I purchased “Pokemon Black Version” for the Small One. She loves it more than life itself. She’s on the DS for as long as I and her Mom will allow.
Question; is Pokemon White Version actually a substantially different game? Is there any point in getting it?
It might be worth noting that the Small One is five and not a great reader yet, so to be honest a lot of the game’s subtleties are probably lost on her.
My oldest son has White, my youngest and I both have Black. They are almost identical. The story lines are identical. The only reason to get both for her would be if she’s a completist and has to “catch 'em all” and doesn’t know anybody else she can trade with. (And even then you’d need 2 DSs to do the trading)
The differences boil down to a handful of Pokemon that are available in the wild in only one game or the other, but they can be traded between games.
Also, there is one difference in the game map. In Black, there is a city called Black City. This is replaced in White by White Forest. This area does not play any part in the main story (in fact, you can’t even access it until after the credits roll)
The other differences are mostly cosmetic or trivial:
[ul]
[li]The final gym leader is different (Drayden in Black, Iris (costar of the current cartoon) in White) , but has the same set of Pokemon with the same move sets. [/li][li]The penultimate boss battle Pokemon are reversed (In Black you have Reshirom while N has Zekrom - In White it’s the opposite)[/li][/ul]
So , IMO, no, there’s no point in a single person getting both games. If you play together as a family, it’s good to have complimentary versions to do trades to complete your Pokedex. But one person playing both games would be very repetitive.
Besides, if Nintendo follows the pattern they have the previous 4 generations, in about 2 years, they will release a combined version and soak you for another $35 at that time. If she’s like my kids, she will want it. So save your money for then.
Another small difference is that the futuristic city in Black has a more antiquated theme in White.
But yea the previous poster summed it up perfectly. Just a few basically cosmetic differences that don’t really justify a repurchase on their own. It should be pointed out though that the the games only allow for one save file. So should someone love the game enough to want to replay it, as I did, getting the other version could provide another 30+ hours of enjoyment and thus be a worthy investment.