Junichi Masuda has confirmed that he will be on this weeks Pokémon Smash #73 - The King of the Forbidden Forest! Fushigibana!! / Both Robert and the International Division Participate in the Pokémon Quiz Caravan in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture / A Rayquaza Duel in Group Member Baba's Elite Four Battle! (禁断の森の王者！　フシギバナ！！ / 宮城県仙台市でポケモンクイズキャラバン、ロバートやインターナショナル部も参加 / 四天王バトルは馬場隊員、レックウザ対決！) despite the previews or previously released information about the episode not even mentioning it at all.

On February 7th, 2010's episode of Pokémon Sunday, episode #277, Junichi Masuda appeared on the show to introduce new games that GameFreak had been working on for four years. The titles of the games were not announced on that appearance but they ended up being Pokémon Black and White (ポケットモンスター ブラック・ホワイト). He also revealed a silhouette which ended up being Zoroark.

This time last year on Pokémon Smash #21, GameFreak Game Designer Shigeki Morimoto (森本茂樹) was on the show but he did not announce anything and just helped the Smash crew with their battling skills. Masuda insists though that he "will be making a VERY important announcement, so be sure not to miss it!! Watch it live on TV!. Below is Junichi Masuda's blog post.

HIDDEN POWER of masuda Director's Columns - No.221 (English)

IMPORTANT NEWS!! On this coming Sunday, Februrary 26, 2012, from 7:30 A.M, I, Masuda, will be appearing on TV TOKYO’s Show, “Pokémon Smash!”

Not only that. And there… I will be making a VERY important announcement, so be sure not to miss it!! Watch it live on TV!

And, for those of you who can’t watch television on live, I will announce the same information right after the show via twitter!! Everyone, I hope you all enjoy the show!! Ciao!

*TV program “Pokémon Smash!” can be seen only in Japan.

Source: http://www.gamefreak.co.jp/blog/dir_english/?p=497

Movie 15 Poster

A new Pocket Monsters Movie 15 Kyurem VS the Sacred Swordsman Keldeo (キュレムVS聖剣士ケルディオ) poster has been revealed by the Japanese website emifull.jp. The poster reveals what appears to be two new Kyurem (キュレム) formes as well as announces the return of the shorts to the cinema. Meloetta's Sparkling Recital (メロエッタのキラキラリサイタル) is the 15th movie short and will debut with the movie as part of a double feature screening. It is unclear if their will be an ANA short this year or not now.

Pokémon Smash #73

The Pokémon Smash announcer started off the show revealing that "we got super ultra special news for you" and the screen captions indicated that it would be game related. A brief clip of Junichi Masuda was shown of him revealing the news on a card but it was covered over with a big question mark. The segment where Junichi Masuda revealed what was on that card is at the end of the show. After the Pokémon Library episode, Shoko-tan then announced that Junichi Masuda's announcement would be near the end of the show.


During the marketing department segment after the viewer battle, Junichi Masuda finally showed up to make his big announcement. Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (ポケットモンスター ブラック2・ホワイト2) were announced by Masuda and that they are Nintendo DS games and they will be released in June 2012. This seems to indicate that they will not have 3DS features. The names of the new Pokémon or new formes were not announced but further details will be revealed on next weeks episode of Smash. They appear to be Kyurem (キュレム) formes mixed with Zekrom (ゼクロム) and Reshiram (レシラム).

Official Japanese Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (ポケットモンスター ブラック2・ホワイト2) Website Launched

Just after Smash finished airing, the official Japanese Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (ポケットモンスター ブラック2・ホワイト2) website launched. It announced the date for the games release as well as showed off the two new Pokémon.

Official English Pokémon Website Announces Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 Versions

Pokémon fans, get excited for two incredible new adventures! Announcing Pokémon Black Version 2 and Pokémon White Version 2, coming soon for the Nintendo DS™ family of systems. The games can also be played in 2D on the Nintendo 3DS™ system.

Source: http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-black-version-2-and-pokemon-white-version-2/

Masuda's Further Tweets

Shortly after the airing of the episode, Masuda announced on his Twitter account that the new Legendary Pokémon were named Black Kyurem (ブラックキュレム) and White Kyurem (ホワイトキュレム), hinting that these new powers were somehow related to Zekrom and Reshiram.

Source: http://twitter.com/#!/Junichi_Masuda/status/173573680125841410

About the movie and the short... I do hope the comeback of shorts doesn't mean a shorter movie (like it used to be before Movie 10). I really don't mind the shorts at all (they were pretty sweet in general), but I really wouldn't like them to take any 'screen time' from the movie, especially since that 15th movie looks really epic.

And let's hope that the short is better than the previous ANA one...
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About the new game, I have to admit they completely got me this time. Like so many others, I believed this announcement would be about Pokémon Grey... but whatever they were going to reveal, I certainly never imagined it'd be two games... let alone sequels.
I'm really wondering just how much of a sequel those games will be, or if it'll be just 'Pokémon Grey' getting two versions.

And by the way, someone should really inform GameFreak the 3DS's been out in Japan for more than a year... Then again, I don't really mind if they take their time to make 3DS games that actually takes full advantage of the 3DS specs and features (unlike Diamond/Pearl which made minimal use of the DS features).

That being said, I'm both very excited and a tad disappointed about these games. I had really hoped they'd be on 3DS, or at least have 3DS-only features. Good thing I didn't parted with my faithful DSi Xl then.

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So it's been confirmed that these are two new Pokémon, and not just new forms? Hum... sounds interesting. Can't wait for next week's Pokémon Smash, so we could get some more details on that, and the new games. A couple screenshots and videos would be nice, considering we're so 'close' to release!

I can see why they are still Nintendo DS games as the potential userbase is significantly higher than the 3DS and the 3DS is compatible with DS so that makes it a big market compared to if it was just a 3DS game. I wish though there was a 3DS enhanced mode though, like widescreen, native screen resolutions, ect for people that have the 3DS.

I'm glad the people who keep expecting Masuda's Smash appearances to have world changing news finally got what they expected.
Black 2 and White 2, huh?

Yup, too bad the timing of BW release was so that Gen 5 started on the same console on Gen 4.
I really, REALLY wish there'll be some sort of 3DS-only features...