Pokemon may just be a game, but the franchise has spawned more than just a few thousand cuddly toys, films and TV shows. In fact, the battles in the game have a surprising amount of depth, with enough skill and strategy involved, that each year, an annual Pokemon World Championship is held, with a series of regional heats leading to a national, and then world final, pitting players' lovingly raised teams of six Pokemon against each other, in order to determine the ultimate trainer.
This time round though, the prize for being the very best has been extended into the actual games, with twelve of the finalists from the Pokemon World Championships, including the three-time champ Ray Rizzo, having been digitised into the latest game instalments, Pokemon Black/White Version 2! Coming complete with the Pokemon, moves and held items they used in the actual competition, you'll be able to pit your Pokemon against the best in the actual Pokemon World Championships by entering the Pokemon World Tournament, found Unova's Driftveil City. Be warned, though - having trained their Pokemon for hundreds of hours, you'd be wrong to expect them to be a push over - so if you can beat Ray Rizzo's team of Tyranitar, Garchomp, Cresselia, Hydreigon, Metagross, and Rotom, that helped him battle his way to his third championship victory, it may well be worth thinking about entering next year's tournament for yourself!
It's not only real world Pokemon masters that the Pokemon World Tournament houses, though, as Gym Leaders from games gone by will also be making appearances. The first two to be announced are Brock and Misty, from the first ever Pokemon games, Pokemon Red/Green/Blue - and there's plenty yet to be revealed.
Unlike the previous game, familiar Pokemon will be available from the outset.
Much like the incoming Genesect Pokemon download, the champions aren't actually included in the game from scratch, but will instead be available to download to your copy of Pokemon Black/White Version 2 after the game's launch. Split into three different distribution events, each will feature four of the finalists from each age category to pit your critters against. More details as to when you'll be able to download the challengers will come a few days after the game's launch on the 15th of October.
Pokemon Black/White Version 2 hits the DS in a couple of weeks, on the 12th of October. Until then, make sure you pop to your local GAME shop with your copy of the original Pokemon Black/White game in hand, as they're distributing an exclusive Keldeo Pokemon until the 11th of October - who can then be transferred over to Version 2, to unlock a whole new area to explore.
