Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver

By c3ntury
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Grand Master

c3ntury

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Developers: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo, ThePok?mon Company
Engine: Heavily modified Pok?mon Platinum engine
Platforms: Nintendo DS
Release Date: JP: September 12, 2009, NA: March 14, 2010, EU: March 26, 2010

Description:

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Pok?mon HeartGold Version and SoulSilver Version (????????? ??????????????? Poketto Monsut? H?tog?rudo S?rushirub??, "Pocket Monsters: HeartGold & SoulSilver) are enhanced remakes of the 1999 video games Pok?mon Gold and Silver. The games are part of the Pok?mon series of role-playing video games, and were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. First released in Japan on September 12, 2009, the games were later released to North America, Australia, and Europe during March 2010.

HeartGold and SoulSilver take place in the Johto region of the franchise's fictional universe, which features special creatures called Pok?mon. The basic goal of the game is to become the best Pok?mon trainer in the Johto and Kanto regions, which is done by raising and cataloging Pok?mon and defeating other trainers. The games are bundled with a peripheral called the Pok?walker, a pedometer resembling a Pok? Ball which can connect to the Nintendo DS game card via infrared signals.

Game director Shigeki Morimoto aimed to respect the feelings of those who played the previous games, while also ensuring that it felt like a new game to those that were introduced to the series in more recent years. Reception to the games was highly positive, with the two being amongst the highest rated DS games of all time on Metacritic. Commercially, the two are among the highest-selling handheld games of all time, with their combined sales being 10 million units as of July 29, 2010. [Source]

 

Plot:

 

 

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Similar to Pok?mon Gold and Silver, HeartGold and SoulSilver take place in the Johto region of the franchise's fictional universe. The universe centers on the existence of creatures, called Pok?mon, with special abilities. The silent protagonist is a young Pok?mon trainer who lives in New Bark Town. At the beginning of the games, the player chooses either a Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile as their starter Pok?mon from Professor Elm. After performing a delivery for the professor, he decides to let the player keep the Pok?mon and start them on a journey.

The goal of the game is to become the best trainer in Johto and Kanto, which is done by raising Pok?mon, completing a catalog of Pok?mon called a Pok?dex, defeating the eight Gym Leaders in Johto for Gym Badges, challenging the best trainers in the region known as the Elite Four and the Champion, and then defeating the eight Gym Leaders in the Kanto region. Finally, the player may face off against Red atop Mt. Silver, who serves as the game's final boss.

Throughout the game, the player will battle against members of Team Rocket, a criminal organization originally from Kanto. They were originally defeated by the protagonist of FireRed, and LeafGreen, and have attempted to come back as an organization, while awaiting the return of their leader, Giovanni. To attempt to contact him, they take over the radio tower and broadcast a message calling out to him.

During certain points in the game, the player's rival will battle the protagonist in a test of skills. Throughout the game, the player encounters Kimono Girls. After battling all of them in a row, they allow the player to encounter a legendary bird specific to each game (Ho-Oh in HeartGold, and Lugia in SoulSilver). [Source]

 

Gameplay:

 

 

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Pok?mon HeartGold and SoulSilver are role-playing video games with adventure elements. The basic mechanics of the games are largely the same as their predecessors'. As with all Pok?mon games for hand-held consoles, gameplay is viewed from a third-person overhead perspective, and consists of three basic screens: a field map, in which the player navigates the main character; a battle screen; and the menu, in which the player configures his party, items, or gameplay settings. The player begins the game with one Pok?mon and can capture more using Pok? Balls. The player can also use the Pok?mon to battle others.

When the player encounters a wild Pok?mon or is challenged by a trainer to a battle, the screen switches to a turn-based battle screen where the Pok?mon fight. During battle, the player may fight, use an item, switch the active Pok?mon, or flee (the last is not an option in battles against trainers). Pok?mon have hit points (HP), which is displayed during combat; when a Pok?mon's HP is reduced to zero, it faints and cannot battle unless taken to a Pok?mon Center or healed or revived with a Pok?mon skill or item. If the player's Pok?mon defeats the opposing Pok?mon (causes it to faint), it receives experience points. After accumulating enough experience points, it will level up; most Pok?mon evolve into a new species of Pok?mon when they reach a certain level, or when certain conditions are met (commonly, how much a Pok?mon statistically 'likes' its trainer).

New features
HeartGold and SoulSilver allow the first Pok?mon in the player's party to follow them, echoing a mechanic in Pok?mon Yellow in which Pikachu follows the player. Apart from Yellow, this mechanic was also used in Pok?mon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum in a limited fashion: when the player is in Amity Park with a cute Pok?mon. The player may talk to the Pok?mon, and occasionally it may pick up items. A new minigame called the Pok?athlon (called Pok?thlon in Japan) uses the Nintendo DS touchscreen and allows Pok?mon to compete in events such as hurdling. The Japanese versions retain slot machines found in previous games, while the international releases of the titles replace the slot machines with a new game called "Voltorb Flip", described as a cross between Minesweeper and Picross. Another new item, the GB Sounds, changes the background music to the original 8-bit music from Pok?mon Gold and Silver.

