Pokemon White (Nintendo DS) Review

 Pokemon White (Nintendo DS) 8/10

Hello everyone and welcome to one of my personal, top favorite games of all time. Pokemon Black and White were released on September 18, 2010 for the Nintendo DS. The games were developed by GameFreak and published by Nintendo. For this review, I’ll be strictly going over Pokemon White. I know Pokemon games are usually to be played with both games at once, but I’m not doing that. Anyway, Pokemon White is regarded as my personal favorite Pokemon game. I’ve been a long time Pokemon fan since Silver and this game specifically just hits differently for me. I love this game and I love how over the years, people finally started turning their attention to just how great it is. When these games first dropped, dumbass fans were trashing this for the designs of a handful of Pokemon, but forget Gen 1-4 had some odd designs themselves. People trashed this because they thought the story was “too dark” or “too complicated for a Pokemon game”. Over the years these hot takes have been dismissed and these games have been getting the love that they deserve. Before I begin, I just wanted to say that I dropped a solid 162 hours into this game, 70 hours went into the main story while 90 hours went into post game content. This is going to be a long review, so strap yourselves in as we head to the Unova region.

Our story follows our Main Character (who I named Zac), Bianca, and Cheren. Bianca is a bit of a klutz who constantly doubts herself, but she has a big heart and is the most emotional of the group. Cheren is the complete opposite of her. He's smart, intellectual, a bit hard headed, but underneath all of that stubbornness, he has heart too. Your character is suppose to be a mixture of these 2. Emotionally kind but will stop at nothing in the pursuit of strength. One day, Professor Juniper (the Pokemon professor of your town) gives the three of you a Pokemon to start your journeys across the Unova region. At this point, you get to choose your starter Pokemon: Oshawott the water starter, Tepig the fire starter, or Snivy the grass starter. Depending on which starter you choose will determine which starters Bianca and Cheren will choose. Since I chose Snivy, Cheren chose Tepig and Bianca got Oshawott. You then receive your Pokedex and your adventure begins. At the second town (Accumula Town), you'll be introduced to the villain group of the game: Team Plasma. Here, a man named Ghetsis is giving a speech to the townsfolk saying “we should liberate Pokemon because we are hurting them and holding them back from their true potential.” This lays the seeds for what's going to come later on in the game. After the speech is done, Ghetsis and Team Plasma leave and the crowd disperse. All that's left is you, Cheren, and a green haired fellow. He approaches you, asking about your thoughts on the speech. He then introduces himself as N and he challenges you to a Pokemon battle. After the battle, he leaves the town. Once you get to the third town (Striaton City), you'll get the chance to challenge the Pokemon Gym. Gyms are stepping stones for your adventure and you need to beat 8 gyms and claim their Gym Badges in order for you to get the chance to face the Pokemon League. After you beat the first gym and learn the basics of type matchups from the Leaders, you'll officially start your quest for getting all 8 gym badges. Along the way, you'll be meeting tons of new Pokemon, new people, new places and settings, and foiling Team Plasma's schemes in each town. You'll also get to see the growth and character development of Cheren, Bianca, N, Alder the Pokemon League Champion, and a couple of the gym leaders.

I gotta say I really love the narrative here. From what I've seen with other Pokemon games, this game takes a more political, dark tone for its story. Kinda taking the PETA route, Team Plasma does a Hearts and Minds campaign all throughout Unova, saying "oh we're hurting Pokemon. We should all release our Pokemon and live separate lives from them. Everyday, we use and abuse Pokemon for our own selfish enjoyment and we, Team Plasma, believe that setting them free would benefit the both of us." On one hand, they have a point when it comes to abusive trainers, but on the other hand, Pokemon have been thoroughly integrated into this universe's society that it'd be almost impossible for it to function without these creatures.

Let's go back to our characters for a sec. I thoroughly enjoyed a couple of characters a lot more than I thought I did. Obviously N is the best character in the game. He is one of the most sympathetic "villains" I've ever seen. He's a misguided child who was taught that every Pokemon owner uses and abuses their Pokemon for selfish reasons. Through his misconceptions, he went on a crusade to track down one of the legendary dragon type Pokemon, befriends it, and use its powers to save all Pokemon. The real villain here is Ghetsis (as you can tell from his design). He's been manipulating everything from behind the scenes. There's a secret with him that's revealed at the end, so I won't spoil it, but that little extra detail makes him all the more terrible. He's honestly a great villain and I wish the game fleshed him out a bit more. Cheren had a great character arc too. Going from a brash child who is always seeking strength to what it means to be a sympathetic, strong person (both in his Pokemon, himself, and his ideals) that has a better head on his shoulders. As for Bianca, she barely changed. Sure she's not *as* weak as when she got her Pokemon stolen in Castelia City, but her convictions were never tested like with Cheren. Her development is there, but it's not as pronounced as Cheren's or N's.

