron City have nothing on this guy with respect to grimace -- and then it hit me...  

"I challenge you to a duel!" I screamed, slamming my Pokemon White cartridge down on the desk.

Just kidding...  What I did was smile and nod and refrain from saying what I really thought...  Celadon Mansion was clearly too far away from the security checkpoint, and I was not sure that tea from anywhere else would work as a bribe for security, and a fantasy involving his actually accepting the bribe flitted through my head, closely followed by one in which he pulled out his DS and he and I did battle -- I won of course -- and then I noticed he was putting everything back in my day pack.

"Have a pleasant trip" he said, and that was it.  I was through security and headed to the gate.

It's not easy being a Pokemon Trainer.

. . . Pokemon

The 5th Generation

When Pokemon Black and Pokemon White were released on March 6th they ushered in the era of the 5th Generation of the series, the significance of which has more to do with the stories and the world of Pokemon than any real differences in the games. I should explain that before we go any further into this post I suppose...

Most gamers think that the Pokemon series began with the anime TV show Pokemon, but that is not what happened. The question of the chicken and the egg is no question at all in the case of Pokemon -- as the original game that started it all, Pokemon Green, came first -- but Pokemon Green has a unique story to it in that it was only ever released in Japan.

The media empire that Pokemon turned into began with a simple game for the Nintendo Game Boy - the original one mind you, the black and white one not the color Game Boy -- called Poketto Monsutā, or Pocket Monsters.

Pocket Monsters was initially released under that title, but a conflict with another game of the same name made it necessary to rename the game. To avoid any confusion the folks over at Game Freak -- the studio that created the game -- decided to rename it Pokemon, which was a combination of Pocket and Monsters, and so it was released as Pokemon Green.

The original plan for the game was to release two color-coded versions of it, with each of the versions having a slightly different collection of Pocket Monsters -- Pokemon I mean -- in order to encourage gamers to seek out each other in order to trade the ones that were not in their version, thus completing the "Pokedex" that is a foundation element of the games. The Pokedex is a sort of electronic encyclopedia of Pokemon that the player is completing at the request of the Pokemon Professor who plays a central role in the games.

When the games unexpectedly caught on like wildfire, nobody was more shocked and surprised than Nintendo, who really only published the game because Ken Sugimori pushed for it. With the initial sales figures being very modest, the directors of the portable games division at Nintendo thought that they understood the games and their limited potential, but then something unexpected happened -- a Pokemon named Mew.

Pokemon Red and Green

When the games were initially released players were made to believe that there were 150 unique Pokemon in them, though in fact there were 151. The first 150 were standard Pokemon, while the 151st was a Legendary Pokemon. The existence of that 151st Pokemon, whose name is Mew, was held back from the public because originally Game Freak had planned to do a marketing campaign surrounding Mew, but this event never took place for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the lackluster support that Nintendo gave the game with respect to promotion.

At some point after the games were released on February 27th, 1996, a gamer accidentally discovered the existence of Mew. This information spread quickly, and resulted in the magazine CoroCoro announced a "Legendary Pokémon Contest" to distribute Mew to twenty very lucky entrants.

It should be no surprise that the exclusivity of Mew and the very limited quantity were just the push the games needed, and sales went from modest to hotcakes literally overnight.

There were several elements to the game that explain its popularity -- its competitive nature, the collectible aspects, and its use of the game cable that allowed players to connect to each other and play with and against each other all contributed to its popularity -- and then of course there was Mew, so it was not long before gamers outside of Japan learned of the game and wanted to play it.

When it came time to make the game for regions other than Japan the decision was made to create the export versions based off of the the second game -- Pokemon Red, which had slightly improved graphics over Green, so Green was abandoned, and the two new versions that were released worldwide became Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue.

The Game Evolves into a TV Series

About the time that all of this was happening, the huge popularity of the games in Japan made the creation of an anime-style half-hour children's TV show a natural choice for Game Freak, and it was the combination of that show and the games that solidified the brand as a media empire.

The games evolved with Nintendo's Game Boy, with Red and Blue soon complimented by Yellow, which more closely followed the TV show in that Ash's Pikachu could follow along behind him outside of its Poke Ball. When the Game Boy Color was released, Pokemon Crystal and then Silver and Gold followed, comprising the first two generations of the games.

The events on the TV show closely mirrored those of the games, which made a wonderful media combination in which gamers could watch on their TV screen the same places, characters, and adventures that they were having in their games.

The third generation of games was built for the new Game Boy Advanced console, and began with Pokemon Sapphire and Ruby, establishing the third "bridging" game format that presents the elements of both of the first pair in a series as one collective adventure, which for generation three was Pokemon Emerald.

The change to a new physical format for the cartridges and the lack of connectivity made trading for earlier generation Pokemon impossible in the new games, but the issue was fixed by the release of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, which made the first generation Pokemon available to players.

The fourth generation of games -- Pokemon Pearl and Diamond with the bridging game Platinum -- were made for the new Nintendo DS platform, but unlike the previous console change included connectivity that allowed Trainers to transfer their 3rd generation Pokemon into the DS games.

The series was nearly restored; the release of Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver finally provided a complete source for all of the Pokemon in the current National Pokedex, and the adoption of a WiFi-based system for trading and for the distribution of special Pokemon, which nicely leveled the playing field when it came to completing the Pokedex -- and this brings us full circle to the 5th Generation of the games!
Pokemon Black and White

The release of the 5th Gen games came less than a month before the launch of newest Game Boy console version -- the Nintendo 3DS -- though the games were not created specifically for the 3DS platform. That makes a lot of sense, considering that the Nintendo DSi will likely remain the dominant portable console for Nintendo fans, at least for the foreseeable future, due to the high cost of the 3DS.

When Black and White released, the first WiFi-based Wondercard was literally a day-one event, bringing together the last three special events from the 4th Generation and the new 5th Generation, with Trainers able to obtain the Liberty Ticket that gives access to the first Legendary Pokemon within minutes of starting to play.

Pokemon Black and White are a huge leap forward for the games, with a deeper and more complex game world, and an interesting story providing the foundation for what is already being declared the best Pokemon game ever by gamers.

The games fully embrace the Internet in a way that goes way beyond what the 4th Generation managed -- and considering that Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum were about as connected as you could want, that is saying something!

At this point I am most of the way through Black -- and as I am also writing a walkthrough / guide for it, my first play through has been very complete. Black is my XX guide -- I also did walkthrough guides for Pokemon Emerald, FireRed, LeafGreen, and HeartGold -- nicely covering the modern takes on most of the generations of the game!

The newest generation of Pokemon are a unique bunch, though because the games retained the well established 17 major types the differences are mostly appearance and the strength of their abilities, so no real surprises. Having said that though, even if this generation does not contain the cutest Pokemon, or the most ferocious, it still has more than a few stand-0uts that are sure to be fan favorites, though surprisingly these are not the starters!

The trio of monkey Pokemon that match the three starter types -- Fire, Water, and Grass -- are real stand-outs in that respect, but we will have to wait and see whether the starters begin to gain popularity on the same level as those of previous games.

The differences between Black and White are pretty profound, with the games each having a specific are that is unique to them -- that is a departure from the previous traditions, which generally only extended to the Pokemon and not he lands. There is a significant difference in how the world is viewed between the two, and it will be interesting to see how those two facets are addressed in the bridging game that will likely be released next year.

So far the 5th Generation of the Pokemon series is everything that we could have hoped for -- and with the TV series well into adventure now, the overall media experience is there. So send me your Friend Code so we can battle, right?