So I was reading some stuff on bulbapedia and something caught my eye, the Magma Stone. It was already in Gen IV and you could get it through hacking though it did nothing, yet in B&W 2 it is an item you get to find Heatran. I found that quite interesting. Were they going to use it in D/P/PT but changed their minds but already had both B&W games planned out so decided to wait for B&W 2, or do you think it was something they just decided to go ahead and use while they were working on B&W 2?
5th Gen How far in advance do you think Nintendo planned B&W & B&W 2?
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Raichupacabra
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You are aware the Magma Stone was in DPPt, right? It just wasn't obtainable because Buck returns it and you never see it again, and in Platinum Charon drops it and Looker keeps it.
Oh.
I expected the topic to be about how much of BW2 they had planned while making BW or something like that.
The magma stone was just so you can activate it by finding this item hidden in some corner of Unova,
same as the Lunar Wing for Cresselia.
I seriously doubt they ever considered putting Heatran into a fifth gen game while developing DPt.
I expected the topic to be about how much of BW2 they had planned while making BW or something like that.
The magma stone was just so you can activate it by finding this item hidden in some corner of Unova,
same as the Lunar Wing for Cresselia.
I seriously doubt they ever considered putting Heatran into a fifth gen game while developing DPt.
I am aware of that, but if they had never originally considered you having it, why would it be an item (with a description no less) that you can hack into your bag, albeit unusable?
But do you think they already had B&W in mind while developing IVth gen?
Golurks Were Meant to Fly
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This is exactly what I thought at first haha
As for the magma stone, I think they were just reusing it. I mean, wasn't the magma stone used as a bit of a trigger for Heatran because once it's been replaced, you can battle Heatran? Also, on bulbapedia, it says that, "In Platinum, it is explained that the Magma Stone is able to control Heatran"
So it kinda makes sense that they'd use it again when encountering Heatran haha
That's my theory, at least.
bwburke94
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It might not have been planned as a Chekhov's gun, but it's a nice reference to Sinnoh anyway.
Supposedly BW was in development right after HGSS, so I suppose it's possible that it was being concepted during gen IV, but eh. I don't think the placement of the Magma Stone was really thought of till B2W2. It seems randomly in there anyway, as do most other legendaries. It's like they just wanted to stick in some random non-Unova legendaries and were like "hurrr let's add in this gen IV item."
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They started on Black and White two years Prior to their release so that was a year or so after 4th Generation Main games. Magma stone is just a coincidence. You get a few items in Black and White that have sprites but you never get to see them in your bag. Most notable is the Dragonite Skull.
They've pretty much stated, they finish one project fully before they section off their team for another project, and those projects pretty much begin and end with the main two games as the teams that work on remakes and thirds already have all the necessary data so they work on it faster needing less work.
So they didn't plan then that far. All of the references found from old games and re-used minor info are just coincidences.
They've pretty much stated, they finish one project fully before they section off their team for another project, and those projects pretty much begin and end with the main two games as the teams that work on remakes and thirds already have all the necessary data so they work on it faster needing less work.
So they didn't plan then that far. All of the references found from old games and re-used minor info are just coincidences.
bwburke94
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BW2 was definitely planned prior to BW's release (Cynthia mentions the PWT and there are lots of things that are sequel hooks in retrospect) but most likely after Platinum's release since that was four years ago.
OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire
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I don't think they planned that ahead of time. Most likely they proably went back and checked on items or ideas referenced in past games but were never developed before such the Dream World, and Munna itself.
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Usually companies like this have their stuff planned out before they begin work on it. They have an idea, at least. I wouldn't be surprised if they had an idea of a sequel the moment they came up with Black and White, but I wouldn't doubt that they started production just before releasing the games worldwide. They most certainly didn't begin right after they finished releasing Black and White. Too much of a time crunch if you ask me. So, I would say they probably started just before releasing Black and White.
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just speculating, I think that thought of B&W after GenIV, so they used HGSS as fillers. they only ported, added scripting and other elements for the DS(but they might of gone ground up), and kept B&W in secret during that time. the Magma stone has just been show before and never had use. now it has a use in B&W2(because GameFreak always thinks of sequals/ extensions for their games) because GameFreak decided to do that
the magma stone was in DPt, they just decided not to give it to the character last minute or something.
Its tossed around between NPCs, just never gets into your hands in the process.
For BW2:
They put it in with the same logic as the Lunar Wing. It's that simple.
As for the BW2 planning, its safe to assume they planned it while developing BW. I mean just look at Kyurem for example. It was designed in a way to make us wonder for 2 years what will become of it.
Its tossed around between NPCs, just never gets into your hands in the process.
For BW2:
They put it in with the same logic as the Lunar Wing. It's that simple.
As for the BW2 planning, its safe to assume they planned it while developing BW. I mean just look at Kyurem for example. It was designed in a way to make us wonder for 2 years what will become of it.
vaporeon7
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I think that the Magma Stone was created and intended to be used in DPPt, but was eventually dropped close to the release of the games and they just left it in the coding. As for B2W2, I think they had the games planned in the early development of BW. Though I think they were only really rough plans.
OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire
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As for B2W2 I think they had a sequel in mind sometime between the start to the end of writing BW's story script hence why they seemed to have left it open to add more of N and Plasma.
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My guess would be around 2-3 years. Anime episode with Ho-oh debuted in 1998 or '99, and we got GSC in 2000 If I remember right. Don't forget the person from Hoenn talking about the Dream Radar.
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I have two thoughts of possibilities. I don't really have anything to prove it, but something tells me that they started working on Black and White while they were nearing the end of working on Platinum, while some of the team went on to work on HeartGold and SoulSilver, others went on to work on Black and White. Either that, or near the end of HeartGold and SoulSilver. When they're at the second half of developing the game, the people who's work is done on that game move on to the next series, and then by the time they finish that, the ones who stayed to continue working on HeartGold and SoulSilver would have completed it, and they'll move on to Black and White, and so on and so forth. It just seems logical to me that they work on two series of games at a time, so I'm thinking that they started working on the next generation while they were working on Black 2 and White 2.
NatureKeeper
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Well, Masuda-san did say they began working on it around Platinum, yes. :P Congratulations.
As for B2/W2, there are two theories. One, to maintain the five-game structure, they knew releasing Ruby and Sapphire remakes would not be the most up-to-date storyline, thus they are going to release only Emerald, and thus needed two third versions, so they worked on them simultaneously with B2/W2. Yeah, very unlikely, I admit. xD
The other one is more likely, as the storyline had room for a sequel, they left loose ends with N's farewell and Ghetsis's prison break so they can release a sequel to the storyline.
SnowpointQuincy
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I firmly believe that HGSS and BW were developed at the same time by two different teams. So, the idea that after HGSS, they moved on to BW2 makes sense.
As to WHY they made two "third versions", it is because they could sell them for money. Only now did they design a new way to package the game to make the two "third versions" reasonable. If they only made a sequel because they had a story to tell, they could have settle that with one game. They made two games because people will buy them. I will buy them too.
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