About a year ago, I replayed Pokemon Black, and it’s still hands down one of the best mainline Pokemon titles. But that truly was all set up to bring me here, to Pokemon Black 2. Of all of the Pokemon games out there, the one game I missed of the bunch was Black 2, and it’s always been a goal of mine to actually play it. And while yes most of the dual versions are similar to each other, I feel like Black 2 and White 2 especially are different enough to acknowledge them somewhat as separate entities. Regardless of either version though, Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 are one of the best sets of games in the entire history of Pokemon, and I’m glad I finally got around to replaying them.

The first thing that’s always interesting to me about Black 2 and White 2 are that they’re the only direct sequels to prior Pokemon games. While some take place or continue storylines from older games, none are really as directly sequels like how Black 2 and White 2 are. It’s really interesting to see how Unova has changed between the two year time gap, and how characters have changed between then. Cheren is now a gym leader, Bianca is a full on assistant for Professor Juniper, so on and so forth. It’s really nice to see these characters grow beyond the game they first appear in, which happens so rarely.

One of the first big changes to Unova that’s noticeable from the start is the introduction of so many non-Unovan Pokemon. The regional Pokedex is practically doubled from what it was in Black and White, adding about 150 non-Unovan Pokemon. While I do really adore the soft-reboot style of Black and White, it makes perfect sense why they chose to do this here, and I really appreciate it. It allows for you to sort of re-experience Unova, but with Pokemon from older regions, though with my habit, I still use only Unovan Pokemon. My team for this run of Pokemon Black 2 was Samurott, Stoutland, Leavanny, Mandibuzz, Chandelure, and Beeheyem. The team itself was really fun, and I was able to really figure out how each Pokemon worked. Chandelure was without a doubt the best Pokemon in my team, and it’s one of the few Pokemon I ever kept a status move on. My team was kind of on the slow side too, which added an interesting challenge to the mix.

I mentioned in the introduction that Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 feel distinct enough to count them as different enough games. Of course they differ somewhat in story, since one features Reshiram, and the other Zekrom, but there are more differences as well. Some places are notably different aesthetically, much like in the original Black and White, Opelucid City is entirely different aesthetically. But locations like Route 4 are not only different aesthetically, but the layout and how you explore that route is different depending on the version. Some of the game’s dungeons, including Victory Road itself is laid out different depending on the version. I’ve been so used to playing White 2 that during the areas where the layouts were different, it felt so wrong, but that also made me adore the experience so much more.

Another interesting aspect when looking specifically at Black 2 and White 2 are the key systems. Upon beating the game for the first time, you unlock certain keys, depending on which version you play. One of the most interesting aspects to the Key System is that it makes it so that Black 2 and White 2 actually have difficulty settings. I’ll admit, I edited my save file so that I could play in Challenge mode. It’s something I’ve always wanted to try out, but never had the chance to. It’s unfortunate that you have to beat the game to unlock these difficulty settings, because playing Challenge Mode was exhilarating. Never was I more scared by the first battle in a Pokemon game, or the fact that each gym leader has an additional Pokemon. While I honestly didn’t struggle all too much, it was still a really fun and unique experience that I would love to see in future Pokemon games.

And in a similar vein to this, one of the coolest features that Black 2 and White 2 have is the memory link. Being able to link up with another DS with a save file of Black and White to incorporate that history of that save file into the save file of Black 2 or White 2 is awesome. That’s why I chose to play Pokemon Black and Black 2 specifically, it felt more thematic to line up those two games specifically, and allow for a sort of chronology between them. It makes these games so much more personal, and I absolutely adore it.

I think the one thing that’s somewhat weaker compared to the original Black and White is the story. While I do think Black 2 and White 2 both have amazing new characters, and still a really good story, it just simply doesn’t hit the same highs as Black and White does. What it does do though is create the perfect conclusion for the story of Unova, of Team Plasma, and of N. Hugh is probably one of the best written rivals in the Pokemon series, and these games also introduced one of the fan favorites of the series, Colress. Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 especially have one of my favorite League endings of a Pokemon game. From the music alone, it feels like a proper celebration of all you’ve accomplished, and at the end of it all, it’s time to show how strong you’ve grown from this journey. It’s such a beautiful song for the final battle of the story, I adore it.

I’m so glad I finally got a chance to play through Pokemon Black 2 proper. While I’m not unfamiliar with the Unova sequels, playing it in Challenge Mode, alongside all of the differences to the region in Black 2 specifically, made this playthrough such a unique experience for me. As well since Pokemon Black 2 was the one game I never got as a kid, it feels like some sort of destiny has been fulfilled by me finally playing it. It feels unfortunate that no Pokemon game after this, even the ones I like, never hit the same highs that Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 did. I hope maybe one day down the line we’ll be given Pokemon games that are of this level of quality again, though I’m unsure of when that will be. Regardless, Black 2 and White 2 are absolutely some of the best that mainline Pokemon has to offer.