Black vs. White - Choosing My Next Pokémon Game

I previously established with myself that I would not purchase any more video games until I got through my current backlog of games, with most of them being the result of Black Friday deals and holiday releases.  But as I tend to do, I'm going to break that rule come March 6th when Pokémon Black and White are released.  Any other game that will be released in that time frame (or that I didn't get a chance to play yet) will be ignored, given the amount of time I've put into every Pokémon game.  Here, I'm going to make my decision of which version I will end up playing.


Version Mascot

The first thing I notice about a new Pokémon game is the version mascot on each game's box art.  Black gets the white Dragon/Fire type Reshiram and White gets the black Dragon/Electric type Zekrom.  Reshiram can't learn any Electric moves much like how Zekrom can't learn any Fire moves.  Zekrom has one more type resistance than Reshiram, though Zekrom has a weakness to the ever-useful Ice moves while Reshiram is damaged by it normally. Stat wise I'd... wait, I never use legendaries on my teams anyway! I'm just going to pick the one that I think looks cooler. I'm picking Zekrom soley on the reason that it looks pretty awesome.

Edge: Pokémon White

Other Version-Exclusive Pokémon

Years ago with Pokémon Red and Blue (and every other game up until the fourth generation of games) it was necessary to coordinate with your circle of friends on who would buy which version and who would pick which starter so that you could trade for the Pokémon missing from your game.  Thankfully this is no longer a problem as you can now trade via Wi-Fi.  While not a major decision point, it would be helpful to get the Pokémon you want without having to go through trading.  Here I'm just going to look at the new Generation V Pokémon and not take into account the older Pokémon that appear in these games.  I'll be comparing them via their counterparts in each game.  The Pokémon appearing in Black will appear first with the White Pokémon appearing second.

 Cottonee and Whimsicott vs. Petilil and Lilligant

vs

This one's easy for me: Petilil and its evolution, though the counterpart can be found in both versions via an in-game trade.

Gothita, Gothorita, and Gothitelle vs. Solosis, Duosion, and Reuniclus

vs

The Gothita line looks pretty creepy to me, so for my Psychic type I'm going to pick the funny little green aliens with the Solosis family.

Vullaby and Mandibuzz vs. Rufflet and Braviary

vs



There are simply too many other Normal/Flying bird Pokémon for me to consider Rufflet and its evolution, so I'm going for the vultures.

Tornadus vs. Thundurus

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I'm going to have to go with the God of Thunder here, Thundurus.

Edge: Pokémon White

Version-Exclusive Locations

For the first time, the two games feature a location that is exclusive to one version: Black City and White Forest.  Black City features many trainer battles and White Forest has a few trainers and wild Pokémon from previous generations.  Other than that I don't know too much about these locations.  I'm going with Black City on this one as I can transfer the Pokémon found in White Forest from my older games.

Edge: Pokémon Black

Verdict

And the game I'm going to buy come March 6th is... Pokémon White!  While I do like the mystery as what's in Black City as opposed to White Forest, I'm focusing more on the Pokémon that are exclusive to White.  But wait!  There's one more decision to make...

Starter Pokémon

Snivy vs. Tepig vs. Oshawott

First off, a review of my original choices for the first four generations (not counting remakes): Red - Bulbasaur, Silver - Totodile, Emerald - Torchic, and Diamond - Piplup.  I've chosen the Water starter twice already, so Oshawott is out of the running.  As awesome as a fire pig sounds, for the third generation in a row the Fire starter gains Fighting as its secondary type when it evolves, so I'm eliminating Tepig since it's failing to do something new.  That leaves the sassy little green guy, Snivy.  I haven't picked the Grass starter for a while, so now seems like a good time.  (Though it will be hard not to name the little guy "Smugleaf" as the internet has popularly called him.)

So, which version will you be getting?  I've added a poll to the right sidebar.

EDIT: I've changed all of the Japanese names to the supposed leaked English names.

All images and additional information courtesy of Bulbapedia and Serebii.net