No Heart or Soul in these remakes!
While HeartGold & SoulSilver are essentially good games, you've already played the originals. Yes there are new features that are very enjoyable and a lot has changed since the originals (Physical/Special split is a big one) but when it comes to the crunch you are just playing the same games again. That's why, regardless of how well it was made, I never really got into the hack ShinyGold. When I first played Silver it was enjoyable enough but why just make them again? I enjoy playing a whole new region with whole new gym leaders, pokemon etc. I deliberately keep myself in the dark about the game's plot etc. to surpirse myself. In HeartGold I can't assemble a whole team of new pokemon and it becomes quite dull.
I really hope they do not remake the Gen III games in Gen V. Emerald was the best pokemon game so far IMO and it is enjoyable enough as it is. I replay it regularly. A remake is pointless. Gamefreak/Nintendo are just tring to squeeze a little money out of nostalgia. FireRed & LeafGreen were both good ideas, bringing the originals up to date. But it seemed like the just made HG/SS to cash in on what a few fan's wanted. They didn't really make it with much love. The remixes of the original music are scratchy and rushed to say the least. The spriting is pitiful.... A good example of this is Jolteon. Here is Jolteon's original Gold sprite:
Its pretty well made. It shows clear progress from its original sprite in Red/Blue/Yellow making great use of new technology at the time. The colours are fairly well balanced. I'm sure we'd all agree its a very good sprite. Here now is Jolteon's HeartGold sprite:
It's sketchy, it's bland, it looks like a three year old hyped up on Ribena has gone ape with some black and pale yellow crayons. This is not made with love. It was done quickly to get out HG/SS and make some money. Kerching! I'm not saying Gamefreak/Nintendo are horrible, 15-headed corporate levithans only desperate for moolah. I thought D/P/Pt were very good games. They had their flaws but you could tell the creators enjoyed what they were doing and it comes through in the finished product. HG/SS was just a chance to make a quick buck of of nostalgia and they didn't put a lot of heart or soul into their work (oh the irony!).
I'm sure that Gen 5 will be very well done with the sort of flair that we all love from pokemon games. Just please... please don't release any more remakes for at least another 10 years! And when you do, pretend you like doing what you are doing and change the regions and storyline slightly so it is not a carbon copy of the original. Nostalgia and innovation can be balanced. That is what makes a good remake.