Pokemon SoulSilver Version [video game]

01/29/14 So far, the product is great. I've played the game for about three hours now and no technical problems have occurred thus far. I have been pleased with the game experience as well. The fourth gen look and format really makes the game pop out, and the features from third and fourth gen Pokemon games are really nice to have as well. However, I thought the shipping was ridiculous. When I first ordered this, I was wary of the 67% approval rating of the seller. At first I wasn't even going to buy from Leolx, but then I decided it would probably be better to buy from an Ohio outlet since I live in Ohio. I figured it would take less time for the product to reach my apartment. Of course, the week I ordered this, we got buckets of snow, and MLK Day also occurred days after the order. I anticipated the game would arrive by Saturday or so. It really shouldn't take more than three days to ship a package from one end of Ohio to the other. So, by Saturday I figured, okay, it's probably here. The package was being processed in my hometown and I figured it would arrive on Saturday. Yet, when I looked up the tracking process the next day, the package was 470 miles away in Nashville, Tennessee! I nearly spilled my dinner in shock. How and why on earth did this happen? I thought the package was ready to be delivered. I sent an email to Leolx asking what was up, but never received a response. That's pretty pathetic, if you ask me. When I received the package today (01/29), I was even more shocked to know the seller is out of my hometown! Why would it take over a week to ship an expedited package from the seller to my apartment?? I again acknowledge the weather has been nasty, but there is simply no excuse for the service I received. I ordered a 2 to 6 day expedited shipment for an infinitesimally sized product, (the package contained only the cartridge), and from my hometown no less! I am extremely upset with the seller and even more upset I ignored my gut feeling to avoid this seller. If you're like me and want to buy from someone relatively close to your Ohio home, carefully consider your options. Overall, the three stars represent 1) the great quality of the product 2) the amount of fun I've had playing it so far and 3) the hopes the seller Leolx will improve their shipping. I will update this review in the future after I've had more time to play. *Update* 01/30/14 I'm about fourteen hours into the game so far and I've beaten the Violet City and Azalea Town gym leaders. I'm currently in Goldenrod City and I own 22 pokemon. I love the visual effects and the formatting, but I believe I stumbled upon an issue with the game. After reaching Goldenrod, I explored the Game Corner and got the coin case from Mr. Game. However, when I go to play against him, the screens are black and only the music is playing. I don't know if this is a problem with the game cartridge or the DS, but I've turned the game on and off a few times to see if restarting would work. This has not worked. I'll be sure to find out the reason for this, but if anyone can help me with this I'd appreciate it. *Update* 01/31/14 I have changed my rating of this product back to two stars after the following experience: I currently have the first four gym badges, and I have made it to Olivine City. However, I can no longer say I have any confidence in the person who sold the game. When I went to resume the game today, I got two black screens with the Olivine City music playing in the background. I couldn't actually resume without starting a completely new game. I went online to find out what this could be and found a forum on the Nintendo website talking about the same problem. Apparently the black screens occur for some people after beating the fourth gym player: they save their game after beating the gym leader, come back later to resume and get the two black screens of death. According to some of the people in the forum, the problem is likely linked to a fake cartridge. The following message is from the forum (at [...]) Jan 5, 2012 7:47 AM in response to: -------- Re: Soul Silver Leading Problem If you are playing this game on a DS or DS-Lite, it is possible that the game is counterfeit. You can verify this by trying it in a DSi, DSiXL or 3DS. If it does not play at all and gives a message that an error has occurred on any of these systems, then the game is counterfeit, and you should return it to the seller. I was devastated to learn that this could be a counterfeit product. I spent some time trying the forum-recommended tests on my DS; for one, some people recommended blowing on the cartridge and in the slot to dislodge any dust. I tried this and all of my other games work perfectly on the DS, including Pokemon Diamond version. However, Soul Silver still did not work. I may very well have bought a counterfeit game. I cannot account for this claim, but I recommend buyers everywhere to take extreme caution buying this game. The link I provided has a lot of incidents where people bought Pokemon SoulSilver from an online source and got a bad product. I would recommend finding a brand-new, never opened version of the game. Your chances of getting a working product