Feature: A Pokémon Retrospective: Generation 5 - 2010 To 2013

These articles just keep getting me hyped for that potential Pokemon 7th gen announcement. I know it seems early, and we still haven't gotten that third title in the X and Y series, but I'm just craving another Pokemon game.

Who thinks they will have a new 3ds exclusive pokemon game for gen 7.Using amiibo and more power processor.
And it will help sell the new 3ds along with new 3ds only downloadable DS games of heartgold and solesiver.

I wasn't so keen on this generation as previous generations. The pokemon designs were much more complex in Black and White, which made them less like animals that could be found in the real world, and more like generic video game creatures. Plus, this generation had some silly designs, like a garbage bag or an ice cream. Granted there were were other silly pokemon in previous generations like magnets and hearts, but Garbador and Vaniluxe stood out more since their concepts were so ridiculous. There's still plenty of great new pokemon though, like the monkeys, and Zorua/Zoroark.

The thing I disliked most with these games were the lack of exploration. If you look at the map in Black/White and removed the right half of the circle since that was mostly post game, then it was a line. Most of the routes and caves also felt fairly linear. Black 2 and White 2 improved though, and had some decent exploration such as in Victory Road.

There's some great things in generation 5. The story in Black/White was the best out of any main pokemon game. N, Ghetsis an Colress are some of my favourite characters in pokemon games. I also spent a lot of time in the Pokestar Studios and the PWT in Pokemon Black 2, though I missed not having contests and the Battle Frontier.

Despite my negativity here, I still enjoyed generation 5, just like how I enjoy all pokemon games. I just feel that it also let me down in places and didn't meet my high expectations.

"The build-up to launch"? What build-up? Generation V came out of nowhere, and maybe too soon considering people were just re-discovering the wonders of Johto... but then again, it's the same ol' bias you'd expect from me.

However, for being "Generation III on steroids", what with the previous generations' Pokémon not appearing at all before the postgame, Gen V did things surprisingly well. Black and White had an amazing story, and while perhaps their direct sequels weren't "as epic", they made up for that by being the very essence of fanservice (the non-sexual kind thereof) in gameplay terms, with the astonishingly rich Regional Dex, the amazing variety of battles, Pokéwood, and maybe the most amazing cavalcade of older human characters, known as the Pokémon World Tournament. Game Freak needs to make that a series staple ASAP.

Pokemon Black and White are actually my favorite Pokemon games.

The writing was surprisingly good, I did like most of the Pokemon Designs, and while I admit the graphics were a bit pixilated I still really like the presentation and tone they were going for. Overall, almost everything about these games impressed me much more than X and Y.

@AlexSora89
I really loved Pokemon World Tournament. I'll admit that I was disappointed of a proper battle frontier like Platinum, HG, and SS. But having a tournament focused on a smarter AI encouraging competitive battling against every gym leader and champion in the past was complete genius and made up for it.

Generation five was my favorite generation game wise. I absolutely loved bw, b2w2, and conquest. Many of my favorite Pokemon designs also came here. Yes people like to harp on this generation for garabador and vaniluxe but those were few out of great designs like leavanny, hydreigon, bisharp, haxorus, etc.
Anime though... I don't like to talk about that... Cough Cilan and his freaking food puns Cough.

Most of the Gen 5 Pokemon are very loosely based on Pokemon from previous generations.

I know, @Seacliff. At first I was like, "where's mah Battle Frontier?", then I was like, "screw the Battle Frontier, I can fight Red and all the other champions at will and this is enough for me"!

Gen V is probably my favorite. It did take me back to the original. And with the climax happening at the elite 4, I'd have to say the story is one of the best in the series.

Gen V is probably my favourite for Pokemon designs after gen III. There's still loads of interesting Pokemon from that gen I'd like to use that I haven't gotten around to yet.

The weakest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games ,from what I heard,were the Wii Ware ones released only in Japan.Also in my opinion,the first series rescue was not that good.

About the main series this is probably ma favorite gen since crystal days.

The only good thing about Gen 5 was Trubbish and Garbodor... Okay Chandelure is awesome too, and some others have grown on me, but I really didn't enjoy this game like I did Gen 4 before it and Gen 6 after.

Where the series went wrong IMO. The series didn't need the reboot 5th gen brought us and they started bending over backwards for casuals in this generation with linear region design and decreased difficulty. There was certainly some good things about the generation like the story and having sequels instead of remakes, but for the most part it was a step backwards for the series.

