Hey folks, there's so much cool new information for Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 that I'm not even going to be able to list it all here, haha! Instead, how about you just check out the Black 2 and White 2 page and flip through all of the sections there to see for yourself.

Also, one thing you ABSOLUTELY WANT TO DO is WATCH THE NEW VIDEO!!

It's a 4:50 long, fully animated video showing a whole bunch of stuff in Black 2 and White 2. It's nothing shy of amazing. Absolutely amazing. It has a lot of really interesting stuff in it, too, so just go on and watch that, then flip through all of the pages on my coverage hub!

Anyway, in other news, here's some great news for a lot of you out there: I HAVE RETURNED TO YOUTUBE!! Yes, that's right, it's not a joke; my account, Marriland, no longer has the strikes or anything on it, and I'm on the road to victory over there, so I'm phasing out the videos hosted on my current host and reuploading them to YouTube.

While, for those of you who frequent the site, will not see anything particularly new out of this just yet (I'll continue posting videos straight to my site until I get caught up on YouTube), I am planning on having that be my primary video host from now on and will be changing all of the video embeds on my site to use the YouTube code as it is made. However, I'll continue to update the videos pages over here whenever a new video is added, regardless of if it's on YouTube or my current host, and I may continue to upload here first in the meanwhile (it's going to take a WHILE to upload 320 videos!!). It'll basically be like it is over here anyway, except I'm on the path to getting my account on YouTube filled up with videos again as well.

Go on and click here to subscribe to me on YouTube! Keep in mind that a lot of my videos are currently unlisted, meaning you'll have to look in my playlists on my channel in order to view them. The playlists are really convenient, because they group everything up and let you watch the whole series at once. Go on and take a look at the Marriland's Pokemon Diamond Adventure series and the Marriland's Pokemon Platinum Adventure series. That way you'll be able to find them. Also, tell your friends!! Seriously, word of mouth goes a long way. Thanks everyone!

Yes, folks, it looks like the Darkrai Wi-Fi event has taken place a day early (as it often does in North America), meaning you can now hop on your Pokemon Black or White version, go to Mystery Gift, select Nintendo WFC, and then you'll be able to download a really cool Darkrai onto your game!

What moves does that Darkrai know? Well, nothing too fancy: Dark Void (its signature move), Faint Attack, Ominous Wind, and Nightmare. It does, however, come holding an Enigma Berry -- a very rare berry. It's also at level 50. The event has been confirmed for North America and the UK, but it should also work in Australia (confirmed for Australia! Yay!) or anywhere else using an English-language game (confirmed for Ireland, Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands, as well as Uruguay and Brazil in South America, although it was not available in Singapore). Since other European countries received a Darkrai earlier, they may not get them, but if you happen to live somewhere else in Europe and are using a non-English-language game, go ahead and see if you can receive it! I'd love to get confirmation for other countries.


The above image links to Pokemon.com/EX, which at the time of this post, still has the Reshiram and Zekrom page up, but should change on the 9th to one featuring Darkrai. As I said in the previous update, you'll be able to watch Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai right on the site then, plus I'm sure there will be other cool Darkrai-related goodies in store.

Additionally, the Pokemon Global Link will be down for extended maintenance from June 5 - June 21! It is scheduled to be brought down at 3:00am Eastern Time. Make sure you don't have any Pokemon tucked in then, or you won't be able to take it out of the Dream World until after maintenance is complete!

Why are they performing maintenance? It's due to the revamped Pokemon Global Link 2.0, which will cater to both sets of Black and White as well as the new Black 2 and White 2. There's a bit of information revealed on it so far, such as the "cooldown time" between playing in the Dream World being reduced to 20 hours instead of 24 hours, potentially an online GTS type of system, and then this "Cool Hole" feature. It's also alluded to having some sort of benefit if you Game Sync both a Black or White game and a Black 2 or White 2 game. Thanks to Serebii.net for that bit.

