HGSS Did you think HGSS lived up to the reputations of GSC?

[Curious.]

With the remakes of GSC being HGSS, we were able to play in the region of Johto and with Second Generation of Pokemon in a modern spotlight. But being remakes of GSC, did you think they lived up to the gaming experience or reputation of their originals? Were there parts missing that you missed? Were the changes too much? Or did you like the updates? Did they tarnish or emphasise the nostalgic memories you hold of Johto and Gen II?

Personally, I found HGSS to be one of the best main series Pokemon Games. I began my journey as a Pokemon Trainer in Johto at the age of about 9, playing the original GSC. I loved every aspect of these games, and I was more than pleased with HGSS. Aside from the amazing graphical update, the added features I found didn't tarnish the game but in fact enhanced my overall experience, yet Gamefreak still maintained the nostalgia I treasure.

[Sakura Rain]

Oh, I loved HG/SS! I think Gamefreak did a great job on them. The one thing that bugged me about them (the same thing that I'm sure bothered everyone else) was that they made an entirely new female player character instead of bringing the female character back from Crystal. The female pc from Crystal is one of my all-time favorites and I was really upset to see a new character in her place.

Buuuuut on the bright side, I absolutely loved how Ecruteak City was redone. And Azalea Town and Goldenrod City and GAH ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING OKAY. I also loved the remixes of the old themes and the inclusion of the GB Player. That was a fantastic touch, that was.

[Rivvon]

Like Sakura Rain mentioned, the only "negative" aspect for me was that Lyra was designed quite differently from Kris. Still, I liked Lyra's design, Ethan, Silver's redesign...it was enough of an enhanced remake for me to get nostalgia pangs, but it also had enough new content for me to love it as a completely new game.
The Safari Zone was nice (and has what I believe to be some of the best music in all of the Pokemon games), there were so many legendaries to go out and catch, lots of "events" that happened even post-storyline...the list just goes on and on!

When Game Freak appears in-game in HGSS, one of the employees states that it's difficult to make a remake, because it needs to live up to the expectations of the long-time fans, but it also needs to have enough new content so that it's not just the same game being released again. I think they really lived up to this idea and exceeded it.

[SooperTrooper]

Like said above, I would've liked to have seen Kris return, that would have added to the already amazing nostalgia I received while playing the games. In my opinion, I think HG/SS lived up to GSC, with that obvious futuristic twist that are added every generation. Although I would have liked some thing to be the same as the originals, it was still fun to see updated versions of things. I think they did an amazing job.

[Toshiro.]

I think so.

I loved the originals, they were my favorite. Johto is my favorite region. Once I heard about these two games, I was more than excited. I pre-ordered months in advance and all that.

But yeah, these games lived up to my expectations. They were perfect. HGSS are my favorites now. Everything about them were amazing. I just wish Kris was the female protagonist instead of Lydia, but oh well.

[Elgyem]

I definitely think that they did. Although the Pokemon didn't have the admittedly amazing and fluid sprite animations that Crystal had, the game featured the Pokewalker, which I actually liked, the Pokeathlon, which was probably the best in-game minigame from any of the games, and a bunch of conveniences such as the touch-screen running shoe toggle and the double-item register. I actually think that HG/SS might be the best of all the Pokemon games. Although it doesn't have that great classic, nostalgic feel that the originals have, it more than compensates with a ton of cool new features.

[Aerilyn]

I would think HeartGold and SoulSilver met the expectations of many fans of the original versions and even went as far to exceed them. Out of the main RPG Pokémon Games released, I'd say HGSS ranks pretty high up. They stuck to the originals roots, blended in the added storyline from Crystal, and they livened up the Kanto part of the games really well. They even went as far as to include the original 8-bit music once you obtained the GB Sounds item. When it comes to remakes, this is how it's done!

My only complain about HGSS would be the overall level issue that GSC had. I would have thought that GameFreak would have fixed it in the remakes, but they hadn't which was a slight disappointment for me. Other than that though, I thought HGSS was a complete success.

[Lapras*]

I think the games did. People will probably still prefer the older games because they're the first ones, but I think Game Freak remade the games perfectly, even adding features like Pokemon following you (YES!) and the Crystal storyline in both.

