Pokémon Black and White: Prima's Official Strategy Guide

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Pokémon Black and White: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
Prima Guide BW.png
ISBN: 9780307890603
Published: March 6, 2011
Publisher: Prima Games
Author: The Pokémon Company International
Preceded By: Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Pokédex
Succeeded By: Pokémon Black and White Pokédex

Pokémon Black and White: Prima's Official Strategy Guide is a guidebook for Pokémon Black and White published by Prima Games on March 6, 2011. A collector's edition was also released on the same day, including a full Unova Pokédex listing.

Blurb

Welcome to the Unova region, Pokémon Trainer—prepare to be amazed by the Pokémon you'll discover here!

Over 150 brand-new Pokémon await you in the latest incredible Pokémon adventure! And this strategy guide will introduce to you:

  • A complete walkthrough that includes all the new Pokémon you'll meet, every Trainer you'll face, and each challenge you'll need to overcome!
  • A must-have primer for Pokémon training that will get you ready to battle in the Unova region!
  • Detailed maps of all the towns, cities, and places you'll go on your adventure, including a full map of the Unova region.
  • All the places where you can change your Pokémon into powerful forms!
  • Bonus poster inside!

Whether you're a seasoned Trainer or on your first adventure in the world of Pokémon, you'll find excitement like you've never encountered before when you explore the Unova region and its new wonders!

Contents

050Diglett.png This section is incomplete.
Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it.
Reason: An image of the collector's edition cover should be added.
Piggyback International's guide for Black and White

The cover of the normal edition of the book features Hilbert, Hilda, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Reshiram, and Zekrom. The collector's edition features special lenticular hard cover featuring Reshiram and Zekrom.

Unova Region Map

A map listing nearly every location in Unova accessible in Black and White, as well as places of interest within them. While most areas appear on the map, Liberty Garden and Unity Tower are not listed.

Weekly Event Calendar / Daily Event List

Two lists of events that can be accessed daily or on certain days of the week, along with the day, time, and season where those events can be accessed.

Recommended Route

A short walkthrough advising the reader how to best proceed through the games, all the way up to returning to the Pokémon League and entering the Hall of Fame. Major events are included, such as battles against major Pokémon Trainers and obtaining key items. While the route mostly lists mandatory actions to complete the games, optional events, such as going to Anville Town and catching the Swords of Justice, are included as well.

Key Characters

A group of pages showcasing official artwork of the games' major characters: Player characters Hilbert and Hilda, Professor Juniper and her father Cedric, rivals Bianca and Cheren, Fennel, N and Ghetsis, along with male and female Team Plasma Grunts, the Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and Champion Alder. With the exception of Hilbert, Hilda, and the Striaton City Gym Leaders, an in-game quote from each character is featured along with their art.

How to Use This Book

A page with short summaries of the following sections of the book, including the page they begin on. Similar pages are listed before the Unova Adventure Walkthrough section and at the beginning of the Unova Pokédex section.

Primer for Pokémon Training

The first major section of the book contains information about various aspects of the game, beginning with details on how to obtain Pokémon, information on Evolution, moves, Abilities, friendship, Natures and characteristics, explanations of field moves, and phenomena, followed by advice on various battle mechanics, such as types, status conditions, and weather, as well as examples of well-balanced teams and suggested movesets for Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour. Additional segments in this section explain the menus, such as the Pokédex, usable key items, like the Xtransceiver, Pokémon Centers, PCs, televisions, the horoscope, seasons, and the easy chat system, including a full list of the keywords usable in it.

Unova Adventure Walkthrough

The largest section of the book, containing a full walkthrough of Black and White, with maps of every major location, summaries of story events, information on the items (excluding those found in the Abyssal Ruins) and Pokémon that can be found, and what field moves are needed to fully explore the areas. While most areas have their maps taken from the games, Skyarrow Bridge, Castelia City, Tubeline Bridge, Black City, and White Forest use images specifically made for the guide. Opelucid City is given two segments, based on its appearances in Black and White, respectively. Also included are listings of the teams for battles with major Trainers, such as the rivals and Gym Leaders. Each bio contains the levels, genders, types, and, excluding Bianca and Cheren's teams (whose bios instead include all three of their possible teams for each battle) and most of N's teams (which also give advice on beating them), a single move from each Pokémon, a recommended level for the player's own Pokémon, and advice on how to deal with them, primarily regarding what types to use. The teams of the Elite Four, the final battle with N in both versions, Ghetsis, Alder, and Cynthia also show images of the Pokémon on their team, as well as types that are super effective against each. Legendary Pokémon, as well as the Volcarona in Relic Castle, are given similar bios, including their level, full movesets, and advice on catching them.

Several smaller "special" sections appear within this portion of the book, listing Pokémon that can learn multiple HM moves, helpful NPCs such as the Move Reminder, in-game trades, advice on training Pokémon for postgame content, item maniacs, the Battle Institute, areas that have different weather depending on the season, and the locations of the Seven Sages after completing the main story.

Trainer List

A series of pages showing every single Trainer that can be fought in Black and White, listed in the order their locations appeared in the prior section. Trainers that give items (including Badges) after being defeated have those items listed, while Doctors and Nurses are specified to heal the player's Pokémon after defeating them.

Pokémon Form Changes and Special Evolutions

This short segment contains information on the different forms of certain Pokémon, specifically Deerling, Sawsbuck, Darmanitan, Rotom, Giratina, Shaymin, Deoxys, and Arceus, along with how to change those forms. The last page shows how to evolve Magneton, Nosepass, Eevee into Leafeon and Glaceon, and Feebas.

