Image: Boxart Legendary Pokemon Ho-oh and Lugia
When I was around 4 years old, I fell in love with Pokémon. I loved the anime, the cards, the creatures, and eventually the video games. I originally watched the anime during my free time after school and on Saturday mornings when it would air on channels like Kids WB. I can’t remember the first episode I watched, but I’m pretty sure it was either the first episode, the one where Ash captures Bulbasaur or the one where Ash saves a Charmander because I distinctly remember playing with Pikachu, Charmander, and Bulbasaur toys (I actually still have that Bulbasaur plush hanging out on my shelf). Regardless, I loved the concept of these small animal-like creatures bonding with humans and training with them to get stronger to become the best in the world. I pretended to be a Pokémon Trainer constantly. But, I could never be a real Pokémon Trainer in this world. I can be one in the video games. I entered the video game world of Pokémon around 5-6 years old when I got my first ever video game, Pokémon Silver on the GameBoy Color. I didn’t know what I was doing really. I saw buttons, I pressed them, I learned the mechanics along the way. Somehow, I figured out the directional pad, what button meant yes, what button meant no, and how to open the main menu. The Pokémon were still the real appeal of the series for me. I loved all the designs and powers each one had. My very first Pokémon was Chikorita, the Grass-Type. A lot of people don’t like this Pokémon because it’s one of the weaker starters out there, but I will defend it with my life if I have to. I somehow learned how weaknesses and strength worked and managed to beat all the Gym Leaders and the Champion. I even caught the legendary Pokémon, Lugia, of this game. Ultimately, I fell in love with Johto and Generation 2. I wouldn’t be able to fully relieve this experience until 2009 when Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver are remakes/remasters of the original Pokémon Gold and Silver. They were created to run on the Nintendo DS that operated with a viewing screen on top and a touch screen on the bottom. This meant that that while the player was able to keep an eye on what they were doing on the overworld on the top screen, it was much easier to access the main menu and the features that went with it using the stylist and the DS’s touch screen. The graphics were also enhanced. Though things stayed 8-bit, it looked cleaner, brighter, and had better mechanics overall compared to the original. Everything about this game was enhanced in the best ways possible. These games are now universally loved by the Pokémon community because nearly everything about it was perfect.
One of the appeals of Pokémon HG and SS was the return to Johto. Johto was is the home region to Generation 2. At the time of Gold and Silver’s release, Generation 2 and Johto were the first time people saw new batches of Pokémon and a brand-new area to explore. It was like the second coming of the beloved franchise that was still stretching its legs. Everything felt fresh! Stuff like this brings out the nostalgia in people. We’ve all had this feeling before: a wanting or eager feeling to go back to how things were before. It’s clear that Game Freak, Pokémon’s main developers, had this idea in mind when they started to create remakes of old games. It not only gives old fans a sense of nostalgia, but it also lets new players experience what we did back in 1999-2000. We were able to pretty much time travel back to the old days as if we never left. I was able to practically relive my time with my first ever video game, while having a new experience at the same time.
Image: The Battle Frontier
Another great thing about HG and SS are the return of old and new lands. The Johto region is one of the returning lands in the remakes. The other one is the Kanto region, the first region introduced in the first Pokémon games, Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green. This region was a lot of Pokémon fans’ first experience with the world of Pokémon. It was a nostalgia trip for them to come back to a returning land. Not only could players travel through Kanto again, but they were able to battle the old Gym Leaders from the first games and capture Pokémon that weren’t available in Johto. And, fun fact, Generation 2 canonically takes place roughly 2-3 years after Generation 1. Now, correct me if I’m wrong (it’s been a while since I checked the lore), but I believe that the gap between Generations 1 and 2 is one of the two that have a confirmed timeline, the other being the gap between Generation 5’s Pokémon Black and White and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. This meant that all the returning characters introduced in Kanto are older and have grown into different, more mature people. Even the protagonist, Red, from the first game returns and players can actually battle him on Mt. Silver. What was most surprising about all this was the fact that players can go back and forth between the two regions. To this day, the second generation of Pokémon games are the only ones that have two playable regions. Every other one only has their respective ones. This feature was so significant and impactful that fans now want this ability to travel between regions in future Pokémon games. I know that I want this feature back too. The new land (but also returning land) that HG and SS brought in was the Battle Frontier. The Battle Frontier is this large battle facility comprising of various battles that have specific rules and trials players must go through until they meet the gym leaders of the facilities called the Frontier Brains. My personal favorite facility was Battle Factory: a place where trainers could rent out Pokémon they never used before to battle with them. Each Pokémon had a specific battle strategy to them that fit them into a specific role such as defense, support, or attack. It was not only cool to experiment with different Pokémon, but also to experiment with different strategies that would normally be used in competitive play. The Battle Frontier was introduced back in Pokémon Emerald long after Pokémon Gold and Silver were made. The Frontier was then implemented in the Generation 4 games, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and yes, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. It was an incredibly popular feature in the Pokémon series and some consider it some of the best post-game content the series has provided. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten another since HG and SS despite popular demand. It was, apparently, originally going to be put into the Generation 3 remakes, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but the developers ditched the idea because they didn’t think a lot of people would want it. This obviously isn’t true. Fans like myself are hoping that one day, GameFreak will bring the Battle Frontier back in another remake or a future Generation. Regardless, we’re glad it’s in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
Image: Creating Bonds with Pokémon
Pokémon HG and SS had a unique feature that was only prominently available in a previous game prior to HG and SS’s release. You see, in Pokémon Yellow, a version of the 1st Generation games that was more or less based off the anime, the player had a Pikachu. Much like in the anime, this Pikachu did not like to be inside its Pokéball. So, instead, Pikachu chooses to walk alongside you as you traveled throughout Kanto. The more you walked with Pikachu, the friendlier it would become. This allowed players to get more attached to Pikachu. The bond between Pokémon and player grew to the point where the player may come to legitimately care and consider Pikachu a friend. This feature was popular amongst fans. So much so that they brought it back for Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver; this time with the player being able to walk with all 4 Generations of Pokémon (roughly 493 at the time). Players could walk alongside their favorite Pokémon and bond with them as if they were real friends. Again, it was an amazing feature that everyone loved so much that they wanted it to return for future games. It took a while, but we did kind of get that in Pokémon Sword and Shield’s Isle of Armor DLC where Pokémon would walk with players again. The bonding mechanic isn’t there, but the walking mechanic is. It’s not what everyone wished for, but it’s a start.
