Pokémon Blaze Black and Volt White are basically the Unova games on steroids—they take Black & White and crank everything up. Every trainer’s team is smarter, wild Pokémon are way more varied (good luck running into just Patrats), and you can actually catch ’em all without trading. The gym leaders? Brutal. Like, "why is the first gym using evolved Pokémon?" brutal.

At first, I thought it’d just be a harder version of the originals, but there’s so much more—new events, tweaked movesets, even Pokémon from other regions popping up early. The pacing’s faster, too. You’ll hit the ground running with cool encounters right away, and the grind feels way less punishing. If you’ve ever thought the main games were too easy, this fixes that real quick.

Just don’t go in expecting a chill nostalgia trip. Your starter choice actually matters now.