To celebrate the release of the upcoming Pokemon Trading Card Game set, Black & White: Dark Explorers, Pokemon.com has announced there's going to be a special Darkrai Wi-Fi Event starting on May 9th. The Darkrai's attacks have not yet been confirmed, but the official site does mention it will come equipped with powerful attacks.


More details are going to be released soon on Pokemon.com/EX when it updates on May 9th, but at least we now know what's in store. No word yet on any European or Australian releases, though, sorry.

Additionally, Pokemon.com/EX will have the movie Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai available to watch on the site starting then, which is cool if you haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

UPDATE: The UK is getting the Darkrai event on 9 May as well, which you can see confirmed in this official update. Presumably Australia will get the event around then as well. (France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and even Switzerland have already had a non-Wi-Fi Darkrai event in late 2011, so they might not be getting another one.)

Hey folks, first of all, the Pokemon Regional Championships were a big success! The one in Madison, WI was amazing and I was so proud to be given the opportunity to help make it such a success. On top of that, I met several Marrilanders while I was out there; it was so great to have a chance to say hi and I'm glad you could make it there!

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, I've gone ahead and added a Black 2 and White 2 information page that should hopefully contain enough information on Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 to keep you satisfied. There are pictures of the newer Unova region, pictures of the new characters, the new Gym Leaders, and even a few videos and trailers I ran across.


Go ahead and check it out! It'll make sure you're up to speed on all of the exciting new Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 developments that happened while I was out and about!

Alright everyone, there's a lot going on these days as far as Pokemon news goes, but there's also the Pokemon Spring Regional Championships taking place tomorrow (for the TCG) and Sunday (for the VGC). I have the opportunity to be working the one in Madison, WI, so needless to say I'll be a little busy this weekend. Fun as that is, it's a little bit of a bummer, because there's apparently going to be some actual gameplay of Black 2 and White 2 on Japan's Pokemon Smash show!

It's expected to be shown somewhere between 5:30pm and 6:30pm Central Time, which is probably when I'll be working, but either way I know I will not have immediate access to a laptop. What's a Pokemon Trainer to do in a situation like this, huh? Tweet, of course!


If you're used to subscribing to my site's RSS feed to get your information, you can add my Twitter's Favorites RSS feed to get the important updates. I'll favorite anything really important about Black 2 and White 2. In the future, I may favorite other stuff, but at least over the weekend that can give you your fix.

On top of that, I've also got a nice little Twitter widget box thingy on the top of the main page of Pokemon.Marriland.com, even ahead of the news, so you will hopefully see that and see the important stuff there. Keep an eye on that over the weekend! I'm hoping to have it light up with more Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 information! I also may "retweet" things or favorite other people's tweets so they'll show up there, but everything up there will be hand-selected by me, so it's all good.

Yup, so it's going to be a busy and fun weekend. Let's hope to see even more Black 2 and White 2 stuff!

Revealed from the latest issue of the Japanese CoroCoro magazine, real information on Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 has finally been revealed!


Here's a list of some of the things that have changed:

• Most importantly, the game takes place in Unova, 2 years after the events of Pokemon Black and White. However, most all of the eastern and northern parts of Unova are blocked off by a frozen glacier spread, and there are several new towns and areas; most notably, you start off far south-west in a new city called Hiougi City, which has a Pokemon Center and a Trainers' School.
• There are new playable characters as well as a new rival. They look pretty cool (they're the ones on the right).
• Additionally, two new Gym Leaders have been confirmed: these are Shizui, a Water-type user, and also Homika, a Poison-type Gym Leader (obviously these are their Japanese names). Whether this means there are ten Gyms now, or if they are simply replacing other Gym Leaders is unknown at this time.
• There's a new researcher guy named Akuroma.
• Black Kyurem is confirmed to have the signature move Freeze Shock while White Kyurem is confirmed to have the signature move Ice Burn.
• Black Kyurem is 3.3m (about 10' 10") while White Kyurem stands taller at 3.6m (about 11' 10"). Both weigh 325kg or about 716.5 lbs.
• Now, for another important piece: 300 Pokemon are available in the game's Regional Pokedex.
• There are several Pokemon confirmed to be in the new region, and they are: Arcanine, Buneary, Eevee, Lapras, Mareep, Metagross, Riolu and Lucario, Psyduck, and Weavile. Riolu is #033, Psyduck is #026, and Metagross is #264, while the others have not had their numbers revealed.
• The map of Unova has changed a little bit. You can see some of the details on the image behind that link.

