I haven't played Pokemon in years, and I was wondering if I was ever going to play the series again. Then, I watched chuggaaconroy's Fire Red Let's Play on Youtube. I'm now in a Pokemon mood again.  

Anyway, as I prepare to play through a few games in the first four generations, I want to take this time to say what I want to see happen in Generation Five. By the way, I'm considering Heart Gold and Soul Sliver as part of Generation Four.

1. Trainer Customization: The games have gone in the right direction with Secret Bases but that needs to carry over to the Trainers themselves. Height, weight, hair color, clothes, shoes, and various accessories (hats, earrings, etc.) shoud be modifiable. I have no idea why this hasn't been done already, since it made an appearance in Battle Revoultion. That beret thing in D/P/Pl looks terrible IMO and I want a way to change my Trainer's in game sprite (not just the online stuff) .

2. Pokeball Customization: I'm fairly sure that some Pokeball customization was introduced in D/P/Pl, but it has been two years and my memory is a little fuzzy. I want to mix and match the colors and symbols that are associated with Pokeballs. If I want a Blue Ultraball, let me make a Blue Ultraball!

3. More Secret Base Stuff: Bigger, better, more features like a Pokemon Center (PC and healing) and being able to fly to it!

4. Sound Upgrade: The sound is my biggest pet peeve in PKMN. The music has been upgraded through the generations but the PKMN calls have not. Some want the sound to go the way of anime, and I don't want that. Pokemon Stadium on the N64 has the best sound in series IMO, and they need to go back to that. Game Boy sounds just don't get it done anymore. The DS and Wii are capable of so much more and don't get me started on the two Colosseum games...

5. Pokemon that follow you on screen like in Yellow: Being done in HG/SS! I wish that they could think of something to do with that except for the look (maybe find items or something?), but this is ok for now.

6. Sell Rare Candies!!

7. Keep the Internal Clock.

8. More weather effects: Just to mix things up. I want it to snow in Pallet Town or rain in that Volcano Town in R/S/E (I forgot the name of it ). When that happens the PKMN in those areas should be different, or maybe even know some attacks that they wouldn't normally know. As an easy example, if it is snowing/hailing near a place where you can catch a Poliwhirl, the wild Poliwhirl should know Ice Beam.

9. More Move Tutors: I want a surfing Pikachu again! Also, I don't like the fact that the Move Tutors can only be used once. I would prefer once a week, but I could live with once a month. Anything is better than one and done.

10. More of everything: New type combinations, new PKMN, new types (but keep it balanced), new moves, more contests, more than one region (with gyms, contests, stores, etc.), the radio station (hey, on DSi you could import your own music via SD card), keep VS Seeker, and more Ghost types.

11. HM moves forgettable when you learn a new attack after a level up.

12. Legendary Events more available: I'm sorry, but I don't want to go to Toys R Us once upon a Blue Moon to get a Mew or Celebi or whatever they are in Generations 3 and 4. They should be available by Wi-Fi. As an example: In January, they release a code that you download from
Pokemon. com that gives you a ticket to Mew Island. Mew is there on level 5 and you can catch it. In February, it is Celebi and etc. This way the legendaries are more accessible and more convenient.

Well, that's my top 12 for Generation Five. There are really two that I really want - Trainer customization and updated sound. Especially sound!!

Any other hopes for Generation Five?

I like your ideas.  I wouldn't count HG/SS as forth gen though.  They are first gen remakes from what I've heard.  I plan to get SS anyways.  I haven't played any forth gen and I don't really plan to either.  I like to keep things simple and adding more and more pokemon isn't making things simple at all. >_<

As far as next gen.  I really hope they don't add a ton of new pokemon.  I also don't want to see them changing the formula at all. 

Things I would like to see though are better graphics.  I mean 2D is great and all, but can't they upgrade a bit.  I really think Pokemon needs to jump into this century.

All I want is a little more acknowledgment of the advanced mechanics of the game and/or some better way to track them. Maybe an in game notebook or something would be a clever nod/wink to us EV trainers yet still keep the game "kid friendly". Can't tell you how many times I picked the game up after several months and completely forgot what I was training, what my goals where, etc and just put it back down for fear of messing it up.

there's a  new dark type pokemon confirmed. check it out on serebii.net!

I want a true, free roaming console Pokemon adventure in THREE DEE!  I've been clamoring for that since 1998.

That'd be my Generation V hope.  An in depth, expansive Pokemon console title.  I admit to not playing the "snatch them all" games, but I can't say they live up to what I've dreamed about from what I can tell.