A lot has changed in the ten years since Gold and Silver's original release. We've gone from the limited color of the Gameboy Color to the brilliant color of the Gameboy Advance all the way to the two-screen, 3D appearance of the Nintendo DS. As such, the look and feel of HeartGold and SoulSilver are drastically different from its original debut, looking more inline with Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, but still keeping plenty to bring back memories!

If you haven't played the original Gold and Silver, well, everything will look new to you! Not all of us grew up on the originals, so you'll find that it's a brave new world of Johto to explore for you. But if you are a veteran of the Pokemon series, you'll also find the games to be true to the originals while still adding enough to make it thoroughly enjoyable.

One very pleasing addition to the game is that your lead Pokemon will now follow you around outside of battle, similar to the Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow or the Pokemon you could bring into the Amity Square in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.

The game is now much more touch-screen friendly and makes much better use of the bottom screen for displaying menus, selections, and a bunch of other stuff. For instance, rather than displaying the menu (when you would normally press X) on the top screen, it is always available for you on the bottom screen. You can just tap, say, Items or Pokemon to go to that screen — or you can press X and use the control pad to navigate down there.

It's a really nice touch (no pun intended), because HeartGold and SoulSilver do a great job at making the game fully playable without using a stylus, too, for more traditional playing, while also allowing those of us that enjoy tapping to get through menus that option.

One more nice touch is that all of the Gyms in the game have been remastered. Some of them have new puzzles to them or new ways of getting through, while others may just look a bit nicer than before and be roughly the same.

It's a very nice touch that will make the game seem fresh, regardless of if you're a Pokemon veteran of the Gold and Silver era or a new fledgling eager to see what it's all about!

The PokeGear from the original Gold and Silver is back, though it has been improved quite a bit. It still has all of the features from the originals, but with some improvements made.

For instance, you can now store unlimited phone numbers in your phone for the PokeGear. It used to be that you could only store so many numbers and you'd have to delete people from your list. That's no longer the case.

One other change with the phone is that it's a lot less annoying. The phone will ring and ring, but you aren't forced to answer. You'll need to access your PokeGear from the menu in order to pick up. That can be convenient if you don't want to be bothered listening to people jabber on.

The map for the PokeGear is bright and colorful, showing you all of the different areas in Johto (and Kanto), and it will also show you any roaming Legendary Pokemon on the map, like Raikou or Entei. Unfortunately, I have to say I prefer the Poketch from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, because you have to open the PokeGear every time you change a route when trying to chase these Pokemon, as opposed to just peeking at the bottom screen, but it's much better than it used to be.

You can also mark each location and put your own notes to it, with markings like TMs and Pokemon, reminding you what you need to get through the route or area, or what kind of Pokemon lurk there. Anything, really.

In addition to that, there's the radio (obtained in Goldenrod City) which is basically the same, although a little more interesting than before, perhaps.

Returning to the Pokemon series are Apricorns and the seven types of Poke Balls that can be crafted from them. Instead of finding berries scattered all across Johto, you'll find Apricorn Trees instead. Once you get the Apricorn Case (found on Route 30), you can start shaking those trees and pick Apricorns — one from each tree each day.

These Apricorns can either be given to Kurt in Azalea Town, where he'll make special types of Poke Balls for you that have different effects and such, or you can use the Apricorn Shaker to make shakes to improve your Pokemon's Pokethlon stats.

One nice change from the original Gold and Silver is that you can give Kurt multiples of a certain type of Apricorn, and he'll make them all for you the next day. Give him 7 Green Apricorns, for instance, and he'll have 7 Friend Balls for you the next day. That makes it pretty easy to get a good amount of these special sorts of Poke Balls if you have a bit of patience.

One of the first things you may notice when you get your copy of Pokemon HeartGold or SoulSilver is this mysterious looking Poke Ball thing that comes with it, all neatly wrapped up and secure. What is this thing, you ask? It's the Poke Walker!

