The second part of my review of Heart Gold and Soul Silver, the latest and very popular Pokemon games. My first review covered the basics about the game, as well as the first half of the story in the Johto region. This second review will cover the rest of the main story after that, as well as a few extra additions…
Picking up where my last review left off, after you get all the Johto badges, you’re able to battle the Elite Four. I think the Elite Four in these games are actually the easiest in terms of level, with their pokemon only being between LV40-50. The hardest one to beat is probably Lance and his three Dragonite.
Other than that, as long as your pokemon are in the late LV40s and you nail each trainer’s weakness, you shouldn’t have too much trouble. By the time I got to the Elite Four, my team was already in the LV40s so I didn’t have to do too much extra training before taking on the Elite Four, which is something I usually have to do in other games.
After you beat the Elite Four, the end credits will roll. I should point out that the animation for the end credits in HGSS is the best yet.
Field sprites of all the gym leaders and some other characters, as well as a variety of pokemon, make appearances and do amusing little things during the credits.
The next major part of the game is taking the S.S. Aqua to Kanto.
The S.S. Aqua
After you take the ship to Kanto the first time, you can take it again on certain days of the week and battle all the trainers again. Their pokemon remain in the late LV30s/early LV40s range so it’s good experience.
And now we get to the Kanto region. First thing I’ll point out is that it’s awesome seeing the Kanto gyms, cities, and routes in full 3D splendor on the DS for the first time.
Pewter City in HGSS
Unlike Johto, the Kanto gyms haven’t changed too much. The music is again made of updated melodies of the old tunes, and uses different music for trainer and wild pokemon battles than in Johto. Since my guidebook only goes up to Johto, I used an online walkthrough to help me in Kanto, especially for getting through the caves.
After the Magnet Train is running again, you can also use that to travel between Kanto and Johto, since the S.S. Aqua only sails two times a week. But the easiest way to get from one region to another is to Fly to the border at the Pokemon League gate because you can Fly to either region when you’re there.
The main thing to note about getting the Kanto badges in HGSS is that, besides Blue, you can battle the gym leaders in any order you want. You’re required to do more traveling to get to some gyms, but basically you don’t have to battle one to get to another. Because of this, all the Kanto gym leader’s pokemon are around the same level – LV47-60.
One somewhat negative thing I have to say about the Kanto region is that it was too…easy. As you go through Kanto, your pokemon should reach at least the late LV50 range. However, all the trainers in the region besides the gym leaders never get any tougher than the LV30s or LV40s. Thus, I was plowing through all the trainers I encountered with minimal effort. The gym leaders themselves are pretty easy too, since your pokemon are getting stronger while all their pokemon remain in the LV50s and all you have to do is nail their weakness. The only tough battle I had in Kanto was the final gym leader, Blue.
Once you get all eight Kanto badges, you’re able to battle an upgraded Elite Four. They’re now much tougher than they were before, with some new pokemon and levels ranging from LV58 to LV75. I transferred some of my LV60-ish pokemon from Plantinum to battle them and even then it was still hard..
Around this time, you’ll probably start noticing that, if you recorded trainers’ phone numbers in your Pokegear, they’ll start calling you for a rematch. They can be quite helpful, since their pokemon’s level increases each time you battle them. Some will give you items instead. And unfortunately some just call you to tell you something pointless. The phone calls can get kind of annoying so I should probably delete all the number except for the trainers who want to battle or give items. You can also get the phone numbers of all the gym leaders if you meet them outside their gym and you can battle them again on certain days of the week.
And of course, your final challenge is to beat Red, the protagonist from the very first Pokemon games.
Red’s sprite in HGSS
You’ll have to get through Mt. Silver to reach him. Unfortunately, you need a lot of HMs to get there, so you might want to sacrifice the sixth pokemon in your party for an “HM slave.” I followed a walkthrough carefully for Mt. Silver, and even then it was a bit hard. Red himself has the same team he had in the original games, all LV80-88. He was pretty tough, even for the LV70-LV80 pokemon I transferred from Platinum to battle him (the Hail weather condition is in affect during the battle). Once you beat him, the end credits will roll again and other things will be unlocked. I believe you can battle him again each time you beat the Elite Four.
