Watch out! Nintendo DS sales are going to explode this week. The fifth generation of Pokémon games has arrived. Pokémon is second only to Super Mario Brothers in the top-selling videogame franchises of all time. With well over 150 million Pokémon games sold worldwide to date, the series is bound to overtake Mario’s benchmark of 200 million-plus games sold sooner or later. The titles for the new games (Pokémon Black and Pokémon White) will be out by the time you read this.

This iteration of Pokémon is radically different from the others and features a lot of changes to the series. Whether you’ve grown tired of the franchise or have never played a Pokémon game before, there’s a lot to be excited
about.

What’s stayed the same: Just like every other Pokémon game, you take on the role of a Pokémon trainer (either as a boy or a girl) and choose between three types of starter Pokémon a fire, grass or water type. You still battle eight gym leaders and, as always, fight with your
rival every so often.

And once again, you have to put a stop to some hooligan mischief (the new gang is called Team Plasma). Touch-based interface controls from the DS games are back, too, as is the time-based system that keeps track of day and night cycles which dictate what types of Pokémon appear in random battles. And, of course, you will explore a new world while you capture and collect hundreds of Pokémon on your quest.

What’s new: Pokémon Black and White are more of an evolution than a revolution for the series, but there are some big changes this time around:

•156 new Pokémon with new abilities (which brings the grand total up to 649).

• New 3D-graphic engine: Towns and travel locations are no longer simple 2D sprites

• Animation for Pokémon: They no longer remain static in battle and fight in real-time

• Seasonal gameplay: Depending on what time of year you play, new areas will become open, and new Pokémon can be found

• Both versions aren’t identical this time: Some areas will be exclusive to each game, and places you go will be represented differently.

Changes to the battle system:

Three-on three battles and rotation-based battles are a first for the series. Triple-based battles will force you to strategize in regard to how you position your Pokémon in combat. If your Pokémon is too far away from your opponent, they won’t be able to attack, and if they’re too close, they will take more damage. Rotation-based battles, on the other hand, let you fight one on- one and let you switch out Pokémon on the fly.

Other minor tweaks to the battle system include oath moves that let you combine Pokémon types like water and electricity to create new attacks. Technical machine(or TM) items now are infinite based, so you can teach your Pokémon a wide range of abilities. Finally, a new ability used during a battle called “deru power” gives you access to special techniques like restoring your Pokémon’s health faster.

Multiplayer:  Online play has been streamlined considerably, and it’s easier than ever to connect wirelessly with your friends. Anew system called Global Link lets you battle Pokémon with people all over the world and keeps track of your battle stats. Global Trade lets you exchange Pokémon and items.

A new mode called Dream World lets you play with your Pokémon in mini-games on a web browser and even lets you catch rare Pokémon. Video
chat support for DSi and 3DS is confirmed, but Nintendo will make sure you keep it clean so the system doesn’t turn into Chatroulette. Last but not least is High Link mode, where you can play co-op missions with your friends.

Minor changes: Some alterations to the core gameplay include the first female professor and new areas like a theme park. Most surprising is that you won’t encounter any of the old Pokémon seen in previous versions until late in the game. Also, the games are much faster, and new dynamic camera angles make for a more cinematic experience.

This article originally appeared in the UWM Post. Check out the original article here. http://issuu.com/theuwmpost/docs/uwmpost_30711