9.5
Pokemon SoulSilver/HeartGold Import Impressions
I don’t know if you guys know – but if you don’t – Pokemon HeartGold and Pokemon SoulSilver will be released in US and Europe next month. Though, it has already been on Japanese shelves since last September. I for one, couldn’t wait another month to succumb to my childhood memories of Johto.
In fact, I went ahead and imported a Japanese copy, just so I could get a head start. I still fully well intend to get the English version in March – but until then I will happily frollock in my Japanese world with Cyndaquil hot on my heels.
My inability to read Japanese makes it hard to talk about the story, though it didn’t prove to be a problem during gameplay as I remember the majority of the game from Gold & Silver version – and so should you! The main point to make is that the story is directly adopted from Gold & Silver versions – which takes place shortly after the events of Fire-Red & Leaf-Green, but in a different region.
Having been defeated by a 10-year-old boy in Kanto, has moved to Johto to cut off Slowpoke tails and piss off Gyrados.
Visually there are a few changes, both minor and significant. As many of you can see from the image above, the player’s first-slot Pokemon follows the character around, much like in Pokemon Yellow. It’s also worth mentioning, players can switch any Pokemon to that slot and they’ll appear in the game. At my current progress through the game it seems to be a purely aesthetic thing, though players can turn around and talk to the Pokemon to get a quick readout of the monster’s mood. While the world looks pretty much the same, there are a few differences. Longtime fans will immediately notice that tall grass looks significantly different, actually looking like, well, tall grass. There is a bit more visual flair in the towns too, like the rotating lamppost sign outside of every Pokemart, or the wisp of leaves caught in the breeze.
Since this is a remake game, don’t expect a lot of new features or anything. There aren’t any new Pokemon to catch, and has all the same features that was in Gold & Silver, such as the day-care service and the cell-phone. That said, there are some minor changes and features that keep the game fresh enough to warrant a play. So far I like what I see, even if it all feels very familiar and formulaic at this point – but that is exactly what I wanted out of this game, so no complaints on my behalf.
The main new feature seems to be the PokeWalker, a pedometer device that allows players to transfer a Pokemon to it and earn experience outside of the game. A good idea in theory, but it seemed too much work in practice. Transferring your Pokemon to the device, walking, transferring back, only to receive about 100xp towards your next level. Not very time efficient, when you are training lvl20+ Pokemon – as you can earn 100xp from defeating the average wild Pokemon. I could imagine it would work well with newly caught Pokemon which you are too ashamed to manually train – like Metapod – still, is it more embarrassing than openly wearing a PokeWalker to work everyday?
My main gripe with the game thus far is that they’ve taken away the Poketch. For those who don’t remember this was the little device that appeared on the bottom DS screen in Diamond/Pearl. It would do simple things such as tell the time, to more helpful things such as show the progress of your unhatched egg. Which would be useful in the game which introduced us to breeding. Through all my sorrow, they did re-instate the Cell-Phone, which can be used to call your Mom, or have random trainers call you for a re-match. Which was, in all honesty – irritating!
Scratch that, I want my Poketch, dammit!
There also isn’t a restriction for trading with previous games, so if you want to bring a Buizel over from your old game you can do that really early on. Or gain full access to the Union Room, and the Wi-Fi Plaza, allowing you to play mini-games with people all over the world.
For the long time Pokemon fans, Gold and Silver was a pretty revolutionary entry. It introduced a lot of new features that became staples of the series, and was a significant boost in both graphics and size. I’m not sure that HeartGold and SoulSilver will be able to mirror the impact that Gold & Silver brought to the table. Neither do I think that was the intention – Heart-Gold & Soul-Silver serves it’s purpose of taking Pokemon from the Gameboy, then re-telling the tale of Johto in the next generation. In that sense, it seems they do more than justice.
Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver hit shelves March 14th (North America) and 26th March (Europe) on the Nintendo DS.
I think this is brilliant that they're re-releasing it. It will be great to re-live the time when I was 8 and this was God's best invention.
My only problem is that now graphics and gameplay have advanced it's more of just a game and doesn't really give off the same magic and buzz I had when I was playing these on the good old game boy colour, desperatrely trying to get some light so that I could see the screen,
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