Pokémon HeartGold, SoulSilver (2010)
Pokémon HeartGold, SoulSilver is a 2010 rpg video game.
A return trip to Johto, rebuilt for the Nintendo DS. HeartGold and SoulSilver remake the beloved Gold and Silver adventure with fresh art and sound, then add touch-screen menus and the Pokewalker, a small pedometer that lets a chosen partner tag along in your pocket. You pick Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile, challenge eight Johto gyms, and eventually cross into Kanto for a second full region. Your lead Pokemon walks behind you on the map, a little touch that made the world feel warmer. Many players still call it the finest remake the series ever produced.
Similar games
A few thoughts on Pokémon HeartGold, SoulSilver
The Johto seasons of the animated series, beginning with Pokemon: The Johto Journeys, follow Ash across the same routes and gyms. For a sharper, more grown-up read of this era, the Pokemon Adventures manga's Gold and Silver arc treats trainers and their bonds with real weight and stakes.
Remakes that respect the game they came from
HeartGold and SoulSilver rebuilt Gold and Silver on the Diamond and Pearl engine without sanding off what people loved: two full regions, the day and night clock, the long walk back into Kanto. These are the other times Pokemon returned to an old adventure and told it again, as a game, a short anime run, or an animated look back.
Games where your companion walks with you
The Pokewalker clipped to your belt and counted real steps, and your lead Pokemon trailed you down every route in HeartGold and SoulSilver. These run on the same idea of a creature that travels with you instead of sitting in a box: a buddy that hatches eggs while you walk, a dog that needs walking, a Digimon you raise, a petting screen in X and Y.
Pokemon manga that plays rougher than the anime
HeartGold and SoulSilver send you through Johto with Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile, then across to Kanto. The Pokemon Adventures manga covers that same ground with Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and it treats the battles as real fights. Start near volume 7 for the Johto arc; the later volumes carry the story into the regions that came after.
Pokemon on screen from the Johto years
HeartGold and SoulSilver hand you the Johto roster the anime was working through at the time, so these line up with the game in your DS. Pokemon 4Ever and Pokemon Heroes come from those exact years, Chronicles fills in the side stories, and the films that followed keep the shape: one legendary, one town, ninety minutes.