Another thing I love about this game are the Gym Leaders. There's 8 gyms, but 11 gym leaders. Chili, Cilan, Cress, Lenora, Burgh, Elesa, Clay, Skyla, Brycen, Drayden, and Iris. For the first gym, depending on your starter will determine who you will face. Since I chose Snivy, I had to fight the fire user Chili and depending on which version of the game you're playing (Black or White) you'll fight either Drayden or Iris for the last gym. The thing that made these gym leaders stick out to me when compared to other games was that they actually felt like characters. Idk if it's just me, but I want to be connected to the bosses of the game I'm playing. My favorite leaders had to be Lenora, Elesa, Clay, Skyla, Iris, and Drayden. Everybody else was cool but these guys stuck out to me the most.

The Elite Four and the Champion are an interesting bunch. You got Marshall the fighting type Pokemon user who is Alder's student, Shauntal the ghost type Pokemon user who writes novels, Grimsley the dark type Pokemon user who seems like he lives in the 1% and ponders life's deepest meanings, and Caitlin the psychic type Pokemon user who loves to sleep and expects only the best from her opponents. Alder is the most interesting of the group. Being the Pokemon champion, he is the strongest of the Unova region. Apparently when he lost his very first Pokemon to illness, he left the Pokemon League in search of what true strength means while also trying to heal his own sorrow. On his own personal journey, he meets up with our main character and Cheren on Route 5. Meeting us helped him on his journey to find happiness. There's so much more I can talk about with the story, but I'll leave it at this.

Before I get into gameplay, let's talk aesthetics. The overall tone for the game is kinda dark, but in a charming way. All throughout the game, people will be talking about truths, ideals, and the true meaning behind strength, Pokemon, and friendship. It actually tackles some serious topics like animal abuse, relationships, and willpower and this actually surprised me when I first played this years ago when it was first released.

I love the setting for Unova. It's basically New York and the New England area. I love the color palette and the colors used for the levels and backgrounds look great. It really does suit that area. I also love the character designs too. Everyone looks great. Your character (both male and female), Bianca, Cheren, Ghetsis, N, Alder, Professor Juniper. Everyone looks really great and just through their character design you get to know a lot about them and who they are.

The Pokemon look amazing too. I love the designs for all the Pokemon. Yes, I mean all the Pokemon. Trubish and Vanilite look great. You can fight me on this. One of the best parts about this game are all the new Pokemon. All throughout the game, you'll constantly be meeting brand new Pokemon. It's not until post-main story that you'll see Pokemon from the previous regions. I love this because the game forces you to use, like, and even love the new Pokemon that they made and I'm all for this. Sadly though the future Pokemon generations won't look as good as these. Some of my favorite Pokemon spawned from this gen. Snivy is my favorite grass starter, Scolipede is possibly my favorite bug type Pokemon. Serperior, Volcarona, Hydreigon, Zebstrika, Archeops, Zekrom (my favorite legendary Pokemon), Reshiram, Kyurem, Meloetta. All of these I just listed are probably the best designed from this region.

I honestly wish Game Freak stuck with the pixel/sprite work of Gen V. This is probably just me being biased, but I love how all the Pokemon sprites move in battle. Sure it's kinda limited but it's better than the 3D models of the next generations. They just seem more lively and eager to fight than in X/Y and Sun/Moon. The attack animations look better than ever as well. Since the Pokemon are barely moving sprites, the attack animations help us understand what's going on in the fight and man do these look great too. I know at this point I'm just nitpicking, but every detail matters with the fights. The battles are one of the main attracting points for Pokemon and seeing the battles look lazier and lazier with every coming generation after this is sad.

The UI (user interface) is very friendly too. All the buttons and menus are very clean and easy to maneuver around. The Pokedex is easy to use as well (except for the physical attribute look up where you use a Pokemon's physical appearance to try to find them. This is still terrible). I really love the overall look of the pause menu and battle menu.

The music for this game is amazing. Like no joke, this is probably one of my favorite soundtracks. The battle themes just get you pumped up for the fight, especially Team Plasma battle theme, Battle Subway theme, Gym Leader theme, Legendary Pokemon battle theme, the Zekrom/Reshiram battle theme, and the final fight with N. The background music for when you're traveling the region is great too. Really immerses you into the land of Unova. My favorite city themes have to be Accumula Town, Nacrene City, Nimbasa City, Driftveil City, Mistralton City, Opelucid City (White), Undella Town (Spring, Autumn, Winter), and Lacunosa Town. Quick shoutout to Dragonspiral Tower, Victory Road and Pokemon League themes. It's so daunting and ambient, I love it. I get some Legend of Zelda vibes from the Dragonspiral Tower theme. Also shoutout to whoever did the music for the Badge Check Gate that leads to Victory Road. At the Badge Check Gate, you have to present your badges to proceed to the next gate. As you progress through the gates, the music will start to build itself into the theme for Victory Road. This was an experience walking through those gates as the music slowly builds into one of the best themes in the game and seeing these doors open to you made you feel really great inside.

