A remake of Pokémon Gold Version
Pokémon HeartGold Version and Pokémon SoulSilver Version are paired Generation IV remakes of the Generation II games Pokémon Gold and Silver. Much like how Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen revisited the Generation I story of Kanto, HeartGold and SoulSilver retell the story of Johto, with the player's starting town being New Bark Town. While the games feature several expansions in key areas, the overall plot follows the same direction as the original Gold and Silver. Some aspects exclusive to Crystal are also included. Like how FireRed and LeafGreen could link up with Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald to complete the Pokédex by trading regionally exclusive Pokémon, HeartGold and SoulSilver can link up with Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum to obtain Pokémon unavailable in Johto and Kanto (such as the Sinnoh starters) and vice versa. Kris, despite being the female counterpart of Crystal's player character, is not included as the female player character, with a new character instead taking her place. Whether she is chosen to be the player character or not, this new character will still appear in the game. The unselected protagonist will take a pseudo-rival role similar to the unselected characters of Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. The games were released on September 12, 2009 in Japan, February 4, 2010 in Korea, March 14, 2010 in North America, March 25, 2010 in Australia and March 26, 2010 in Europe (this excludes the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of Belgium due to an in-game save error, with the patched copies later released on April 2, 2010).
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The main campaign is honestly the weakest part. It's pretty fun for a big, but a massive middle chunk of the game has every Pokemon around the same levels for hours and hours. Leveling up is a massive pain because there's nothing high enough level to get EXP from, and the game gets extremely dull fighting the same easy enemies for most of the main game.
Thankfully, all of the side stuff is super memorable and charming, and that's the stuff that really stuck with me. This game's at its best when you're just vibing and exploring Johto and Kanto with your team. Awful leveling, but enough atmosphere and detours to keep me coming back.