After completing the main story of the game, I decided to check out the Pokeathlon and get my Pokewalker going.
The Pokeathlon poster
I never got into the Pokemon Contests that were introduced in the 3rd generation games. The Pokeathlon however, is much simpler and doesn’t require you to tweak your pokemon’s stats or moves in order to do well. In the Pokeathlon, you use a team of three pokemon to compete in various events that test their Speed, Jump, Skill, Stamina, and Power. All of the 493 pokemon species has predetermined strengths or weaknesses in each of these five categories.
The Shooting Snow event in the Pokeathlon
I’m not going to go through each of the ten Pokeathlon events. All of them require use of the touch screen and stylus only, which can actually give your hand quite a workout. I’ll just say that most of the events are not too hard or too easy, and the only ones I had trouble with were the Goal Roll and Pennant Capture. I eventually got first place in all five categories either on my first or second try, and I didn’t have to use any Aprijuice on my pokemon. You can continue to compete in the Pokeathlon in order to unlock items and commemorative rooms. Basically it’s a fun little addition to the main gameplay.
And lastly we have the Pokewalker. This extra device allows you to transfer one pokemon from your game and take it on a “stroll” through different routes that are gradually unlockable.
The Pokewalker
Like the Pokemon Pikachu device from years ago, the Pokewalker can be hooked to a belt or bag and count the number of steps you take. The steps give you watts, which allow you to search for pokemon and items on the route. The items and pokemon that you get on the Pokewalker can be transferred back to your HGSS game. The pokemon you’re strolling with can also go up a level if you get enough steps.
Encountering a pokemon in the Pokewalker
I guess the Pokewalker’s purpose is to encourage exercise. I suppose it could work, and the fact that it’s kind of easier to get certain pokemon and items on the Pokewalker may indeed encourage players to take walks with it. Like the Pokeathlon, though nothing that special, it’s an enjoyable addition to the main game.
There are a few more minor things to cover in HGSS, like catching Mewtwo, Suicune, or other legendary pokemon, the Battle Frontier, etc,. But this review is getting a bit too long so I’m going to stop here. Like I said in my last review, Heart Gold & Soul Silver are the longest and most elaborate Pokemon games thus far. From what I’ve seen, even those who are not major fans have been enjoying it :)
Screen shots on this post are credited to Bulbapedia and fan art credited to this pixiv user.
Holy crap, you are already done? I’m still training my team and compared to Platinum, it’s alot harder to train because of the lack of a VS Seeker, which was a very helpful items to battle and gain experience.
I got all 16 badges after 36 hours of playtime and I’m still building my team with breeding, EV training and such… so it won’t be awhile until I beat Red…
I haven’t battled the Elite Four yet because I like to catch as many pokemon as possible before I “beat” that portion of the game. But it IS possible to catch Suicune?
@ Chikorita157
Yeah, I actually beat Red about two weeks ago. I guess the reason I went through the game so fast is 1) I played it A LOT. Literally all my spare time when I wasn’t watching anime or blogging, and 2) I just stuck with following the main story and didn’t have any major delays; I don’t EV train and I’m not breeding or catching any pokemon in Soul Silver besides the legendaries. I already have a complete Poke-dex in Diamond, so catching all the pokemon in one game per generation is enough for me :) Once I got to Red, I just transferred my already leveled up pokemon from Platinum to beat him.
@ Christina
Yeah, like I said above, I didn’t catch any extra pokemon in Soul Silver since it already took me years to legitimately complete my Poke-dex in Diamond, I don’t want to do it again until the next generation.
Yes, you can catch Suicune, but not until after you go through Kanto. You have to encounter it and Eusine at various locations in the game before you’ll finally get a chance to catch it on route 25 (near Cerulean City).
Yeah my husband keeps telling me to hurry up and just move along with the game XD I think the only pokedex i finished was Pearl? Can’t remember. But it totally makes sense to not focus on catching all the Pokemon if you have them all on another game.
