r/pokemon • u/SpaceCowboyN7 • 5h ago
Discussion Today is the 16th anniversary of Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver
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u/strawberrypopstar ⋆˙₊ ⊹ 5h ago
heartgold is still my favorite pokémon game! it just has it all
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u/Waldschratsuppe 4h ago
Is this just in my head or could you go to kanto after you beat the main game?
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u/Ataswa 4h ago
Yes you could, Pokemon Gold was my first game ever and going to Kanto was like the best thing ever!
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u/West-Anxiety-8704 4h ago
It really blew my mind as a kid when the map basically doubled in size.
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u/-HawaiianSurfer 4h ago
Yup, when you surfed east from your home town and that one NPC goes, “Hey, do you know what you just did? You just took your first step into Kanto!”
8yo me was absolutely zoinked.
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u/FoaL 4h ago
Mind boggling to me they never did anything like that ever again. I remember when gens 3 and 4 were coming out, me and my friends at school on military grade hopium. “Do you think we’ll go back to Johto in the post game??”
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u/-HawaiianSurfer 4h ago
That would have been insane. But I see why, if that ever was an idea, they would have turned away from it. If you include Johto in a Hoenn game, ideally you’d also have to include Kanto as a result. Could have gotten messy.
At least we know Game Freak’s working on a potential MMO game where you can travel through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. If they’ve continued development on it, it’ll probably come out way past 2030.
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u/AdvancedCharcoal 4h ago
This exists as an unofficial game already https://pokemonrevolution.net/home
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u/VibraniumDragonborn 3h ago
Dang. I gotta play it on an old version of android apparently
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u/RoyalCities 3h ago
Just tried. You can pick the dropdown and install it anyways.
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u/ObiWanGinobili20 2h ago
Im old, so I was like 7 when original gold and silver came out. I beat the elite four like 200 times before I found out you could go and fight another 8 gym leaders in Kanto. Was absolutely life changing lol
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u/Desperate_Jicama1363 4h ago
Why is this in quotes?
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u/DifficultHeat007 4h ago
Bro
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u/_GeorgeBailey_ 2h ago
I cringed at that comment lol. Yes, obviously you can go to Kanto
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u/Fluid-Gain1206 4h ago
Same here! Just syarted a new playthrough the other day. Spent way too long gambling for a Dratini as soon as possible
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u/hirschneb13 4h ago
Is HeartGold the same as Gold just "remastered"?
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u/AkAxDustin 4h ago
It's the equivalent of Fire Red to Red Version. Calling it "just a remaster" would be selling it very short. Tons of new content in these versions.
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u/hirschneb13 4h ago
I just wasn't sure, I only ever played the OGs (R,B,Y,G,S,C) but I did just buy LeafGreen so I'm excited
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u/AkAxDustin 4h ago
Understandable. You'll love it, it hits all the good spots. Heart Gold and Soul Silver are pretty crazy games, tons to do. The physical release had the bonus of the poke walker, a pedometer you could transfer a pokemon into. Bunch of friends in college all got the game on release it was pretty dope. Felt like Pokemon Go before that came out.
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u/lilkingsly 4h ago
It’s a full remake, the original Gold and Silver are the core of HeartGold/SoulSilver but there’s a ton of stuff in there that isn’t in the originals.
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u/rensch 2h ago
It's a proper remake. In fact, it is regarded highly in the pantheon of best video game remakes period. It's the kind of remake that just fixes pretty much anything that might be annoying about the originals. It also adds most of the new stuff introduced in Crystal into Gold and Silver's paired version setup. It's kind of a definitive version of all three and then so much more.
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u/TitanImpale 4h ago
Having 2 regions in 1 game was one of the best things ever, beat the elite 4 oh wait there's a whole nother game ??!!!!
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u/AirHamyes 4h ago
I only wish they properly scaled the gyms though, instead of having it just be a bossrush before Red.
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u/rensch 2h ago
The Gym Leaders in Kanto are all over the place in terms of difficulty. Sabrina is one of the earliest you'll fight but one of the toughest Gym Leaders in the game. Meanwhile, Brock is very late in the game but a total pushover. He has a team with several unevolved Pokémon and all of his team is 4x weak to Grass attacks.