Easily my favourite gen. The story was amazing, especially with the sequel. I actually miss it quite a lot as Team Plasma actually felt like a real threat.

Compare that to X and Y where it was already obvious who the villain was the first time you meet Lysandre barely 4-5 hours into the game :C

Also I personally feel it was a huge step up from gen 4 which I found really boring and not a lot of it really stuck with me. The underground stuff was nice though I would have enjoyed that coming back in gen 5.

Probably my least favorite gen. The designs weren't as bad as people made them out to be, however I think they just tried to hard to make them similar to Gen 1 Pokes.

And for the record, I actually like the Vanillite family a lot, I don't what people's problems with an ice cream Pokemon are. I think the real worst offenders from the gen are the monkeys, who were only created for the triple battle gimmick, Gothitelle, Terrakion, Cobalion, the kami trio, Samurott, Accelgor, etc... Just a lot of garbled, bland designs imo. It does have my favorites though, like Braviary, Joltik, Zekrom, Chandelier, etc.

Designs aren't my biggest complaint though, as just looking back on this gen I can't remember having a lot of fun with it or anything that I really enjoyed. It was an exciting game at the time, we had new animations and triple/rotation battles, but something about B/W just felt bland, almost as if it didn't live up to the expectations for me personally.

However, I still haven't played B2/W2!

Generation 5 was a risky gambit that ultimately paid off with the release of Black and White. Sure Ruby and Sapphire forced you to use a lot of the new Pokemon (unless you were fine with a Zubat or Geodude early on), but with Black and White you could not get any other Gen 1-4 Pokemon until you defeat the champion. I enjoyed my playthrough of Black since it forced the players to adapt to a new region while offering a compelling story that offers a lot of character development and insights to a topic that almost everyone ignored. I think N may potentially represent Pokemon's greatest character since he's a friend, rival, villain and champion all in one package. Heck, he's one of the few trainers to actually capture and use a legendary Pokemon to battle your team. Although Black 2 and White 2 did miss the opportunity to tell a compelling story, the enhanced difficulty and challenge mode makes the main story rather challenging and the being able to battle ALL the champions of all 5 generations made up for the absent of the Battle Frontier.

BW 2 are some of my favorite games ever.

You left out arguably the most notable mechanical change: reusable TMs! It was a very welcome move, as with the ever expanding Pokédex it no longer made sense to be so restrictive with the extra teachable attacks (aside from a few move tutors), and it wouldn't have been feasible to just keep increasing the number of TMs like they did in Generation 4. It's then pretty well balanced by the fact that they don't hand out most of the really good TMs until late in the game. I just wish they wouldn't make us wait to buy some of them with large amounts of Battle Points.

Anyway, the "soft reset" thing was a pretty good experiment, but I think it would be best if it remained a one time thing. We did get a huge amount of new Pokémon out of it, most of them with excellent designs (although there will always be a few clunkers like Trubbish/Garbodor in this case; EDIT: Hey, I like Vanilluxe!), and the lack of new evolutions was refreshing after Gen 4 really went overboard in that regard.

Technically, Ash did face off against Giovanni in "Mewtwo Returns," although you're correct that the Meloetta Arc was the first time they ever directly interacted with each other.

Speaking of which, no meantion of Meloetta's Pirouette Form? Also, isn't "Kami" the Japanese word for the Shinto Gods? I always thought Tornadus, Thunderus, and Landorus were the Elemental Genies (or Djinni if you prefer the classical spelling).

@FriedSquid I'm pretty sure the monkeys were made as a way to work around the whole "have to grind to beat the 1st gym if you pick the 'wrong' (as in weak to the leaders type) starter" situation that was in the 1st go of gen 1-4 since they did it so you fight the 1st gym leader who's monkey beats your starter, but can get the monkey that beats their's before the gym to effectively put all 3 starters on equal ground for the 1st gym, which was my personal favorite quirk/gimmick of gen 5.

@ASonic3582 Well if that's the case I personally think that's a lame reason to make them. That to me just seems too easy, to give you an advantage no matter your starter. And in any case, that's a problem with most generations — they really should have the first Gym be a type that has no strengths or weaknesses to any of the starters in the first place.

Plus, those monkeys just look boring to me... I don't think I would mind so much if they made each one more different than the other, or maybe even made them different animals. I mean, imagine if every Gen 1 starter looked just like Charizard, only one was blue and another was green. I don't mind the trash or Ice cream mons, I think a lot of Gen 5 Pokemon just had lazy designs.

