The last time I played a Pokemon game was Blue, and I'm thinking about jumping back in. Planning on buying the Black version for DS, but before I do, is there anything I should know? Are the new games approachable for returning players? Thanks y'all.

Only two Pokemon games I ever played were Black and Blue. I was really young when I first played Pokemon and I was wondering how I'd take to Black, and I think I played it nonstop for 40 hours, pausing only to sleep until I completed it. It's pretty much the same deal as Blue/Red.

@hwy_61: Pokemon at its core is nearly unchanged since the original. You still have a total capacity of six adorable monsters. They can learn four moves each. Hella rock-paper-scissors attributes. You are going to fight eight gym leaders.

I played almost every title since Blue, and definitely started getting bummed out about how little they were messing with the formula. Diamond pretty much killed Pokemon for me. However, they did something right with Black/White that freshened things up, and I'm back in and feeling good about the whole thing again... even though it's still pretty much the same thing. I don't know if you had to be there for the decline to appreciate what they've done this time, but I'm thinking anyone who's hurting to play friggin' Pokemon again will be satisfied by what's here. Black was the game that successfully recreated the experience for me.

But to answer your question specifically... it's a Nintendo thing, so they've ensured that the game is approachable by new players, so returners needn't fear at all. You'll be brought up to speed on any of the game mechanics added during your absence.

Honestly, the series has barely evolved at all. It still feels like an 8-bit game. Thats not a bad thing, just don't expect to be blown away.

@MysteriousBob said:

Honestly, the series has barely evolved at all. It still feels like an 8-bit game. Thats not a bad thing, just don't expect to be blown away.

In my opinion, in the case of Pokeon it totally is.

I mean the combat is pretty much exactly the same just with more types and more abilities. The random encounter rates and pacing overall are still godawful. You can only walk in 4 directions. UI, while much better than in red/blue etc., is overall still rather bad. There's no interesting story to experience and combat just doesn't have a death when playing through the game. It may have when you're a competitive player but else...

I dunno but I find it kinda ridiculous and bad game design by now, that in a game that's all about "catching them all" the most effective way to play through the game is using only 1-2 Pokemon. One being the starter. Whenver I played Pokemon the only reason to catch more Pokemons was for... the sake of catching more and playing with just one was boring, albeit effective.

And I could go on forever. Absolutely seen, Pokemon Black/White are pretty good games, however with glaring issues. Taking into consideration that these games are the product of a lot iterations with so little improvement however... that's actually kinda pathetic imo. A lot people obviously claim "there's no need to change what's perfect", well in my opinion the 'current' (it never changed) Pokemon formula is far from perfect.

I did the same thing last fall. The last Pokemon I played was the Silver game, and I was super into it when I was a kid. I got Black this past August and I have been playing it on and off every month. I just got back into it to do some of the post Elite Four things, and damn is it awesome. I clocked over 100 hours into it already and still have much to do after the main story! I'm planning on playing one game from each generation starting with the Red/Blue re-makes. Pokemon is pretty much the level of RPG I can handle other than Chrono Trigger. Its fun and addictive! I love training my Pokemon and kicking major ass!

The series has come very far from the first generation, but at it's heart it's still the same game. They fixed many little things over the years to make gameplay easier and more fluid. The only downside I remember from it though was that I felt the gym leaders were way too easy. Not a big deal though because it's more fun and challenging to find rare wild Pokemon. The Elite Four will kick your ass though. I had to pretty much train a whole new batch to fight their weaknesses, but it was great. Its still a really damn fun game. Just exploring the world and finding Pokemon is what makes it fun. After you bear the Elite Four you get the National Pokedex which enables you to find Pokemon from all generations in the wild.

I would highly reccomend it!