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u/Naca1227r 2h ago
It’s much better in HGSS.
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u/Spaghestis Sinnoh Boi 2h ago
Just played through SoulSilver, its still just a boss rush. Incredibly easy fights, the only one that's actually somewhat difficult is the Blue fight.
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u/PalladiuM7 2h ago
Most gyms are easy fights no matter your starter once you get past Whitney and her goddamn Miltank though.
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u/Expert-Issue1842 1h ago
So I wish they did a third "remake" of this where you could choose a starting region then either play gold/silver normally or do it "backwards", beating sparse team rocket members in kanto only to find johto riddled with them.
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u/SgtAkatsuki 3h ago
And the elite 4 " wait they have higher mons and some weren't there before " realization
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u/PrincessOfTheBronx House of Mouse 3h ago
That wasn't really a surprise. The Elite 4 always has new and higher leveled Pokémon when you go back.
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u/twoheartsonfire 3h ago
i had no idea about this as a kid and i beat the main game and thought "let's surf that little patch by my house!" and a whole new region unlocked. i remember the feeling and knowing that no other game would feel like that.
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u/FedoraTheMike 4h ago
The 16th anniversary of erasing her from history...
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u/Impossible_Pain4478 4h ago
I don't understand why she was replaced by Lyra, what did she even do to deserve that 😭
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u/Biggus_Shrimpus 4h ago
Artist didn’t know she existed is what I’ve seen but who knows honestly
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u/PrincessOfTheBronx House of Mouse 3h ago
Probably thought her design was mid and took the opportunity to replace her.
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u/Jelly_Sprinkles 4h ago
the fact you could explore both johto and kanto still makes these games feel massive
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u/Ok_Instance_9237 3h ago
To be fair, you could do that in the originals, where it’s a game from 1999 on a Gameboy color. Nintendo used to really try.
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u/ATyp3 Swellow fucks ass 2h ago
Yeah, now they don’t. Fuckin weird. If they just released masterpieces every 3-4 years with a mid cycle reboot every 2 years of some older game updated to the new system + actually make a competent online system that’s completely cross platform and not dogshit then they’d fucking print.
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u/vanillabean_sherbet 2h ago
Eh they’re printing regardless if we’re being honest, hence probably why they don’t have to try
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u/OnceMoreAndAgain 2h ago
Those types of pixel games where you explore a continent and catch monsters are just so good... I feel like that's a genre that shouldn't have died off.
One of the best games I've ever played is Magi Nation), which is a relatively unknown gameboy color game. It's like Pokemon, except made for teenagers instead of toddlers. That Pokemon gameboy formula just works so well...
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u/laboufe 5h ago
If they re-release these like they did FR and LG they can take my money
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u/narfidy 4h ago
Re release the poke walker
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u/shockwave8428 3h ago
My class (think I was in 6th grade) had probably 5-6 kids super into Pokémon and I just remember them sitting at their desks holding their poke walkers in hand and rotating their wrists to make it think they were taking steps, basically all day.
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u/notabigfanhonestly 4h ago
Cmon Nintendo we know you like to print money I’d be so sold on this
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u/GeneralLeeSarcastic 3h ago
Nintendo can kinda do whatever they want with Pokemon and print money anyway.
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u/Loveya448 4h ago
I want them to release all the old games on Switch. I still have my old game boys/3Ds but prefer playing on the tv
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u/Fangore 4h ago
I don't think we can ever see a direct port like FRLG because of the dual monitor. But I worry about them trying to "go big" and it going the BDSP route.
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u/bigvariable 4h ago
Emulators can absolutely do the dual screen. I have SoulSilver on my iPhone through Delta and it works exactly like the DS touch screen. Nintendo can probably do something similar for the Switch.
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u/Fangore 4h ago
If I'm playing docked. I dont want half my screen being used up for something that is more of a novelty.
Id rather them just remake then game in a way that removes the duel screen feature, but not do much beyond that.
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u/TheScreaming_Narwhal 3h ago
A lot of emulators have it set so the bottom/top screen is a quarter of the size to the right/left, which works alright.