Connectivity to other devices
The games are bundled with a peripheral called the Pok?walker, a pedometer that resembles a Pok? Ball which can connect to the Nintendo DS game card via infrared signals in a fashion similar to another Nintendo DS game Personal Trainer: Walking. The Pok?walker can hold one Pok?mon at any time, and must be registered with a single cartridge of the game. Walking with a Pok?walker holding a Pok?mon can cause the Pok?mon to increase one level and cause its friendliness to increase, as well as earning "watts," an in-game currency that can be used to catch wild Pok?mon and dowse for items. Despite the device being included with every game, Nintendo announced that the games would carry standard pricing (around ?4,800 in Japan). HeartGold and SoulSilver can access the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to trade, battle, and interact with other players of the games, as well as players of Pok?mon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. After completing a special Wi-Fi mission download on Pok?mon Ranger: Guardian Signs, the player can send a Deoxys to HeartGold and SoulSilver. [Source]

 

Links:

 

 

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Screenshots:

 

 

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pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022059pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022100pokemon-heartgold-version-20100126012001
pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022101pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022109pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022111
pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022106pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022105pokemon-heartgold-version-20100224022108

 

Videos:

 

 

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I cannot believe a dedicated thread for these amazing remakes of the classic Pokemon Gold and Silver hasnt been created yet so i figured i might as well create it myself! I was addicted to the originals so these remakes should be amazing smile.gif

Basically is a total remake of the original games, only with completely new graphics, and its alot faster as well, since it uses the latest Pokemon Engine. Also, many of the reviewers / players have called this "The best pokemon game EVER" - thats compared to a hell of alot of games. Also you get the "Pokewalker" which will count the steps you take in real life and it will level up your Pokemon the further you walk, also there are several legendarys avaliable and MUCH MUCH MORE.

Other new features include -
Roaming Latios, Mewtwo in the game and so are several other legendarys.
(E) Version only, the Goldenrod Slot Machine is replaced with a mix of Minesweeper and Backgammon - apprently its extremely addicting.
Let your top pokemon walk with you on the screen.
Battle Frontier, Better online Battles and other places to battle.
The trainer-call-back is BACK. - One of the most missed features in recent games.
and much, much more.

Anyway, in my opinion, this is going to be the game of the year for sure! Hundreds of hours of gameplay avaliable, unlimited hours if you include the online gaming - this looks set to beat most other NDS games that have released so far.

 

 

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Grand Master

Chasethebase Veteran

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These games are great, I've already played through it and I've got to say it's far better than DPPt. You've got refined graphics, new sprite work, better sounds. Also including new features that were not in the originals. It's a great game overall.

Also the GB Player is a must find item, after you achieve all 16 badges go to Celadon and talk to the dude on the 3rd floor near the globe.

It changes the music to classic music

Veteran

Kondrath

Posted
Posted

Even though every pokemon game I've played is exactly the same since Red, I still keep on playing them for some reason. I'm a little excited for this... I liked silver so much when I was a kid. Especially going into the Kanto region :D

I don't do any of that ridiculous EV training, though. Just normal level ups...

I'm still using the original fat DS. Works fine, but the screen brightness and colors are miserable compared to the Lite's, haha.

Grand Master

Chasethebase Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
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I always felt half of the fun of the Pokemon games were those old Gameboy graphics. To me, nothing else will be true 'pokemon' than those originals.

The new sprite artwork for this game is way beyond that of DPPt, big improvement.

@mreggsalad: agreed! pokemon red/blue, that's where it's at!

If you compare the gameplay mechanics of the old games to the new games you'll realise how broken the old games were. :laugh:

  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

Chasethebase Veteran

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Hm... not like the one in the photo though. Still, good find

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I've custom-built all my own PCs and servers since the 90s, and this is the first time I have had to put a NAS together. Even if the actual base ZimaBoard 2 was already a completed build, it still feels pretty custom. I just wish that IceWhale Technology included a getting-started guide in the box for the Start Kit, which would have really completed this kit. Instead, I had to search for the official video on the YouTube channel to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. So who is this for? Definitely the hobbyist who is comfortable building their own PC and servers. It also has a much smaller footprint than its nearest equivalent (in terms of specs), like the Beelink Me Pro, which is another NAS I will be testing soon. Although the Beelink does not come with the PCIe 3.0 X4 expansion, the ZimaBoard 2 Starter Kit suddenly looks to be a great bargain, even if it only offers the two 3.5-inch bays over the four in the other example. It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N150 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the ZimaBoard 2 is intended for, media streaming and backup. It also looks like the IceWhale Technology staff are quite active in the official forums helping people with issues they come across with ZimaOS and the devices, peer support seems to be good as well, I was quickly able to find why I was not able to create a new Storage Pool in ZimaOS v1.6.1 even though that is quite a serious bug, hopefully it will be fixed in the next update. If you are comfortable with the command line and Docker, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. This was my first time with ZimaOS. It seems a bit barebones in comparison to the likes of Synology DSM, TOS, and UGOS, but it has a ton of apps to get you started with your home or small business NAS. Where to buy As of publishing, IceWhale Technology is running a discount of up to 5% for the Starter Kit. If you opt to get just the ZimaBoard 2 itself, it does come with a SATA Y-Cable, so you will be able to connect up to two 3.5-inch HDDs to it. ZimaBoard 2 1668 Starter Kit for $534.50 on Amazon US (was $548.60) ZimaBoard 2 832 Starter Kit for $372.88 on Amazon US (was $390.60) Zimaboard 2 1668 (16GB+64GB) for $419.90 on Amazon US Zimaboard 2 832 (8GB+32GB) for $359.90 on Amazon Disclosure: IceWhale Technology provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval. Good to know The Amazon link is U.S. specific, and not available in other regions unless specified. We only use first-party seller links (at the time of article publishing); ensure that you purchase from a first-party seller link only. Check out Today's Deals on Amazon | or our recent tech deals. Become a Prime member (for Students or SNAP) via Neowin Get Prime Access - Prime for half price (for qualifying Medicaid, EBT, SNAP) Subscribe to Prime Video, Audible Plus, Music Unlimited or Kindle Unlimited via Neowin As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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