That makes me happy that Suicune is catchable (and by event, not chance no less). I was like why isn’t he running around the towns like the other two. XD
._. You only need one HM, Rock Climb, to get to Red… Also you can’t delete numbers. D: Makes me regret giving Picnicker Liz my number ooooh so much.
My thing with Red is I feel it’s too easy to just transfer over a team that’s in the right level to beat him. Feel kind of like I’m cheating. But at the same time, I’ve beaten Red twice in my Japanese copy SS so I haven’t been feeling like training. It doesn’t feel as epic or whatever anymore. Dx;
@ NyaChan
I could have sworn I used Waterfall and Surf in Mt. Silver, too. My mistake then. And seriously, you can’t delete numbers? That sucks. Guess I should have made note of whose number I should and shouldn’t have gotten beforehand.
To make sure that Red wasn’t too easy for me, I transferred pokemon in the LV70s range rather than match his pokemon exactly in the LV80s. I also tried to match up my pokemon against his so they’d both have a fair chance of winning, for example, using a Psychic pokemon against his Blastoise instead of an Electric or Grass type. Using this method, he was still pretty challenging for me anyway.
@Yumeka
True… well, I spend most of my time EV training and well, battling alot of Magikarps, Geodudes, Gastlys and the like… It’s not really hard if you keep track of how many you earned (252 is the max on two stats with 4 usually on HP or Defense) and using EV training devices like those braces. With PokeRus, which doubles the yield of EV earning, it only takes one to two hours to get it fully trained, but the end result is that I have powerful Pokemon with good stat spreads which made it easy to beat all the Gym Leaders. I just hatch the eggs in the new game, trade it back to Diamond/Platinum to train and trade it back… Makes everything a breeze… The only problem is that my Pokedex is left rather empty since I don’t catch Pokemon. D:
I mainly breed and train so I have a chance to beat the Battle Frontier… Having random EV spreads don’t do any good when you try to maintain your stream. :(
I remember being disappointed in the second half of Silver/Gold/Crystal when you return to Kanto. It feels too easy and short. I’m still truding along in Jhoto and heading down victory road. I really enjoy the Pokeathalon though some events (like snowball and pendant) can be very fustrating (esecially when you’re trying to beat all the goals.
Yeah, you can’t delete numbers in this iteration because your phone has enough space to store every number in the game. I think in Silver the limit was 30, so they had to provide a deletion option in case you filled it.
I remember taking on the Sinnoh Elite Four with really lower level pokemon. When I got to the champion it took me forever just to take down the Lucairo. It wasn’t bad type matchups, it was just being so overwhelmed that he could one-shot everything but my Gyarados. He KO’d himself with Struggle.
@ Chikorita157
I only found out about EV training a few years ago. But since I rarely play competitively with other players and I do fine against the in-game opponents without it, I never felt like doing it. I have some good pokemon, many of which I’ve had since the GBA days, that almost always win against the in-game opponents and some friends I’ve battled who are casual players. I can sometimes hold my own against the few EV trained pokemon I’ve faced, though I usually don’t win. But recently I’ve been into breeding pokemon with specific natures and using items like the Power Bracer, so maybe one day I’ll take the next step and give EV training a go. But I’m the type of person who can battle the computer opponents over and over again with different pokemon and strategies, especially in Battle Revolution on the Wii.
@ Yokihana
Yeah, like I said in the post, the Kanto region was fast and easy because all the trainers’ pokemon remain in the LV40 range (and gyms are all in the LV50). It’s better than being too hard I guess but they could have made it a little tougher.
@ Rakuen
Ah, so that’s it. I kind of miss when things were limited, especially with the Bag. I wish they’d bring back the Item PC because it’s a pain having to scroll through the tons of items in your Bag, many of which you don’t use often, just to get to the one you want.
You can actually sort everything except the TM and Berry pockets. Just click on an item and then click on Move. It’s a little counter intuitive because it puts the item in the place you select, rather than swapping the items, but it works.
are they going to make a second book to the guide
@ sandy
I hope so. I went to a Gamestop about a week ago and didn’t see it yet but I’m assuming they’ll release it eventually.
Yeah i wish you could delete numbers.that would be extremely helpful cause jack sends me useless messages.Ah well, i just beat all the kanto leaders yesterday, and im in some serious training to beat red.
