Pokémon HeartGold SoulSilver: Simple Nostalgia

A lot of games put great emphasis on the main character being a “chosen one,” someone who is destined to face off against the great evil and save the entire world all by themselves. But personally I find that to be tiring. Sometimes I don’t want to be the chosen one that saves the entire world from disaster, I just want to explore the world as it is.

There is one game that comes to mind that allows me to explore the world without feeling like I am the most important person in it. Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Unlike the original games on the Game Boy, these games were not held together by duct tape and spit. They kept the overall storyline of the games, but added in all of the new features added in the fourth gen that I really liked, as well as some new stuff like walking with pokémon.

Walking with Pokémon is a huge reason why I love this game so much. They put so much love and care into each Pokémon sprite. They also made it so that if you take certain Pokémon to certain locations at certain times, they will have unique interactions that you could totally miss the first time you play. It really incentivizes you to catch all different types of Pokémon and explore every little bit of the map to find new interesting interactions. There was also the Pokéwalker, a pedometer that you could put a Pokémon into and walk with, collecting items and Pokémon as you did so. I remember being so excited to have my Pokémon with me in real life, and it made me really excited to go on walks with my family.

Overall the game follows a similar story beats to the first generation, of going from gym to gym and collecting badges while capturing pokemon. This makes it perfect for that feeling of low stakes and being able to take your time with things. The game is pretty open and allows you to explore a lot of places off the intended path.

The game is filled to the brim with things on these outside paths that don’t interact with the main story, but are really worth visiting and investigating. One of my favorites is the Ruins of Alph, strange ancient ruins that have been long forgotten by history, with strange Pokémon called Unown that can only be found in this location. It made my mind race with possibilities. What were the Unown exactly? Why could they only be found here? Why did they look like the alphabet? What did the tablets mean with their cryptic messages? Why does the radio station change to a strange numbers station? None of this is ever really explained, but it makes my mind wander.

The game also has you go to different locations depending on which legendary you have to get, with you needing to go to whirlpool islands for Lugia in SoulSilver, and needing to go to the Tin Tower for Ho-oh in HeartGold. The legendaries actually don’t really play a major role in the overall story, and are just kind of there for you to capture before you fight the elite 4. I actually kind of like this, and wish the newer games treated Legendary pokemon like this. By having them be relatively self-contained compared to the rest of the plot, you are able to keep them mysterious and interesting, without constantly reminding the player just how important these Pokémon are. I also like the fact that the areas these Pokémon are said to originate from is accessed quite early in the game, with the pokemon being the guardians of the two towers in Ecruteak City, one of which fled to the whirlpool islands after its tower was burned down.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver are the games I go to when I want something more personal in pokemon. When I am tired of wanting to save the world and just want to go and do my own thing, catching pokemon and exploring the world around me. I would say HeartGold and SoulSilver have the perfect essence of being able to explore a world without the pressure of being the one that has to save it. It has that charm that just really reminds me of when I first started playing all those years ago, and why I love pokemon in the first place.