Pokemon ScarletandVioletare fast approaching their release date and are now just five months away from hitting the stores. Because Gen 9 is almost here, and considering that The Pokemon Company tried something completely new with the release ofPokemon Legends: Arceuslast January, it’s worth speculating about what could happen withPokemon BlackandWhiteremakes. Considering thatPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwere released last yearin November, Gen 5 would be next in line for the same treatment in the future.
Havingremakes forPokemon BlackandWhitewould have its pros and cons, and the answer to whether these games are needed or not can also depend on what plans The Pokemon Company has for their development. In fact,Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwere not made by Game Freak, and their graphics were a strange hybrid between the old 2D style of classic entries in the series and the more modern 3D approach. As such, it’s not currently possible to determine ifPokemon BlackandWhiteremakes will get the same treatment or if they are planned at all. Still, there are reasons why they should come and reasons they shouldn’t.
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Why Pokemon Black and White Remakes Could Work
One of the most notable reasons whyPokemon BlackandWhiteremakes would make sense is that not all Gen 5 Pokemon are currently available on the Switch and in modern games, and little is known at this stage aboutPokemon ScarletandViolet’s Pokedex. Allowing all the missing Pokemon to be available on Switch games would be a good enough reason to warrant the existence of Gen 5 remakes, but another one is that remakes could combine the story ofPokemon BlackandWhiteandPokemon Black 2andWhite 2into a single game.
If Gen 5 doesn’t get Switch games in the future, though, it may mean that The Pokemon Company is not interested in remakes anymore, and the fact thatPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwere outsourced could be a hint to this. One could argue both ways that Gen 4 remakes were outsourced because Game Freak was working on both Gen 9 andPokemon Legends: Arceus, or that they were outsourced to have accompanying Gen 4 Switch titles for the big release that wasPokemon Legends: Arceus. In fact, it’s also possible that foregoingPokemon BlackandWhiteremakes might mean that a Gen 5-inspiredPokemon Legendsgame is in the works.
Overall, whilePokemon BlackandWhiteremakes might not be necessary, they would most likely be appreciated by the community because of how popular Gen 5 has become over time, despite its mixed reception at launch. This is probably due to the fact that Gen 5 was a soft reset of thePokemonseries by exploring non-Japan-inspired settings and focused heavily on theregional Pokedexover the national Pokedex, with plenty of new critters to catch and train. Thus, havingPokemon BlackandWhiteremakes out at some point after thePokemon ScarletandVioletera begins would make a lot of sense, and it would help players transition towards Gen 10 or other major releases.
Pokemon Black and Whiteare available on Nintendo DS.
MORE:Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Explaining the Themes of Each Game
