AtomicGreymon

Well, Gold/Silver were playable on the old 1989 Game Boys. Granted, they looked like completely different games when run on a GBC... and color alone added quite a bit to Gen II, despite the overall similarity in graphics and sprites. Color was something Gen I just didn't have; period. This, on the other hand... as stated, the camera hack for Hg/Ss allows you to shift the angle in those games to approximate what we're seeing so far in these screenshots. It's true that these screens look better, but I think that's mostly because this time the feature is being officially implemented, and the buildings and such are designed with the increased depth of field in mind. The few instances of this we actualy got officially in Hg/Ss (on the roof of Celadon Mansion, and halfway up Olivine Lighthouse), it was very similar to these Gen V visuals. Whether the engine is exactly the same or not, it's clear that it hasn't been upgraded very much; and GF seems to be trying to cover for that by implementing the 3D camera angles on a wide-scale, to give the illusion of more improvement than is really there. Ultimately, though, it probably isn't entirely their fault. Nintendo left the DS around for quite a long time, and apparently they didn't tell Game Freak about the 3DS early enough for B&W to be made as launch titles. The end result of that procrastination is that we're apparently beginning a new generation of Pokemon with a handheld that's likely to be displaced within 2-3 months of the games' release date.

While I'm inclined to agree, the fact there are new Pokemon in these games is probably enough to qualify them as Gen V (though I'm not particularly happy with the graphics).

Not sure if that would be possible; I haven't used any DSi-enhanced Wi-Fi games, so I have no idea how it works. WPA is hardly "advanced", anyway. I'll admit that it should've been included in the DS from day 1; WEP is a joke.

For the same reason there has only been 2 or 3 DSi-exclusive cartridges released in the year and a half the DSi has been on the market. The vast majority of DS owners still have Phats or Lites, and have no interest in updating to the DSi, since it's only a redesign and not a brand new generation. If Hg/Ss had been DSi-exclusives, then Nintendo would've lost out on the huge sales to Phat and Lite owners. The 3DS is the next-generation of handheld (like the move from the GBA to DS Phat), and inevitably people will either upgrade or lose the ability to play new games. That isn't a choice, whereas it was up to users if they wanted to go out and buy a DS Lite if the already had a Phat, or a DSi if they already had one of the other two types of earlier DS.

I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say. The 3DS is already known to have backwards compatibility (meaning it can play DS games, and probably access the DSi store to download DSi Ware, as well), however unlike the DSi, the 3DS is a next-generation successor to the DS. The only real Wi-Fi advantage the DSi has over earlier models is compatibility with WPA security; of course you can only do that if you're playing a DSi game, as the feature isn't backwards compatible with older DS games. For this reason, it would've been silly for Platinum to have included the feature; regular DS users would've been left out in the cold. There's also the fact that Platinum came out before the DSi. The 3rd version of Gen V isn't likely to come out until sometime in 2012... by then the 3DS will have been on the market for well over a year, perhaps even a year and a half. The DS/DSi will be dead (and buried) at that point, no argument about it. I'm sure Nintendo will continue to sell DSi's and XL's for some time after the 3DS launches (maybe even as long as a year), but new titles will slowly peter out; and the quality of these games will decrease even more quickly. The 3DS will be the primary focus of both Nintendo, and its high-quality developers. There's no way Game Freak will publish another main series game on the DS after Black & White. The enhanced remake of B&W will be a 3DS title.

Those of us talking about the "inevitable 3rd version" were talking about Gen V's equivalent of Blue (in Japan), Crystal, Emerald, or Platinum. Basically, the enhanced remake. Gen V's is likely to be a 3DS title, as the DS will be completely dead by the time it comes out.

But these games have been stated to be coming later this year; not 2 years from now. It's likely they'll be out sometime between September and November, just as the past 3 Generations have all been launched in those months. Except they've announced, and continue to state in subsequent releases of information, that these games will be out very soon.... possibly as soon as 6 months from now. Nintendo isn't in the habit of announcing a game years before it's coming anymore. Even if they'd announced these games a year ago instead of a few weeks ago, there'd have been more room to possibly push back the release. But it's now way too late in the game for Nintendo not to know whether these games are being pushed back or not. If they were planning that, they wouldn't have announced them for the later part of this year. They'd have just left the release date up in the air. I'm not happy about these two being on the DS, either. It is a dying system; but there's not much arguing at this point that Black & White, at least, will be regular DS games. The 3rd version is likely to be a 3DS title, though; so I can live with that.

As far as systems go, though, the DS is as far as it goes. Whether there'll be a few 3DS-enhanced features thrown in... that's possible (as a hint of what's to come in the 3rd version, which will almost surely be 3DS-exclusive now that the first two are confirmed DS games). But the games clearly have standard DS graphics, and will be intended primarily for the DS. The 3DS is rumoured to have the power of the Gamecube; these screenshots so far would be an insult to such a system.

