It's no secret that catching them all is a lot harder than it sounds. There are over 600 different creatures to collect in the world of Pokemon, and if you haven't been playing since the Game Boy Advance era then it's impossible to own them all without trading or even, dare we say, hacking the games.

Nintendo has realized this and plans to make amends to some extent by offering owners of Pokemon Black and White the opportunity to vote on the next Pokemon that will be made available for free via the Pokemon Global Link.

Fans of the franchise who happen to own either Pokemon Black or Pokemon White will be able to receive whichever Pokemon wins this adorable election by befriending them in the Pokemon Dream World. Anyone with a computer and internet access can go onto the official Pokemon website and vote for the monster that they most want to add to their collection. All 493 Pokemon that pre-date the new Unova region can be voted upon, which makes deciding who to select all that much more challenging.

Voting has begun now and will end on November 30th, but the winning Pocket Monster won't be revealed until December 13th, 2011. The Pokemon will then be available for befriending in the Dream World and transferred over to your game from February 1st, 2012 to February 29th, 2012 - so be sure to grab the rare critter before the impending apocalypse hits later that year.

If you're unsure of which Pokemon to select then a list of the most popular Pokemon and their current ranking will be updated every Tuesday, so that list should have a few good suggestions. Something to consider is that the Pokemon also comes with a hidden ability — if they are capable of having one — just thought you should know to make your decision that much harder.

Nintendo held a similar vote in Japan (with Arceus winning) and Korea (where Raquaza dominated the vote), so it'll be interesting to see which Pokemon everyone is trying to capture in North America and Europe.

I guess the question now is who will you choose?

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Source: Official Pokemon Website (via Serebii)