Pokémon is one of my favorite game series, ever. It combines monster catching with a seventeen-type game of Rock-Paper-Scissors and surprisingly deep formulas for the stat-levelling of your little creatures. Plus the world's pretty interesting. Today we're looking at Heart Gold and Soul Silver, my current favorites.
This pair is a remake of Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal from the Gameboy Color, with extremely updated graphics and several new areas. You play a plucky ten-year-old child who lives next door to the local weird professor. Professor Elm asks you to walk around with a Pokémon for a while and gives you a shiny new friend. Sadly, watching from the window is the evil ??? (Canonically named Silver, an entire generation of newbies named him this due to a quirk in the original games' translation where he introduces himself as "???"). He steals a Pokémon from Elm and you have to go...
Actually, you just go do gym battles and thwart Team Rocket, who he isn't a member of. It's kinda odd. Anyway, you proceed to battle everyone unfortunate enough to make eye contact with you and your monster army, and catch more Pokémon. It's a simple story and a simple formula, but this game pair shows Team Rocket more evilly than the original games or, by far, the anime. In the first game, we saw them cause the only death in the series, a mother Marowak. This, in the family-unfriendly Pokémon Tower with music A) so creepy it was remixed and toned down as early as the original GSC set and B) described as "Death walking" by some fans, was basically pure nightmare fuel for the original seven-year-olds who played this. In GSC, not to mention their remakes, Team Rocket:
- Kidnaps Slowpokes and cuts off their tails. The tails grow back... implying they're gonna cut them off again when they do.
- Emits a signal that forces Pokémon to evolve sooner than they should. This results in the first "shiny" Pokémon most players were likely to see, a red Gyarados. Why's it red? Because it changed so quickly it kept its Magikarp coloring. Worse, Gyarados are basically the default Water type for your team- they're extremely powerful sea serpents. And apart from that one red Gyarados, which you probably caught, what happened to the others that probably evolved due to the signal?
- Takes over a national radio tower, playing a broadcast asking for their absent leader to return. Once they get that back, they'll play the evolution signal again. Across the entire region.
So yeah. They're torturing Pokémon on a mass scale, which is arguably worse than the Marowak since it at least seemed to be an isolated incident. Basically, Pokémon feeds on the kind of horror you only realize after going back and thinking on it again, which is the reason they get off with the E10+ rating and why I support it.
As for new side stuff: The Pokéathlon minigames are fun and addicting, though a bit simple, and add another use for berries you don't need. I've also got two favorite new additions. First, the Pokéwalker that comes in with new and probably some pre-owned games, a pokéball-shaped pedometer that allows you to bring one of your Pokémon along, walk with them, catch other Pokémon, find items, and train them. It's actually quite fun, though I wish it were possible to take out a member of your main team, walk with them during the day- say, at school- and then put them back on when you get home. The other one- walking with your Pokémon. It's a little thing, but it really does make the game that much more adorable. You can turn around and talk to the Pokémon, and they'll react to the route you're on, their current status, or just how much they like you... Though the idea of Scyther poking me in the stomach is a bit odd. Either way, I love it. Shame it doesn't seem to be present for the upcoming Black and White. Also, if you have certain Pokémon walking with you (usually event-exclusive, sadly), you occasionally unlock special events. For instance, the event Pikachu-colored Pichu in Ilex Forest gets you a time traveler (though, sadly, not Celebi), and Arceus can get you a level-one Sinnoh legendary just after the first gym. Which will be completely loyal to you, regardless of level, because you're its original trainer.
As someone who played through with a Mew, let me tell you- Unleashing legendaries you shouldn't have on the gyms? It's so... SO fun.
The problem with these, of course, is that they're dependant on you having or getting event Pokémon. Since they're over, your best bet is the wi-fi Global Trading System, but while you can probably get a legitimate event Pichu, best of luck with the level 100 Arceus or, worse, the basically unobtainable-without-gameshark Celebi. Especially since Celebi unlocks another event in Black and White. That right there? That's Gamefreak saying they hate you. Don't worry, the sadness wears off after a while.
Battle mechanics are smooth as ever, complete with ridiculously long animations. Trust me, folks, it's fun at first, but after a while you'll want to turn it off, particularly since Pokémon are limited to four moves. By the way, Game Freak: PLEASE get rid of some of these HMs. It's a pain in the neck to have to devote some of your main team's precious move slots to weaker moves just so that you can explore the area. Surf and Fly, sure, maybe even Cut/Rocksmash if you could combine them, and Waterfall's for the symbolism thing, but Flash? Defog? Whirlpool? Dive was interesting, even if it wasn't used as much as it could've been for such a water-based region, but can't you transfer the effect to Surf? I think at least three of my Mew's moves were HMs because I couldn't give up a slot to an HM slave. The fact that HM slave is such a prevalent fan term says a lot about how they're overused.
HMs, for the record, are "hidden machine" moves that allow you to progress through the games and their broken bridges. Despite there being a whole trainer class called swimmers, for instance, it's impossible to swim without a Pokémon. Cut, Rocksmash and Whirlpool all have the same effect in different areas- get rid of stuff that's in your way. Strength allows you to move boulders around, which at least makes for interesting puzzles. Flash and Defog let you see and, in the latter's case, ACTUALLY HIT... and Defog's only used in ONE AREA! You can't forget them without going to a special house, too, and while the effects are helpful, they don't go up in attack values later in the game, so Cut, for instance- a very early, normal-type move? It's basically useless. To counteract this, players often catch a weaker Pokémon that can learn the HM moves for use as an "HM slave" instead of for battle, taking up a precious spot on the team roster. This, this is by far the worst part of Pokémon if you like to explore the game world- you can't explore, battle, and have a nice team, making single-player mode for someone like me, who likes the environments and can't battle competitively due to our wireless security being incompatible with the DS? Yeah. It's not actually possible. But I digress.
Graphics are majorly upgraded- they're even prettier than the last release, Platinum- and it really is great to see Johto in all its glory. The music for the series is usually quite nice, and this is no exception. Is it Final Fantasy? No, but when you enter new areas you'll want to hear it. As an added bonus, Game Freak included a special item you can get after beating most of the main story that plays the old Gameboy tracks- I love the sendups to veteran Pokéfans.
In conclusion, Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the greatest Pokémon games yet in North America, though they might be a bit better for us returning fans who played the original games. Still, if you want a new Pokémon game and can't wait until Black and White, this installment's well worth the money. There aren't many major differences in versions, so pick whichever one has the cover Legendary you like more- Ho-Oh's the Heart Gold mascot, a brightly colored, fire-based rainbow bird. Lugia, the Soul Silver mascot, is a sleek silver sea dragon. And even if you can't choose, it's still possible to get the second of the two after beating the Elite Four, albeit at a very high level.
Score:
Gameplay: It's Pokemon. No really new tricks, but the little touches are nice.
Graphics, sound: Quite awesome, especially in cutscenes.
Story: It's Pokemon.
Kid-Appropriateness: Some basic reading's preferred, though not necessarily a deal breaker, I suppose. Cartoon violence, though, and while the KOs are non-lethal, some reasonably scary stuff. Should be good for kids around seven or eight, though.
Overall: 9. And my Pokemon hug you.
Buy them here.
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