Heart Gold/Soul Silver Announcements

[Chris 2.1]

Lol at the Steelix following the trainer! I am so excited for these games. Ruins of Alph look amazing too!

[Roy Karrde]

Since the image is so big I am just going to provide a link to the scan

http://nov.2chan.net:81/b/src/1244784671466.jpg

Things I noticed

Obviously there is the Pokedex so I can get to work on a 3D Model of it!

There is also a small area to the left of the Bug Catcher Area.

Other than that there is the usual stuff you have heard about.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I wonder if this means they will go back to Johto in the anime. Well, perhaps they would make the best of it this time.

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

HG/SS > Orgasm.

[Heald]

HG/SS > Orgasm.

Warning: this thread may contain hyperbole.

[SteelersFan]

it HAS to be a G/S remake.

[Roy Karrde]

I missed Pokemon Sunday today * Should really put it on my schedule *

They showed off new video of the game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIHrCK_x3fM

Even I gotta admit, that Lugia figurine looks like the shitz!

[Drago]

Oh yeah, and it looks like only pokemon available in the second generation will be obtainable in the Johto dex (like in FR/LG), so no, you won't be able to fight Whitney with a Togekiss .

The latest video shows battles against a Milotic and Lucario, though. Indicative that we will indeed see 3rd/4th gen? Or had they shifted at that point to footage from a different Pokemon game and I just didn't realise it? I mean, they all look basically the same most of the time anyway...

[Pokemaster Ash]

It is possible that the Milotic/Lucario fight might have been from later in the game when you have the National Dex (unless it's possible to trade for those sorts of things early on).

Unless they make it totally impossible to get Magmarizers, Shiny Stones, and the Incenses, though, I have a very hard time believing that the Johto Dex is going to consist of only the original 251 (if that). Not to mention in the cases of Yanma, Lickitung, Piloswine, and Tangela, they evolve based on the moves they know (unless they're gonna rip AncientPower and Rollout out of their movesets).

[Jeff]

http://www.pokemon.co.jp/special/hgss/story/

Map of Johto!

A few interesting tidbits:
-The four paths near Mt. Silver have changed. Now the north path goes to the mountain, I'm assuming the right path goes to Indigo, but where does that leave the left path? It just seems to go off to nowhere.
-New areas near the National Park, and Cianwood
-Radio Tower's on its own platform out in the water
-Big gold cloud behind Ecruteak
-Magnet train track (if Kanto wan't confirmed before, it sure is now!)

[DarkestLight]

Wasn't there a small area just left of Mt Silver that ended in a dead end? I dunno if my silver will start up again, but its worth investigating...

[Pokemaster Ash]

Well keep in mind that this is map is official art. It may not completely match up with the in-game map. The new things here and there do look interesting, though. It does look like there's a bunch of stuff west of Cianwood now, which used to be as far west as you could go in G/S/C.

[DarkestLight]

Yeah I'm thinking new Battle Frontier area. Which would be nice. That Gold Cloud has me intrigued. Pretty sure Ho-Oh is chilling up there. But as for Lugia, is that supposed to be in Tohjo falls?

[Pokemaster Ash]

I've grown rather tired of Battle Frontier at this point. Not to mention, I have experienced nothing but absolute Hell at the hands of those trainers (not even the Brains, either, those damn hax'd trainers always get me when I get something good going).

And if HG/SS is going to follow Gold/Silver, then Ho-oh should still be atop Tin Tower while Lugia is deep in the Whirl Islands. As for where any of these other Legendaries that are gonna pop up are gonna hide...no idea.

[Houndoom_Lover]

I agree with Pokemaster Ash on that one. I'd like it more if they handed out experiance or something worth while.

But Gold/Silver were my favorite. I look forward to day and night, plus weather, and hopefully the use of headbutt in the field :3

[Starscream]

I felt very excited of this new rendition of G/S.
Honestly, Silver is my favorite version of Pokemon and I can say no one will ever beat that.

[Starscream]

Have you already seen the gameplay of Heart Gold and Soul Silver?
Check it out here: Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Gameplay

[Master Rudy]

Awesome. After I beat the main game, I can have a team of 6 Magikarp follow me around everywhere for no evident reason.

Why is it I am not surprised by this? lol

[Kurosakura]

Unless they make it totally impossible to get Magmarizers, Shiny Stones, and the Incenses, though, I have a very hard time believing that the Johto Dex is going to consist of only the original 251 (if that). Not to mention in the cases of Yanma, Lickitung, Piloswine, and Tangela, they evolve based on the moves they know (unless they're gonna rip AncientPower and Rollout out of their movesets).

