Wonder Trade Chirstmas

Last Christmas, a few of the Pokemon players on Reddit got together and said " Hey, why don't we breed pokemon for the younger kids that will be getting X and Y for Christmas, and then put these Pokemon up on Wonder Trade." A lot of the community joined in and made Wonder Trade Christmas happen. This past November, Pokemon Omeg Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released in November, meaning that a lot of kids will be getting one or both of these games for Christmas, and the community wants to give them some Pokemon to start out their journey with. Now the goal of Wonder Trade Christmas is not necessarily to put up 6 IV perfect nature Pokemon up(you can if you wish) but to put up pokemon that would catch a little kid's eye, such as starters or Eevee's or in some special cases legendaries. For most people though, they'll try to send out Pokemon with egg moves or hidden abilities so that they'll be something special. This Christmas, I will be participating in Wonder Trade Christmas, sending out 3-5 IV Oshawatts that know Night Slash, and egg move, for all those little kids(and adults) getting  Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. I might also send out a box of 2-5 IV Nidorans of both genders, some with the egg moves Venoshock and Poison Tail to add a little joy to a kid's Christmas.

So please, this Christmas, while you are enjoying your presents and egg nog, try and breed a few Pokemon that can be sent on Wonder Trade to help a young boy or girl start their journey to become a Pokemon Master.I believe it is our duty as the generation that grew up on Pokemon to help those just beginning their journey and give them a little gift that might make a difference in their game.

Merry Christmas!!

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

I admit, when I heard Generation 3 was going to be remade, I honestly had some doubts of how they would handle it being on the 3DS and how they would mix together the mega-evolutions into Hoenn. Worst yet, they were introducing new mega-evolutions into Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (ORAS) which made me skeptical. How would this affect game play? Would it alter the games I once loved and still have Pokemon from? Although there were some differences, these games still retained a lot of the same joy as the originals did ten years ago.


Seeing Hoenn in 3D really brought back a lot of memories from when I first started playing. The intro of Professor Birch in the Original Gameboy Advance graphics really hit it home for me, and this isn't even 5 minutes in. All of the locations look almost exactly as they did in Ruby and Sapphire except in 3D. When you dive now, if there is no grass, you can see the Pokemon peeking up at you from in the trenches, and riding on the back of Latios/Latias is an amazing sight to see. Having better graphics than Ruby and Sapphire did ten years ago enabled me to see more of what they were trying to do, such as Flannery's gym being a hot spring, or design of Tate and Liz's gym looking more psychic like.  Now,  one of my gripes is Mauville City, which used to be simplistic, now has changed into a mega-mall style city, that honestly was a pain to navigate.Another weird issue is the fact the transitions between the routes was not smooth like they were in original Ruby and Sapphire. It made the routes easier to navigate but having the awkward transitions broke the immersion for me. 

The elements they brought from Pokemon X and Y helped the game progress a lot faster than it did in Ruby and Sapphire. The experience share constantly being on made it so that I didn't have to worry about raising the one weak Pokemon on my team by throwing it out in front of my team. Although this is a constant complaint in the Pokemon world, they made it so you can toggle it on or off, like in X or Y. The primordial evolutions helped with the story line to help show Kyogre's and Groudon's true power in the past. Kyogre's Primordial Sea and Groudons Desolate Land are amazing and add a new power to them. The mega-evolutions keep their distance for the most part but they make their return at the Delta Episode.

The post game not lacking in things to do, unlike X and Y. The Delta Episode was full of fast passed action, with Zinnia, a young girl, goes around taking everyone's mega stones in hopes of reviving Rayquaza. After catching Rayquaza, you get a chance to catch the mysterious Deoxys. Being able to catch Deoxys, a former event only Pokemon, made me really excited due to the fact back when I was playing Ruby and Sapphire, I couldn't get Deoxys legitimately.