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u/Rizenstrom 4h ago
While it doesn't outright confirm anything they do have a patent for a detachable second screen, so it's definitely possible.
https://insider-gaming.com/nintendos-detachable-dual-screen-patent-has-been-updated/
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u/thrwawryry324234 3h ago
I really hope so. I didn’t have a DS when these came out and I kinda wrote it off since I’d played gold and silver previously. I wish I had been there with the cool tamagotchi things they came with
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u/CrimsonPig 5h ago
Peak of the series
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u/West-Anxiety-8704 4h ago
Nothing has topped the dual-region post-game and having your Pokémon walk behind you.
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u/lilkingsly 4h ago
I’ll never understand why having your pokemon walk around behind you wasn’t something that continued on with Black and White.
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u/WhatTheBiggsee 5h ago
The first time I was so excited for a Pokémon game I bought it in Japanese so I could play it early. Did I know what was going on? No. Did I figure it out with walkthroughs and serebii info? Yes.
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u/AesirThor 3h ago
Welcome to the 2000s non-English speaking country experience. Except magazines instead of internet.
I still remember being stuck for a month, until my cousin showed me how to get past it.
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u/Tyrannitart 5h ago
Man the Gen 1-2-3 remakes all are 10/10 to me
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u/SimonVpK 3h ago
For some reason I just can’t beat ORAS. Doesn’t hold my attention as well as Emerald.
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u/CozyMushi 2h ago
I think ORAS as good as they are were the first remake to not improve the original, let's hope 5th gen has a good one...
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u/vanillabean_sherbet 2h ago
Idk why I was never a fan of FRLG, something about that generations graphics with gen 1 gameplay just never satisfied me like HGSS and ORAS did
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u/SakanaAtlas 1h ago
Imagine how salty I was when we saw bdsp as someone whose favorite region is sinnoh
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u/SpaceCowboyN7 5h ago
This was one of the best Pokemon games I played. It was right up there with Pokemon Gold and Silver. Great memories!
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u/notabigfanhonestly 5h ago
This is the remake / re-release I need 😭 Gold is so nostalgic to me I’d love to play it on my switch
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u/TheLittleUrchin 4h ago
As someone who never got to play them (and whose DS is on the fritz) I'd really love for a remake/re-release too!
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u/WhereAreMaKeys huehuehue 5h ago
Ah, man, there’s my daily reminder that I’m old.
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u/RegrettableDeed 4h ago
I wish legitimate copies weren't so expensive now 🥲
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u/Marsupilami_316 4h ago
I got my copy of Heart Gold some years ago. Don't remember the exact cost, but I think it was around 50 euros? Soul Silver is nearly twice as expensive, for some reason.
Black and White 2 are pricier, though. I paid €50 for a Black 2 cartridge ALONE.
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u/DatOneBozz 4h ago
If we're keeping it real, the best games they ever made.
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u/RocktamusPrim3 4h ago
Yep without a doubt. It felt like the last games they really went all out on, didn’t compromise on anything, and gave us damn near infinite replay value.
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u/PandaOmikun 4h ago
One of my all time favorites because your starter would follow you. Wish they kept that mechanic in every Pokemon game. It hit so hard for me.
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u/FatherofGray Professional Passimian Stan 4h ago
We'll probably never get this much high-value content in a Pokémon game ever again.
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u/jmathews777 4h ago
No Pokémon game will ever top HG/SS.
2 regions to explore. Your Pokémon follow you. Gorgeous pixel art. The Pokéwalker.
These games have EVERYTHING.
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u/SwageMord 4h ago
Love HeartGold, brought back memories of playing the OG Gold version but better with the detail and other QOL and world add ons.
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u/Enchanted-2-meet-you 5h ago
I think this and gen 4 (and the 3ds gens) are the only ones I haven’t gotten to. Thank god for fire red coming out cause it’s given me the motivation to try and finish all the mainline games
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u/WetCalamari My favs: , , , , ,,, 4h ago
I’m gonna start my Game of Soul Silver today. I had one as a kid then later heart gold when i no longer had soul silver (sold it to get 3ds i think) - I got Soul Silver again yesterday so I feel its fitting I start it again on the 16th Anniversary.