will likely be much higher. I still love this game, though. It's been a lot of fun so far and a five out of five star game for sure. I just hope to find a version of this that will actually work. I requested to return the product today and I hope to get at least half of my money back. Again, I recommend buying a brand spanking-new version of the game if at all possible. *Update* 02/04/14 I currently have a brand new copy of the game, and so far I've managed to regain about a third of my original pokemon. The new copy came much faster than the first one. It has worked satisfactorily so far. I don't really have much to say at the moment until I reach the level I was at with my previous card. The person who sold me the first copy still hasn't responded to my return request. I do not recommend you buy from this person: Leolx. The new copy I have is from Games-2-Play. I'm happy with the fast delivery they offered, but I can't say much else about them as well until further gameplay. *Update* 02/05/14 I've just reached Goldenrod City and I was excited yet nervous to test out the game corner. When I went to play there with my original game card from Leolx, the screens went black with the music still playing in the background. However, I can thankfully say the Games-2-Play store sold me a good copy: the game corner works! Getting an unopened version of the game is definitely the safest way to ensure you do not get a glitchy game. This makes the product even more appealing to me since I was afraid the game was going to be glitched no matter what condition the game card is. It seems to me then the first game card I got was in bad shape through use of its previous owner. However, I'm not entirely sold yet. There's one more potential obstacle I'm aware of and I'm hoping I don't experience it with the new game card. I'm updating my rating to three stars. *Update* 02/17/14 I've long since beaten the Elite Four. This means I am completely satisfied with my purchase from Games-2-Play. The game is even more fun knowing I got a working copy. I was able to get past the fourth gym leader without worrying about getting the black screens of death after saving, quitting and returning to the game. I hope that other prospective buyers will consider Games-2-Play. When I purchased from them, the product arrived on time and in great condition. The game is loads of fun. A lot of differences do exist between SoulSilver and Silver, but in my opinion, it is a worthwhile game. I update my rating to five stars.

Pokemon heart gold and soul silver are the best pokemon remakes. Great graphics,sound track,and improvements. Fire red and leaf green were amazing remakes,but heart gold and soul silver are better. Great gameplay,awesome game. Improvements 1.Pokemon stay out of their pokeballs-The pokemon in the front of your team stays out of its pokeball. This is alot like pokemon yellow. Your pokemon can give items sometimes,so talk to it. 2.A story with suicone-Sort of like crystal,heart gold and soul silver has a story with suicone. 3.Pokewalker-You can transfer your pokemon into the pokewalker,and it gains experience by walking around and holding it. 4.Trade wirelessly-Like diamond/pearl/platinum,you can trade wirelessly and trade from diamond/pearl/platinum. 5.Running shoes-The original gold and silver never had running shoes. Now,you can run where ever you want. 6.New legendary pokemon-More legendary pokemon to catch. The honnen trio needs a event by beating the story,and the shino one need an event,too. Not sure if their still able to get. Probley not. But,you can get latias(in heart gold). Or latios.(in soul silver). You can even get mewtwo!!!! And even celabi!!!!(but,that was another,event,not sure if it's still possible to do it). 7.Three starters-the kanto,johto,and honnen starter pokemon are available. 8.Mount.Silver has been remade-Mount.Silver is where the final boss of the story is. Sadly,it's remade into a difficult maze. Gameplay=9/10 Everything is awesome about the gameplay. It's much better then gold and silver. The only problem is,is that the pokemon levels are so low!!!! Real hard to train. Overall,awesome!!!! Best pokemon story!!!! Two regions,16 badges,hundreds of pokemon,and tons of puzzles!!!! Graphics=10/10 Great graphics!!!! Much more realistic then other pokemon games. Awesome quality,color,and effects. Best graphics for a pokemon DS game. Difficulty=10/10 Yes,this game is hard. Clair,the 8th gym leader,is so HARRRRRRRRRRRRRD!!!! It took me forever to beat her. Morty,the 4th gym leader,....HE'S SO ANNOYING!!!! ALL HE DOES IS HYPNOSIS AND DREAM EATER!!!! And then,lance....I've played the original pokemon silver,lance was a pain. His dragonites drive me crazy!!!! He has to be strong in this one.(never made it to lance in the remakes). Overall,hard game,but still great. Music=10/10 Awesome music!!!! Best pokemon soundtrack ever!!!! The remix of the kanto wild pokemon theme is awesome!!!! So is lances and reds theme. The music for the game beats the new music!!!! Overall,this game is amazing. This is one of the best,pokemon games. Highly recommended to anyone who never played gold or silver. Wonderful remake,of a beloved classic. One of nintendos greatest remakes.