Unova Region Pokédex

Exclusive to the collector's edition of the guide, this section contains profiles on every Pokémon in the Unova Pokédex, excluding Keldeo, Meloetta and Genesect. Listed with each Pokémon is the official artwork of the Pokémon, Pokédex entries for it from both Black and White, its Unova Pokédex number, category, type(s), height, weight, possible genders, and footprint, images of its in-game sprites from the front and back (including alternate forms), the held item it might carry in the wild (if applicable), how it evolves, its possible Abilities (including its Hidden Ability, if obtainable without the use of Pokémon Dream World), Egg groups, how to obtain it, and a rating out of 6 for each of its stats, based on how they compare to the stats of other Pokémon in the Unova Pokédex. Finally, each Pokémon is given a full list of the moves they can learn, whether learned by leveling up, taught via TM, HM, Move Tutor, or as Egg Moves. Each move is given its type, whether it's physical, special, or a status move, its power, accuracy, PP, and range, as well as whether it can target faraway opponents in Triple Battles or make contact with the target.

Type Matchup Chart

A simple chart showing whether a type is super effective, neutral, not very effective, or has no effect on each individual type. Additional immunities granted by certain types are also listed, such as Grass-type Pokémon being immune to Leech Seed.

Index

The final part of the book lists every item, TM, HM, and major NPC in the game, along with the page or pages they appear or are mentioned on. For major Trainers, the page numbers that their battle teams are listed on are highlighted in red.

Also included with the book is a miniature poster, containing the Unova Region Map on one side, with the Type Matchup Chart on the other.

The Prima edition is ISBN 0307890600, and the Piggyback International edition is ISBN 1906064857.

Credits

Editor-in-Chief
  • Michael G. Ryan
Translators
  • Hisato Yamamori
  • Tim Hove
  • Sayuri Munday
Editors
  • Kellyn Ballard
  • Blaise Selby
  • Hollie Beg
  • Wolfgang Baur
Cover Design
Acknowledgements
  • Heather Dalgleish
  • Yasuhiro Usui
  • Mikiko Ryu
  • David Numrich
  • Rey Perez
  • Antoin Johnson
  • Naoya Sugie
  • Hank Woon
  • Eoin Sanders
Design & Production
Prima Games
  • Mario De Govia
  • Shaida Boroumand
  • Fernando Bueno
  • Stephanie Sanchez
  • Melissa Smith
  • Jamie Bryson
99 Lives Design
  • Adam Crowell
  • Emily Crowell
  • Oliver Crowell
  • Sonja Morris

Trivia

Errors

  • On page 26, in the "Pokémon and Trainers become friends" section, entering a Pokémon in a Pokémon Musical or giving it a Sweet Heart are both said to increase a Pokémon's friendship, when in actuality neither of these have any effect on friendship.
  • In page 127, the player is said to receive "the Lucky Egg" from Professor Juniper, the wording implying that there is only one obtainable. However, pages 37 (which refer to the item as "a Lucky Egg") and 221 mention that additional Lucky Eggs can be obtained on Route 13 from the man in sunglasses. In White, Lucky Eggs can also be found in White Forest, being held by wild Happiny.
  • On page 168, the image for the "Cheren plants himself in your path" blurb, likely intended to show the player's encounter with Cheren on Route 10, is a reused screenshot from page 164, depicting Drayden and Iris talking to the player character in White's version of Opelucid City.
  • Cynthia's team bio on page 217 says that her Eelektross is immune to Ground-type attacks. While this is true, it does not explain that this is due to it having Levitate as its Ability, making it seemingly contradictory of Ground being super effective against Electric types.
  • A congraulatory message on 234 says that the player has become the new Pokémon Champion after defeating Alder. In reality, the player only enters the Hall of Fame after defeating him. Actually obtaining the title of Champion would not be possible in the series until Pokémon Sun and Moon.
  • In the collector's edition, Victini is listed after Kyurem in the Unova Region Pokédex section. Going by the proper Pokédex order, Victini should be before Snivy.
    • Additionally, Victini is said to be available during special distribution periods. While Victini would be directly obtainable in English games via an event on December 3, 2011, by the time this guide was released on March 6, 2011, only the Liberty Pass was obtainable, with Victini itself only being indirectly available through the event.
  • In the index, the page numbers where Skyla and Shauntal's teams are listed are not highlighted in red to indicate those pages include major battles. In the latter case, the same page numbers are properly highlighted in regards to Grimsley's teams.


Core series: Pokémon Red and BluePokémon Yellow
Pokémon Gold & SilverPokémon Master PokédexPokémon CrystalPokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal
Pokémon Ruby and SapphirePokémon FireRed and LeafGreenPokémon Emerald
Pokémon 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition Complete Pokédex
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Pokédex) • Pokémon PlatinumPokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver (PokédexPocket Pokédex)
Pokémon Black and White (PokédexNational Pokédex) • Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (National Pokédex)
Pokémon X and Y (Pokédex & Postgame Adventure Guide) • Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (National Pokédex)
Pokémon Sun and Moon (Pokédex & Postgame Adventure Guide) • Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (National Pokédex)
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! & Let's Go, Eevee!Pokémon Sword and Shield (Galar Region Pokédex)
Spin-off Pokémon games: Pokémon StadiumPokémon Stadium 2Pokémon ColosseumPokémon XD: Gale of DarknessPokémon Battle Revolution
Pokémon Trading Card Game (video game)Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red and Blue Rescue Team
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and DarknessPokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Pokémon RangerPokémon Ranger: Shadows of AlmiaPokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
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Other: Pokémon Trading Card Game


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