Clearly a lot was revealed in this recent update, which is great, because with June 23 (the confirmed date) right around the corner, there's not much time left before the Japanese release! Now if we can just get a confirmed international release date going...

Also, one other bit of news I've been meaning to include but keep forgetting to: there's a new Piplup C-Gear Skin available on the Pokemon Global Link. You can get it by logging into your account on Pokemon-GL.com, going to the promotions box after logging in, selecting the Piplup C-Gear promotion, and then entering the password PIPLUPCGEAR2012. It's available for all international accounts and runs from April 5 to May 23, so you have plenty of time to sign on and get it.

Recently, a reputable Japanese online store listed the release date of the upcoming Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2 as June 23, 2012. As Serebii.net points out, Japanese retailers are a lot more reliable as far as release dates go (here's looking at you, GameStop, and your notorious falsehoods on Pokemon release dates, putting them on April 1), so while this has not been officially confirmed as of this morning by The Pokemon Company, it is very likely that June 23 is indeed the release date.


This would put it on the second-to-last Saturday of the month and also puts it right on the start of the Japanese Keldeo promotion, which will be available for both pairs of Black & White as well as Black 2 & White 2. However, keep in mind that this does require the pre-purchase of a movie ticket and is available only in Japan, so it is not accessible even to those of us who decide to import the games.

Any word on a date or even a month for the North American, European, or Australian release of Black 2 & White 2? Or Keldeo? Or Meloetta? Nope, nothing yet. But at least we're one step closer to the Japanese release now that we know the date it will presumably be released on.

Though it's been listed on the side ticker for months, I wanted to make sure I reminded all of you (in North America) that the 2012 Spring Regional Championships are taking place across North America next Saturday - Sunday. This is part two of the Regional Championship series, the first of which took place back in November (and was regrettably rather short notice).


On April 14th - April 15th, the Trading Card Game portion of the Regional Championships will take place. In most places, the normal rounds (called the "Swiss Rounds", as no one is eliminated) takes place on the first day, with the top finishers participating in a best-2-of-3 single elimination bracket the second day.

On April 15th, the Video Game Championship portion of the Regional Championships takes place, with players bringing their own Nintendo DS/DSi/3DS system as well as their copy of Pokemon Black or Pokemon White and will battle it out in a Swiss Round tournament style, where everyone plays every round and you don't lose if you are eliminated (a reversal from the 2011 and earlier events), with the highest scoring players receiving prizes.

You can find out more on the official website! The official website lists the precise locations and details of all of the eight events that weekend, but I'll go ahead and post the general locations below:

• Pleasanton, California, USA
• Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
• Athens, Georgia, USA
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Houston, Texas, USA
• Madison, Wisconsin, USA (I'll be at this one!)
• Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• Toronto, Ontario, Canada

What should you do if you want to play in the Video Game Championships?
This is really important, because you can save the staff and yourself a lot of time if you take these steps ahead of time. Things you'll want to have ready for the Video Game Championships...

