Generation V
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The fifth generation of Pokémon, known by fans due to its version names as the monochrome generation, is the fifth installment of the Pokémon series. Like previous generations, the first installments, Pokémon Black and White, were released as a pair. For the first time since Generations I and II, the games were released on the same platform as all five of the previous generation's main series titles, in this case the Nintendo DS.
Unova, the new region introduced in this generation, is known to be far away from the regions of previous generations. Unlike the past four, Unova is based on an area outside of Japan, drawing inspiration from the New York City metropolitan area.
The Generation V games are able to communicate with the five Generation IV games in the same way that the Generation III games can communicate with the Generation IV games, with players able to transfer Pokémon via a method similar to Pal Park. Pokémon caught in a Generation III game are able to move forward to Generation V by passing through Generation IV games.
Generation V occurs an unknown amount of time after Generation II and Generation IV. The Team Rocket Grunt who stole the Machine Part makes a cameo appearance, saying that while he had intended to revive Team Rocket upon returning home, he instead fell in love and had a son. Cynthia mentions visiting the Distortion World and being defeated by a young Trainer as Sinnoh League Champion.
Advances in gameplay
Being the first games on the same console as their predecessors since Generation II, the Generation V games enhance the Pokémon experience on the DS in several ways. Advancements introduced in Generation V include:
- The addition of 156 new Pokémon, bringing the total to 649. No Pokémon from previous generations can be found in Unova itself until after the National Pokédex is obtained.
- The addition of 92 new moves, bringing the total to 559.
- The addition of 41 new abilities, bringing the total to 164. Many older Pokémon are allowed to have new abilities, including some that were introduced in Generation III and Generation IV, by transferring them from the Dream World. This effectively gives most Pokémon three legitimate abilities, rather than the two which have been standard since Generation III.
- Yet another region to explore, the Unova region, far away from the previous four and based on New York City, rather than a region of Japan.
- A new villainous team, Team Plasma, whose goals include separating the worlds of Pokémon and humans to make a black and white world.
- Triple battles and rotation battles are now a part of gameplay, which are variations of battling like double battles.
- The introduction of seasons, which alternate every month.
- Expanded variance in camera placement, making the cities and towns of Unova more real and lifelike.
- The Poké Mart is now combined with the Pokémon Center.
- Introduction of the Entralink, which allows players to visit each other in-game, rather than just inside of the Union Room.
- The new Pokémon Global Link, which allows players to connect their games to the internet to view statistics or download some changes to the games, such as the design of the Pokédex. This also grants players access to the Pokémon Dream World, where players may befriend Pokémon and send them over to their games.
- Weather conditions and the current time are now displayed on the bottom screen during battle when making selections as to what to do during the turn.
- One new variant of Poké Ball, the Dream Ball, retaining the 25 found in previous games.
- The Apricorn Poké Balls and the Sport Ball are inaccessible without hacking and do not function as Poké Balls even if acquired; however, Pokémon caught in these Poké Balls in HeartGold and SoulSilver retain them when sent to a Generation V game. The Park Ball has been completely overwritten by the Dream Ball.
- Pokémon now move constantly throughout battle, with animations reminiscent of those of Pokémon Crystal, rather than the two-sprite distortion method that has been the standard since Pokémon Emerald. Differently from before, they don't stop moving. The speed in which Pokémon move changes as the HP goes down and with status conditions.
- The back sprites of Pokémon show the Pokémon's body in full, with their poses and animations being the same as the front sprite, but seen from behind.
- The battle music changes under certain conditions. When one of the player's Pokémon on the battlefield has less than 25% of their HP, the music changes to a faster, more suspenseful music. When battling a Gym Leader's last Pokémon, the music also changes.
- The overworld music also changes in certain circumstances. Almost all the routes now have instruments that differ between the seasons, and layers that activate and deactivate when the player walks or stops, respectively; while music that plays in some towns and cities have layers that can be added by talking to citizens. These people can be seen playing different musical instruments like piano, guitar, etc.
- In the Japanese version of the game, the option to display kanji in game menus and text is available, in addition to hiragana and katakana as in the previous four generations.
- In international versions of the game, non-nicknamed Pokémon names are displayed with only one capital letter, rather than having all capital letters prior to Generation V.
- A reduction in boxes in the Pokémon storage system from 18 to 8, giving players the ability to store only 240 Pokémon, the same as Generation I. Additional space is available once the player has placed one captured Pokémon in each of the 8 boxes, then receiving an additional 8 boxes for storage, bringing the total to 16. This cycle continues until the player finally has 24 boxes, for a storage total of 720 Pokémon.
- TMs have expanded from 92 to 95. Many of the 92 TMs found in Generation IV contain different moves.
- The number of HMs has been reduced from eight to six. The first four remain the same as during the first four generations; HM05 is now Waterfall and HM06 is now Dive.
- The expansion of the Key Item shortcut feature to include access to several menu screens. After being registered, the player can access a quick access menu by pressing the Y Button.
- While the framerate for the overworld is still 30, the framerate has been increased to 60 for battles, the title screen, and 2D menus. However, the opening only has a framerate of 15.
Alterations from Generation IV
- The abandonment of Pokémon Contests and the Pokéathlon in favor of the Pokémon Musical, a different type of competition which does not factor in a Pokémon's moves.
- Seals and Ball Capsules are no longer available for use on Poké Balls.