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u/FewHyena 4h ago
Soul Silver was the first video game i ever played on a console i owned, heres to 16 more years of loosing to red on mount silver!
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u/zanyzanee 4h ago
Feels like yesterday I got HeartGold. I was a sophomore in high school :( time goes way too fast.
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u/profound-killah 4h ago
Genuinely HGSS are basically the perfect remakes in my mind of one of my favorite games. It not only fixed a lot of its issues but built on it as well to make it perfect in my mind. Sure, I wish the Safari Zone wasn't so convoluted, but it made it possible to get those Gen 2 Pokemon that were locked away in the post game for whatever reason and added so much of the missing content in Kanto too.
Despite my ill-feelings towards the franchise nowadays, I'm still happy that these remakes were this great so even if I don't enjoy the current games, I can always go back to this and re-live my favorite moments in the franchise.
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u/Actual_Big_Jake 4h ago
Just finished soulsilver on sunday. It was a good pokemon game. The extra region was pretty good but the level scaling post morty felt sloppy. Also the battles are painfully slow compared to gen 5 and after. The johto pokemon are also a lot of the time unusuably bad, even for playthroughs.
While HGSS are strong entries in the series, I feel Black and White just clear it in terms of overall quality and playability.
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u/Fusilli_Agent_Cooper 4h ago
Heartgold was so good. Hopefully it gets rereleased or remastered or something someday.
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u/Marsupilami_316 4h ago
I played Gold as a kid, but I didn't get the chance to play HGSS until some years ago.
Good games, no doubt about it, but I prefer ORAS, BW and BW2; personally. HGSS has nostalgia going for it with Johto + Kanto, but didn't fix issues such as the level curve in wild Pokémon and trainers you face, which makes it a bit of a grindfest. Plus, the whole thing about Gen II Pokémon mostly being found in Kanto. Also, Johto pretty much feels like extended Kanto and is not among my favourite regions.
Also, I don't particularly care about the feature of letting your Pokémon follow you around. That feature has returned in a game or two ever since, including BDSP, and no one uses it as "pro" when it comes to arguments.
I'm sure HGSS was the best ever Pokémon game around 2010, the time it came out, but it has been surpassed since then, and that's not a bad thing.
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u/PineapplePhil 3h ago
The best games in the franchise. After Black and White an its sequels it was all down hill from there
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u/StoneColdAM 2h ago
Probably the best Pokemon games ever. Lot of effort on the feel and play of the games, and Gold/Silver having both Johto and Kanto is a big help. They should do another remake like these.
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u/albinobluesheep 2h ago
The 16th anniversary of the re-release of the first Pokemon game I owned (silver) is...rough
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u/F0R35T90 24m ago
The first ever Pokémon game I bought myself. I was 20 so the time, and bought the games for myself and my sister, along with 3DSXLs in colours we both enjoyed.
We grew up not being able to afford gaming, so it was a really big deal for me to be able to get the things we both wanted for so long 🥰
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u/DonaldDick1946 3h ago
$20 for FRLG is obscene, but I'd easily drop $50 on either of these if they came to Switch
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u/S-Drizzle 4h ago
My favorite game of all time tbh. Still have my original team, just transferred through all the gens now. 16 years ago is absolutely insane to think about, I was 12 at the time.
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u/TSLstudio 4h ago
Great games, was really surprised you were able to get both Legendaries in the same game! While also being able to fight the Kanto Gym Leaders, 16 total!
The lvl scale of trainers en gymleaders is a bit less though... (especially in Kanto)
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u/sora123av 4h ago
These were the games that got me back into the franchise after a 5 year gap! Been sticking with it since
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u/ChaseThoseDreams 4h ago
For the series, I’ve been chasing this high ever since. It truly was the high point of the series and did so many things perfectly.
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u/furculture 4h ago
I still got a copy of Soul Silver still sealed in box that I bought on eBay in 2020.
