(These games originally cost $29.99 new.) The remakes fetch higher resale prices than nearly any other major Pokémon game should you find a copy of one of them at GameStop, it will set you back $49.99 - and that’s for a pre-owned one. When The Pokémon Company released the Nintendo DS remakes Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver in 2009, they received rave reviews and went on to sell nearly 13 million copies. The legacy of Gold and Silver is not lost on longtime fans. Game Freak has bizarrely never attempted to introduce this concept into any Pokémon game since, leaving Gold and Silver as the lone titles with such an expansive adventure at the fore.

This makes it twice as long as any other Pokémon game - it’s the definition of the ideal post-game. Pokémon Gold and Silver not only contained a complete original game, but it absorbed its predecessor, reimagining its unforgettable world. ( Spoilers for a 17-year-old game ahead.) After players traversed all of Johto, the games’ primary setting, and defeated the Pokémon League, they were given another task: They had to return to Kanto, where the original Pokémon games took place, and collect another full set of badges. There’s at least one feature completely unique to Pokémon’s second generation games, though. Perhaps modern players take them for granted, in fact, which makes now the best time for Gold and Silver to return. Those are all significant additions, and it’s difficult to imagine Pokémon games without many of them.

Tracking how many experience points a Pokémon needs to level up.

Here’s a brief rundown of what Pokémon Gold and Silver introduced to the franchise:

Just three years after making Pokémon Red, Blue and Green, Game Freak iterated on nearly every element of the series. When they launched in Japan in 1999, they were revolutionary. Pokémon Gold and Silver comprise the second generation of Pokémon games, along with their shinier cousin, Pokémon Crystal. Their upcoming, current-gen debut, courtesy of the 3DS Virtual Console, is at once a small re-release and a major cause for celebration. By almost all objective measures, these Game Boy Color games represent the best of what Pokémon has to offer. I’ve got plenty of personal bias here, if we want to talk about it, but let’s take a look at the facts. Pokémon Silver - and its partner game, Pokémon Gold - ranks highly on the lengthy list of games in the franchise, and it’s also near the top of my own favorites.

It’s, in fact, the first game I ever fell in love with, a game I’ve sunk hours and hours into, played until its literal death: Pokémon Silver, which is heading to Nintendo 3DS eShop on Sept. Of all the new Pokémon games out this year, the one I’m most excited for isn’t new at all.

Pokemon gold online