While it doesn't change anything of the gameplay, it manages to make the game feel more like the anime TV show, and allows a bond to form between player and Pokémon that the previous games have never offered. Yes, even Gyarados.Īnother feature that's been reinstated in these new games is the ability to have one of your team of six Pokémon follow you around as you roam the countryside (First introduced in Pokémon Yellow, but only with Pikachu). As each version of the game has a different selection of Pokémon to catch (There's normally around 20 unique to each game) it actively encourages the player to trade with other people if they want to get a complete collection of Pokémon, or to acquire a Pokémon that's only available on the other game that looks quite cute - Anyone fancy trading me a Growlithe? Heart Gold and Soul Silver also feature the ability to collect the full complement of 493 Pokémon (Bastiodon included, sadly), but only once the first 251 have been seen.Īny Pokemon can be set to follow you around, no matter how big or small. It's this collecting aspect where Pokémon really excels. Along the way you'll encounter various different kinds of wild Pokémon, who you can catch and then use to battle other wild Pokémon, and the various trainers you'll meet on your adventure. Like every Pokémon game, you start off as a young boy (or girl) who gets given their first Pokémon by the local Professor with a tree related name (Elm, in this case), and you're then sent off into the wild to live out your lifelong dream of becoming a Pokémon master. This chap acts as your main rival throughout the game, he appears every now and again to put you down verbally and then lose to you. So when Nintendo announced Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, the DS remakes of the classic Game Boy Colour games, I fell off my chair with excitement. In many ways, Pokemon Silver was way ahead of its time - something which was proven, when Pokemon Ruby was stripped of so many of Silver's features, and as such, ended up feeling like a huge step back. It also introduced the PokéGear, a clock, radio, map, and mobile phone hybrid that put the iPhone to shame. It was the first Pokémon game to features real time day and night cycles, with nocturnal and diurnal Pokémon, and contests that took place on certain days of the week/months. While the more recent Pokemon games have, admittedly, added their fair share of new additions, none of them have really felt like as much of a step forwards as Pokemon Silver, which brought with it a whole host of new, useful features, along with another bunch of Pokemon you'd actually want to catch, rather than 90% of the more recent additions, which are, lets face it, a bit naff (Bastiodon, I'm looking at you). The original Pokémon Silver was quite possibly the most played game of my childhood, and for good reason.