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Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 proved Game Freak could do direct sequels instead of safe revisions and actually move the world forward.
Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 launched in 2012 on Nintendo DS. It proved Game Freak could do direct sequels instead of safe revisions and actually move the world forward. It sits on the canon-defining RPG backbone that decides regions, monsters, battle systems, and the assumptions every other Pokemon project eventually reacts to.
Example
Its 2012 release on Nintendo DS immediately became part of the benchmark fans used to judge its whole generation.
Why it matters
Mainline Pokemon releases are the load-bearing beams of the franchise. If you want to understand why the rest of Pokemon looks the way it does, these are the games that set the rules.
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