And Cerulean cave isnt as tough as you think it is, (well for me) and you can catch some decent pokemon there.xD
Ive wanted to know,can you go to the 7 islands like in Firered and Leafgreen? I sure hope so….
@ Vanez
I caught Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave and it was a lot easier than catching Suicune for some reason (none of the caves have been too hard for me because I use walkthroughs).
And I’m pretty positive that the Sevii Islands are not in HGSS. Since they weren’t in any of the original games either, it seems like they were just Fire Red and Leaf Green specials.
I beat Red with just my typhlosion.I chose a charmander as my kanto starter!
To be honest, I’m a little dissapointed with HGSS. I like using ther vs. Seeker because I get money and exp. A lot faster, and I don’t like the call thing. I also like the kanto idea, but I wish that that wasn’t as prominent when it came to high levels. I like a strong elite four, and while I like the concept of twice the gyms and elite four, I like having a main storyline.
HOWEVER, I had an idea of a pokemon game that has ALL of the reigons in it. It would be an add on of all of the games and, while we all dread it, pokemon creation will end eventually….
ya this game was way to easy ive beat red twice and i caught all the legendaries the hardest one was latios he was really hard.and after you catch latois go to the big building in the saffron city were u’ll meet steven he’ll give one of the three torchick, treco ,and the water one
during my fight with red I wished that I had my platinum team……..
Giritina lvl 100
Rayquaza lvl 100
Kyogre lvl 100
(traded groudon to my cousin)D=
Sceptile lvl 100
Dragonite lvl 100
(SORRY I LOVE DRAGONS LEAVE ME ALONE D*=)
Infernape lvl 100
(yea i had alot of lvl 100’s pokemon was my favorite game until kingdom heartrs 358/2 days came out o’.’o)
…… I beat the game in 16 hours set myself a new record WOOP anyway red was easy……. i had a lvl 47 beat his pikachu…..then again it was a ground type pokemon =P
I USED A FIRE TYPE ON HIS BLASTOISE AND ONE HAHAHA!!! blastoise is a steel type i think…….anyway hows my team now?
Dragonite lvl 100
Mewtwo lvl 76
Ho-Oh lvl 76
Feraligatr lvl 63
Lugia lvl 62
Nidoking lvl 47…(HM Slave…..i need him)
* For one, just to make it clear, Blastoise is NOT a steel type, that’s Empoleon…
My team is awesome, I’ve had all of them since the GBA series :)
Charizard
Lv.100
Moves: Earthquake, Hyper Beam, Fire Blast, Dragon Claw
(For Pikachu and Venusaur XD)
Raichu
Lv.100
Moves: Thunder, Thunderbolt, Iron Tail, Brick Break
(For Blastoise, Charizard, and Lapras-I’ve had this little guy since Lv.2 -I’m so proud :’D)
Nidoqueen
Lv.100
Moves: Superpower, Rock Climb, Surf, Thunder
(For my HM needs and Snorlax)
Mewtwo
Lv.100
Moves: Aura Sphere, Thunder, Fire Blast, Psychic
(I use my Mewtwo only if my other Pokemon get beaten somehow, it can defeat pretty much all of Red’s Pokemon in one hit)
The other Pokeon I bring are for training
Aww come on guys, I beated Red with these pokemon:
Pikachu
Lv 95
Pidgeot
Lv 95
Venusaur
Lv 99
Charizard
Lv 99
Blastoise
Lv 99
Lapras
Lv 95 (needed the perish song :D)
I know, these are all Ash’s fav pokemon in the early TV seasons :D I love Ash so much!
Btw, would anyone trade me a Heatran/Regigigas/Rotom for anything besides those 3? :D I’d appreciate it so much!
its i9s possible to catch all of the popkemon from preivous games lugia three legendary birds mewtwo giratina the entie ect
I have finished all the games, caught all the Pokemon, have got every item,have all the games on all the platforms, defeated every thing and all without cheats or walkthroughs, and i’m 13 in 2010. I just can’t wait for the next games, I love Pokemon so much! :D