While the rest of the world will have to wait until early next year for the launch of the eagerly anticipated fifth generation of Pokemon, Japan gets dibs on it, as with other games in the franchise. In the weekly Pokemon variety show, Pokemon Sunday, it was announced that the rather unimaginatively named Pokemon Black and White will be releasing in Japan this fall, September 18, to be precise.
The games are supposed to be a complete overhaul of the series. They take place in an all new region, feature a new camera as opposed to the traditional fixed overhead view, introduce another hundred new monsters to track down and collect, and feature an all new storyline. However, not much else is known, as funnily enough, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company have been very secretive about the latest Pokemon games this time around.
Pokemon Black and White release exclusively for the Nintendo DS. No details on the western release were revealed, although one can safely peg it to be around March-April 2011.
You can watch the announcement clip below. Be warned, though, it’s in Japanese.
Update: The video is no longer available.