I just pre-ordered Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver on GameStop this week so I could get the pre-order bonus, collectible figures of Ho-oh and Lugia. I already own the game boy originals, but these look to improve game as a whole. I loved the original games and I’m really excited to re-play them with improved graphics and with new gameplay mechanics. I like the idea that they brought back the Pokémon Yellow feature of having a Pokémon follow you on-screen, but this time it’s the Pokémon in your first slot, and not just Pikachu. The introduction of the “Pokémon stadium” games as competitions is a nice addition to the game, making the competitions more interactive than the previous games (the dance competition in Diamond/Pearl wasn’t that fun).

This is first time I’ve been excited to play an improved version of a past Pokémon game (Fire Red/Leaf Green didn’t really do it for me) because I loved the way the game played in the original and the fact that you could travel between two Pokémon regions, Kanto and Johto. I feel the newer iterations on the Pokémon games would follow this pattern because it gives the player more to do.

Hopefully Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver will be the first games since the originals to score a perfect ten, since they look like they made an already great game even better.

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