Fantastic game, probably the peak of the entire series in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong Black/White 1/2 and the 3DS pokemon games are great too, but there’s just something magical about this game. Heart Gold and Soul Silver feel like they took the best visual/mechanics from gens 1-3 and enhanced them. The newer games, while technically more sophisticated, they don’t feel as groundbreaking or polished as these two. The price point in 2025 is ridiculous unfortunately, and that is my only gripe. Lol not even a gripe with the game, but with the economics behind it! Honestly if you can afford it get a legitimate copy and play away!

I bought this game pretty much entirely because I used to play Gold and Silver back in the days of Game Boy Color. My girlfriend bought the SoulSilver version, and it's been great times for both of us so far. This is a great recreation and enhancement of the original Pokemon Gold game. If you didn't like that one, this probably isn't for you. That being said, if you did like it, you're also in for some additional fun from there - with the addition of new Pokemon, new areas, multi-battles, DS Wireless, online play (if you can find a WEP-encrypted wireless connection, that is), and more, it's a blast. If you're used to the old Game Boy Color graphics like I was, the graphics will totally blow you away too. One of the things I dig the most about the game is actually the cheesy little peripheral included with it: the Pokewalker. It's a pedometer that you can load one of your Pokemon into, and it gains experience and Watts as you walk. The more you use it, the more little paths you uncover, and the more you can find on it. I think it's a cool way to level up a Pokemon while I'm living my real life, especially for Pokemon like Magikarp or Ditto that can be somewhat tougher to level up on their own. The device surprised me by how inconspicuous it can be: sure, it's shaped like a Pokeball, but it's tiny and you can mute it and stick it in your pocket, and voila! Having a pedometer is also kind of a neat way to encourage a little extra exercise, or appease your morbid curiosity about how many steps you take at work. You can also play on the Pokewalker a little bit and either find items or catch other Pokemon, which then transfer back into your game. Pretty sweet stuff! My least favorite thing about the game is that I can't find a suitable wireless connection to play on WiFi. I have a DSi, and it can connect to pretty much any wireless network you need it to for its own internet purposes, but it HAS to be a WEP-encrypted connection for any games to work. It seems short-sighted of Nintendo to design games that rely on what is very quickly becoming outdated internet protocol. Long story short, some McDonalds or libraries may have the connection you need, it seems none in Flint do. There are ways around this, and I'm looking into this - there's apparently a USB Bluetooth adapter that can do the job, but either way, it's pretty challenging. Of course, many home routers can be switched between WEP and WPA, I just happen to have one of the few that can't. Long story short, if you like any of the previous Pokemon games, buy this one. It's a blast. It's also very different from the other Generation IV games, i.e. Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, so don't worry if you have any of those - this is still a fun investment.

I started playing Pokemon back in the first generation, Red/Blue on the original Game Boy. I got out of the portable gaming scene for a while, but came back with Ruby/Sapphire for the GBA. Got Diamond/Pearl on my DS. So this was the only generation I missed out on. I'd been hearing for years that the second generation was the best, and now that I have it, I can absolutely understand where that came from. This game is far more challenging than any of the other generations. The gyms are designed to punish you for trying to play it like first generation, with Flying and Bug being strong against Grass types. The starters are all pure single typed Pokemon through all of their evolutions, something never done before or since. It also includes most of the first generation game, playable after you defeat the Elite Four (and possibly assemble your National Dex. I'm not quite far enough to say yet). It keeps the Wi-Fi trading introduced in Diamond/Pearl. There is nothing wrong, and everything right with this game. If you have enjoyed any Pokemon game of any generation, I strongly urge you to pick this up. Of special note is the PokeWalker, a pedometer that allows you to gather Pokemon and items you'd otherwise be unable to get, or would be difficult to get, all while simply going for a walk. It even lets you earn a level on whatever Pokemon you load onto it before you go. It's extremely easy to use, and a very fun addition to the series. I hope it comes back with Pokemon: Black/White.

