The 10th anniversary remake of Generation II Pokémon games Gold and Silver, respectively named Heart Gold and Soul Silver, were just released on Saturday, September 12, 2009 in Japan. These were two games that I grew up on, the games that I played to death, and have very fond memories of. A while back I remember hearing about these released and always saw a post here and there on Kotaku keeping up with any news. Monday I saw that the game had been released two days ago, and I was shocked because I didn’t even realize it. So I headed over to Play-Asia and ordered myself a copy of Heart Gold. It actually shipped Tuesday, so hopefully I receive it relatively soon (within the next week?).

My only worries about buying an imported game is the language barrier. I know zero Japanese, so this could be somewhat of a problem. I think it will be less of a problem because I am familiar with Pokémon (especially Gold and Silver), and the games aren’t to heavy on the story. If it was a game like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest then I could see myself being somewhat confused on what to do next or where to go (but I am sure I could find help/guides on the internets). I am hoping the game will allow me to trade with my Pokémon from Diamond, but if not it isn’t a huge deal. I’d be disappointed if there are any problems with using the wi-fi on the game, but I really doubt there will be.

I know the game ships with a peripheral known as the Pokéwalker. I don’t know that much about it, other than it measures steps and based on the number of steps, it does cool things. It should be very interesting to carry in my pocket and see what happens. If it turns out to be lame and useless, then it isn’t the end of the world. I wonder if it will be included with the U.S.A. version when it gets released?

From the information I have seen almost all Generation I - IV Pokémon should be obtainable. Bottom line is I am freaking pumped to play it! The game looks gorgeous, and it is something I grew up playing a lot of.

More to come when it arrives. :)