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.

Preorders start today in Japan for HeartGold and SoulSilver. If you preorder HeartGold you get a Ho-oh figure.  If you preorder SoulSilver you get a Lugia figure. If preorder both versions, you get an Arceus figure along with the two others. The games are set for release on September 12th, 2009 in Japan. Details have not yet emerged about releases in the west.

We finally have a Japanese street date for Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver: September 12.

The games will be priced at the equivalent of $50 and will be bundled with the Poké Walker .

No U.S. street date has been announced yet.

Nintendo has announced a new device that will come along with Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Named the “PokéWalker,” the device is reminiscent of the Pokémon Pikachu virtual pets.

Like the older devices, the PokéWalker has a built in pedometer that counts your steps. Steps will transfer into experience points and happiness for a Pokémon of your choice, which you will be able to upload from your HG/SS cartridge. Mini games are said to be included as well. Also like its predecessors, there will be a currency called “Watts” which you will be able to spend on items and other mystery gifts which will be transferable back to the DS cartridge.

Rather than being shaped like a mini Game Boy, it will look like a PokéBall. It has a three button design and a grayscale screen, approximately .7 inches tall by 1 inch wide. The diameter of the device is about 1.8 inches and the thickness is approximately .5 inches.

Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

The first trailer and pictures from the upcoming Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver games were released this week.

While I’m as interested as any of you to see this footage, the commentary by the cast of the Pokémon Sunday show in Japan seems to be a bit overdone - especially when you consider that the trailer (while in HD) is just the main character pacing back and forth with a Chikorita behind him. Still, the graphics certainly are pretty, and you can see a shimmering light effect on the screen which leads me to believe that we can expect more visual effects to come.

Confirmation that Pokémon Yellow’s mechanic of having your starter Pokémon as your walking buddy is good to see, and spurs speculation about what else may be added.

If you want to see more, Pokébeach has a few nice scans from Japanese magazine CoroCoro, including pictures of the main characters in their new duds.

[ YouTube - Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver HQ Trailer ] [ Pokébeach ]

Nintendo has confirmed the Gold and Silver version remakes.  HeartGold and SoulSilver are due out this Fall in Japan; that’s ten years after the games’ original release in 1999.  Pokemon Japan has a page up announcing the games.  Ho-oh, here we come!

[Pokemon Japan - HeartGold SoulSilver Announcement]