5th Gen Shopping Mall Nine

As with all games Black and White brought back the huge PokeMart usually referred to as the Department Store. This time it was called Shopping Mall Nine because it was located on Route 9. This is the first time it wasn't in a big city. What did you think of this? Was it too late game? Was the selection of items a big disappointment? Did you find it odd that it was not in a city? Did you like the fact that it offered battles? How could it have been better? Discuss......

I'm never really a fan of the shopping malls. The selection they offer is often really boring, and not too much better than a pokecenter, the only thing good about them is the TMs and the vitamins, but I don't buy vitamins and the TMs aren't usually very practical ingame. That being said, I think Shopping Mall 9 was a little too late game, I mean it was right before the 8th gym for crying out loud! And as said above, the selection of items was disappointing. If I remember correctly, they didn't have a lottery! And I would have loved some evolutionary stones for sale too. I thought it was weird that the mall wasn't in a city, as it seems bad for business in my opinion, but i guess it's an outlet mall or whatever those are called. The battles were okay, but kind of annoying since i just wanted to buy some lemonade or a TM or whatever :P

I never enjoyed department stores in the games, unless if I was in need of certain items. This one was a major disappointment, with only two TMs available (Hyper Beam and Giga Impact, and then again they aren't all that great) and I don't really need the vitamins that much. Also, like what Golurk said, it was too late in-game (just before 8th Gym) compared to previous games, the lack of lottery also hurt a bit (you only get 2 Master Balls in-game, and one requires 50 trades with different players!). I also would have liked to see Evolution Stones on sale, but it was kinda funny that this is the first shop of its kind not located in a city.

I did like the battles though, that was an interesting touch. Not to mention that room where you can change Rotom's form.