Whether there's a 3DS logo or not, were these games intended for that system Nintendo would've included no logo whatsoever on the new page. The DS Logo clearly, beyond any doubt, indicates that these are regular DS games. The only look massive, thanks to the increased depth of field that the new camera angles in some locations give. I doubt they're any larger (in RAM, anyway) than equivalent locations in Gen IV. The graphics are basically just Hg/Ss with some tweaking, and a modified camera angle. The 3DS is likely to be capable of so much more than what we're seeing in these screenshots. The screens show the same type of limited, pseudo-3D effect that the DS has always been capable of.

Just because of the shifted perspective for some of the shots? There are codes for Hg/Ss to allow the camera perspective to be shifted, and can create a very similar effect to how some of those Gen V shots look: http://gbatemp.net/index.php?showtopic=213543 All that's been done with these screenshots is making the 3-D aspect a little more pronounced (by designing scenery and buildings to make better use of it), since it's an official feature this time. From the shots we've seen so far, the graphics aren't very far at all beyond what we've seen in Hg/Ss. For a new generation, that's dissapointing... and exactly why I wanted these to be on the 3DS. The redesigned Pokemon Centre looks nice, and the battle screen (the frame of it we've seen, anyway) looks good.

They're obviously DS games; that much is indicated by the DS Logos :rolleyes: But the 3DS isn't set to release March 2011... the press release clearly said "in the fiscal year ending March 2011". That could mean next week, next month, or anytime up until next March. Based on past releases, the most likely release period for the 3DS is in October or November, this year. Better to launch a totally new generation of handheld when there's some holiday shopping going on, as opposed to the first quarter of 2011 when people will still be reeling from their holiday credit card bills. There's also the fact that the Gamecube, DS Phat, Wii, DSi, and DSi XL all launched around the end of their respective release years (in Japan). The only (kind of ) recent device to get a Q1 release was the DS Lite, and that was years ago; and didn't signify the beginning of a new generation of hardware. So in all likelihood, we'll have Pokemon Black & White coming out; probably around September... and then the 3DS launching one and a half or two months later. Not sure how good that'll look, IMO. I'm still really looking foward to the games, of course, but I can't help but be dissapointed they're being released on a dying system.

True, but that argument can be made for any new hardware launch, at any time. Doesn't mean we shouldn't all stick with the same thing for years, on end... or else we'd be playing NES Fit, Pokemon Diamond on our trusty 1989 Game Boys, and posting on the Project Pokemon BBS from our 386's running Windows 3.11 (for networks :tongue:). A Pokemon launch title could have potentially increased 3DS sales by quite a bit... but now we have Gen V beginning its life on a dying handheld, with an expiration date already on the calender. Assuming the rumours are true, and the 3DS really does have Gamecube-esque power and graphics (ignoring the stereoscopic stuff), I wouldn't be surprised if a Mario Sunshine port were a launch title (to counter Mario 64 DS), along with some other great games. If the 3DS is even most of what people say it's going to be, I think it'll have a pretty high early-adoption rate.

Between Generations, at least, we've had a bit of a jump each time. If Gen V looks like a barely-enhanced version of Hg/Ss, it'll be a little dissapointing on the visuals front. Releasing a brand-new Pokemon generation on a console which will probably be supplanted by the 3DS no more than a few months after the game comes out? Seems a bit of a risky move. Admittedly, they'll be playable on the 3DS, but they'll look like crap beside those 3DS launch titles.

I was wondering when this would show up here. The dissapointing thing about this announcement is that the DS logo pretty much cements the fact these games will be for the DS, as opposed to the 3DS. I'm not expecting much of a graphical leap beyond what we saw in Hg/Ss, at this point... the DS will have been around 6 years by the time these games come out, and I think we've seen pretty much all it's capable of. Even had these games been DSi-exclusive titles, the possibility would've been there with the processor clocked at twice the speed, and 4x the RAM. But can the regular DS really be capable of any more?

For these games? No, not that I've ever heard. Very few people even have the ability to dump the save from those old GB/GBC cartridges, compared to the ease with which it can be done for GBA and DS games. I'd kind of like a *.sav file myself, though... one with a legitimate Mew obtained from a Nintendo event. That's the one Pokemon I'm missing from my original games:frown:

Same here; after the power plant thing I talked to the copycat on my first visit Saffron, however I waited until I'd beaten all the Kanto gyms before going back to the Fan Club to and triggering Latios. I've now finished creating save backups for nearly all SoulSilver's legendaries except for Latias and Rayquaza (I'm waiting for the real Wi-Fi event for the former, and I need to quickly play through a copy of HeartGold to get a Kyogre so I can do the latter). While I was at it, I also created save backups for a few of the other more unique one-time-only events... the Red Gyarados, ExtremeSpeed Dratini, Kanto Starters, and Hoenn Starters (in case I ever want another unique specimen of any of them). On my actual cartridge I chose Bulbasaur and Mudkip as my other starters, since I'd gone with Cyndaquil as my Johto starter (one of each type seemed like a good way to go). And I went with Giratina for the Sinjoh Ruins/Arceus event, since that's the only legitimate way to get a Griseous Orb in these games (as the item can't be held for a trade).

