Pokémon Black & White Are Finally Officially Back In New 30th Anniversary Collection
Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work.
Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work.
Pokémon Black and White rank among some of the greatest Pokémon games of all time. Their phenomenal region design, incredible new roster of Pokémon, and, most importantly, true dedication to narrative unlike any of the previous games in the series made them standout entries that are truly worth playing. It is a shame that they remain locked to the Nintendo DS, as ports of these now prohibitively expensive games would illustrate to new fans exactly what a great Pokémon game looks like.
Fortunately, while we may not be getting an official Pokémon Black and White remaster or port any time soon, we are being treated to a brand-new collection of Pokémon merchandise that fans will absolutely want to check out. This isn't, however, your typical plushies and figurines, but rather a unique set of collectibles that fans of Black and White and the entire Pokémon series as a whole will absolutely want to check out. At the very least, they're rather beautiful to look at, and a fun nod to the very thing that makes Pokémon games so special.
The Pokémon Company has released a brand-new collection of Pokémon music box dioramas that focus on the Routes and, naturally, the music of each of the mainline games. Additionally, this set also features framed region maps from each game as well as a paper craft version of an iconic location that fans can assemble themselves. Every region is covered, with there being the expected Kanto music box, as well as, of course, one of Unova, Pokémon Black and White's region.
Unova's music box diorama features Tepig, Snivy, and Oshawott standing on Route 10 alongside Pikachu. If prospective purchasers open the music box, they'll hear Route 10's theme. It's a highly detailed model, one that retains Black and White's original pixel-art style and preserves the original sprite work. You can also get the region map for Black and White, which comes in a beautiful frame and is a 3D model itself, rather than a simple print. Finally, the paper craft set for Black and White is Skyarrow Bridge, which features the titular bridge alongside a boat sailing beneath it.
It isn't terribly surprising to see Pokémon Black and White get such lavish treatment, especially with it being one of the best Pokémon games ever made. However, if you want to get your hands on everything in the collection, you'll need to spend a considerable amount. Each of the music box dioramas costs 12,100 yen, which is roughly $76. To purchase every single one from all nine games, you'd need to spend a staggering $684.
The region map is more expensive, coming in at an eye-watering 16,500 yen (about $104). The paper craft Skyarrow Bridge is slightly more affordable, costing 3,850 yen, which is roughly $24. Altogether, it's an expensive, yet ultimately premium set, designed and targeted toward collectors and diehard fans. It is worth noting that all of these are available for pre-order via the official Japanese Pokémon store. However, they are also exclusive to Japan and do not ship outside of the country. Hopefully, these incredible Pokémon Black and White collectibles will see the light of day worldwide eventually.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.