Pokémon White Version 2 (DS) Review

A swan song to the DS era.

 Pokémon White Version 2 was the last mainline Pokémon game on the Nintendo DS when it released back in 2012. A return to the Unova region we've seen earlier in Pokémon White, the game continues the adventure, packing a new story and slight gameplay mechanics. Gen 5 is often regarded by some fans as the pinnacle of the series, with many citing the sprite graphics, story, and characters to be defining features. To clear any confusions-- Pokémon Black Version 2 (the sister game to White 2)-- is exactly the same game as White 2, only with some exclusive features to it. So with that said, is Pokémon White Version 2 one of the last great games on the DS? (Btw, I couldn't find a lot of clear screenshots of the game when I was writing the review, so it'll be mostly text-based.)


We're back once again in the New York City-inspired Unova region for another adventure. As a young trainer, you receive a starter Pokémon from Professor Juniper and must set out to become the region's champion. Things won't go as planned as Team Plasma's back and are once again terrorizing the region in an attempt to steal Pokémon from their owners to suit their plans. It's a premise all too similar to its predecessor but still managed to entertain again. It was great seeing characters from White like Cheren, Bianca, N and noticing how much they've changed over the course of two years. Hugh, the new rival character, has his own reasons for chasing Team Plasma and was interesting. I'll admit that the story wasn't as great as White, seeing that it lacked some of the writing and villain. I know it's a Pokémon game, but I really enjoyed the themes it brought up.

 The game has a neat mechanic called "Memory Link" where you can link your save data from Black/White to your Black 2/White 2 game and unlock new story scenes featuring the cast as they reflect on the events of the of the previous game. I enjoyed the feature as it fleshes out some of the gym leaders and gives them a small, if not needed amount of depth.


 Pokémon White Version 2 plays exactly like the other games that came before it. You control your trainer as you explore Unova catching Pokémon and getting the eight gym leaders to challenge the Pokémon League. You'll occasionally battle your rival Hugh to see who's best while also putting up with Team Plasma's antics. The core gameplay is unchanged as you build a team of up to six Pokémon and like always, you catch them with your poke balls and level them up by battling other trainers. Each Pokémon is weak to different types and your party formation will go along way in beating the game's tougher trainers. As they level up Pokémon learn new abilities and get better, even evolving to a new form at times. It's the standard series stuff that you probably know already so I won't further bore you with it.

The gameplay, while much of the same, was still fun and I enjoyed exploring Unova again.

Triple and Rotation battles originally introduced in Black/White return where you command three Pokémon all at once or rotationally against trainers and are thankfully being used more frequently. White 2 adds new features such as the PokeStar Studios, where you can act-out and make custom movies starring your own Pokémon; and Pokémon World Tournament, which has you fighting tough battles against past series trainers and champions including the likes of Misty, Brock, Giovanni, and Cynthia. The game also had online functions like online battles and trades but are now closed since Nintendo killed off the DS' online services years ago.

The game's story took me around 35 hours to beat and if you're not burned off from the game yet, It's jam-packed with content for you to explore. From new story content, areas to explore, Pokémon to catch, hard battles to fight, and the aforementioned modes to dabble in, White 2 has a lot to offer even after finishing the story.

PokeStar studios was a nice change of pace from the constant battles.

 Visually, White 2 looks pretty much the same, although with a slight redesign to the UI. As the last mainline game to use character sprites and backgrounds, I'm glad that they look great and continue to hold up well years later. The 3D models were also good and some of them have aged just fine. I liked the new character designs of Cheren, Bianca, and the rest of the cast, which fits well the game's tone. Sound-wise, it's also more of the same as you'll hear familiar tracks such as the battle theme, Driftveil City, and Mistralton City. The new gym themes like Nimbasa Gym were nice to listen to as well.

The sprite visuals will be missed!


Pokémon White Version 2 is more of the same game as the others in the series though I'm happy to say it wrapped up the DS era on a high note. The story was good and the amount of new content here warrants it being a new game than an expansion. I liked the new aesthetic changes and the soundtrack is still a blast to listen to. Overall, Pokémon White Version 2 is one of the better games in the series and DS owners looking for a beefy RPG should definitely consider it.