Pokémon Black and White

While Scarlet and Violet had some of the best writing in the series, Black and White are probably the Pokémon games most often recognized for their story. Similar to the recent Detective Pikachu movie, a lot of Black and White questions the ethics around the very basis of the franchise. Is it okay that humans use these critters for competitive sport? Should they be kept inside Pokéballs? Is humanity and Pokémon’s co-existence only beneficial to humans at the expense of Pokémon’s freedom? They grapple with these ideas and don’t quite reach a conclusion as revolutionary as the questions themselves, but they are more contemplative than the usual “power of friendship” status quo the series often rests on. I just don’t think it actually has the writing chops to make good on those ideas. They also take some bold choices in Pokémon selection, only allowing players to capture old favorites after they went the entire game using the new ones. Now, if only the Unova region’s Pokémon weren’t the worst.