The most important thing I can say is that GamerGirlzOnline is an authentic cartridge seller. I read some previous reviews and noticed some people got an authentic original Nintendo DS version of Soul Silver so I decided to give them a try. My package arrived 8 days early (as others have said it arrives very fast) and I immediately went to check the cartridge for faults. The front label is in amazing condition considering the game is over a decade old, a couple of minor indentations but you’ll never find one this clean other than an unopened package. The cartridge is black (NOT grey) and clean, and it passed the light test. I shone a light through and it came out a nice wine color, meaning it has trading compatibilities with other official Pokémon games. The serial numbers matched up on the label and the plastic indentations on the back. The metal pieces at the bottom of the game are in fact a golden color, which means it doesn’t fade easily and is made with higher grade metal. There is a small rectangular indent at the top, which indicates it’s authenticity seeing as fake cartridges miss that detail. The game plays very smoothly and has not crashed. The music sounds clear and exactly how it should. Game corner works which is a deal breaker since most fakes crash in goldenrod city. GamerGirlsOnline is legitimate 100% based on the reviews I’ve read from them and the game I managed to obtain. They gave me a piece of candy and a seal of authenticity which gives you a small tutorial on how to spot a fake game from a real one. I’m very surprised by this and was expecting to be an unlucky buyer and receive a fake- but I didn’t, and most likely you won’t from this source. This is my first review but it’s necessary given how hard it is to find authentic Soul Silver cartridges. If you’re reading this: GamerGirlsOnline is the seller you should buy from- unless another seller on here has a better reputation (which at this time I’ve looked at all of them and to no avail) THIS is the place you want to buy from. Worth the money too considering the prices are rising

I totally Love It!! Everything especially scenery graphics are remastered and the battle songs and others were remastered as well. Though I must say that it's just not the same as the old classic Gold version. Cause out of all honesty I thought the Gym battle theme in Kanto was just amazing. The best part of all the game is that once you Defeat ALL 16 Gym leaders you can get this device that changes the game audio to it's classic GameBoy sound with that being said it gives you the feel of good ol memories from when you were a kid playing Gold and Silver on your Game Boy Color. And what makes this game even more Interesting is that on a certain day and time each gym leader will be taking a break from their Gym and go off some where. That's where you come in and find them, When you do, talk to them and you will get their phone Number for your Poke' Gear and they even tell you what day and time to call em for a rematch. This time they're tough with their new team. Especially some of their pokemon are from the Sinnoh region. And what makes this game better than the Original is that You can collect lots of phone numbers even more than the Original cause on the Original you were only able to keep a certain amount to the point where you had to delete some to make room for some. Which that didn't make it any easier... And the Battle Scene is just Beautiful especially the fight with team Rocket. If you're a Pokemon fan and you loved Gold and Silver. GET THIS NOW!!! You won't be sorry!! And this is a MUST HAVE

Actual Score- 3.5/5 WARNING- THIS REVIEW HAS MINOR SPOILERS. This is a LONG review, but I want to make my point clear so that there is no confusion. SS stands for Soul Silver. Short Review- Pokemon Soul Silver is a good and addicting RPG, but when compared to its predecessor, it falls back on a lot of things. Changes are not exemplary as they replace another change in the franchise. All in all, this game is a disappointment as the flaws that existed in the original game were not fixed at all this game. Long Review- Let me begin with this, I love Pokemon games. I've played one game of every generation(Gold/FR/Emerald/Platinum). As a result I was super hyped for this one. My last Pokemon game was Platinum, which to this day remains my favorite DS game, and after doing a little research for this game, I came to the conclusion that I MUST get this game. And so I did.. The box came in by mail. I didn't even take a glance at it. I ripped it up, took the game, and jammed it into my DS slot, eager for a Pokemon adventure that would even top the already amazing Platinum. After 300 hours of gameplay, it didn't. First impressions started out good. Lugia screamed out "Bring it!" in the title. New Bark Town was a homely, scenic city that reminded me of home, especially with the beautiful windmills in the city. Already, the game was looking a lot better than Platinum. And after these 300 hours of game play, it remains one of the few things Soul Silver exceeds Platinum in. Other than Platinum's darker overtones(which I prefer), Soul Silver has better looking cities, better looking water, better looking trainers, and better Pokemon sprites. The 3D parts of Soul Silver are a thrill to the eye. (Visual Score- Platinum: 8/10 Pokemon SS: 9.5/10) Now let's begin with story. Platinum is probably the only Pokemon game I've played that has a cohesive plot. I love the mythological ties with the