For many Pokemon fans, there's nothing better (or more difficult) than choosing a starting Pokemon. Your buddy for the start of the game (and the whole adventure, if you play like us), it has to be the one Pokemon you know you can rely on - the one who'll make up the backbone of your team, as you take on the world. Plus, if you make the wrong choice, you'll be stuck with a starter Pokemon you don't like for the rest of the game. Unless you trade it. Or leave it in a box. Or release it. And nobody wants that.
We've had trouble deciding which Pokemon to go with since the first games, and our decisions haven't exactly been getting that much easier with the newer iterations. With Pokemon Black and White, it looks like we'll still have trouble choosing which one we're going to go with. But not because they look good.
No, instead of being torn between two, or all three, instead, we're greeted by a band of misfits. A snooty grass type, a fire-type warthog/pig type thing (admittedly, that one's not that bad), and an emo polar-otter, who seems to be made out of various bits of other animals, like a Pokemon hotdog. And while that may sound like a great line-up for a sitcom, the new starters just don't seem to have the same lasting appeal of a Bulbasaur, a Totodile, or a Mudkip.
From left to right, the new Pokemon are known as Mijumaru, Tsutarja and Pokabu - although the names will undoubtedly change before the UK release.
While the starter Pokemon aren't exactly the most inspiring, the rest of the game does seem to be shaping up nicely. Our spirits aren't dampened yet.