Sorry, rant over.

@FriedSquid Well, that wouldn't leave them with many options. The only types that are completely neutral to all three of them are Fighting, Psychic, Ghost, Dark, and Dragon (well, not neutral but equally fair in the latter's case); and I can't see them using Ghost or Dragon for the first gym.

All the love for Meloetta! XD}
jiji, well, Really I like this generation: full animated sprites; low HP and last Pokemon Music Battle; unique Gyms Music (B2 & W2); An Interesting Story and Great Characters; Beautiful Scenaries; Official Online Tournaments/Events and again, Meloetta, XD

Loved this gen, but the anime sucked balls.

As I mentioned in the 4th Generation retrospective, this right here, despite what everyone is saying, is my favorite generation. I witnessed as the first new Pokémon were announced. I love all the Pokémon here. Heck, I even watched the anime for a few episodes, found both Iris and Cilan to be extremely annoying in their own right and stopped watching that. I also love that we do have Black 2 and White 2 to show what actually happened after the first two games.
Also there's my absolute favorite Pokémon Cofagrigus. Sure, I don't know how to get him to work in a competitive battle but just look at him. He can crawl on walls and ceilings for crying outloud.
And the story was actually moving in the first two games, too. Yeah, I'm amazed at that, too. It's not Undertale or anything but you just gotta feel sorry for N.

Generation 5 has to be one of my favorite generations ever. Pokemon Black and White was an amazing return to Pokemon's glory GBA days and was a complete breath of fresh air after the crap that was Generation 4. The Pokemon designs were unique a lively, the region was full of life, the characters were likable, the plot was good, the game is full of content, it had some cool spin-offs, ect. Generation 5 was just a freaking master piece of a Generation and will forever be my favorite pokemon generation. Too bad that Generation 6 sucks so hard that it's near Generation 1 levels of bad.

I missed the start of this gen due to illness so White 2 was my first game only a few weeks before X&Y. Looking forward to the remakes in a few years time, wonder what system we'll be playing em on!

Black/White is my favourite Pokémon game. I had taken a long break from the series at that point, but so much about this was new and it completely hooked me. Not just the pokémon or the surprising focus on story, but lots of little tweaks and enhancements. I also loved Unova and thought the presentation was lovely, with improved graphics and wonderful music.

The story isn't just "good for a Pokémon game" it's legitimately good, which surprised and delighted me. It was a shame that after this game story again became an afterthought, and the less said about Black/White 2's Purrloin the better.

Many have bemoaned the pokémon designs - some were bland, which I always find to be the case, though I liked most of them - but there were some wonderful new type combinations. The bug/fire Pokémon volcarona and dark/dragon hydreigon quickly became firm favourites for me.

Pokémon White is the game that reignited my love for the series.

Gen 5 is best gen.

Black & White are the best in the series, imo. For their time, Red & Blue were equally great, but in direct comparison to Black & White their gameplay exhibits a fair number of flaws, though the overall concept, plot and feel remain just as great.

Pokemon Dream Radar and Black 2.......
They have forced me to use about 150 ppup's and about the same amount rare cadies immediately because nintendon't (no sending to X/Y)
Dream Radar only for Therian formes.......wait? You can get them easily in Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire...
Pokedex 3d Pro? Joke. You get better informations for free.

Gen 5 is like marmite. Love it or hate it, you can't live without it. Why? Because Landorus-Therian, that's why.

My least favorite generation by far. I don't like the vast majority of the Pokemon designs, and the Pokemon themselves were largely pointless additions to the series that serve no other purpose than being 5th gen counterparts to gen 1 Pokemon (because this was supposed to feel like a reboot as the article mentioned). The region was way more linear than any other Pokemon game, with the design of the world basically being a circular path, whith each new city you visit containing the next gym.

I also felt that the game tried to simulate 3D objects too much, and the graphics suffered immensely because of it. The sprites in this game were all poorly done. Pokemon moving sprites looked atrocious as the were very pixelated and stretched, rather than animated, which looked even worse as they slowed down due to losing HP in battle. In the overworld, character sprites were also very pixelated and faces were always scrunched up and distorted unless you were within one square of the character.

TLDR; Gen 5 is/was bad for a large portion of the fanbase and Game Freak knew it, which is why it was quickly swept under the rug. Only 2 core games and a 2 year run speaks for itself.

I am going to say it, Gen 5 was the worst one.

