Remake

A video game remake is a game that is done again, in a new and updated style. In Pokémon terms, two pairs of games are remakes: Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, remakes of the Generation I games Pokémon Red and Green during Generation III; and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, remakes of the Generation II games Pokémon Gold and Silver during Generation IV. The names of remakes are derived by adding another word to the front of the name of the original game, and written in CamelCase.

Remake speculation

This article contains fan speculation. There is no solid evidence for or against some parts of this article.

From Johto

Before the announcement of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, many had speculated a remake of Gold and Silver since the release of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen in 2004. In the Generation IV games, location pointer data (for a caught Pokémon's status screen) includes a reference to Johto, much like it does for Kanto and Hoenn when a Pokémon is transferred forward from Generation III. This left programmers the opportunity to see Johto make an appearance in future games compatible with Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. However, Pokémon caught in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver and traded to Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum have location data set to Faraway place.

Because of the "pattern" established by remaking both Red and Green and Gold and Silver two generations after their original release, it is now being speculated that Generation III remakes may appear sometime in the future, possibly during Generation V. This theory is strengthened by the number of references to the Generation III games:

• Many Pokémon obtainable only through the Dream World or Poké Transfer in Pokémon Black and White can be obtained in the Hoenn games.
• A Backpacker in Desert Resort tells the player that he comes from Hoenn, and that he doesn't need the Go-Goggles here unlike in Hoenn.
• The inclusion of a skilled family of Pokémon Trainers similar to the Winstrate Family. Both families are battled in the same way, all consecutively.
• In Undella Town during Summer, a boy tells the player that he and his family comes from Hoenn and visit Undella Town every Summer.
  • A girl also mentions Steven Stone.
• Ocean currents reappear on Route 17 and 18.
• Generation V's Elite Four theme features a remixed sample from the Generation III Elite Four theme.
• An area with sandstorm that can be accessed before the Elite Four.
• The sixth Gym Leader of Unova, Skyla, is a Flying-type specialist and lives near a rainy area with long grass, like Winona from Hoenn and both are the sixth Gym Leader in their respective regions.
• No characters introduced in Generation III are reused in Black and White, unlike other generations which saw characters repeated in these games. Cynthia, Looker, Caitlin, and a former Team Rocket Grunt were introduced before they appeared in Black and White. The same thing happened in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire with the Generation I characters.
• A Team Plasma Grunt references the failures of both Team Rocket and Team Galactic as past events, without mentioning Team Magma or Team Aqua. This suggests that the events of the Generation III games could be retconned to occur in future games.
• Both Hoenn and Unova have ancient locations that show written messages of a unique language, Braille and Cuneiform respectively.
• The inclusion of the Dive HM, which was previously exclusive to Generation III.
• The inclusion of two rival characters, similar to Generation III.
• Cheren and Wally both appear in Victory Road for rematches.
• A fossil depicting an Armaldo in the Nacrene City museum.
• The Safari Ball has a catching animation programmed into Black and White despite not being legitimately able to be used, as there is no Safari Zone in Unova.
• Both involved an upheaval to the Pokédex structure: Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was the first game to have a regional Pokédex excluding all, save for a few, Pokémon from previous generations as well as being incompatible with previous games, while Pokémon Black and White's regional Pokédex was the first to contain no Pokémon from previous Generations.
  • They also involve introducing little to no evolutionary relatives from their previous generations.
• Dawn deciding to travel to Hoenn to compete in Contests in SS024, as May before her did in Johto.
• Hoenn is so far the only region of the main series games not to be rendered in 3D. It is also the only region that did not yet appear in a game specifically compatible with the Nintendo DS series of handheld consoles by Nintendo.

Trivia

• Both sets of remakes are to date the only main series Pokémon games to come bundled with an accessory. FireRed and LeafGreen originally had the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter bundled with them, while HeartGold and SoulSilver are bundled with the Pokéwalker.
  • Each of these accessories is a precursor to a feature found in the following generation. Generation IV expanded on the Wireless Adapter's features with the Nintendo DS's wireless play, while Generation V's Dream World is a more robust version of the Pokéwalker.
• Both sets of remakes also use artwork on the boxart other than the official artwork released with the game.
• A new female player character has been introduced in each set of remakes.
• Remade games are retconned to the point of including all known Pokémon as of their release generation, not just the Pokémon available in the original release.

This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.