- The ???-type does not exist in this generation. Curse is now a Ghost-type move.
- Rotom's other forms are now the type of their respective special move.
- Pokémon in the party can no longer follow the player outside of battle.
- The abandonment of encounter rate differences based on the time of day.
- Gym Leaders and Elite Four members no longer have animated sprites like those of Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver versions (although certain characters still do have animated sprites).
- The option to have the Running Shoes on at all times in HeartGold and SoulSilver versions has been removed.
- In the Wi-Fi Club, there is no longer an option to set all Pokémon at level 100.
- Items are displayed in a list format rather than the six-cell pages that were seen in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
- Mixing records is no longer a feature.
- The persistent bottom-screen menu from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver is no longer present, as that screen now displays the C-Gear.
Region
Unova
- Main article: Unova
Like previous generations, another new region, the Unova region, is introduced in Pokémon Black and White. Unlike the previous four regions, which are relatively close in respect to one another, Unova has been revealed to be distant from them, with the only way to travel between it and the other four being boat or airplane.
Starter Pokémon
The starters of the Unova region, like the starters of the previous four regions, follow the Grass-Fire-Water trio, with Snivy the Template:Type2, Tepig the Template:Type2, and Oshawott the Template:Type2.
Gym Leaders
| Unova League | |||||||||||
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| Generation V | Region: Unova | ||||||||||
| Gym Leader Japanese |
Location Japanese |
Type | Badge
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 Cilan デント Dent |
 Chili ポッド Pod |
 Cress コーン Corn |
Striaton City サンヨウシティ Sanyou City |
Grass, Fire and Water |  Trio Badge | ||||||
 Lenora アロエ Aloe |
Nacrene City シッポウシティ Shippou City |
Normal |  Basic Badge | ||||||||
 Burgh アーティ Arti |
Castelia City ヒウンシティ Hiun City |
Bug |  Insect Badge | ||||||||
 Elesa カミツレ Kamitsure |
Nimbasa City ライモンシティ Raimon City |
Electric |  Bolt Badge | ||||||||
 Clay ヤーコン Yacon |
Driftveil City ホドモエシティ Hodomoe City |
Ground |  Quake Badge | ||||||||
 Skyla フウロ Fuuro |
Mistralton City フキヨセシティ Fukiyose City |
Flying |  Jet Badge | ||||||||
 Brycen ハチク Hachiku |
Icirrus City セッカシティ Sekka City |
Ice |  Freeze Badge | ||||||||
 Drayden シャガ ShagaWrong template. See Template:Sup/doc. |
 Iris アイリス IrisWrong template. See Template:Sup/doc. |
Opelucid City ソウリュウシティ Souryuu City |
Dragon |  Legend Badge | |||||||
Discussion of Generation V
Unova thematic motif
The fifth generation of Pokémon games focuses on the relationships between opposites, such as nature and industry or humans and Pokémon. This comes from the concept of Yin and Yang, which the legendary mascots of Pokémon Black and White, Reshiram and Zekrom, are based on, with another reference being that Reshiram is the mascot of Black and Zekrom being the mascot of White, both are opposite colored to the game's color, while version mascots beforehand had always matched. The Musketeer trio also represent this theme as they are trying to prevent Pokémon from losing their natural habitats to human industry. The generation's main antagonists, Team Plasma, also fit in with this theme, as their goal is to separate Pokémon from humans. Some of the cities also reflect this theme by being aesthetically different depending on the version of the game; two major examples of this are Black City and White Forest, two version-exclusive locations. The Dream World, which is supposed to combine dreams and reality, also fit into this theme.
Trivia
- The Japanese logo of the Pokémon games was redesigned once again for Generation V's releases; the first logo was used in Generation I and Generation II, and the second during Generation III and Generation IV.
- The text for the English boxes also received a new design.
- Generation V introduces the most new Pokémon to the series, 156, five more than Generation I introduced.
- Generation V is the first generation since Generation I not to introduce any baby Pokémon or cross-generational relatives.
- Generation V is also the first generation where the number of legendary Pokémon did not increase from the previous generation. In this case, both Generation V and Generation IV introduced 13 legendary Pokémon.
- Generation V is the only generation where:
- There is only one fishing rod, as the Old Rod and Good Rod have been removed.
- Three legendary trios (the Musketeer, Kami, and Tao trios) are introduced.
- There is an event-exclusive TM.
- The primary paired versions were released in Europe before North America.
- Generation V is also the only generation without:
- A new move as an HM: all six HMs have previously been available as HMs.
- The introduction of a new branched evolution: all Generation V Pokémon which can evolve only evolve into one Pokémon species.
- A Game Corner: this likely is due to changes in European law, which caused the European release of Pokémon Platinum to lack Game Corner games and caused international versions of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver to completely alter the Game Corners to feature Voltorb Flip instead of the traditional slot machines.
- A Cycling Road: no place in Unova specifically requires the player to ride his or her bicycle.
- The simultaneous occurrence of another generation: Generation I and Generation III occur at the same time, while Generation II and Generation IV both occur three years later than the previous. Generation V is known to occur some time after Generation II and Generation IV, due to Cynthia, Caitlin, and the former Team Rocket Grunt's mentioning of events of those generations as being past events.
- A new cross-generation evolution or pre-evolution (besides generation I, of course, because there was no generation before that)
- A visit to Kanto for the player, and the appearance of its regional professor, Professor Oak.
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This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games. |