• Your own Nintendo DS/DSi/3DS system and Pokemon Black or Pokemon White version. You cannot share DS systems or game cards with friends or siblings, so make sure you have your own.
• A fully charged DS system. Please, charge your DS system the night before you leave and try to keep gameplay to a minimum until the event starts! Bring your own charger, too, because the staff at the events will not have chargers for you.
• A Player ID. If you've ever played at a Pokemon TCG event (or some of the VGC ones), you should have this number; if not, and if you have a Trainer Club Account on Pokemon.com, you can get your own Player ID by upgrading your account using this process while logged in. Write down your Player ID number (or store it in your phone or something) and bring it with you. (Please note that I cannot offer support with this if there are problems.)
• Put the team you are using in the Battle Box on your Black or White version. You do NOT battle with the Pokemon in your party! Before getting in line (preferably do this the night before!), you need to go to Amanita's PC and then select the Battle Box option. Then, you can place 4 - 6 Pokemon from your boxes (deposit any party Pokemon you want to use first) into the Battle Box. It works just like any other box. Save your game after moving Pokemon there, and then the team you're using will be registered in the Battle Box.
• Make sure your team follows the rules of the VGC! You can find the rules here (VGC stuff is at page 26) and the tournament format (legal Pokemon and stuff) here (start at page 11). In a nutshell, the restrictions on your team are:
  • Pokemon #001-#646 are legal, except for the following: Mewtwo, Mew, Lugia, Ho-oh, Celebi, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem
    
  • Two or more of your Pokemon cannot hold the same Held Item.
    
  • Your Pokemon cannot know the moves Sky Drop or Dark Void.
    
  • All Pokemon above level 50 are auto-leveled down to 50 for each battle. Their stats will be recalculated accordingly, don't worry. (Pokemon lower than level 50 will NOT be raised to level 50.)
    
  • Only Hidden Abilities that have been officially released, such as those found in Black/White naturally (Zen Mode, etc.), the Pokemon Global Link, or via an official event or promotion, are allowed.
    
  • Cheated or hacked Pokemon on your team will result in a disqualification, so please, no shenanigans! IMPORTANT: If you're planning on using Pokemon you obtained on the GTS or in a trade with a friend, you are responsible if the Pokemon is actually cheated or hacked! The best way to make sure your Pokemon are legit is to train them from scratch yourself.
    
  • On that note, if you suspect your opponent is using cheated or hacked Pokemon, please, raise your hand and call over a judge. Politely explain that you would like your opponent's game checked after the match. Waiting until after the match is over to call a judge is the wrong time to do it.
• Even if you don't plan on playing or participating in the event, these Regional Championships can be a lot of fun to watch! You get to meet Pokemon fans from all around the area, making it essentially a huge Pokemon convention. There are also usually plenty of fun side events, too, depending on the location.

Now, while I cannot give advice on your VGC teams, Pokemon.com has a strategy article showing you what sort of teams to expect (which you can also use to help formulate your own team). Give that a good read, too, so you know some of the strategies you'll have to counter.

Anyway, these are right around the corner, so get to training, Trainers! (And, if you'll be going to the Madison, WI event, I hope to see you there!)

It's been confirmed by Pokemon.com that the Japanese game Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition — a tactical RPG set in a feudal Japan setting — is going to be released in North America! It will be released on June 18, 2012 in the US and Canada; no European or Australian dates have been announced yet.

The name has also been changed to Pokemon Conquest from its original Japanese name of Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition; however, it appears that the characters in the game will still have their original Japanese names, which is good, because even though it may be slightly confusing for little kids to pronounce some of these, it keeps it a lot more authentic with the setting. Additionally, the Bushou warriors (people in your party) are officially referred to as Warlords, which sounds AWESOME. Pokemon needed more warlords.

You can read a brief description of the game as well as see some screenshots and character artwork over on the official site. Serebii.net also posted a trailer video on YouTube showing some of the gameplay in action, which should help give you a better idea of what the games are about.

The chaps over at Full Restore are running another charity streaming event, featuring their playthroughs of various Pokemon games in order to raise money for charity. Last year, they were successful in raising £4000 with their Pokemon4Japan charity event, helping raise money to the ongoing relief efforts in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami that struck Japan. This year, they're picking it up again, and are streaming Pokemon games to raise money for the British Red Cross.


These sorts of events are always a lot of fun. Donate if you can, but even if you can't, watching the stream and telling your friends about it is a great way to raise interest and generate more donations. They did a great job last year with Pokemon4Japan, and their goal this year is £8000, so check them out and help 'em out, sound good?