The new Mega-evolutions introduced in ORAS added a bit of hype to the game for me, although some of the Mega-evolutions didn't fit the theme of Hoenn.  Mega-Altaria and Mega-Sharpedo really brought the theme of Hoenn home, along with Mega-Rayquaza. They also brough up the starter Mega-Evolutions, although the artistic design of Swampert was not pleasing where as Mega-Blaziken and Mega-Sceptile seemed to ooze power.The addition of Mega-Audino and Mega-Slowbro felt awkward but I was glad to see a Generation 5 Pokemon get a mega evolution.

All in all, I'd recommend these games to any pokemon fan despite their flaws(and too much water), young or old, whether it is their first Pokemon game, or if they are a Pokemon master, any person will have fun with these games.

Why Black and White 2 Will Be the Death of Pokemon

If your an avid Pokemon fan like me, then you know that there are currently 649 Pokemon in existence as of Generation V. We have reached the games cleverly named Black and White and that we are due for the sister game. News of new Generation V games hit the new recently, with a scheduled release in Japan of June 2012, however, this news was not what most fans expected: Two games called Pokemon Black and White 2. That's right, a direct sequel to long-loved series that many grew up on. While this maybe ground-breaking for the Pokemon world, I think, however, that this will be the death of Pokemon.

My first complaint is that we are not getting a sister game to the long loved series. In every generation, we have had the two main games, starting with Pokemon Red and Blue versions, and the sister game was Yellow, then we progress to Gold and Silver, accompanied by Crystal, and so forth and so forth. In generation V, we were hoping for the sister game that put a different spin on the story line, and by the titles Black and White 2, we are implying that these will sequels, not sisters games, like the Pokemon Grey we were hoping for. For most people, the sequels to Pokemon Black and White would destroy a long standing tradition in the Pokemon games.

According to pre-release info that this would be a totally new and different story line, which does not make sense for the game to be called Black and White 2. There will be new protagonist designs, and, unlike Black and White, it looks like you'll be able to find Pokemon from previous generations. Now, when I think sequels, I would think that it would have at least some common themes from the game before it, effectively making it a sequel, not an add-on. From what it looks like from the trailer, there isn't even the same gym leaders from the original Black and White; it's totally new. I think that if they were going to pull this stunt, I think I'd rather take the sister game to Black and White, and perhaps cross my fingers for the sixth generation.

On the subject for the sixth generation, I do not see it happening at this point. There are 649 Pokemon in the Pokemon universe, spanning five generations, and to be quite honest, the design concepts for the fifth generation were not that good. If they are making a Pokemon based off an ice-cream cone, then they have clearly run out of ideas for Pokemon. I think that the Pokemon industry is slowing down, and the reason that they are pushing the Black and White 2 to be in the fifth generation is because I honestly cannot see the sixth generation coming. I think Nintendo would have to develop a new hand held system that can actually sell well, and not just a spin-off from previous existing systems. (I'm looking at you 3-DS) The previous two generations have been released on the DS, but I think that trend might end soon, and they need a new platform to launch games on. Another reason why I can't see a Sixth Generation game is because let's face it: they have pretty much run out of colors and minerals to name their games after.

The premise for the games is decent, but if the enemies are the same as they were in Pokemon Black and White, I honestly do not want to play it. I do not feel like battling the PETA of the Pokemon world again, Team Plasma. Pokemon is not supposed to be heavily story based, as they tried to make it in generation V. True, the previous generations had the evil team that tried to steal everyone's Pokemon, and a somewhat decent story that you sort of had to pay attention to, but not to the point of Generation V. The political themes that made its way into the game were almost unbearable, from animal cruelty to even some anti-war ideas.

As for Black and White 2, I can hope and pray that it will better than its predecessors, but at this point, I have partially given up on Pokemon just for the fact that they have clearly run out of ideas. I was thinking that since they have a Black and White 2, it would be in a different generation, but as it is in the fifth generation, I expect this to flop, but if it sells, I would not be surprised due to the fact the fans want something better than the original Black and White. I can hope that this will better, but only the release of it will tell.