As with every main-series Pokémon game, Black 2 and White 2 will undoubtedly feature the ability to trade Pokémon with their previous installments. However, this time around, it’ll be interesting to see exactly how the games justify the act of the trade. Seeing as the games belong to the same generation of games (the fifth), moving Pokémon from game to game will surely be done through simple trading rather than the more involved process of transferring, or migrating, from previous generations. This time around, though, games taking place during two specifically unique time frames within the same region will be linking to one another…and that just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
In previous instances, say with the trading of Pokémon between Silver Version and Crystal Version, the games were virtually the same. There were some minor differences, but at the end of the day, they ended up in the same place and shared the same time frame. It made sense in that way. Black(2) and White(2), however, are the first games with a continuing story line into sequels, meaning that no matter how you slice it, Black 2 and White 2 take place after the events of Black and White and in the same region to boot. Therein lies the problem.
Trainers living in post-Black and White Unova, where everything is hunky-dory, will be trading with other trainers dwelling within Black 2 and White 2’s Unova which is at that point covered in ice and set in a time frame months after the first games. See the dilemma? Players would literally be trading across time.
It’s always possible that the games won’t simply ignore this paradox, but fully embrace it and involve the act of time travel in the trading process. Celebi can roam through time and Dialga controls it – it’s not like the series has strayed from this before, and it’d be great if such a concept was used to liven up the act of trading.
It’s also possible that Game Freak will use the Global Link to pursue the act of trading, implementing a sort of Pokémon cloud involving the Dream World to transfer Pokémon from game to game in light of this unique situation Black(2) and White(2) find themselves in.
Call me Doc Brown, but I’d kill to see the games actually mention the issue of time when trading inevitably becomes an option. Share your thoughts on this paradox in the comments.
