It’s your boy back in the house with another epic gamer review. Nah I’m just joking but welcome any potential readers to my Pokemon HeartGold review! This is a game that I’ve held dear ever since it was announced (yes, before I even played it, don’t judge me )

Growing up gen 2 was always my favorite generation of Pokemon as it was the one to get me hooked in the first place, and when these sequels were announced to release for the Nintendo DS back in 2010 I just knew I had to get my hands on them. Infact to this day, Pokemon HeartGold is the only game I have ever pre-ordered. I was always taught to be careful with money and to never spend too much of it but the minute I saw a commercial or something, I can’t remember what exactly, I begged and begged to get permission to pre-order it.

And the hype definitely didn’t disappoint. To this day Pokemon HeartGold remains my favorite main series Pokemon game of all time and definitely sits within the top 5 of the overall franchise.

That’s enough about me, on with the review.

Graphics - 9/10

This game was released midway through the Nintendo DS era and it definitely shows. The graphics are a direct increase of quality compared to earlier DS titles like Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and you can see the developers had a better understanding of what the system was capable of. The pokemon and trainer sprites look great as usual and in this game pokemon even have a cute little overworld sprite that follows you around the region if it’s in the first slot of your party!

Overall the routes just look more polished than before and the few cutscenes in the game like Ho-Oh appearing on top of the tower look phenomenal.

Sound - 10/10

The soundtrack for Pokemon has always been fantastic and this game is no exception. I love all the remastered Johto and Kanto themes, and there’s even the option to go back to the Game Boy Color sounds in the post game. The new Kanto gym leader theme for example is my absolute favorite gym leader theme in all of Pokemon (though I also love the new Sword & Shield one)

Story - 6/10

The Pokemon games aren’t known for having great stories and you can easily tell this by playing through the game. Just like any game you become a Pokemon trainer and aim to win the Pokemon League Challenge by winning 8 gym badges and then defeating the elite four and champion. Along the way you meet the newly organised Team Rocket in search of their old leader Giovanni as well as a wide variety of oddball characters like the Kimono girls and Mr. Pokemon. Your rival is a thug who stole his first pokemon, and while he is my favorite rival he really doesn’t do much to the plot unless you play through a certain event in which his backstory and ties to team rocket are revealed.

I won’t score the games too low as they are remakes of Pokemon Gold & Silver, and those were released back in 1999 when a big story wasn’t really all that common in video games in the first place.

Depth - 10/10

Pokemon HeartGold offers probably the biggest variety of things to do within a pokemon game. You’ve got your starter region Johto, which admittedly is a bit on the small side but for good reason. After you get done with the 8 Johto gyms you go to the Indigo Plateau to challenge the league and- wait what? Yes, the same league you challenged in the original games. Which means you currently find yourself in Kanto, the second region in the game. There was even an NPC who told you this, how did you not know?

Anyway jestering aside, after beating the league you get to now fully explore Kanto and challenge their gyms in pretty much any order you’d like! After which you challenge the league … again. But then you are able to climb this random mountain that wasn’t here before to challenge the ultimate trainer, Red!

Other fun stuff you can do include the Pokeathlon, Voltorb Flip as well as the Battle Frontier! Any game with a Battle Frontier is a good game, and I believe this is the last game to have one.

Addictiveness - 9/10

This game is probably one of the most addictive main series pokemon games out there. The pacing just feels right. There’s no huge gap between each gym so you always have your next goal within sight, but it’s not like you can just do them back to back. I mean, with the exception of gyms 5, 6 and 7. But my point still stands, you can start your adventure and when you look at the clock you realize you’ve been playing for hours upon end.

Difficulty - 7/10

Pokemon games for the most part aren’t that difficult for the veteran trainer and this one is no different. The levels in this game are fairly low, with the champion only having a level 50 as his highest pokemon, and especially around the 7th gym the trainers still use level 20s. There are a couple spots where you can get destroyed if you’re not prepared (*cough*kimono girls) but for the most part you should be okay. Red is of course no joke as his levels are in the 80s but he is the ultimate challenge for a reason. There’s also the Battle Frontier like I said, which can always be a good challenge to complete 100%.

Overall - 8.5/10

Like I said this game is fantastic. It’s one of my go to recommendations for people trying to get into the series as the roster of available pokemon isn’t that big at first due to it being a remake of the second generation, and it’s a little more modern so more people will have access to it in some way shape or form.

I’ve had countless of adventures through this game and its little brother SoulSilver and I hope I get to have many more. Recommendation - this is one of my favorite games to do a nuzlocke challenge on. I don’t know why but I find it one of the hardest games to nuzlocke.

Anyway, that’s enough from me, cya!