Nowadays, remakes of classic games are pretty much commonplace. Most developers have caught up to the idea that remakes allow them to reintroduce some of their older titles to a new generation of potential fans, all while updating the game to fit with the current technological expectations. With how common remakes have become, it's easy to forget how much of a tradition Pokémon remakes are. Starting with Pokémon Leaf Green and Fire Red, the Pokémon franchise hasn't gone more than a generation or two without releasing new remakes of classic games.

With Generation 4 having already received their long-anticipated remakes, this means the next games up for the remake treatment are Pokémon Black and White. It's no secret that there's plenty of anticipation behind an updated take on Unova, but there's also a fair amount of apprehension. Fans often cite the 5th Generation of Pokémon as being the best. In other words, there's already a fairly high bar for their eventual remakes to meet. It begs the question of whether a remake of Black and White is really the right direction to go.

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Unova Still Holds up Today, Despite Being a Nintendo DS Game

Map art of Unova in Pokémon.

Remakes are meant to update a game to modern expectations while still maintaining the elements that made the original good. However, there's a very real case to make that Pokémon Black and White still hold up today. For games released on the Nintendo DS back in 2010, Game Freak pulled off some impressive things with the game's visuals. Unova's skylines were beautifully rendered in the series' then-iconic sprite work, with some genuinely impressive 3D models added in to provide weight to important landmarks.

On the topic of sprites, Black and White were the last two games to utilize sprites for the Pokémon. These sprites had fully animated motions when they were sent out into battle, as well as idle animations. It was the natural evolution from Generation 4, which introduced animated battle sprites to the series for the first time. When fans call Black and White the peak of the franchise, that's usually because they were the culmination of all the work that was put into Pokémon up until that point.

That applies to far more than just the graphics. The game's music, gameplay, Pokémon designs, and story all still hold up today. Black and White still shine when compared to many modern Pokémon games, with some fans adamant that the series has yet to surpass what Game Freak did with the 5th Generation. That isn't to say that these games are perfect, but what faults they have are minuscule compared to what the games do right.

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There Isn't Enough Wrong with Black and White to Justify Remaking It

An image of gameplay from the game, Pokémon Black and White

When talking about Black and White's faults, fans tend to disagree on what exactly those games do wrong. Some fans dislike the Pokémon designs. Some don't particularly like the Unova region. One of the few commonly agreed-upon faults of Black and White is the lack of a post-game. While this would be somewhat remedied in Black 2 and White 2, the original Generation 5 games really didn't give players all that much to do once they beat Champion Iris.

In recent years, however, fans have been able to come to an agreement that what's good or bad about Generation 5 is mostly subjective. They're not for everyone, though that could be said for any entry in the series. A potential remake of Black and White wouldn't have to do much to improve the games, outside of maybe adding in some extra content from Black 2 and White 2. The game still holds up and doesn't really have flaws that a remake could realistically improve. So, instead of remaking the games, Black and White should be ported to the Nintendo Switch.

A Port of Black and White Is the Perfect Way to Show Love to Generation 5

Pokemon Reshiram and Zekrom

While the idea of porting one of the most popular Pokémon generations might sound lazy at first, it's important to again mention how old Black and White are. These games were originally released in 2010 on a handheld that Nintendo has long since stopped supporting. New Pokémon fans have likely never experienced Generation 5 outside of emulation, so giving fans a new way to experience Unova is still an important thing to do. However, a remake would take more time than needed to improve games that have already survived the test of time.

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It's become fairly evident that Game Freak is heavily limited when it comes to the time they have to develop Pokémon games. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are absolutely amazing games that have broken sales records, but they still suffer from a severe lack of polish. With extra time, Game Freak could have taken care of the bugs and performance issues still left in the games after the Day 1 patch. Dedicating the same amount of time given to a mainline entry to develop remakes of games that don't require it simply isn't worth it.

Porting Black and White would likely be a far simpler affair, especially since there are a lot of DS games that have already made the transition to the Nintendo Switch. As long as the games are emulated correctly to preserve the visuals, Black and White would be a perfect nostalgic throwback to the handheld that predated the Switch. Also, a port doesn't eliminate the possibility of Nintendo adding more to the game, so long as Game Freak still has the original source code for Black and White on hand. A new post-game would be a perfect selling point to make these ports feel a bit more like a traditional Pokémon remake.