Gameplay is just like every other main line Pokemon game. You run around, talk to people, fight wild Pokemon and other trainers, level up your party enough to fight the gym, rinse, and repeat. Now how this game spices up this formula is quite interesting. This game introduces 2 new types of battles: Triple Battles and Rotation Battles. Triple Battles are 3v3 Pokemon battles. Rotation Battles are similar to Triple Battles but instead of 3 Pokemon fighting at once, they’re fighting on a rotating platform. You send out three Pokemon, but the one in the middle is the one that's attacking and taking the damage. While you're selecting your attacks, you can rotate left or right and use that Pokemon as the new middle. It's actually a lot deeper than it sounds so you always have to plan out your next move with the utmost precision. I really enjoyed Rotation Battles more than Triple Battles, but it's a shame that there's only a handful of these battles throughout the game. The normal battles themselves are still the same. The only difference here are the new Pokemon and new moves that were introduced with this game.

So the game is split into 2 parts: main story and post-main story. So my goals after beating the main story were: to find all the Seven Sages, Capture all the legendary/unique Pokemon (Cobalion, Virizion, Terrakion, Thunderous, Volcarona, and Kyurem), see the new areas unlocked, collect as many Pokemon as I can, and challenge and defeat the Pokemon League.

After you beat the main story, the other half of the region is unlocked for you where you can travel to White Forest/Black City, Undella Town, and Lacunosa Town. You are also tasked by an Interpol agent named Looker to track down the remaining Seven Sages of Team Plasma. These Sages are scattered throughout Unova, but since I've played this game so many times and I used to own the strategy guide, I knew where they were at.

When you beat the main story, you are given the National Pokedex as well, which unlocks all the Pokemon from the previous 4 generations. Of course I didn't complete the Pokedex because I don't have time for that. I did however try to complete it to the best of my ability without evolving any Pokemon outside my team, without beating other games, and without help from friends. Whatever was out in the wild and convenient for me was caught. By the end of my journey, I had seen 305 Pokemon, but I only caught 131. My team by the end of the main story was Serperior, Simipour, Klinklang, Archeops, Cofagrigus, and Swoobat with each around level 49. By the end of post-main story, my team was Serperior, Archeops, Swoobat, Klinklang, Simipour, and Heatmor with each around level 70. In post-main story, there's A LOT of grinding to be done if you want to re-challenge the Pokemon League. I mainly used route 12 and the Village Bridge for the last grinding before the Elite Four. This area was a godsend for me cause it was the perfect training ground for my team.

After you beat the main story, you can find Cheren on Route 5. If you talk to him, he says to meet him on Victory Road (the last floor) if you want to challenge him. You can battle him once a day. His team is around level 60-65. After you beat the game, there's 2 other special trainers that pop up. The first one is one of the game developers, Morimoto. You can find him in the GameFreak building in Castelia City. You can battle him once a day. His team ranges from level 75-77. The second person is Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia. You can find her in Undella Town in the first house next to the exit. Once you battle her, she'll disappear and only reappear during Spring time. During Spring, you can fight her once a day. Her team ranges from level 75-77. These two were hard af and were a perfect testing ground to see if my team is ready for the Elite Four. I highly recommend fighting these 2 at least once. Also that mini heart attack you get when you first enter that villa in Undella Town, unbeknownst to you that a boss is just chilling there, waiting for you. Cynthia was an excellent surprise and a great obstacle to get over.

The game does have some problems. The first thing is how slow the game is. I know there's a lot of grinding, but I wish there was a way to speed up the process and even the game just a little. Second thing: I wish you can re-challenge some of the trainers that you come across, even the Pokemon Gyms. I wish we could battle them again but this time they have amped up, much more powerful Pokemon and a better team than the first time around (like with the Elite Four). I'm still waiting for a game to do this. The third issue is Bianca. I know I said this earlier, but I wish they focused on her just a little bit more. Give her better dialogue or put her in a situation where she has to battle, even if it's alongside the main character. Give her something that stresses her character into having an actual arc. She's honestly one of the weakest parts of the game. Fourth thing is to add some extra elements to the battle system. After the 200th battle, it all becomes clockwork. Add a little spice to the battle system. I know they added Triple Battles and Rotation Battles, but that was barely in the game. Maybe add a new way to capture Pokemon similar to what Persona 5 did (I know that's impossible now, but maybe do something similar for future games).

Despite these problems, the game is a wonderful, but slow paced game. The story and writing is absolutely amazing, the setting and scenery for Unova is beautiful, the music is fantastic, and there's a lot of content here to play around in, but there is a lot of grinding to be had here. Overall, everybody should play this game. It's an easy JRPG that anybody can pick up. It does get more difficult later on, but that's to be expected. I highly recommend this for anyone that can drop 100 hours of their life into a game. Pokemon White is so underrated among the Pokemon franchise and among RPGs in general. Some time in the future, I’ll go over one of the sequels. Until then, stay safe out there.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

This is Zorgak, signing off.