Pokemon Black and White Version 2 announced for DS, coming soon to North America

Pokemon fans have been waiting months for Nintendo and Pokemon Company to finally reveal the follow-up to last year's Pokemon Black and White. That at last happened in Japan today, but in a strange twist, the developer broke from it's third game/third color tradition. Instead, take your first look at Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2 coming soon to the DS. Yes, the Nintendo DS, not the 3DS (though obviously it'll be playable on that system too, which is pointed out in Japanese below).

Announced on a Sunday morning show in Japan and quickly confirmed by the English-speaking side, details are scarce and from the naming we can't tell if it's an update or a full sequel. In Japan the two games are called "Pokemon Black 2" and "Pokemon White 2," but the US side's use of "Version" seems to imply a new iteration on the last games instead of a fully new title. [UPDATE: Nintendo has confirmed that Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2 are scheduled for an autumn 2012 release in North America and Europe.]

Other than the two new legendaries pictured above that were unnamed but look a lot like B/W's Reshiram and Zekrom, no new pocket monsters were hinted at. [Update: Poke mastermind Junich Masuda revealed on Twitter that those two are different forms of B/W's third legendary dragon type Kyurem. They are named Black Kyurem and White Kyurem.] Will there be a new story too? Will it build on the dense plot of the last one? Will it have any features exclusive to the 3DS, similar to Silver/Gold's use of the Game Boy Color? So many questions.