You can transfer a Pokemon from your PC into the Poke Walker and take it around with you! It will count your steps, like a pedometer, and you'll earn a sort of currency known as Watts (marked with a W, like 10 W). You can spend 3 W to use the Item Finder on the Poke Walker to try get some items, spend 10 W to use the Poke Radar on the Poke Walker to have a little mini-battle against a Pokemon and try catch it, or you can just send all of your unused Watts back to your HeartGold or SoulSilver game to unlock new courses you can send your Pokemon to &each; each course having its own selection of Pokemon and items to find.

There are only three buttons — left, right, and the middle button — but don't let its simplicity fool you: it's a potent little device! Take it with you to school, on your walks, or find other creative uses to shake it and earn yourself some Watts!

Gone are the days of Pokemon Contests in Johto — in their place is a wildly fun new minigame area called the Pokéthlon (Poké - athlon, like a triathlon). You can find the Pokethlon Hall at the entrance to the National Park.

What is the Pokethlon? As I said, it's namesake is from a triathlon, where three members form a team to compete in sporting events. There are five different categories you can enter three of your Pokemon to compete in. Each of these categories use the bottom screen and all three of your Pokemon in tag-team fashioned minigames.

It's a lot of fun! Each Pokemon species has individual limits on, say, speed, power, and stamina, but some individual Pokemon are better than others. They can be improved (up to the limit) by feeding your Pokemon special drinks made from Apricorns using the Apricorn Shaker item.

This is a great way to get some useful items, including evolutionary stones (which were very hard to get in Gold and Silver).

A video covering some of the fun of the Pokethlon can be found here.

In the original Gold and Silver, the Safari Zone had apparently been moved somewhere, because its old home in Fuchsia City was nothing more than a bunch of trees. However, HeartGold and SoulSilver decided to bring back that fun Pokemon-catching minigame, and even added some sweet improvements to it compared to the Great Marsh in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.

You can access the Safari Zone from a cave north of Cianwood City. You'll need to have beaten Jasmine in Olivine City before you can proceed, but past the cave are the two new routes — Route 47 and 48 — as well as the Safari Zone at the very end.

You'll first be asked to catch a Geodude in the Safari Zone if you talk to the Safari Zone owner, Baoba (who you meet on your way to Olivine City and who calls you when you can go there). If you do and show it to him, the next day, he'll let you play around and rearrange the Safari Zone's six areas to your liking — you can place different landscapes, and a bit later on, you can even place decorations that will help improve the odds of you encountering specific Pokemon!

It's definitely a lot more three-dimensional than any older incarnation of the Safari Zone. The new customization is pretty sweet, plus there's quite a few nifty Pokemon you can catch in there, both early on and after you get the National Dex!

The differences between HeartGold and SoulSilver are subtle, and mostly just which Pokemon you can encounter in the game.

Here is a list of all of the Pokemon that are exclusive in the particular versions, meaning you'll need to trade if you want one listed for the other version.

HeartGold		SoulSilver
Before National Dex
	Spinarak	Ledyba
	Ariados	Ledian
	Growlithe	Vulpix
	Arcanine	Ninetales
	Mankey	Meowth
	Primeape	Persian
	Mantine	Delibird
	Gligar	Skarmory
	Phanpy	Teddiursa
	Donphan	Ursaring
After National Dex
	Sableye	Mawile
	Baltoy	Gulpin
	Claydol	Swalot
	Latias	Latios
	Kyogre	Groudon
	Mantyke   from Mantine
	Gliscor   from Gligar
Not exclusive, but easier to obtain
	Caterpie	Weedle
	Metapod	Kakuna
	Butterfree	Beedrill
	Sandshrew	Ekans
	Sandslash	Arbok
	Ho-oh	Lugia

Ho-oh and Lugia can both be caught in either version, but you catch Ho-oh at level 45 and before the Elite Four in Pokemon HeartGold, whereas you catch Lugia at that point instead in Pokemon SoulSilver. The one you didn't catch can be caught later in the game at level 70.

Other than the differences in Pokemon, there isn't a significant difference between the two games. If you are trying to decide which version is right for you, the table above should be all you need to know. Anything past that is really just a matter of preference.