Improving the Flaws of BDSP: A Look at the Pokemon Black & White Remakes

Fans are anticipating remakes of Pokemon Black & White, however there are concerns about the quality of these games, particularly due to past experiences in the Sinnoh region.

The Pokemon franchise typically limits remakes to one generation per system, although the Let’s Go games may be an exception. With Nintendo confirming a successor to the Switch, it is highly likely that Gen 5 remakes will be the next installment in the franchise.

Despite the high anticipation for the Pokemon Black & White remakes, there is concern that they may not live up to their source material. This is due to the harsh criticism that Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl received from fans for being too faithful to their source material and for omitting popular features such as Secret Bases.

Pokemon Go Gyms have better options than just strong 'mons — The Pokemon Company

A discussion on the Pokemon Reddit thread focused on fans’ concerns about the upcoming Gen 5 remakes. These included worries about Game Freak entrusting the project to a different company, as seen with ILCA and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, and the potential removal of beloved features.

According to the author, there is a misconception that the Unova remakes will merge elements from both BW and BW2. However, it is more probable that the remakes will lack postgame content and only be a subpar version of BW. The author believes that features such as the Battle Subway and Dream World will be removed, resulting in a lackluster game that retains the less desirable aspects of “old Pokemon”without any improvements.

“Some users expressed their hope that Game Freak would be in charge of the remake instead of outsourcing it, as they did with BDSP. Others shared their frustration with the decision to outsource the remakes, given the underwhelming quality of recent mainline games. Another user commented that while the concept of Arceus is impressive, the actual gameplay feels like a tech demo.”

Some Pokemon players attributed the blame to the Gen 4 games themselves, suggesting that future remakes of Gen 5 will avoid similar problems.

One user argued that BD\SP are not well-designed games because they are faithful remakes of Diamond and Pearl, which are considered to be some of the weakest entries in the franchise. They believe that the Unova games, on the other hand, are the best examples of game design, largely because they were intentionally designed to be different from Diamond and Pearl. Therefore, this user believes that any BD\SP-style remakes of Unova would also be exceptional.

It is inevitable that remakes of Pokemon Black and White will be released. Game Freak would not pass up the chance to revive the Gen 5 games. The only uncertainty is whether they will be developed internally and with attention, or if they will face the same fate as the poorly executed Gen 4 remakes.