Breaking with the tradition of each main Pokemon game receiving a third, upgraded version, it seems Black & White are getting full on sequels for the Nintendo DS.

Considering they're the first games to have any kind of real story, it does make sense. It'll be interesting to see what they do with these.

Edit: The official US Pokemon site has updated with information about the games. Seems they may get an English release by the end of this year too.

You're silly. You put a typo in your post! You put 'DS' instead of '3DS'!

The differences from one Pokemon game to another are always tiny, God know how a direct sequel will play out.

Are they for the DS or 3DS?

wow. Did not see this coming

@ajamafalous: The standard DS, and they're being released in June for Japan.

@RobbleWobble said:

wow. Did not see this coming

Neither did I but I guess its just another Yellow, Crystal or Emerald etc. One last cash in on the last games assets before moving on.

They just took the three legendaries and smashed them together in those pictures ... goddamn.

At least this opens up the possibility for Pokemon Red 2.

@DeeGee: They're actually the same Pokemon, they're alternate forms for the Ice Dragon Kyurem :)

I am a little disappointed these aren't 3DS games, but if they were, they still would have re-used the same assets and just tacked on minor 3D features, so this is probably best. At least the proper next-gen 3DS games we get in a few years should be pretty impressive.

@RobbleWobble said:

wow. Did not see this coming

Neither did I but I guess its just another Yellow, Crystal or Emerald etc. One last cash in on the last games assets before moving on.

I'm always down for another entry in my guilty pleasure series.

So they went from colors to numbers. 
That's really all this says to me

@MysteriousBob said:

@RobbleWobble said:

wow. Did not see this coming

Neither did I but I guess its just another Yellow, Crystal or Emerald etc. One two last cash ins on the last games assets before moving on.

Kind of surprised these aren't for the 3DS.

direct sequel huh, never played the first one but was their relly that much room for a direct sequel

@MysteriousBob said:

@RobbleWobble said:

wow. Did not see this coming

Neither did I but I guess its just another Yellow, Crystal or Emerald etc. One last cash in on the last games assets before moving on.

Well, being actual sequels, rather than just slight upgrades of the same game is a bit of an improvement.

I assume this will be in the same region, reusing all the same assets, but with a new story, characters and mixing up the areas a bit, this could be pretty cool.

they need to break with tradition and stop making pokemon games period.

Wait, this is confusing. Didn't Gold/Silver already set the precedent for Pokemon sequels? I mean, those games technically were sequels to the original Red/Blue.

I don't get why this isn't just Pokemon Grey. It will almost certainly take place in the same region, and have the same Pokemon except these new forms.

While I agree that Black and White were the first to have a "real" story, there isn't a reason why this needed to be two games (Other than money). Even if it is a sequel to the story, there doesn't have to be two games.

Regardless I'm always ready for a new Pokemon game.

@SlightConfuse said:

direct sequel huh, never played the first one but was their relly that much room for a direct sequel

The story was about the ethics behind capturing Pokemon and using them to battle, the bad guys were simply trying to free the Pokemon from their "captives". It ended pretty loosely and it felt like the third version was going to come along and change the story slightly so everything makes a bit more sense, like what they did with Emerald and Platinum before. Having direct sequels instead explains a lot.

This is a surprising turn of events. I wonder how it'll turn out.

Wait, this is confusing. Didn't Gold/Silver already set the precedent for Pokemon sequels? I mean, those games technically were sequels to the original Red/Blue.

WHA?! I still need to buy White (my sister owns Black).

@Video_Game_King said:

Wait, this is confusing. Didn't Gold/Silver already set the precedent for Pokemon sequels? I mean, those games technically were sequels to the original Red/Blue.

Gold and Silver were a different generation than Red/Blue. Black 2 and White 2 are of the same generation as Black and White; they're apparently replacing what everyone assumed would be the third game, ala Yellow or Platinum.

Dude, what?

So this is a remake of Black/White, or is this a completely new game with new areas/gyms/etc? I'm fine if they don't make a new gen of Pokemon again, as they're a bit... strained on ideas there, it seems.

Color me interested.

Well, shit. I guess I need to go finish Pokémon White, then.

@isnipeyoudie: It's unclear. I'd guess it's still the same region, without any new Pokemon, but it appears to more than just the typical third version and actually continues the storyline.

I'd guess you'll still be a new trainer starting from the beginning and such again though, so I wouldn't expect too many changes.

Why the hell are people still buying Pokemon games?

I wish they would just make a full fucking console adventure.

I could see myself being excited for this if I didn't end up hating Pokemon Black. Interesting turn of events.

@cstrang said:

Why the hell are people still buying Pokemon games?

Because people still enjoy Pokemon games.

5th Gen Move Tutors and TM95 are all I care about.

Wait, this is totally coming out for the 3DS. You even posted the link to the site that says it's for the 3DS.....

EDIT: Wait, hold on. It's for the DS and that site's just saying 3DS because you can put it into your 3DS and play it that way.... damn PR jerks and their weird ways of phrasing things....