[Sydian]

I definitely think HGSS did GSC more justice than FRLG did RBY. HGSS feels like old times, but at the same time, it has it's own shine that it brings and feels new. idk if that makes sense. It's just a great combination, and I feel like it did great as a remake. And younger players that weren't around in gen II can play this and get a feel of how magical it was for those that did get to play, just in a slightly different sense. I still feel like Johto is just as magical in gen IV as it was in gen II. :) They did good.

[Para-Dox]

HGSS is the most refined game in the series. While I usually play b/w nowadays, my second runthrough has been very enjoyable. I think they are the highest quality games in the main series.

HGSS did everything right apart for the music, and surpass the originals overall.

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

For the most part, yes. That's the problem. G/S/C are decent, mediocre games, a d the remakes are exactly that - decent, mediocre games. Blame it on laziness, or blame it on nostalgia, but many issues were not improved upon and pretty much left alone. And the improvements were relatively minor things that weren't significant enough to make a major difference IMO.

HG/SS are games that are about as good as their predecessors, but without much to help them stand above them, and still carrying many of the flaws from the past.

[Curious.]

Originally Posted by Elite Overlord LeSabre™

For the most part, yes. That's the problem. G/S/C are decent, mediocre games, a d the remakes are exactly that - decent, mediocre games. Blame it on laziness, or blame it on nostalgia, but many issues were not improved upon and pretty much left alone. And the improvements were relatively minor things that weren't significant enough to make a major difference IMO.

HG/SS are games that are about as good as their predecessors, but without much to help them stand above them, and still carrying many of the flaws from the past.

I found it to exceed well-beyond the quality of their originals, what flaws do you mention?

[The Pinkie Pie]

Personally? I think HG/SS went above and beyound the G/S/C games. Well the nostalgia pasta was absolutely delicious, the inclusion of letting Pokemon walk around with you really just sold it for me. I remember SQUEEING when I first read that on Serebii. I still do sometimes. The GB Players was just all sorts of epic. :3

[Dudypokefan89]

Ever since i was 9, i was a Pokemon fan. My favorite gen is 2. The GSC games were my all time favorite games until HGSS. They did everything right. They captured the same nostalgic magic that was there in GSC. The things that impressed me were still intact. I remember the phone and day/night systems blowing my mind. The breeding was like an addicting little mini game to me. I actually put the story on hold to make a little Cyndaquil army with their dad up front in my team. I had a blast playing HGSS. The GB Player was also something that just brought back memories. I liked the new customizable Safari Zone, and Gym layouts. I was interested in the Pokeathlon, but i just said "Screw it." Game Freak did more then enough to make my favorite Gen come back to life. Simply put, HGSS is my favorite Pokemon game.

[diab_low]

Hell yeah its live up and its even better.

[Curious.]

Originally Posted by diab_low

Hell yeah its live up and its even better.

How so? I'd love to hear how it exceeded the your expectations!

[Aeroplane]

I really enjoyed HG/SS. It was everything I expected it to be, really, and a bit more. The following Pokemon feature was nifty, I loved the Running Shoes toggle.

Overall, not much I can say. They just flat out did a good job in my opinion. Kept everything intact up until post-game, in which they added a bunch of new fun stuff to do. Nobody is really going to complain "Oh well G/S/C didn't have a huge battle frontier area!", adding anything post E-4 isn't really gonna get complaints IMO.

They were really thinking of the fans when they added the old music player as well.

[Fangking Omega]

This is an odd one for me.

I imported Gold and Silver from the States as soon as they were out, essentially 6 months before they were out in the UK (seems ridiculous doesn't it). Anyway, I came home from school on the Friday to be presented them by my Mummy and had the whole weekend to experience the first NEW generation which in a lot of ways to a kid like me was more exciting than Gen I itself. I was going to a new region to discover new Pokémon... DAY AND NIGHT PASSED LIKE IN REAL LIFE! And I could breed my Pokémon. And I could finally get Togepi and Marill in a game! New gyms! 16 gyms! I pulled my first ever all-nighter playing Gold. My mum would probably still kill me today if she realised!

So the nostalgia factor was pretty huge when I heard HGSS were coming. And yup, they looked great in the pre-release screenshots. I was finally going back to Johto!