Image: Pokémon Battle
Since Pokémon HG and SS were made after during Generation 4, the mechanics changed for the better as well. How can I describe this? Battle wise, the Pokémon themselves have a variety of moves. These can be support moves that raise their attack, defense, evasion, or healing move. Or they can be moves that directly attack the opponent, opponent’s ally, or your own ally if that benefits you in a double battle (which is basically a tag-team battle). Before Generation 4, attacking moves were separated into two categories, physical attacks and special attacks. How powerful they were depended on the Pokémon’s Attack and Special Attack stats. What determined which moves were physical and which ones were special was the attacks typing. For example, if an attack was a Fighting-Type move, it was always physical. If it was a Water-Type attack move, it would always be special. This would be applicable most of the time, but not all of the time since not all Pokémon correlated with their type’s moves at the time mechanic wise. For example, the dragon sea creature, Gyarados, is a powerful Water/Flying type Pokémon who had better physical attack stats than it did special. This meant before Generation 4, any Water moves it learned like, say, Waterfall, would be a special attack. In Gyarados’s hands (or fins, I guess), this move would not do much damage. Thankfully, Generation 4 introduced what Pokémon fans call, the Physical/Special split. Instead of basing an attack’s properties off of its typing, it would be based off if it made actual physical contact with the opponent or not. So, for example, Waterfall, which used to be a special move, is now a physical move because allowed the Pokémon who uses it to tackle the opponent head-on with a massive waterfall. Moves like Focus Blast, a Fighting-Type move, would be special instead because the user sends a large long-ranged energy blast towards the opponent instead of punching them. Pokémon like Gyarados benefited greatly for this because they now had moves that they could take full advantage of. They can finally become viable in battle both casual and competitive.
These mechanics are actually one of the things that greatly changed the way I played Pokémon games. Before Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, I played casually. I payed attention to the story, where to go, and all the little things in between, but I never considered paying attention to the more competitive side of things. Before, I focused on which moves were strong against which Pokémon and so on and so forth. I never truly considered the Pokémon’s stats (Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, and Speed), their natures such as Sassy, Naïve, Modest, or Adamant (these determined which stats got a boost and which got nerfed), or the items that would help them in battle. When HG and SS came out, I started to actually think about this; about the strategy that really comes with Pokémon. I compiled a team that each had natures and moves that benefited their natural stats. For example, I made sure that my Espeon, a Psychic-Type Pokémon that focused on Special Attack, had a stat that boosted its Special Attack stat and had primarily moves that also worked with its Special Attack stat. I also made sure that Espeon’s moves were not only Psychic-Type moves (though those moves were boosted thanks to S.T.A.B (Same Type Attack Bonus). I gave it moves that were different from its type such as Swift, a Normal-Type move that would help Espeon if it were against an opponent that had the advantage, such as a Dark-Type Pokémon where Psychic attacks would do nothing to them. I had a lot of fun figuring out what kind of strategies I would have in these games. I liked building a team that would be good for almost any situation. I had an Attacker, a Tank, a Speedster, and a Jack-of-All-Trades. I had a solid team that I remember to this day: Meganium (Grass-Type), Espeon (Psychic-Type), Arcanine, Noctowl, Lapras, and Ampharos. I even had some substitute Pokémon on the sidelines in case I needed to change my strategy. This changed the way I played Pokémon from there on out.
Image: The John Region
I realize how convoluted all this sounds. Thing is, it is. Pokémon is a complex game. It’s a lot more than what people see on the surface. It is a game full of strategy, new lands, new concepts, and new creatures to explore. There are so many more things that Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver have that I haven’t even delve into in this essay. I want to save that for your guy’s experience as per usual. Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver aren’t everyone’s favorite game and that’s okay. But, they are my favorites. The nostalgia, the graphics, the Battle Frontier, the bond between trainer and Pokémon, and the personal transition into the new, competitive mechanics enhanced my experience like no other game has before. It’s not the greatest game in the world by a long shot, but these games do mean a lot to me. They changed the way I play Pokémon games. They changed the way I see them; not as just a kids game, but as a game that can really be enjoyed by all ages no matter how casual or competitive the player may be. These games give me hope that one day, GameFreak will take HG and SS’s success as a lesson on how to remake/remaster one of their old games. Right now, everyone is hoping for remakes of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. I hope that they can truly do those games as much justice as they did Generation 2. Maybe they’ll become my new favorite games, who knows?
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