This generation introduced Meloetta, so that automatically makes it the best.

Gen V gave us Haxorus and Oshawott. It's definitely not the worst on that alone. Also reusable TMs!

Just like original R/B/Y Nintendo (or The Pokemon Co/ whoever oversees it) should release al the other gens on the 3DS or the next handheld. Even if they can't trade (with ORAS/XY out it doesn't really matter) I would love to have them all legally because I hate playing them on a pc or laptop.

@FriedSquid @BulbasaurusRex They actually took that neutrality thing in the way you 2 explained in B2/W2. Since gym 1 is normal and neutral to all 3 in those, though Riolu was avalible beforehand and if one really wanted to grind Tepig they could.

The best of all "modern" (starting from GBA) generations. The fresh air the series desperately needed. The generation that brought hope for the pokemon franchise. It is too bad that when they (GF) finaly got the courage to begin experimenting with the formula, the backslash from the fan made them return to their safe route. Now they are more focused at adding gimmicks to keep fans attention without letting any of the fresh air to the series.

Victini, Krookodile, Zoroark, Chandelure, Haxorus, Golurk, Braviary, Hydreigon, Volcarona, Zekrom, Kyurem, Keldeo and Genesect were all my favourites from Gen V

Just read throug all the articles. Really hyped for the 20th anniversary now.

Pokemon, a a great history, and hopefully great things to come.

SoulSilver was my first Pokémon game, but White just blew me away. White 2 was absolutely amazing, and holds the record for my number 1 favourite Pokémon game ever. I love the post-game, I love the story, I love the region, I love the new features, and I love the Pokémon. Easily my favourite gen!

I wish they´d do the same thing with Gen 7, having old Pokémon appear in the postgame. That's one of my favourite things while playing a new Pokémon game: discovering all the new creatures and forming the team consisting of only new Pokémon.

I was a little dissapointed with Black and White. While I enjoyed it and played it just as much as the previous titles, I didn't feel like it improved as much upon the ever-deepening Pokémon experience. The Rotation and Triple Battles were too rare to have any major effect on the game and only really shone in multiplayer. I missed many features like a Battle Frontier or a Safari Zone, and while there was a massive helping of 150+ new creatures to collect, their designs were kinda hit and miss. For every badass Seismitoad or Darmanitan there is a Klink (literally two spinning gears) or Woobat (just a Psychic-type Zubat). The graphics weren't really an improvement either, even with the battles finally being animated.

There was a lot of cool stuff, too. I did like how you don't see any Magikarps, Pikachus or Zubats, but instead find only new Pokémon you never met before (even if some are like rehashes). No forced evolutions or lower forms of old Pokémon like in Generation four, just new faces. And, while familiar, the plot has more meat because the main heroes and villians are more fleshed out, making you actually care about them. Oh, and the fact you can now use TM's over and over like HM's is a blessing and a subtle but distinctly useful improvement for competitive players. Speaking of multiplayer, the C-Gear finally made the on-the-go, social experience come full circle (and a long way since the link cables of late 90s and early 00s schoolyards). One small thing I personally really enjoyed was the first gym. At first you are tricked into believing this is a Normal-type gym full of generic creatures. But once you reach the Gym Leader, your opponent is actually decided by what Pokémon you pick at the start. It's always the one strong against your starter, so if you pick Oshawott the Water-type, you face a Grass specialist, the firey Tepig makes you face a Water-type trainer and Grass creature Snivy nets you a Fire-type master to fight. The fact that there is a replacement Pokémon available in the area - so as to mess with the Gym Leader's strategy - is a perfect example of Pokémon's depth and fun factor.

Then came Black and White 2. I was surprised they didn't opt for the mandatory third version, but went the extra mile and made a sequel instead. And what a genius move it was. The old cast from the first game was two years older. They are wiser, more mature and all the more enjoyable if you played the first game. There are many more Pokémon available right away. While it takes away the freshness of the first game, adding Pokémon from old generations is more befitting for a sequel and gave much more room for team building and experimenting with different creatures. It ultimately felt more like the game I didn't get with the first two games.

In the end, I still think they should have taken the time to make Black and White a 3DS title. What we got felt a little like a filler generation (even with the sequel being better). The rough start of Nintendo's new handheld could have been prevented if Pokémon had been a launch title.

I love the trading card games. I just got Pokemon Trading Card 2 GBC on an english fan translation cartridge! Been loving it, so much better than the 1st one.

The best story this generation has