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I, personally, am SUPER excited for the new Pokemon games coming out, HeartGold and SoulSilver, hereafter referred to as HG/SS.

However, technically, HG/SS aren't new. They're remakes of the original Gold and Silver released for the Game Boy Color in 1999 in Japan and 2000 worldwide.

Gold and Silver took place in the region of Johto. You played as the new Trainer from New Bark Town, the first town of the region, as well as home to Prof. Elm, the local researcher. Elm's studies focused more on Evolution more than any other subject (appropriately so, since these were the games that introduced breeding and baby Pokemon). When you go to Elm for the first time, he asks you to run a errand for him: go to Mr. Pokemon's house on Route 30 to see what he has for him. In order to make the journey easier, he lets you choose a Pokemon. The starters for the region are Chikorita, the grass type, Cyndaquil, the fire type, and Totodile, the water type. Once you choose a Pokemon and get Elm's number registered into your new Pokemon Gear (PokeGear for short), you're on your way.

However, as you leave the lab, you notice a boy with long red hair watching the window.

"So this is the famous Elm Research Lab... ! What are YOU looking at?!" he yells at you and pushes you aside and continues to stare in the window...

The games of Generation 2 (including Crystal, the third version) gave us new features that are now common place in present Pokemon games:
*Breeding
*A ferry service
*A special electronic device other than the PokeDex
*Re-battling NPC trainers
*Gym Leaders appearing outside the Gym
*A female player character
*Battle Tower
*The need for certain Key Items to approach a Legendary
*Prof. Oak making out-of-Kanto appearances
*Evolution through trading with hold items
*New Eevee evolutions
And a whole slew of others that would take too long to list.

In my personal opinion, Gold, Silver, and Crystal were my favorites. And when FireRed and LeafGreen, the remakes of Red and Green versions* came out in 2004, I just knew Nintendo was going to make a remake of Gold and Silver.

Now, some are probably wondering, "So what? We can still play Gold and Silver, right?" Wrong, for most of us, anyway. Due to G/S being the first games to run on an Internal Clock, the batteries wore out after about 6 or 7 years. Meaning, they would no longer save and are virtually unplayable. With these new games (presumably) using the DS clock instead of a clock inside the cartridge itself, this will be avoided entirely.

I can't wait for these games to come out, and I hope this little mini-lecture has let some of you 3rd Gen and 4th Gen trainers know about the wonderful world of Johto.

*Red and Green were the very first Pokemon games. They were never released worldwide. Pokemon Blue, the third version in Japan, is what everyone else got as the first two international versions, Red and Blue. Blue had less glitches than Red and Green, the sprites were much nicer looking, and the dungeons were improved.