I bought myself a copy of Pokemon SoulSilver when it came out... and a month of waiting and an insurance claim with the postal service later... [sigh...] I got the game (and HeartGold for my brother).
I really like this remake. Well, I confess - I never actually played Pokemon Silver on Gameboy Color, I started playing Pokemon Crystal sometime last year, which was the culmination / enhanced version of Gold and Silver. And still, that game is so clumsy and the interfaces are so bad compared with recent pokemon games. So, compared to Pokemon Crystal, this is a great remake.
The original games on the Gameboy Color were severely restricted due to memory constraints on the cartridge, and it really showed. Names of items were abbreviated, making them somewhat cryptic sometimes. I found myself having to choose what to discard from my backpack far too often. I found myself having to choose which people to delete from my phone book, not knowing whether the next person would be a useful contact. And there wasn't nearly enough space to store pokemon if you were seriously collecting them. Biggest of all - and I might be wrong about it because I didn't play far enough to see and this is what I've heard - the story in the game included a massive disaster in the Pokemon world... because it was a convenient way to exclude half a region from appearing in the game.
It was clear to me that Pokemon Crystal is a really good pokemon game, and it was massive and advanced for a Gameboy Color game, but here in the 21st century, the awkwardnesses of the interface meant that after a while I stopped playing and waited for these remakes to come out in English.
Pokemon SoulSilver was worth the wait. The game is just that much more pleasant to play, and the balance has been struck well - everything from the original is retained and mini-games and things have been added for fun (I am addicted to the Pokeathlon), but they are completely optional if you don't feel like doing them or want to play in the same way as with the old games. The memory restrictions I mentioned are lifted. And, there is the Pokewalker accessory, for exercise and free pokemon / items!
So today, I finished the Johto region Pokemon League for the first time. I even spent the last week carefully training up a "swinub" from hatching from an egg right the way through and looked up how to evolve it through a "piloswine" to becoming a "mamoswine", just to defeat a trainer with dragon pokemon. (My mamoswine is named Calippo, but I think I should have called it SlushPuppy because its type is ground ice).
And... I watched the end credits, but I still have a long way to go in the game! I have earned one more badge since then, in the Kanto region.
Fun times! The Pokemon world is just such a nice place. The pokemon fit in their environment for the most part very thoughtfully (considering real-world wildlife habitats and behaviors), everyone in the pokemon world is so obsessed with pokemon... but that is an important part of the magic of making the pokemon world constantly feel like somewhere really special.
And so, onto the Pokewalker. I love the pokewalker. It's a little pedometer that you can download one of your pokemon to, and go for "a stroll" together. You can catch pokemon or search for items in exchange for "watts", which are kind of like a payment you are rewarded for walking. Very simple interface, three buttons and an old-style black-on-silver screen. All the same, it comes with a 200+ page manual if you're in Europe, telling you how to change the batteries in every language ever. :P
The pokewalker is just a brilliant device, for me. In my mind, as I walk in the real world with my pokemon literally being a "pocket monster", it gives the real world a little bit of the pleasantness and magic of the pokemon world which just makes me feel lighthearted. And, you get rarer / better items from walking further each day. There has never been quite as good a motivator for a bit of exercise than being given free rare pokemon items! Haha, this beats Wii Fit hands down! I've walked nearly 200000 steps already! Ok, maybe I'm a bit pokemon-crazy, but I really think the Pokewalker is a great addition to this game. :)