legendary Pokemon. Cyrus, the villain of the game, is cliche, but not personality-nonexistant like the villains of this game. See, the original Pokemon Gold didn't even have unique characters(they were all called TEAM ROCKET ADMIN). This game gave them names like Petral, Proton, and Apollo, but they remained just as vapid as before. There are only 2 BIG storyline elements in this game, and one of those is an unreleased US event(Mahogany Town Incident/Giovanni Event). The Lugia plot was tacked on and rushed, and Suicune's encounter is exactly the same as before. They could have at least given some more dimension to Eusine, but since they didn't, he isn't memorable at all. I acknowledge Pokemon isn't really about story, but if Platinum could do it, why couldn't this game? They added Groudon/Rayquaza/Latios/Latias to this game, but there was no reason to WHY they existed. This was a missed opportunity in which they could have created another mythical tie to the game. Next, after you beat the Elite 4, you can travel to Kanto, the first generation region. Guess what? KANTO HAS NO PLOT. NONE AT ALL. It is a region devoid of any interest, and as a result doesn't last more than 2 hours. These shortcomings in the original game had the chance of being fixed, but GameFreak didn't fix it. And I'm willing to bet if they had, no one would complain about it. (Story Score- Platinum: 9/10 SS: 2/10) Next we go to the regions themselves. THIS GAME HAS 2 REGIONS! SO IT MUST BE BETTER THAN PLATINUM! you say. Guess what? Ironically, those two regions COMBINED are still shorter than Sinnoh, both literally and psychologically. Each city in KanJoh(Kanto+Johto), save Goldenrod, is short and boring(well, OK I make an exception for Ecruteak City). KanJoh is bland: no different climates(except for ONE route with rain), no differing layout, just the same average plain weather. Sinnoh on the other hand has different climates: rain, snow, muck, sandstorms.. everything is different, and this makes it refreshing. Another ironic fact is that the best routes in this game are the newly added ones(route 47/48). The old routes remain as universally boring as ever, while Platinum had deserts..snow covered routes..flower covered routes..swampy routes...you name it. There is no heart or soul to this game's regions. It lacks passion..it lacks effort.. and for me it was very blatant when I was playing this game. OH- one more thing. Johto Pokemon are for the most part extremely hard to find. Kanto Pokemon are scattered around the area, and you WILL see more Kanto Pokemon than Johto Pokemon in this game. Which brings another point- why couldn't the developers have made the game a little more unique? (Region Score- Platinum: 9/10 SS: 5.5/10) Now let's get down to the bulk of the game- gameplay. Both games have the amazingly strategic and addicting battle style, so I can't fault this one for that. What I can fault for it is based on enjoyment. First of all- no one enjoys grinding. In any RPG, grinding is loathed and usually nets a game bad reviews. Platinum had no such issues- the game was naturally designed to accommodate to your Pokemon's levels. The wild Pokemon levels' increased as your Pokemons' did, so finding a leveling hotspot wasn't difficult at all. The original Gold had these issues though. First- after you beat the main game and went to Kanto, the Pokemon remained at LV 5 AND 6, while yours were around the 50 benchmark. And since the last challenge of the game has Pokemon around level 80, there is NO place to grind to other than the trainers themselves. The VS Seeker in Platinum was a much more efficient and enjoyable factor than was the phone in the original(more on that later). And I was hoping they would fix the original games' grinding flaws... They didn't. Yes- go to Kanto, and the wild Pokemon are still at a pathetic level 5 or 6. The phone is STILL a hassle to use, and it is so annoying(most trainers don't call you to REMATCH, but rather to inform you about their pointless lives) that I don't even care for the function any more. The gym leader rematches are too time specific for me to even attempt a go at them. Even before you go to Kanto, there are only a few trainers in Johto, and a limited amount of experience to distribute around your party of 6, if you, like me, detest grinding. How could they have fixed this? They could have given us a VS Seeker. They could have balanced the level system out in your favor. They could have made the phoning rematch system easier to use. They could have..but they DIDN'T. This one factor ALONE makes SS a lot less enjoyable than Platinum. Next, let's compare some other gameplay elements, starting with the good. I loved the following Pokemon in this game. It was enjoyable, and I hope to see it in upcoming Pokemon games. I loved the Pokewalker- limited as it was, it was a unique way to play the game. I enjoyed the fact you weren't limited to migrating only 6 pokemon a day like in Platinum. What didn't I like? Replacements. See- the good things of Platinum were simply replaced by another thing in SS or gone forever. They could have kept the same amazing Platinum features, but NO! It must be replaced/gone forever! Examples below- +Pokeathalon for Pokemon contests. I like Pokeathalon more, my sister likes Pokemon Contests more. Why not keep both? +With the Poketch of Platinum, you could check your Pokemon's happiness, it's breeding compatibility, check the time, use a memo pad, use a step counter(useful for egg