Pokémon White Version (DS) Review

A new generation.

 Pokémon Black and White Version marked the fifth generation of Nintendo and Gamefreak's long-running Pokémon series when it debuted back on the Nintendo DS back in 2010. Starring a brand new adventure in the Unova region while also introducing new features to the core gameplay, Black and White were a step-forward for the series. I've recently been playing the Pokémon series out-of-order and I thought that I'd give Pokémon White Version a play. Bear in mind that Black and White are essentially the same game, just with different version mascots and slight gameplay variations. So without any further delays, let's see if Pokémon White Version still manages to be fun a experience years later.


 Pokémon White Version features a brand new setting to explore, the New York City-inspired Unova region. You take the role of a young boy/girl trainer alongside their childhood friends, the brainy and ambitious, Cheren, and the upbeat and energetic, Bianca, as the three of you strive to become the Unova region's Pokémon champions. However that's not all, as a group of Pokémon thieves called Team Plasma are threatening the region, claiming that Pokémon are in fact slaves to their human trainers and are on a mission to liberate the creatures from their supposed captivity. I genuinely enjoyed the interactions with Team Plasma, especially with the mysterious N, whose the best written character in the game. I liked the story, which was fun and interesting during the lenghy adventure, and looking back, Team Plasma's goal were a bit understandable albeit heavily flawed. White's story was among the best I've seen so far as I'm casually playing the series out of order, but I hope that other games can live up to writing here.

It's a brand new adventure!

 Pokémon White Version features the standard RPG elements the series is known for such as catching wild Pokémon, leveling them up, and exploring the region for more Pokémon and secrets. I won't bore you with the excessive details but to briefly explain the gameplay, you start off by choosing one of three starter Pokémon: a fire-type, a water-type, or a grass-type from Professor Juniper and bam, your adventure begins. Not much has changed from prior games as you can have up to six Pokémon to command while battles have you going up against other trainers and Pokémon, where you must figure out their weaknesses to get an edge in battle. It's not as simple as spamming the best move to victory (well most of the time...), but as you progress through the game, you'll come across some trainers that can easily wipe out your party if you're not paying attention, a mistake I was guilty of making when I first started my game. 

The gameplay is mostly unchanged

 with some new additions.

 White introduced new gameplay additions: Triple Battles and Rotation Battles. The former takes the form of a 3v3 battle while the latter has you switching between the three constantly. They're welcome additions, however, I felt that they were underused as I can scarcely remember having fought few battles with the nee format, which is a shame. Moreover, you'll be forced to change up your tactics to beat some of the game's tougher opponents such as your rivals and gym leaders. While you may have a fairly strong Pokémon, it'll be in a huge disadvantage when pitted against the type it's weak to. For example, Fire types are weak to water and thunder types are null to rock Pokémon, so make sure to plan accordingly! Each Pokémon can learn up to four moves at a time, which can be either physical, elemental, or stat-inducing. So at times, you'll be making some tough decisions on which moves to keep and forget. As your Pokémon gains experience, it can learn new moves while potentially evolving into a new form that comes with increased stats too.

The new additions are great, though

could have been used more frequently.

 The game's boss fights take the form of gym leaders and Team Plasma goons. Each town has its gym and its leaders are harder than your average trainers since they carry more powerful Pokémon. If you're not exploiting each gym's weaknesses like bringing a ground-type to an electric gym, then prepare for trouble. Beating gym leaders will net you a badge, which you'll need to collect up to eight in order to progress the story and catch higher-leveled Pokémon. You can use items by accessing your backpack, which has everything from standard healing items and poke balls to special moves that you can teach your team. You even manage to score a sweet bike early in the game, which can speed your movement.

 The Unova region is filled with many areas to explore that pack special Pokémon, rare items, and even high-level trainers to challenge, so you have a pretty big incentive to search every nook and cranny of the game. Gen 5 introduced over 156 new Pokémon, totaling to over 649 Pokémon to catch in the game. The main story packs nothing but new Pokémon, which make the experience far more fresh in my opinion. It's after beating the story is that you start catching some of the old Pokémon like Pikachu and Golduck, so prepare to do lots of catching. Some late-game areas are locked until you beat story first, which feature a version exclusive town and side-quests to partake in. The main game took me around 30 hours to beat though with the huge amount of content here, Pokémon White Version will surely last you a while.

With the sheer amount of post-

game content, replay value is pretty high.

 The game put a lot of emphasis in its wireless communications features, where you can battle and trade Pokémon with other players from around the world via the Nintendo Wi-fi Connection. Sadly, the service has been discontinued years ago, making the online portion of the game useless. Fortunately, you can still battle and trade with other players via local play, so at least that's something!

I'm not a huge online fan, but

I miss Nintendo Wi-Fi...

 Pokémon White Version has visually held up well considering the game is nearly 10 years old. The character sprites and backgrounds look sharp on my DSi screen. I appreciated the little details such as seeing your character's reflection when passing a river and the fact that Pokémon animations are no longer static in battles. Also, the 3D models used have aged surprisingly pretty well. Each Pokémon gym looks unique and varied from each other as well, a standout being Nimbasa City's colorful electric gym. There's no voice acting, so you'll have to read a bunch of text that can be mercifully be sped up. It may bore some players but I personally didn't mind. Thankfully, the soundtrack was a blast, including many great tracks that helped make the game a lot more memorable. Some of my favorite tracks were the cheery Bianca's theme, the somber Dragonspiral Tower theme, the Team Plasma victory fanfare, and the epic N Battle theme.

Unova's packed with urban landscapes 

and bridges... big bridges!

 Pokémon White Version was a blast to play. The story and characters were great, the gameplay is more of the same, which isn't an entirely a bad thing, and the presentation holds up stunningly well. That and the amount of replay-value here is high, with lots of content to invest in after beating the story. I've had a fun experience overall and White has to be one of my favorite games in the series and on the DS as well. Fans will definitely be enjoying the game and newcomers, who like RPG games and a fair amount of reading will also have a great time.