Preloaded both games onto my 3DS XL and redeemed the theme codes. Gold will be my main, as it was back in 2000. Not really sure what I'm going to do about the team thing. Going for my original team seems a little too unbalanced now, and I think I'm going to evolve my starter, which I didn't do the first time (disliked how Feraligatr and Croconaw looked at the time), but I also want to keep some of the nostalgia there as well. Silver will probably be mainly for other challenge runs, or for just a different main play through, maybe with Typhlosion.
Is the theme only a preorder bonus, or can it be obtained for getting the games after release (within a specified period of time)? I'm thinking of picking up copies for my other 3DS for trading and such, but I haven't made a Nintendo Account to link that NNID to yet, and I don't remember the login details I used for the NNID. (In other words, it'll take time to figure it out and get everything linked, and I'm busy this week.) I read that people had issues getting their codes if their NNID wasn't linked to a Nintendo Account with email preferences set (not sure if it's still an issue), and I don't want to preload the games without having everything in order, but I also don't want to miss out on getting a theme for that system.