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u/tanglelover 4h ago
You are wrong. It can't be that old/s
No but for real, Soulsilver was the first pokemon game I played. I got it from Xtravision(Ireland's blockbuster) before it went out of business 5 years later.
White 2 was the first game I owned but Soulsilver legitimately made me sob because I couldn't trade pokemon over to my sibling's game because I didn't know how to delete the save file and you had to save to trade. Anyways 10 year old me learned true heartbreak that day. RIP Kat the Typhlosion. My first starter.
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u/couzanit 4h ago
Damn, I finally got heartgold a couple days ago, can't believe it's taken me 16 years to get it 😅🤣
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u/MineralTown 4h ago
Wow, I feel very old for it being 16 years. I preordered the Japanese version of HeartGold on playasia because I was so excited for the gen 2 remake. Didn't know Japanese but I knew I could play pokemon. I later got SoulSilver in English.
I remember walking around high school with my japanese pokewalker. Embarrassing but also great memories. Having that pikachu with fly and another with surf was so cool.
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u/WAKE_UP_WAKE_UP 4h ago
Pokewalker plus (if I remember correctly) the small figurine at Gamestop was a core memory for me as a kid. I was so giddy getting this game
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u/Cedar-King 4h ago
Ah, the best pokemon games. No hand holding, no linear map exploration, no permanent EXP All.
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u/Thepenguinking2 The Zan Man (and exquisitely rare Gen 5 non-enjoyer) 4h ago
Huh, actually had no idea it was released on my 10th birthday.
SoulSilver was the first Pokémon game I ever played, so it has a special place in my heart forever now. To this day, it's still my third favorite game in the series behind Sun/Moon and Platinum.
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u/CantFindaPS5 4h ago
Favorite game. I started replaying it on my 3ds along with Yellow on my Galaxy phone.
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u/Bootybandit6989 customise me! 4h ago
Man there's just something playing them on OG hardware that emulation can't seem to touch.
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u/RandomJPG6 4h ago
The fuck how has it been 16 years already?
I srill remember these coming out when I was in high school. Every kid had a Pokewalker and was playing in the halelays
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u/Due-Resource-4391 4h ago
Can we got something about Gen 2?
Why does Gen 1 gets lot of stuff? LGPE now Pokopia.. Gen 2 is crying.
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u/Shifty-Imp 4h ago
First time I imported one of the games from Japan so I could play it 8 months early! :D
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u/JPK12794 4h ago
Me: oh wow can't believe it's been 16 years since Pokémon gold and silver came out, I got them for my Gameboy colour as a little kid.... Wait....WAIT.... Oh my god I'm not adult enough to be this old.
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u/Headstar24 4h ago
I remember falling kind of out of Pokemon for a bit there and not wanting it even if I had Pearl. I regret that decision especially given the price of these ones.
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u/YangKoete 4h ago
I miss the figurines I got from Toys R Us for $0.01 each. If I just gave them a dollar, I could've made BANK today xwx
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u/Shutupdillhole 4h ago
I’ll never forget getting Soulsilver for my birthday as a kid and ripping the box open in the middle of Applebee’s so I could play it
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u/RocktamusPrim3 4h ago
To me HGSS was the pinnacle of Pokemon games. In one way or another, every game from then on has felt like a compromise in one way or another. Yes, I do enjoy Gen 5 but it took nearly a decade for it to grow on me, and even then I still personally prefer HGSS over Gen 5 any day.
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u/Own_Butterscotch1996 >Totodile < 4h ago
HeartGold is my first pokémon game so I'm kinda feeling something rn
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u/ForwardAd5837 4h ago
Oh thinking about all our younger years
There was only you and me
We were young and wild and free
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u/SplitGlass7878 4h ago
I really wish I didn't lose my Pokéwalker. I have very fond memories of the game and the peripheral.
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u/The_HoIIow_Knight 4h ago
I have great memories with these games. I was living on my own for the first time in New York as a freshman in college. Had no friends and was overwhelmed by studies. I stopped in a GameStop for the first time in years after a class one day. I bought Soul Silver with a PokeWalker. I had the coziest nights in my dorm room where I could just exhale and relive some of my childhood. One of the best weeks of my life.
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