Pokémon Black and White is really quite the experience for me. I played this numerous times during my childhood, never actually beating the game and constantly restarting over and over again. It wasn't until 2015 that I finally went through the game and finished it in early 2016. It was such an amazing experience. Playing through it again earlier this year made me remember how much of a blast I had playing through it and how much fun I still have with it. The story, the characters, the Pokémon, the battling, the graphics, etc. had me losing my mind. Pokémon has had many gems in the series but this takes the cake as the best games in the franchise. Maybe Black and White 2 will take that title when I play through them but overall, Gen 5 of Pokémon is a masterpiece.

Pokémon Platinum is a really marvelous game in the series. Well loved by Pokéfans and I can see why. While Diamond and Pearl were fun games, Platinum really takes those two and not only ramps up the difficulty, but also becomes the definitive version of Sinnoh with all that was added. I did have some issues regarding things like those damn roaming legendaries (easily one of the worst mechanics in Pokémon) with this game having 5 of them as well as the general slow engine of the game (i.e. the health bar during battles), however, Gen 4 was generally much slower compared to other gens for some reason. While not perfect, it was still a huge improvement from Diamond and Pearl and really is a highlight of the series. The DS era of Pokémon was insanely good. Definitively one of the best Pokémon games.