Black and White Era Returns in 2025 with Black Bolt & White Flare

It’s official, we are getting a return of the Black and White Era in 2025. Several sources have confirmed the upcoming Japanese expansions Black Bolt and White Flare, featuring their respective legendary Pokemon Zekrom & Reshiram. We already saw some previews of N’s Reshiram and new trainer’s Pokemon during the closing ceremony of Worlds 2024 on Honolulu. What happens with Pokemon in Japan, is usually followed shortly behind by English and International expansion releases, and with the confirmed date of June 6th For Black Bolt and White Flare, it’s safe to say we should be getting a an English equivalent in July or August.

Cards Revealed for 2025 Featuring Trainer’s Pokemon from Gen 5

Some notable reveals included Pokémon with the Trainer’s Pokémon gimmick like the N’s Zoroark ex and N’s Reshiram, which surprisingly also was revealed to be an illustration rare or special illustration rare. It’s hard to tell because the set code and rarity have been left out for the artwork.

Gen 9 Connections to Black & White Games

First off, all 4 of the Blueberry Academy Elite 4 are from towns in the Unova Region, which is the main region introduced in Pokémon Black & White. Oh, but that’s not all, here’s a list of some strong evidence that a Black & White resurgence has been hidden in plain sight throughout the Scarlet & Violet era.

• Lacey, from the Blueberry Academy Elite 4 in Scarlet & Violet’s Indigo Disk expansion, is most likely the Daughter of Clay from Driftveil City (Unova Region – Pokémon Black White). This is strongly supported by the diamond hair clip Lacey wears which matches the one on Clay’s hat, as well as them both using Excadrill in their party.
• Drayton (The dragon-type Blueberry Academy Elite 4 Trainer) is listed in the game’s lore as being from Opelucid City (Unova Region – Pokémon Black White) which happens to be where Drayden is from (also a dragon-type trainer) which most likely implies that Drayden is the Grandfather of Drayton. As if their names weren’t already close enough, there are also some cutscenes in the game that hard confirm this speculation.
• Crispin (Blueberry E4’s fire Pokémon expert) is also confirmed to be from Virbank City – which is featured in Black 2 & White 2.
• Amarys’ bio in the game also confirms her origins of Castelia City in Unova
• Locations in the S&V game are also directly drawn from B&W games, such as the Chargestone Cavern being a recreation of the Chargestone Cave.
• The nature preserve area from Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 is also found in the S&V expansion and can be identified by the world map. You can even find a Stellar type Haxorus in this area, just like the Shiny Haxorus found in the original nature preserve.
• You can customize your Blueberry Academy club room with a Black & White themed interior design by selecting the ‘monochrome’ theme, which features artwork referencing the Unova starters and major landmarks.
• Music from Pokémon Black White can be heard playing at different times throughout the S&V expansion, inexplicably.
• At once point during the end-game you can speak to a man who will give you special items and locations where you can catch a Reshiram and Zekrom inside of Scarlet and Violet. Reshiram and Zekrom are the two legendaries at the center of Pokémon Black White.

This just the tip of the iceberg, for the connections in the games themselves. I’f you’d like to find more ‘d encourage a deep-dive on YouTube to see the confirmed and speculated references that eager fans have discovered and imagined.

There’s been speculation about a throwback to the Black and White era since the release of the Scarlet and Violet Expansion: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, specifically Part 2: The Indigo Disk. Popular YouTube channels that deal in speculation and leaks like The Hidden Power Podcast, have been decoding all the hidden references in the latest games, so it’s likely this we be no surprise to them.