hatching), find items, look for berries, use a click counter(useful for EV's), find the roaming Pokemon, use a type chart, have a calender, and have a kitchen timer. This game took out ALL those features in replacement for a radio that has NO point to the game at all. Why not keep both the Poketch and the Pokegear? +Pokeradar in Platinum could be used to find rare/shiny Pokemon. This game took out the feature entirely. +Underground from Platinum was gone forever in this game. Say goodbye to flag capturing and mining for rare stones/fossils. It was replaced by rock-smash, which is boring unlike Underground. +Honey trees in Platinum were replaced by Headbutt Trees in this game. +Secret bases/Pokemon villa in Platinum were gone forever in Soul Silver. +The slots in Platinum were replaced by Voltorb Flip in SS. +The Great Marsh of Platinum was replaced by the Safari Zone. Why couldn't they have kept both? +Amity Square from Platinum was gone forever in SS. +Menu screen compatibility of Platinum was replaced by touch screen compatibility of SS. Why not keep an option for both? (I prefer the menu system myself) As a game that came after Platinum, the gameplay of Soul Silver has NO excuse to avoid the amazing elements of the past. This shows laziness on the part of GameFreak, who could have updated the beauty of GSC with the awesomeness of Platinum. (Gameplay Score- Platinum: 10/10 HGSS: 4/10) Next factor is music. Both games have astounding soundtracks that rank among the best in videogame history. The styles are different- Platinum's music is cleaner and bouncier, while HGSS's is darker and more epic, but they both sound amazing to my ears. GameFreak did a wonderful time remaking the original tracks, and I applaud their time in putting the old 8-bit tracks as well. However, the pokemon screeches of the old games remain as annoying as ever. I really hope they update them. (Music Score- Platinum: 10/10 HGSS: 10/10) Replayability is also no issue, though I must say SS has a longer post-game, while Platinum has a better and longer pre-game. It is easier to restart Platinum, and the main adventure lasts much longer than SS. But SS has all of the legends to capture at the end and a chance to face the ultimate trainer(no spoilers). With both games, you can battle multiplayer, trade with anyone in the world, and test your skills at the long Battle Frontier. Expect an easy 80+ hour quest from both games. (Replay Score- Platinum: 10/10 HGSS: 10/10) Our last factor is significance. And honestly? Heart Gold and Soul Silver add barely anything to the series that Platinum has already done. Platinum introduced a new battle frontier(different from Emerald's), and HGSS copied it point blank. The NPCs of Platinum that were your partners(Marley/Cheryl) in that game make a return in this game, rather than people like Lyra, showing laziness on the part of GameFreak. Wi-Fi Plaza? Platinum introduced it first. A toy attachment along with a game? Pokemon Yellow did that first. The lack of effort on the part of this game make this one a disappointment. Platinum actually made efforts to make Diamond/Pearl better, such as improved speed, better story, more Pokemon, the Wifi plaza, and the battle frontier. Pokemon Soul Silver did nothing one can call revolutionary. OK fine- they added following Pokemon and Pokeathalon. Is it that important though? And I shall never consider a remake to satisfy nostalgic fans' heart as "revolutionary". (Significance Score- Platinum: 8/10 HGSS: 3/10) In conclusion, these games were just released at the wrong time. Had they been released before Platinum/Diamond/Pearl, they would have easily received a 5 star from me. But the truth is simple. Not enough effort was put in these games as compared to Platinum. They are a step back to the series, and despite being extremely fun, can not match the completeness of Platinum. Was this a clever marketing ploy so that people would buy both this and Platinum? Was this an easy project in order to attract people by the masses under the scent of "NEW and IMPROVED" nostalgia? Yes, it's a remake, but aren't remakes supposed to be ENHANCED versions of the original that retain the original's charm? The only enhancement the games got were a few gimmicks and improved graphics/sound. They could have been so much better, but playing them only make me realize how nostalgia can get in the way of calling this game the best Pokemon game yet(that title belongs to Platinum). It isn't. It is good, but its flaws have no reason to exist after 10 YEARS. Other flaws I did not mention above- + Getting rare stones and items are extremely hard to get. Even with the Pokeathalon, it takes 5 to 6 rounds of mini-games to get the item you are looking for. + Safari Zone has been made a hassle. Why should I wait 90 days for a Bagon to show up? Again, I prefer Platinum's Pokeradar a lot more. + There is no way to obtain Glaceon/Leafeon/Magnezone. + No more shards make movetutor moves a lot harder. In Platinum you could dig/hunt for them. + No trophy garden either. Good luck finding baby Pokemon in this game! Good things about the game I did not mention above- + IV Training is a lot easier due to Power Items. New egg moves have been added. If you are competitive player and were to choose between this and Platinum, I'd suggest this. + Arceus event is amazing + Trainer House is a nice way to scrape a few battle points. + Feebas evo made easier by massages. + Loads of photo taking opportunities. It was a nice touch.