Departing Salute - The Best of DS #18: Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver

In 25 8 days, Nintendo launches its 3DS handheld system in Japan, to be followed a month later by the European and American versions. While the arrival of 3DS doesn't mean its predecessor is completely dead, we're definitely moving into the DS's latter days. That makes now the perfect occasion to catch on up all the DS games you've missed. In the days leading up to 3DS's Japanese debut, I'll be looking back at the best the DS had to offer -- my favorite games for one of my favorite systems ever, and some others that I may not be totally enamored with but can respect for their general importance. This isn't a definitive list or anything. It's an op-ed column! Please feel free to voice your dissent in the comments.

Previous entries: 1. Bangai-O Spirits | 2. Brain Age | 3. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow | 4. Contra 4 | 5. Dragon Quest V | 6. Dragon Quest IX | 7. Etrian Odyssey III | 8. Feel the Magic: XY/XX | 9. Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light | 10. Kirby: Canvas Curse | 11. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks | 12. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story | 13. Mario Kart DS | 14. Mega Man ZX Advent | 15. Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer | 16. Nintendogs | 17. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Departing Salute Entry 18: Pok�mon HeartGold & SoulSilver
Developed by: GameFreak
Published by: Nintendo
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Date: March 14, 2010

Most really successful DS games carry a lot of baggage these days. Pok�mon comes with enough baggage to force a jumbo jet down early for an unscheduled refueling due to excessive weight load.

The Pok�mon series didn't start on DS, of course, but it's definitely thrived there. Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it. This game will do nothing to change that opinion. Every fan has their own personal favorite chapters of the series, but as far as I'm concerned the games were never really enjoyable until they showed up on DS. Pok�mon is the sort of game I play in tiny little spurts as a time-killer, and the DS hardware implemented a single amazing feature that made this style of play convenient at long last: the ability to instantly enter sleep mode by closing the clamshell case and instantly wake by opening it. It's a simple feature -- so simple everyone takes it for granted these days -- but it's kind of a big deal. Being able to play for a little while, snap the lid closed, and pick up exactly where you left off a few days later without waiting for BIOS and copyright screens to plod along does wonders for a game like Pok�mon.

HeartGold and SoulSilver arguably represent the pinnacle of the series (at least until Pok�mon Black & White arrive next month, I suppose). Sure, they're a set of remakes, but it's not like Game Freak just crammed a couple of Game Boy Color games into a DS cart. These are total, comprehensive recreations of most people's favorite era of the series, and they're an improvement on the source material in every way (barring some balancing issues; enjoy grinding for those final battles!). They probably don't have much chance of selling Pok�mon haters on the series, but for the faithful, they're pretty much everything good about the franchise in a single package.

The trimmings are the real draw here. The core Pok�mon game is always the same across every generation, and I really doubt Game Freak will ever bother to change it. And why should they bother, when the same lightweight fluff makes them hundreds of millions of dollars every time? HeartGold excels at giving fans lots and lots (and lots) to do. Some of it's pointless, like the athletic contents that seem to have no real bearing on the main game (and in fact have their own completely superfluous character stats). But much of it is specifically designed to suck fans further and further down the rabbit hole: there's the battle tower, full of data from the world's most skilled fans; the safari zone, where rare creatures can be collected; the day care, where you can custom-build your own specialized battle beasts; and so on, and so forth. All those hidden IV and EV stats are present, along with plenty of other details that can transform truly obsessive fans from gamers into spreadsheet managers. On top of that, Nintendo continues to push unique content to the game, including ultra-rare creatures and even content designed to unlock bonus material in Black and White. And then there's the companion pedometer for opening up access to even more extra stuff....

It's insidious, is what it is. Heck, I don't even really like Pok�mon that much, and I still ended up squandering entirely more hours on this game than I care to admit. I did catch me a Tropius, though. That's all that matters.

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