Three weeks ago, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company released the remakes for Generation 4 of Pokemon games, which made many fans happy to set foot in the region of Sinnoh once again — or for the first time. The beauty of remakes is that they let players experience a sense of nostalgia for their past achievements in the series, while also offering new players the opportunity to make their own memories, and many players believe that Pokemon Black and White will be next in line to get remakes.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are rather faithful to the original titles, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl — but not Pokemon Platinum, and they also take old features up to a whole new level. The main example of this is the Grand Underground, which is now a huge system of tunnels and caves, with the latter being different biomes that host all sorts of Pokemon depending on the players' achievements in the game. These changes pose the question as to what can be done when it comes to Generation 5 remakes, considering how complex the Unova region was in Pokemon Black and White.
What Generation 5 Pokemon Remakes Could Look Like
While there is no official confirmation at this time that Pokemon Black and White or Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 will indeed receive remakes, it's a safe bet due to the trend of releasing make-over versions of past Pokemon games. This is often also done to let players experience past entries in the series in a new visual style, taking the best aspects that made a specific Generation great and making those even better. In Generation 5 Pokemon games, one of the most interesting aspects was that players were not controlling a character who was treated like a child and acted as one, but rather, the Trainer was approaching adulthood and treated as such.
This is a major departure from classic Pokemon games, but also from more modern ones, with Pokemon Sword and Shield acting as a prime example of this logic. Generation 8 was all about proving one's worth to the adults, who would tell the protagonist and their rival to leave the important stuff to those who could handle it properly, not some random kids. The theme of adulthood and childhood contrasting one another is a recurring one in the Pokemon series, and many fans believe that it was explored in Generation 5 at its best.
Pokemon Black and White didn't receive the classic form of a third release, like Pokemon Crystal, Emerald, or Platinum, but rather they received full-on sequels that were expanding the Pokedex, as well as the region of Unova itself, with a new storyline. Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 changed that, and Generation 5 remakes can't simply be based on Pokemon Black and White while ignoring the sequels because that wouldn't do them justice. As such, Generation 5 remakes should have more than a couple of nods to Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, but then this would also break the traditional formula of remakes being about reliving the original titles.
With Generation 5 there is no easy approach, but what could be done is something similar to Pokemon Crystal from Generation 2, where the first half of the game is about players becoming Champion and defeating Team Plasma, according to the events of the original titles.
The second half of the game could be much more than a simple post-game section where players can expand their Pokedex and breed more competitive Pokemon, and it could instead be about progressing through Pokemon Black 2 and White 2's storyline with the same team of critters. This approach could even lead to exploring more of the region of Unova or even going to other known regions of the Pokemon universe for more connectivity between them.
A Different Sort of Remakes for Pokemon Black and White
There is another possibility when it comes to Generation 5 Pokemon remakes, and that is a much less conventional approach. Instead of remakes that are mainly based on the original games' events and locations, Generation 5 remakes could simply be about Unova as a region and the Pokemon that live there, with completely new characters and narrative. These could be prequels or sequels, and while they wouldn't be the same as reliving one's memories with the original titles, they would allow Generation 5 to live on in a brand new guise.
Unova has always been a very interesting region, with diverse biomes and great locations to explore, and having more of that from a fresh perspective could be the best type of remake for a Pokemon game.
Players could start in a different town and maybe find their starter Pokemon from Generation 5 and Pokedex in a different way than simply going to a Pokemon Professor as per usual, but rather discover why becoming a Trainer and a young adult is more important. This would also reprise the original theme of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2, which were also the first games to have a friend and rival who doesn't really want to become the Champion or much stronger than the player, but rather save stolen Pokemon.
Thus, Generation 5 could be the chance for the Pokemon franchise to get rid of the classic style for remakes, but rather reinvent the original titles and make them something more. Pokemon Black and White may not have been as popular as Generation 4 games, but they tried to break the mold for a change, and that's good. Ultimately, even for remakes, Pokemon games could be made by thinking out of the box - no matter how successful it was, to begin with.
No Pokemon Black and White remakes are known to be in development.