The Nintendo Hero Returns, or Pokémon Master

So! The new Pokémon games came out a week ago, and I've decided that that is exciting enough to bring back The Nintendo Hero! The new games: Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version. I've only played a small portion of the games so far, but I am very impressed!

The biggest improvement is the graphics. The games keep their 2D sprites for the characters, but they've made the game world a much more 3D environment. They had a pseudo 3D effect in the previous generation, but it's much better done this time around.

The other great graphics improvement is the battle screen. Previous games have included small amounts of movement in battles, but this time around the pokemon are in constant motion in battles. The pretty much just appear to hop around, but when they use sound attacks, their mouths open, and when put to sleep their eyes close. It zooms in and out on the attacking pokémon and has a much more interactive feel.

I've got a lot further to go in the game because I spent nearly a week trading between the two games until I got all three starters in both games. I'm not sure how I feel about the starters in this game. I guess I like Snivy, and I do like Oshawott, but Tepig is pretty lame. But in comparison to the previous generation, I do like these starters better.

The rest of the pokémon introduced in this generation are a mixed bag. There are definitely some nice ones that I do like quite a bit, but it seems like there are quite a few really lame designs. The ice cream looking one, and the garbage bag, and the gear one. They seem very unoriginal, but I guess I don't really have to have them on my team.

I'm curious how difficult it will be to fill the Pokédex this time around. That has always been my main focus of the Pokémon series, the collection aspect. There are all those people that spend endless hours making their perfect competitive battle teams, but I'm really just not interested in that at all. I just want to get every single pokémon possible. On a related note, the only game I've ever completely filled the Pokédex is Pokémon Blue. The next closest is Pokémon Diamond where I'm only missing Deoxys.

So far, I'm really enjoying the game. The graphics are better, there are 156 new pokémon to catch, and the story so far is pretty engaging. I've only just gotten to the second gym, but I'll give updates as I make it further into the game!
Pictures borrowed from Nintendo and Bulbapedia.