They're probably going to do what they did with FR/LG, make you wait until you get a National Dex of some sort (which frustrated me, I was flipping out trying to get a Crobat until I read that you have to defeat the Elite Four first and BLAH BLAH BLAH). Anyway, most of the new evolutions in D/P/Pt were pretty fail, anyway, (with the new branch evolutions being exceptions, they were pretty awesome.)

But what're they going to do with Pokemon like Magneton and Nosepass? Don't they evolve in Mt. Coronet?

[Jeff]

They evolve in the presence of a strong magnetic field. The most obvious thing to do would be to add a field or cave near the magnet train track somewhere and have you evolve them there. Seeing how the track seems to come above ground randomly at one point, that seems like a likely possibility.

[Blademaster]

Why is it I am not surprised by this? lol

Heh heh heh heh heh... You know why...

But what're they going to do with Pokemon like Magneton and Nosepass? Don't they evolve in Mt. Coronet?

Like Jeff and a lot of other people said, I'm guessing it's either gonna be tied to the Magnet Train somehow, or they'll evolve in the Kanto Power Plant off of Route 10.

[Kurosakura]

But what about Leafeon and Glaceon? Ilex/Viridian Forest and Ice Cave?

[Poryhedron]

Ilex/Viridian and Ice Path/Seafoam, most likely.

[Jeff]

Just reported this on the site. Info from the latest CoroCoro scans:

Scans of the latest issue of CoroCoro have surfaced and reveal some previously unknown info on HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Crystal fans rejoice, Eusine will be in the game! However, the Suicune plot from Crystal won't be. Instead, Eusine will simply be looking for Suicune. This also seems to confirm that the female playable character in these games is Kris from Crystal with a heavy redesign (why would they include Eusine without including Kris?). And one last bit on the characters is that the Kimono Girls' role in the games will be expanded. Instead of fighting them once, they'll appear multiple times in the story.

The scans also reveal info on the legendaries. You'll be able to catch all three beasts as you did in Gold and Silver; Suicune is NOT caught at the Tin Tower. Ho-oh and Lugia are found in the same places you find them in GSC, but are at level 45, not level 40, it's still unknown what their post-Kanto levels are however. The birds will also have "special abilities", whether this refers to their signature attacks, Aeroblast and Sacred Fire, or something new is unknown. As has been reported before, Red Gyarados will be in the game; it will be at level 30 at the lake of rage just as before. Finally, the Latis and Mewtwo will appear in the game as well, but we don't know anything else yet about how you catch them.

And finally, the last bit of info is that HG/SS will include nine minigames. One of them will be a racing game called Pokéathlon. Not much else is known about it.

Don't forget to watch Pokémon Sunday for even more info on the games, including footage of the aforementioned Red Gyarados!

Edit: link

[Jeff]

Screenshots from Pokemon Sunday up on the site.

[Shane]

I'll try to continue taking screencaps for you guys. ^^

[Jeff]

Thanks!

[Link]

I'll be looking forward to getting these games soon. They sound like they're going to be worth it.

[EngiMatikul]

...And one last bit on the characters is that the Kimono Girls' role in the games will be expanded. Instead of fighting them once, they'll appear multiple times in the story.

I'm sold. SPREAD THE KIMONO MOE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

[Starscream]

Well, I'm just happy to see Red Gyarados again, the father of all shinies...

[Shane]

Here I am, reporting what I saw. "XD375" (me) has no new pics but lots of news.

The video footage was Houou and Lugia encounters, although we already have some high-quality screens of those from the official site. It showed overworld encounters and battles.

The encounter with the legendary beasts was shown too, and like in Crystal, Suicune stopped in front of you before leaving. As we've seen in screenshots, we can assume Eusine then appears, claiming to have seen Suicune, just like in Crystal.

Battle footage against Entei was shown.

Music from the Burned Brass Tower and legendary battles was heard. It was amazing. :]

[Kurosakura]

Looks like they redid the gyms too. I think it was Azalea and Goldenrod that they showed?

[Jeff]

Latest news just posted to the main page: http://209.123.162.177/~vash//tpm/in..._from=&ucat=8&

The latest issue of CoroCoro has been leaked and the scans reveal some previously unknown information on HG/SS. The one thing that pretty much nobody saw coming was that the original specialty pokeballs are going to make a return. Like in Gold and Silver, these balls will be made by Kurt from apricorns. Apricorns will also be grown like berries and stored in a new key item called the Apricorn case. Four of these balls were seen in one of the leaked scans, they are:


* Friend Ball: Made from a green apricorn, makes pokemon like you upon catching, as with the luxury ball.