I wonder what changes will be made. Considering it's Black/White 2 rather than a new pair of colors, I don't think we'll see a new set of 150. On the other hand, as this is more than a third version, I would expect some somewhat significant changes.

Actually, I have no idea what to expect.

This could be interesting.

@SlightConfuse said:

direct sequel huh, never played the first one but was their relly that much room for a direct sequel

The story was about the ethics behind capturing Pokemon and using them to battle, the bad guys were simply trying to free the Pokemon from their "captives". It ended pretty loosely and it felt like the third version was going to come along and change the story slightly so everything makes a bit more sense, like what they did with Emerald and Platinum before. Having direct sequels instead explains a lot.

@cstrang said:

Why the hell are people still buying Pokemon games?

Because there are still plenty of kids with nintendo handheld gaming systems in the world. Why are there still people our age buying pokemon games? Nostalgia, or perhaps they're way into the utterly bizarre competitive battle scene that exists based on hidden stats that are never actually shown in game. Those are basically the reasons as far as I can piece out.

Well darn, the one time I hold off on getting a Pokemon generation in favor of getting the special version down the line they do this...

@UnrealDP: It's just confusing wording. It says they're being released on the DS but can be played in 2D on the 3DS (like any DS game can). It basically just means you can play them on any model of DS, but there's no specific 3DS features.

See my money here? It's all yours.

@ArbitraryWater said:

@cstrang said:

Why the hell are people still buying Pokemon games?

Because there are still plenty of kids with nintendo handheld gaming systems in the world. Why are there still people our age buying pokemon games? Nostalgia, or perhaps they're way into the utterly bizarre competitive battle scene that exists based on hidden stats that are never actually shown in game. Those are basically the reasons as far as I can piece out.

A friend of mine who is my age looooooooves herself some Pokemon games. She still goes out of her way to collect as many as she can and do everything to get the most out of each entry she plays. She played the hell out of Black; I am quite certain she'll play the hell out of Black 2.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@UnrealDP: It's just confusing wording. It says they're being released on the DS but can be played in 2D on the 3DS (like any DS game can). It basically just means you can play them on any model of DS, but there's no specific 3DS features.

Yeah, it's super shitty PR wording.... and also I just kind of skimmed...

@ArbitraryWater said:

@cstrang said:

Why the hell are people still buying Pokemon games?

Because there are still plenty of kids with nintendo handheld gaming systems in the world. Why are there still people our age buying pokemon games? Nostalgia, or perhaps they're way into the utterly bizarre competitive battle scene that exists based on hidden stats that are never actually shown in game. Those are basically the reasons as far as I can piece out.

Or they have a small friend group they battle with, as is my case.

@ArbitraryWater said:

@cstrang said:

Why the hell are people still buying Pokemon games?

Because there are still plenty of kids with nintendo handheld gaming systems in the world. Why are there still people our age buying pokemon games? Nostalgia, or perhaps they're way into the utterly bizarre competitive battle scene that exists based on hidden stats that are never actually shown in game. Those are basically the reasons as far as I can piece out.

They're still fun to play through, train and capture different monsters and battle against friends? I agree that the competitive battle scene is ridiculous (although Black & White made it very easy to train competitive Pokemon) but they're still very fun games, I don't really know why you're disregarding that.

The same argument could be used against something like Borderlands. Why would you play those just to collect guns with higher numbers and play against people who do nothing but cheat online? That's the gist of Borderlands, but it's kind of missing quite a few important aspects.. mainly the fun factor.

@RockmanBionics said:

Well darn, the one time I hold off on getting a Pokemon generation in favor of getting the special version down the line they do this...

Next thing you know, Capcom will screw everyone over by releasing Street Fighter X Tekken II instead of a Super version. :P

Can I start with my fire pig?  If not, then no dice.
 
Also, I just remembered that I traded in my DS and bought a bunch of Vita/PSP games digitally through Gamestop's website, so I'm definitely not getting this.

Can't say I'm excited for this until more info is out. New Pokemon has always been the main draw for me and I doubt there will be many new Pokemon here.

@ArbitraryWater said:

@cstrang said:

Why the hell are people still buying Pokemon games?

Because there are still plenty of kids with nintendo handheld gaming systems in the world. Why are there still people our age buying pokemon games? Nostalgia, or perhaps they're way into the utterly bizarre competitive battle scene that exists based on hidden stats that are never actually shown in game. Those are basically the reasons as far as I can piece out.

I just think they're still great RPGs. With the type advantages and disadvantages, it's one of the best battle systems in any game. I don't really care about the stories and only catch Pokemon that I plan on using. I'm not into the whole competitive battle scene either. I just love picking six Pokemon and raising them throughout the game.

Where have we come to that legendaries now have evolutions? (I'm totally assuming this based on the picture)

Where have we come to that legendaries now have evolutions? (I'm totally assuming this based on the picture)

@NegativeCero: It's Kyurem with two new alternate forms.

No information on how they work/why they look like Reshiram and Zekrom.

A direct sequel? That is super exciting. I can't wait to see what that looks like.