I got there and I realised it just wasn't as interesting as it had been back then. I clocked up hundreds of hours on both Gold and Silver, and then even more on Crystal when it came out. Playing SoulSilver, I realised Johto was a bit small... and the story wasn't so great. And going back to Kanto?? Meh. It was over in a flash - the gyms really needed some sort of level scaling up. Plus I'd already had my fill of the Gen IV mechanics through playing Pearl and Platinum fiercely. And Sinnoh actually stands up as a more interesting region to me.

Still, there was a lot of nostalgia to be gleaned from playing, and the post game features were exceptional. But it never quite matched the feeling of playing the original Gold and Silver as that 10 year old. So in some ways the flaws of Johto and Kanto soiled that for me.

HGSS fell short of expectations in many ways, but it was still a treat to relive those countless hours I invested in catching 250 Pokémon (never got Celebi!) back in the day, the visuals were nice, the post game experience was brilliant and the games fit very well into Gen IV.

[Kanto_Johto]

It goes without saying that the originals were better, but that is purely because of nostalgia. No matter how hard you try, you'll never get the same enjoyment and excitement the originals gave you because the adventure isn't a completely new and refreshing one and you're not the carefree kid that you once were.

However, I absolutely loved HG/SS. Although they were essentially just an updated G/S with Crystal mixed in, they were as good as they possibly could be, in my opinion.

The soundtrack blew me away too. I remember when I first heard the National Park theme after the soundtrack had leaked on the web, the hairs on my back actually stood up. Incredible stuff.

[Whispeon]

I started playing Pokémon when I was four years old. Christmas day, 2001. My first game was Gold, but I realised Silver was on the shelves, and after watching The Power Of One, I swiftly bought that and lent Gold to my brother, which I've never seen since.

To put it shortly, no. I will always prefer the originals. But that's not to say that HGSS weren't amazing. I loved them so much and I was so pleased that Nintendo recognised that (at the time) we had 3d cities whilst Johto was still stuck in 8-bit. The bar was too high for HGSS to reach, but it darn well came close.

But then again, even if Johto was featured in virtual reality games, I would play GSC every time.

[ZebraikaKnight]

The only thing I found lacking in HGSS was the removal of the Pokedolls and room decorations bought by your Mom. It was basically the only reason to ever let her save your money in the first place.

I don't really get why they weren't in there, especially considering they already had sprites of every single Pokemon in the game. Just place a static pokemon sprite on the desk or wherever and you're good to go.

I wish Kanto was improved, however. I mean, all the empty buildings and stuff from the original GSC were due to space constraints and time constraints, so if they had've kinda opened it all up and made it worthwhile to explore, it would've been brilliant. Visiting Kanto in the original GSC was brilliant because we were only on the second Gen, and we didn't need a lot of other stuff. Now the whole Kanto novelty's worn off and could've used a bit of extra spice.

Other than that, I loved it. I despecially liked how the Pokedex was designed, it was easier to see at a glance which pokemon you needed.

[Mr Cat Dog]

HGSS are my favourite series of Pokemon games, so I do think that they lived up to the reputation of the originals. If anything, they surpassed the originals with their bulk of new features and updates that come with being on a DS instead of a Game Boy. I've always thought that the storyline was the most coherent and least bombastic, and graphics are really good, and the gameplay is the best out of all of the games. And even though I'd essentially played these games before, playing the remakes didn't feel redundant at any stretch of the game.

[Shiny Celebi]

I loved the games and felt they were even better than FireRed/LeafGreen as far as remakes go. They really took a classic Pokemon game and made it new. I really enjoyed playing and definately would play through again, so yes Id say it lives up to G/S/C's reputation.

[Skitty1]

Originally Posted by Sakura Rain

Oh, I loved HG/SS! I think Gamefreak did a great job on them. The one thing that bugged me about them (the same thing that I'm sure bothered everyone else) was that they made an entirely new female player character instead of bringing the female character back from Crystal. The female pc from Crystal is one of my all-time favorites and I was really upset to see a new character in her place.

Buuuuut on the bright side, I absolutely loved how Ecruteak City was redone. And Azalea Town and Goldenrod City and GAH ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING OKAY. I also loved the remixes of the old themes and the inclusion of the GB Player. That was a fantastic touch, that was.

Well at least she is not as annoying as the friends in B/W are... Bianca is cute but it gets old fast (for me).

[Ultimate Uchiha]

Well I don't think the HG/SS soundtrack lived up to the original but, I guess that's why they made the GB Sounds thing. Other than that, they were everything I always hoped the GSC remakes would be.