Okay Geek Farm
DS Review - Pokemon: Heart Gold & Soul Silver
Ricardo Trejo
By this time around you should know the drill; catch as many Pokemon as you can and train up to become the best in the world. Heart Gold and Soul Silver take what many people consider the best Pokemon release ever and add online play, even more Pokemon, and an added contraption known as the PokeWalker to get you off the couch and doing a little journeying yourself in the real world.
Story
You are a 10 year old kid embarking out on the journey of a lifetime to catch and train every Pokemon you can lay your eyes on in the region known as Johto. Meeting various characters, entering contests and various Pokemon Leagues is all a part of the quest as you battle trainers the world over to become the very best (the best there ever was), and attain the title of Pokemon Master. But as usual, it’s not going to be an easy task - not with Team Rocket making a return after their defeat three years ago at the hands of the former champion, trainer Red.
Gameplay
Heart Gold and Soul Silver plays as all Pokemon games have played before them - catch Pokemon, battle and train them, earn Gym badges, and progress to become the champion - and in this remake everything stays relatively the same, except for the new look within the Diamond and Pearl 3D engine. Random battles are ever present, and the push to “Catch’em All” is still there, but would you have it any other way? I’ve been playing the Pokemon games since the first generation and I’m still following the series! HG and SS bring back everything that I loved from their original releases and bring along with them additions that make the already amazing journey an even better gaming experience.
For instance, the first thing you’ll notice is that your leading Pokemon will now pull a Pikachu and want to walk behind you in the overworld - which is awesome to me (it’s the simple things in life).
In the olden days of Gold and Silver there was no such thing as running, only bike riding. But since Ruby and Sapphire added the Runnings Shoes they’ve shown up in every release since then, including these two new games.
Also, when the games first came out there was only a total of 251 Pokemon, but 10 years later we are now at a staggering 493. And since Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum are compatible with HG and SS you can migrate over Pokemon from the regions of Hoenn and Sinnoh, giving the game a whole new outlook of team building and strategy. Oh, and lest I not forget the inclusion of the GTS (Global Trading Station) that offers you the chance to put up classified type offers for potential Pokemon trades around the world via the DS’ WiFi capabilities.
Besides the included 16 Gym leaders plus the Elite Four challenge in both Johto and Kanto, there’s now the addition of the Battle Frontier which was first introduced in Pokemon Emerald. The Battle Frontier is a third challenge for only the most hardcore of hardcore where you’ll face off against the Battle Brains - Gym Leader like trainers who can only be seen if you can manage long streaks of victories within their Battle arenas.
New locations make an appearance during main story quests and side events; opening up the way for meeting up newly available Legendary Pokemon not encountered in the original G&S.
And finally, the real time in-game calendar and clock bring back scheduled daily and weekly events - such as only being able to catch certain Pokemon during specific times of the day, and Gym Leaders only offering rematches on certain days of the week. Though, that’s only a small taste just how many events happen within a week, such as weekly contests, Pokemon swarms, and certain character appearances.
Oh, and did I mention that there’s this new thing called the PokeWalker that gets packaged in with every copy of the games? What is it, you ask? It’s a pedometer first and foremost, but it also is a ticket into a whole new world of Pokemon training and capturing. Here’s how it works: you first transfer over a Pokemon over from your game onto the PokeWalker, then you go about your day with the device clipped onto your person. During your activities the PokeWalker will count up your steps and accumulate Watts based off how many steps you’ve taken - 200 steps equals 10 Watts. Watts are the currency within the ‘Walker that give you the chance at acquiring items and Pokemon. You can encounter varying Pokemon through out your walks, even some that you don’t even run into in the main game, which can be a really big help in filling in the gaps of some Pokemon types you may be needing. For instance, I selected Totodile as my starter but was really needing a fire Pokemon to help me get the job done. So I used the PokeWalker to catch a Magby, an otherwise rare Pokemon I wouldn’t have found the opportunity to get ‘til much later in the game, and now I was set with my fire type for the whole game.
The PokeWalker gives you different routes you can take when selecting to go on a walk, and each route has different Pokemon traversing them. And only rare Pokemon appear on these when you’ve walked over 5,000 or even 10,000 steps. So be sure to make time for a good jog around the neighborhood if you really want to nab yourself a flying Pikachu! Not to mention it gets kids excited about actually doing some physical activity. Even I have become a regular jogger to not get some extra health benefits, but to also capture some rare Pokemon!
Visuals/Audio
A main focal point of this game are the graphics, and seeing as this is a remake of a game released about 10 years ago it would make sense that they’d want to overhaul it with some fancy looks pixels. So how does it look? To be blunt, it looks beautiful. Heart Gold and Soul silver really shine with so many colors implemented onto the landscapes, the characters, and the Pokemon themselves. It’s quite a bit of a difference when you go back and look at what the original Gold and Silver versions looked like almost ten years ago on the Gameboy Color. Pokemon attacks are nicely animated, sprites are well, and the new 3D models on the overworld really give you a sense of depth that was not possible in the originals.
In the sound department, however, I must admit I was very disappointed. The game’s original soundtrack was phenomenal and so hearing a remixed track didn’t give the same effect. Although some themes can be catchy with their new remix treatment, such as the Pokemon Center, most however just make me wish they had simply updated the music to better quality. But luckily for me and for those who appreciated the old soundtrack there is a way to get the original Gameboy beeps and boops tunes! Once you reach a certain part in the game you will receive an item for your PokeGear known as the GameBoy Music Player, which will change up the game’s entire soundtrack back to the nostalgic way it sounded in the year 2000 on the Gameboy. Talk about pleasing the fans! But there is one more gripe I have about the audio, and that’s the sounds the Pokemon make. People all over blogs, fans, and players I know all have this exact same complaint, that despite the game being released in the year 2010 why are we still hearing these annoying midi soundings squawks and roars?! GameFreak, please fix this for Black and White versions.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been playing the Pokemon games since they first came out with Red and Blue versions, and from first hand experience I’m going to say that not much has changed. Yes, there are a couple of additions here and there in terms of type combinations and new attacks, but the basic RPG turned based battling style relatively stays the same. Heart Gold and Soul Silver keep the same winning formula and add an extra layer of quality that keeps them as the best games in the franchise; 16 gym battles, 493 Pokemon, a new device in the PokeWalker that brings a new element of training in a new innovative way. And that’s not even mentioning all the extra scheduled events, secret areas, and a global trading!
I’ve always thought of Gold and Silver as the creme de la creme when it came to Pokemon, making it one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had - over 200 hours of gameplay - but now with all this extra goodness I’ve been enticed to endure the entire journey all over again, and I’ve been enjoying every second of it. Pokemon may seem like a series that rehashes the same ideas over and over again, but the thing is that most players prefer this. As long as more Pokemon are made, people won’t care if the game ever evolved or changed from its current incarnation. Heck, if the series somehow wasn’t able to get passed the tech back from 1999 and the Gameboy Color I’m sure that people would still be buying these games up, regardless.
If this is your first Pokemon game ever to play, well then you’re starting off on a high point. And if this just a return visit to the land’s of Johto and Kanto for you then you won’t be disappointed, as it’s all as you remember it but with some added sparkle and plenty of more substance.
