So let's start with what's fresh, shall we?
This is Victini. It's the third legendary pokemon for Black/White that's been revealed so far, and has #000 as it's Isshu pokedex number, which is a first. Otherwise there's nothing we really know about it.
Except that it has butt-wings.
God just look at those things. How does it expect to fly with those? Upside down?
I'm not really sure how I feel about Victini at the moment. As far as being the "cute" legendary, I think it falls short of what Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, and Shaymin have been. It reminds me more of Rotom, since it's very pointy. And I really wasn't a big fan of Rotom for some reason...
Still, if I ever end up with one, his name will be "Butt-wings". I'm a jerk like that.
Okay, we're gonna go left->right/top->bottom with these.
Gochiruzeru - The Celestial Body Pokemon
More like the Apathetic Pokemon, judging by that face. I'm not really 100% on it, since I can't tell much about it, but it would make a super cute gijinka. I don't know why most psychic pokemon have to have this serious, unplayful design like their whole lives are such serious business. Of course there re exceptions... Though Gochiruzeru really looks like it should have some dark in it's typing, and it bothers me that it doesn't.
Kibago - The Tusk Pokemon
Kibago seems to suffer from "Gen III" syndrome, as I call it, where some of the pokemon just seem like they're taking the place and being the "poor man's" version of a pokemon from another generation. Kibago seems to be the poor man's Larvitar. Of course this could easily be rectified by having it not end up as something that looks like Tyrannitar. We'll have to see.
Rankurusu - The Amplification Pokemon
One of the exceptions to the "serious business psychics" is Rankurusu. This thing honestly looks like the biggest bundle of fun in the world, and depending on what comes of it, it may be my new default psychic. Seriosuly, it looks like a huge bean bag chair that I want to cuddle forever.
Koromori - The Bat Pokemon
This is right up there with Giaru for me. We really didn't need a "poor man's Zubat". Zubat was frustrating enough. And I'm just not sold on the design. Hopefully it will evolve into something totally kick-ass to make up for it.
Wargle - The Valor Pokemon
The kick ass pokemon with the silly name. Warrrrgle. I could say that forever. I want to catch one and name it "Uncle Sam". I'm glad to see an eagle-like pokemon finally instead of a bunch of falcons. Variation is good, folks. Wargle with "brave bird" on it would probably just make my life.
Minezumi - The Lookout Pokemon
Minezumi looks like it's taking the place of Rattata and Bidoof, which is a shame I guess? But he's got a very classic "pokemon" look to him. I just wish he wasn't apparently so bipedal. I think he's kind of like Bidoof and Hoot-Hoot got genetically spliced.
Musharna - The Trance Pokemon
Okay, so I said I was on the fence about Munna, but it evolves into this thing which is super cute. Not to mention you need to have one of these pokemon in order to use certain cool new features in the game like the Global Link and the Dream World, and I refuse to miss out on features like that.
The Global link allows players to either battle on line or have access to the Dream World. The Dream World, from what I can tell seems to expand on what the Pokewalker did for HeartGold/SoulSilver.
There is a 'Dream World' where Pokémon have their own rooms to play in, and are able to play mini-games with other Pokémon. If a Pokémon is befriended in the dream world, it is able to be taken back to the player's game. Hence, this allows Pokémon not native to the Isshu region to be obtained. To send a Pokémon (the Pokémon must be placed in in the PC box) to the world of dreams, the Game Sync feature (part of the C Gear) is used.- From Bulbanews's article on the Coro Coro leaks.
I can see myself wasting SO MUCH TIME on this. It sounds insanely fun, and I think it's a clever way to bring in pokemon from other regions without having to do massive amounts of trading from other games.
Plenty of other new features have been announced too, and on the whole they sound totally fantastic. A feature called "Passing By" allows players to "seamlessly and instantaneously connect with nearby players", though I'm not entirely sure what what would consist of. "Live Caster" allows players to video chat, though I could see this feature turning ugly pretty quickly. And then there is "Feeling Check" which measures "Compatibility between players". There's some mini-games involved and it just seems like a cute idea.
And then of course there is the new feature of Triple Battling. I'm on the fence with this. Bulbanews has a great article from their "Looking Forward" column on the subject of triple battles, and I find myself agreeing pretty solidly with it. It could be an amazing new feature, it could be a mess. Right now we haven't really seen it in action so we'll just have to wait and hope for the best.
And now, finally, we come to my favorite part... New characters!
On the left is Cheren, your responsible, dependable dude friend who wants to be the new Champion. On the right is Bel, your excitable derp of a gal pal who's going out into the world against her father's wishes. These are your two best friends. From what I can tell, they seem to play the same role as Barry in D/P/Pt, except now you get two of them. Bel, on the whole seem to just be a female Barry.
Then we have "N", playing the role of the antagonist, much like Silver in the Gen II games/remakes.
He regularly challenges the player in order to confirm his ideas of justice. He calls Pokémon "friends", but one of the screen shots shows him saying that he wants to split humans and Pokémon and divide them to create a black and white world. He has the unique idea to set Pokémon free from people, and looks for the power to bring his idea to reality.- Again, from Bulbanews's article on the Coro Coro leaks.
This leads me to believe he's kind of like Cyrus from Gen IV, and therefore is totally out of his mind. I am hoping that I get to beat him up and tell him he's an idiot at some point in the game, because the female player character totally looks like she could kick some ass.
And then there is my favorite new addition to the cast...
Mokomo, the other Isshu professor.
That's right. This region is full of lady professors, running around and doing crazy pokemon science. This game is amazing. I want a game just about Araragi and Momoko, the pokescience-pals.
Professor Mokomo seems to play a role similar to Mr. Pokemon from Gen II. She's a friend of Professor Araragi's and eventually gives you the "C Gear", which is Gen V's pokemon trainer multi-tool, after you do her some kind of favor. A favor which I hope includes Araragi somehow. These two look like they would be the most ADORABLE best friends. I could see them growing up together and following around pokemon and studying them.
So that's things as they stand currently. Right now this game is looking like it is going to pack more awesome than I can handle. There's apparently going to be big differences between the two versions, so I'm going to have to play both. This bothers me a bit because it will take forever.
So let's look forward to it all together!
