I consider myself a fan of the Pokémon franchise, but this doesn’t mean the same to me as it does to others. I have friends who have dedicated hundreds of hours over the last decade or so to catching them all in the handheld role-playing games, whereas to me, Pokémon fandom has only ever meant watching the television show at 10:00 every Saturday morning while I was in high school. Sure, I played Pokémon Stadium on the Nintendo 64, but not having had a Game Boy in my youth, I really missed out on the challenge and strategy of catching your own elite team of pocket monsters. With there now being nearly five hundred Pokémon in the fourth generation of the franchise, I’ve felt a bit overwhelmed by the more recent Pokémon games. Earlier this week, I got a look at the forthcoming remakes of 1999 Game Boy Color titles Gold and Silver, now called HeartGold and SoulSilver. It quickly became clear to me that there is no better time to start catching them all.

Like other games in the series with dual releases, HeartGold and SoulSilver are essentially the same, with one major difference: HeartGold contains legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh, while SoulSilver has Lugia. The title you pick will be dependent on which of the legendary Pokémon you prefer. I never played Gold/Silver the first time around, but I remember the era in the cartoon series well. These games take place during the second generation of the Pokémon franchise, when the number of known Pokémon jumped from 151 to 251. This was also a time when Ash, Misty, and Brock were exploring the Johto region, which is the setting for these particular games.



There have been some changes made to differentiate the games from Gold and Silver, but the biggest addition to HeartGold and SoulSilver (and the franchise in general) is the Pokéwalker. The impression I got from the Pokéwalker’s announcement and accompanying press releases was that this peripheral, which is included with the game, was just going to be a pedometer used to measure the steps you take and simply transfer them to experience on the game cartridge. What I found out this week was that it actually does a lot more, meaning that I’m already planning practical ways to get a lot of use out of it in my everyday life.

The Pokéwalker is designed to look like a small, flat Poké Ball, which are what Pokémon are usually stored in. It sounds inhumane, but I’m sure they're perfectly fine inside those Balls. Instead of just measuring your steps, the Pokéwalker allows you to transfer any Pokémon you have caught from your game to the peripheral and virtually take it with you, walking it and allowing it to fight other Pokémon. While walking around, the player earns “Watts”, which can then be used to catch wild Pokémon and find hidden items. Walking with the Pokéwalker also gains experience for the Pokémon you have transferred to the device. This is easily the most interesting addition the Pokémon video game franchise has had in a long time. The information is transferred via infrared signals; the only previous DS game to do this was Personal Trainer: Walking, which used an actual pedometer.



Using the Pokéwalker has additional benefits, though Nintendo is not spilling all the beans on HeartGold/SoulSilver’s secrets just yet. What we do know is that the Pokémon you catch using the Pokéwalker may be different than the ones you catch in the game, which we assumed meant coming with different skill sets. I got the impression that there are even more advantages to be found with the Pokéwalker, but they won’t all be uncovered until the full game is out.

While the shiny new peripheral may be the biggest thing that sets HeartGold/SoulSilver apart from its predecessors, the gameplay itself features plenty of enhancements as well. The most noticeable difference between the remakes and Gold/Silver is the graphical upgrade. The sprites and environments are clearer, more colorful, and more detailed than they were on the Game Boy Color in 1999, and the visuals even seem to have been given a fresh coat of polish since the last major DS Pokémon title. The gameplay itself will be pretty much what you would expect of any game in the series, but now the Pokémon of your choice can follow you around instead of remaining in his Poké Ball, much like Pikachu accompanies Ash in the cartoon. You'll still be exploring the land, using the Pokémon you've captured to battle and collect more Pokémon in a turn-based fighting system. What many people overlook about this series is that underneath the ridiculousness of the Pokémon premise, there has always been very solid RPG gameplay, which is something I can get on board with.



Seeing Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver in action this week has really opened the floodgate of long-forgotten Pokémon fandom. It had been years since I thought about the Johto journeys, but now I’m really excited to begin my own quest. I’ve begun thinking about how I can use the Pokéwalker around the office; maybe I’ll take a few extra trips to the water cooler. I have a feeling that I’m about to get sucked into a very addictive habit, but I don’t care. Starting next month, I’m going to catch them all. Oh, and as for which version I want? HeartGold all the way. Ho-Oh for life!

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver will be out on March 14, 2010, for the Nintendo DS and DSi.