Game 53 - Pokemon SoulSilver - Week 93 - Oct 21

 

okemon is still the best game you can play on mobile devices. Ever since I discovered you could download Emulators on your phone, its been the go-to for all my GBA and SNES needs. I even intended to play through every Final Fantasy up to 7 at one point. Chrono Trigger still calls me to this day. I've always preferred the classic Pokemon experience, 8-bit and 2D. Even though the games have barely innovated with each release over the last 25 years, the classic formula of catch, train and adventure is still great - and I still return to experience another iteration every year or two. I grew up with FireRed and Emerald, and ever since then I always default to my two favourite Gen 1 Pokemon - Gyrados and Machamp. 

I made the decision to finish all remaining 250 episodes of Naruto Shippuden and wanted a good AFK game while I did so (that last arc, oh boy does it drag on). I never played the originals so I figured I'd continue my streak of playing the remakes with Pokemon SoulSilver. I don't have much else to say about the gameplay, story or art, it's timeless. As the new kid in town you must travel and beat all the gym masters to prove yourself, stopping the nefarious Team X along the way. Nothing new here. The art - specifically the design was iconic before anyone even laid eyes on it. The designers did such a great job giving each one unique timeless character, each one a Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny, that led to a 25 year run of the most successful franchise of all time (a fact that still boggles my mind). The gameplay is a combination of unlimited Pokemon, a team of up to 6, each with a 4-move set, throw in items and it gives way to an incredibly rich and deep RPG. Even to this day I love training up my roster of Pokemon from the ground up. This time we had Dragonite, Typhlosion, Graveler, Machoke, Gyarados and... Gyarados? I couldn't pass up at the chance to catch the Red Gyarados. It has a cool little story too. Team Rockets nefarious work in the area has caused a nearby crater to flood and many Gyarados including a Red Alpha, has come to ward them off. You beat him into submission to calm him down. A classic Pokemon tale. 

The legendries are really cool and even though Lugia was an absolute bitch to catch I was glad I did. Something I didn't realise about save states in this iteration is it remembers all rolls once in a battle. WTF. Did they do this on purpose with the remake? Surely this wasn't in the original and if it was it was a coincidence right? Serves me right for save scumming I guess. Never really like Ho-Oh design though the lore is cool - the guardian of the skies will return to its perch once the Bell Tower has been rid of team rocket grunts. A nice little way to end the story. Something that makes SoulSilver and the original the best in the first four of five generations in my opinion is the ending. The original game is set in Kanto, which represents mainland Japan. Johto is another island, and once you finish up in Johto you can travel to Kanto. There's a secret legendary boss you can fight at the end of your journey once you collect all the badges - Red from the first game. Wow that must have been cool as a kid, so much better then fighting the Elite Four over and over. I'm yet to get to the end of Kanto because well, evolutions suck sometimes. The fact that you need to trade to evolve from Machoke to Machamp has always ruined my party on Emulators. I've always wanted that 4 arm Machamp with Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Lightning Punch and Dark Punch,. How cool would that be.... Well after attempting to hack the rom failed several times I gave up. But maybe I'll return to defeat Red and finish training my Pokemon SoulSilver dream team of: Dragonite, Typhlosion, Gengar, Machamp, Gyarados and Charizard.