Thread: Do you think the Westernization of Pokemon Black and White is a good thing?

I dunno, with Hispanic and African-American trainers in this game, it sorta loses its Japanese charm that the first four generations had. There are few aspects in B/W that remind people that this game is from Japan. It's like Game Freak is being all fan-servicey to Western countries instead of having its own original flair.

The idea of BW was to break away from the traditional pokemon formula. They did this by moving to a new place, having no old pokemon, and other things like that. It's not supposed to feel like the old games. But overall, I like the change.

I personally like the more familiar feel it gives me. It's a bit bizzare at first but it's nice.

Enjoy the Hispanics and African Americans while you can, because it will all be censored when the game arrives in the west. Just saying it now judging from past events.

Johto was very Japan heavy, with Ecruteak being the most obvious place. Kanto didn't have very much Japanese influence that I saw, the same with Hoenn and Sinnoh. While I play through Isshu, I doubt I will notice a lack of Japanese influence. Maybe I'll only notice the European stuff.

Isshu is based on New York, and there a few trainer classes based off of people from the United States. Otherwise, though, Black and White still feel very Japanese to me. I don't think there was a lot of Westernization with the games; at least not as much as some people make out there to be.

Seriously? I think it's great! The games are becoming more inclusive, and I think that's a good thing. I mean, there were always white people in the games, and nobody complained about that. And believe it or not, there are black people and Hispanic people in Japan.

I did notice that there were more things that reminded me of the U.S. in this game, but I didn't feel that was "catering" so much as acknowledging the diversity of the Pokemon consumers. It would be awesome if later versions concentrated on different parts of the world.

Personally, I agree that it's much more refereshing for Pokemon to move on to a different area with it's own unique culture. It will bring in more audiences with the introduction of relatable characters, but I believe Pokemon will always be known for it's Japanese origin (specifically it's name). Hopefully B/W will bring in a whole new generation of players from all over the world... I need players on the new WiFi Online feature to crush >:D.

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Besides the fact this series comes from Japan, I have not had the sense of it being "Japanese", except for obvious things like Brock and parts of Johto. If you refer to how the locations were previously based on parts of Japan, then that doesn't flipping matter. It could be based on Africa and not make a lick of difference. Besides, you know the American marketing is going to go nuts on it being based on New York.

Lieutenant Surge, the Lightning American wants a word with you.

However, Isshu does not feel heavily Western at all. Apart from one of the Post-National Dex bridges that has a very heavy European feeling, Isshu just feels like any other region. People are blowing the "Not-Based-On-Japan" thing out of proportion.

I really don't get how any of that would be a bad thing.

Originally Posted by Mr. Error

Enjoy the Hispanics and African Americans while you can, because it will all be censored when the game arrives in the west. Just saying it now judging from past events.

What are they going to do? Make their skin purple?

The only problem I'd see the localization team having is Aloe, and it's been indicated she's going to be edited in all versions of Black and White, even future Japanese versions.

They're not going to edit trainer classes for being black.

To answer the OP, I don't think it should matter whether it's a good or bad thing in the first place. It is what it is... I'm getting kind of tired of the "Japan is better than America" and the "America is better than Japan" shit myself.

Originally Posted by KPTitan

To answer the OP, I don't think it should matter whether it's a good or bad thing in the first place. It is what it is... I'm getting kind of tired of the "Japan is better than America" and the "America is better than Japan" shit myself.

I am, too.