* Heavy Ball: Made from a black apricorn, has a higher catch rate on heavy pokemon. Great for Snorlax and Groudon!

* Love Ball: Made from a pink apricorn, has a higher catch rate if the wild pokemon is of the opposite gender of the pokemon you're currently using.

* Fast Ball: Made from a white apricorn, has a higher catch rate on pokemon that instantly run from battle. Great for fleeing legendaries! Also, note that it's different that the quick ball which simply has a higher catch rate if you use it early in the battle



The scan was cut off so no other balls were seen, but we can only assume that the rest of the original balls are back as well:


* Level Ball: Made from a red apricorn, the lower the level of the wild pokemon is against your pokemon, the better its catch rate is, as with the Nest Ball.

* Lure Ball: Made from a blue apricorn, has a better catch rate if the pokemon was hooked on a rod.

* Moon Ball: Made from a yellow apricorn, has a higher catch rate if the pokemon can be evolved with a Moon Stone. This means its improved rate only works on 5 species of pokemon: Nidorina, Nidorino, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, and Skitty.



Also returning from Gold and Silver, is the Togepi egg mission, and the bug-catching contest in the National Park. A couple things that we already know that the magazine goes over are the return of Kanto and the ability to catch Raquaza after getting Kyogre and Groudon.

The last bit of info, actually two bits of info, is that Johto now has a Safari Zone and Battle Frontier! These are both areas that weren't in the originals, so it's great to see these new additions. The Safari Zone is the up-until-now mysterious area west of Cianwood City, and the Battle Frontier will be located outside of Olivine, where the Battle Tower was in Crystal. It's unknown what the inclusion of a Safari Zone in Johto means for Kanto's Safari Zone. Maybe it will remain closed, or maybe it will reopen an we'll have two safari zones.

With just a little over a month to go to the release of HG/SS, expect more information to come pouring out!

[firepokemon]

Sweet. Bug-catching competition nice. I can get my Butterfree ^_^

[Poryhedron]

Apricorns: Apricorns, in my mind, are just one part of a bigger picture that I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet: the function of Berries. GS introduced Berries, but they worked differently than they have ever since. In GSC, you didn't have to worry about planting and watering the Berries. There were Berry Trees that were permanent fixtures, and reliably and autonomously produced one Berry each per day. Apricorns are part of that system. Will Nintendo bring that back, or are we stuck with the modern-day requirement that you be a gardener in order to get Berries? And if so, will Apricorns be the exception that sticks with the old method or will we be planting and watering Apricorn trees in order to get Kurt's special Pokéballs? Honestly, I have some reservations about every side of this debate; I'm not sure what to hope for.

May 11th. Screw you and your "pretty much nobody".

That said, I had a feeling I was going to be disappointed by how Nintendo handled this issue, and I was very right. I am not a $@*&ing gardener and have no intention of being a $@*&ing gardener.

[Blademaster]

I'm just glad Apricorns are back. I never grow Berries, anyway. I just loot them all and don't look back.

Also, Pory, your sig is misspelled. It's "feral," not "ferral."

[Jeff]

May 11th. Screw you and your "pretty much nobody".

In the version I posted to the site, "original" was emphasized. I think everyone was expecting apricorns, but not nearly as many were expecting the original balls to make a return due to compatibility issues.

That raises an interesting question, how exactly are they going to get around the compatibility problem? The best solution is that if Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum have some way to gracefully handle a pokemon's ball data that they deem to be "invalid", like having the ball sprite display as another ball, or not displaying the sprite at all. If the sprite would display as a jumbled display of pixels, then there would have to be something on the HG/SS end like a ball changer or something.

[Poryhedron]

I'm just glad Apricorns are back. I never grow Berries, anyway. I just loot them all and don't look back.

Also, Pory, your sig is misspelled. It's "feral," not "ferral."

It's also capitalized. That should have been your hint that something's not what it seems.

Jeff, are we certain there is no data in DPPl for what a Heavy Ball looks like? There's data in there for what to display for where you met the pokémon if it was traded from HG/SS...

[Jeff]

From what I've heard, hackers never found any GSC ball data despite finding the "from Johto" data. That's what led many people to believe that there would be GS remakes, but that they wouldn't include the original specialty balls. I for one thought that they would include apricorns, but Kurt would turn them into the modern balls, like how just about everyone still expects the Gold Berry, Miracle Berry, etc. to be replaced with the newer berries.

[Jeff]

Latest news: HG/SS announced for North America and Europe.

They'll be released Spring 2010 and the English logos are on the site.