As I believe ignavusd said, Pokemon Shiny Gold is a great way to re-experience Johto in stunning color graphics with some awesome 3rd gen Pokemon to take along with the ride. A lot of people don't have Heart Gold/Soul Silver, and would love to remember some of that wonder that Johto brought them. Shiny Gold doesn't disappoint, and when compared to Heart Gold/ Soul Silver, it is great because you can use National Dex Pokemon from the start, rather than having to wait until post-elite four. It returns several quirks of GSC that were different from any other game, only deepening the nostalgia factor. These include Headbutt Trees, Kurk's Apricorn Balls, PokeGear, and the trademark Gold/ Silver story. (Go save the citizens in the radio tower!) But it isn't an exact clone and includes some slick storyline changes and a mysterious new rival with an intimidating name, Carlos. Shiny Gold is one of the best made Pokemon hacks I've ever played (on par with Emerald 386, Ruby Destiny, and Brown). Let's begin with graphics, as usual.

The majority of the game's appeal comes from the graphics to be honest. Remember Johto? Do you remember it in bright color? With brilliant trees and rusty towns? Seeing Sprout Tower and the Whirl Islands would excite any Pokemon fan to the point of hyperventilation and for good reason. Most people consider Johto and the second generation of Pokemon to be their favorites, and unless they have Heart Gold/ Soul Silver, it's been ten years since they have gotten a chance to be back where their love of Pokemon began, in the heart of the region west of Kanto. The maps use sprites and images from Fire Red for the most part, but the game excels at not looking like a copy of Fire Red with Johto Pokemon. It literally stands alone as it's own game, even to the point where it has been placed in cartridges and pirated off to people paying actual money for a game you are all fortunate enough to be able to play for free on Vizzed. The towns all look like they used to, and the title screen has a neat little hh flying, akin to the original Gold, which I thought was pretty nifty.

I was a little disappointed when I first plugged in my headbands to listen to some of the game's music, and it included very little Johto music, nor did it contain much music contributed by the developer Zel himself, which I've come to expect as common practice of any hacker. As always, the route music is catchy and the battles are up beat. The notable places, like Victory Road and Ruins of Alph, however, do have their own music, which reflects upon the mood you may be in while exploring the aforementioned areas. It also doesn't hurt that you have 4 radio stations available to you at any time by means of Pokegear.I could speak at length about how much I hate the Pokemon cries, especially the ones from Gen I and II, because they keep the same 8-bit cries. Which is unfortunate because most of the Pokemon you find early on will be of the first two gens and listening to screeches and beeps that all sound the same do nothing good for my eardrums. But then again, no one can complain about that familiar music of the game starting up, because with the game starting up brings familiar questions like, "Will I beat a gym leader today?" or "Wonder where my favorite Pokemon is hiding." This brings us to our next point.

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record player, huh? Pokemon games can become incredibly addicting to any casual fan, and will lure in even those who say it is for dweebs or kids. At the heart of it's elemental rock-paper-scissors battle style is a complex statistics system that doesn't take much intelligence to become good at, but much patience and devotion to master. That's what is great about Pokemon. You can play for sheer enjoyment and blow through the game in fifteen hours, and you'd be having fun and doing nothing wrong. Or you could spend hours training a perfect team, carefully planning out each member, and becoming unbeatable. There is no right or wrong way to play Pokemon, and while I don't always agree with GameFreak, I do feel like this is a field they really nailed with Pokemon as well as the creative way in which Zel, creator of Shiny Gold, presents it to you.

Interestingly enough, Shiny Gold brings some plot-line moments that regular Gold or Heart Gold never did, such as the battling of Carlos and... Well, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would I? Anyway, Shiny Gold was always doomed to have a fairly bad story due to the fact that it was closely tied to the original Gold, which in itself had a rather poor plot. So I had no big expectations going into the game, and was mildly surprised that the hacker did seem to improve the story a little bit, cleaning up any loose ends.

If you want to know in a nut shell how much this game has to offer I would say simply: Two Regions. But that doesn't completely encompass all that this game can let you do. Catch 386 Pokemon, build a battle tower team, 16 badges, challenge Red, trick house (a personal fave of mine), elite four, legendary Pokemon, and so on. This game gives you a crapload of stuff to do, and have a blast doing it.

Difficulty as always depends on the skill of the player. Most experienced players will have no trouble, but the beginners might want to do some extra grinding just in case, (especially for Whitney's Miltank). More experienced players might want to try Shiny Gold X, a more difficult yet rewarding version of Shiny Gold. The computer character's have slightly higher levels and AI, and will present a challenge. If you think you have what it takes, I'd try that one first. I have to give props for having two difficulty options so I rated it a ten.

Well, clearly Shiny Gold is a fantastic game, as I can't stop gushing about how much I enjoyed playing it, and now, as I'm talking about Shiny Gold, I realized I enjoy even talking about the games too. If you are still reading this, you shouldn't be. You should be spending 25 Viz and going to try out Pokemon Shiny Gold. Until next time!

Pokémon Gold is a good game.  This may be a good game to try.  I was hoping the Pokemons would be shiny, but I guess not.  Good review.