While Pokemon Black & White received lukewarm reception upon release, Pokemon Black & White 2 singlehandedly transformed Gen 5 into the best Pokemon generation yet. Here's what BW2 does the BEST in the series:

  1. Most challenging difficulty without being unfair. BW2 even offers a harder difficulty option which isn't seen in any other Pokemon game.

  2. Most interesting and engaging story that raises the stakes without jumping the shark. This is where Pokemon games started having anime-like stories but this is where I think it peaked.

  3. Most well rounded characters and NPCs. Some villains even have moral ambiguity which is a rare sight in Pokemon games since they usually just want to take over or destroy something.

  4. Even after beating the game, BW2 has arguably the most post-game content. Not just the most, but the best. The Pokemon World Tournament is easily one of the best optional challenges in the series.

Here are some things that BW2 didn't do too well, but still had an edge over most Pokemon games

  1. While the original dex was a bit underwheling in terms of design, forcing the player to use all new Pokemon instead of relying on old ones. This gives the game a classic Gen 1 feeling where you couldn't fall back on your old favorites. You had to learn how to use new Pokemon and I think it gives the game an edge over say Gen 6 where everyone just used old Pokemon.

  2. One major complaint is that the region is "linear". This claim is true however it's no more or less linear than other regions and in fact it offers more optional routes and zones than any other entry in the series. Since they aren't required by the story, they often get skipped and it makes the region feel linear since they were never required by the story to explore. This is a good thing in my opinion, as it allows more story-focused players to focus on the story but still gives adventurous players something to explore.

Gen 5 isn't perfect but I will always consider it the definitive Pokemon generation as it can appeal to every type of Pokemon player.

Prove me wrong, nerds.