Yeah, it's annoying. In addition to my permanent FireRed, I bought a used LeafGreen cartridge at a local game store and plalyed through it twice in order to catch the other legendary beasts. So a lot of time spent on catching what are, for the most part, quite useless Pokemon for anything beyond merely collecting dust in their PC Box. You could use an AR to modify their IVs, I suppose, but upon doing that they'd no longer be legit (since due to this glitch, it's impossible to catch such beasts within the game itself). The only way to get legit legendary beasts with better IVs is to get them from the story mode of Pokemon: Colosseum. On one hand, I was pretty annoyed with their stats... but on the other hand, I do like having all three beasts caught at a Kanto location; I doubt a ton of people played 3 times through in order to get each one.

That's where I ordered mine, and they seem reliable. You'd need to e-mail to find out what countries they ship to outside the U.S. and Canada, though. Other than that store, the only real option at the moment seems to be buying it from original manufacturer in Hong Kong. There's also a seller on eBay, located in HK, that seems to be offering them; but for around $34 USD.

Was this what the shiny Eevee was given out for in Japan this year? We go the shiny Milotic at the last one... I wonder if the Eevee will be available this year?

There's still a decent amount of hope Gen V could end up on the 3DS... although many websites seem to be throwing around the "March 2011" date, in actually reading the PDF statement on Nintendo of Japan's website, they only state: So in actual fact, that could mean September or October this year as easily as February or March 2011. Things are really starting to look up for Gen V.

I really hope Gen V moves to this system. Even if the first two versions are just a partial port, only using the 3D in certain special parts of the game (like the Distortion World in Platinum, etc.) and then with the 3rd version (and remakes, if there are any) being a 3DS-exclusive.

That's great Klaatu, thanks for the info. Now all I need is to wait for is the NDS Adapter Plus I ordered to arrive, and then I can backup a save for Entei and Raikou (right now I'm standing right in front of the ladder that goes down to their basement in the Burned Tower), and continue with my game. I guess I'm not the only one that likes keeping save backups like this. I also did it for Gen III, although as you said the Roamers back then weren't really worth it. Fortunately the GBA games didn't exactly have a lot of them... the Lati twins in R/S/E and one of the legendary beasts in Fr/Lg. I didn't bother making save backups for any of them, but I've got every other legendary from each of the three Gen III games I've got (Ruby, Emerald, and FireRed). Fortunately the Lati@s roamers aren't really that much of an issue. I can still go back and capture different specimens of each, thanks to Southern Island. I have a Ruby backup on Southern Island for Latias, and an Emerald backup for Latios (I chose Latias as the roamer in Emerald for this reason). Unfortunately Rudolph's Tools won't work with Hg/Ss... not unless someone makes an update patch for them. And there's no telling when (or if) that could happen. Apparently the developer of PokesavDS is going to try and implement the ability to dump Hg/Ss saves into a future version. Until then, the NDS Adapter Plus is the only way to get a Hg/Ss onto your computer.

It's only been a day; you can't expect instant replies. Anyway, there are already a few threads about Hg/Ss save backups with answers posted; so I guess people may not have been inclined to answer yet another one. However, now that I'm here, Hg/Ss can't be backed up by traditional methods. The cart is built differently to accomodate the IR port for the Pokewalker, so hombrew backup apps (and the ARDSi) don't know where to look for the saved data. Personally I've never used an ARDSi, so I have no idea if it can be updated via firmware to fix issues like this. The only way to backup Hg/Ss saves (for now) is to use the NDS Backup Adapter Plus. It's possible that homebrew apps like Rudolph's tools may eventually be updated for Hg/Ss compatibility (someone's already discovered the hardware differences that are currently preventing traditional tools from working), but I have no idea how fast that would happen (or if it even will).

Well... the dates for this giveaway are stated right in the first post. Basically last Saturday was the final day for the event (they timed to to end right before Hg/Ss came out). So yeah, it's too late to get it at the store. If you use Pokesav, you can get it that way. The Wonder Card is available for download in the event section.

I may live in Canada but I'm reasonably close to the border and unless you actually live in NYC I've probably spent a lot more time there than you have. Regardless, I'm simply rarely in favour of any kind of censorship; for any reason (and personally I feel it's even more important to check myself on issues that might be closer to me personally, since I don't want to give into my own bias). If the Burned/Brass and Tin Towers had ever actually been referred to in the game as "Twin Towers" or something like that, that should obviously be removed (like the Space Shuttle Columbia was removed from FireRed/LeafGreen... it was the exact name). Tin is a type of metal, and can't be made to be a synonym for Twin. This was simply a case of translation differences. Nintendo didn't mind leaving the Tin Tower name in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum and nobody ever kicked up a fuss (and there are losers out there like Jack Thompson who go through every videogame line-by-line in order to find something to complain about).