Countdown to HeartGold/SoulSilver: The Basics

Illustration by Rin

Hello, Tribunites! My name’s Reigning Dragoness (or RD, if you please), and I’ll be hosting this series counting down to the release of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver versions. Well, I would be counting the days if there were an official release date for the games in any country aside from Japan. But, since there aren’t, I will be relying on the good old Japanese release date of September 12th, 2009 for now. That means you guys get a few months of fun-filled information designed specifically to get you psyched for when the games do come out in the PAL regions and North America. At the same time we hope to debunk some of those nasty rumors and ideas you guys have been circulating about the games. Naughty, naughty!

So, let’s kick things off with the obvious: HeartGold and SoulSilver versions are the highly-anticipated remakes of the Second Generation games: Gold, Silver and Crystal versions. This means that we will be adventuring in the Johto region for most of the story, kicking back with Professor Elm and thwarting Team Rocket’s various villainous acts (most of which involve cutting the tails off of Slowpoke and trying to convince you to buy them for prices that make absolutely no sense).

Since the specific details of HG/SS are not available yet, let’s discuss some of the basics of the original games (much of which is expected to be the case for the remakes). In the original games, you get to choose either Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or the ever-popular Totodile as your starter, your mother will offer to save money for you while you travel, and you have a cell phone. Well, sort of. It’s part of your PokéGear, the predecessor of the Pokétch, that was far more functional than that silly little excuse for a watch. If you obtain the necessary upgrades in the game you’ll end up having a map and radio on it, too, plus a clock in addition to the phone. Nifty, huh?

You start off as a boy or girl in New Bark Town, living with your mom at home. Professor Elm, the Johto region’s expert in Pokémon evolution, calls you over to his laboratory to ask you a favor: pay a visit to his eccentric friend, aptly named Mr. Pokémon, and pick up a package from him. Of course, the good professor wouldn’t send you into the tall grass unarmed so he lets you pick out a pokémon from three “rare, recently discovered” species. Now prepared to face the dangers of the tall grass, you set out to find Mr. Pokémon.

After that point, the game pretty much follows the traditional Pokémon game structure: you travel the Johto region, battle the eight Gym Leaders and the region’s criminal syndicate (Team Rocket in this case), capture and train various pokémon, and then you travel to the Kanto region to take on the Elite Four and Champion at the Indigo Plateau. After beating the game the Kanto region becomes available for you to wander around and challenge the Gym Leaders there.

Standard stuff, really.

One addition to the remakes will be the ability to have a pokémon follow you around the overworld, which is a feature that’s been missing since the days of Pokémon Yellow Version. Now, though, you can choose which of the nearly-500 critters you want following you around, instead of just having Pikachu stalk you and occasionally whine about how grumpy he is at the moment. Hopefully, the pokémon you choose to follow you will do more than just grumble at you on occasion. That would be a nifty feature making it part classic RPG-creature-raising-battler, part virtual pet game.

One second thought, perhaps not.

So, to quickly recap:

HeartGold and SoulSilver versions are remakes of Gold and Silver versions, respectively. They are set in the Johto region, with the appropriate starters and allow you to travel to the Kanto region later on and continue playing there, making it one of the longest games of the series. Honestly, Battle Frontiers and Towers are fun and all, but an entire second region to play through? How could you beat that?

Answer: You can’t, so don’t even try.

Keep your browsers tuned to The Pallet Tribune for more Countdown to HeartGold/SoulSilver features, as we delve deeper into the long-awaited remakes.