ThePokemonrumor mills have been churning along throughout 2020. One main reason for this is that next year will see the 25th anniversary from one of the most beloved franchises in video game history, having broken the mold back in 1996 with the original triage,Red, Blue,andYellow.
The Wikipedia page for “video game remake” pops up with remastered images ofPokemon RedandBluesitting side-by-side with the original Game Boy handheld console. This is becauseThe Pokemon Company is no stranger to remakingand porting old, nostalgic titles to the newest console. Beginning withFireRedandLeafGreen, thePokemonfranchise began remastering its highly successful games long ago on the Game Boy Advance and has not stopped since. The Nintendo DS saw the remastered versions of the second generation ofPokemongames,HeartGoldandSoulsilver.And though they already received that colorized remake back in 2009, players could expect ports to the Switch happening next year.
RELATED:Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver Switch Ports Have One Big Problem
Judging by the treatment theSuper Marioseries received with its 35th anniversary this year, it’s expected that The Pokemon Company will have big plans for 2021. According to many rumors from industry insiders,Pokemon DiamondandPearlare currently in the works for a 2021 release window and may possibly also feature Gigantamaxing.DiamondandPearlare the most logical ports to be on the way as they fall next in line, shouldPokemoncontinue to follow the same trend. But taking a closer look at the meaning behind the25th anniversary points in a big direction forHeartGoldandSoulSilverremakes: the 25th anniversary is the year to gift silver,meaning The Pokemon Company may be giftingSilverto fans next year.
Pokemon GoldandSilversaw success by drawing the same formula from the original three releases,Red,Blue,andYellow. It made no real innovations to the game and kept with the same purview, though some may argue thatThe Pokemon Companyis still doing this. The new games did introduce 100 new species of Pokemon and take the trainer to a new region also based on Japan.GoldandSilverrecorded 23 million units sold by 2010, making them the best-selling games for the Game Boy Color, and to this day, many avid Poke fans consider them to be the best games in the entire series.
RELATED:Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Remakes Seem More Likely Than Ever
HeartGold and SoulSilver Reception
Because of the originalGoldandSilver’s renowned success, it was no mystery to seeNintendo DS ports release years later.HeartGoldandSoulSilverfell in line with the 10th anniversary of the second-generation pair and were made to pay homage to what fans fell in love with the first time around while also feeling refreshing to long-time veteran players.
Some might argue that The Pokemon Company and Nintendo are mainly looking for an easy money grab by constantly porting old games to new consoles, which may be the case, but based onHeartGoldandSoulSilver’s success, they were generally concerned with pleasing fans back in 2009. The DS remakes' sales would also perform quite well, resulting in the duo being the eighth best-selling DS games of all time.
It might seem odd for Nintendo to re-release a video game a third time, but this isn’t the first time the Japanese developer would’ve done it.Super Mario 64saw a port to both theNintendo DS and the Switch, so it’s possible forPokemonto follow the same path. There’s also plenty of room for Game Freak to innovateGoldandSilveryet again as it did with by mimicking some elements seen inDiamondandPearlon the DS remaster. Some have even posited that Nintendo may have plans to releaseCrystal(GoldandSilver’s third counterpart) asPokemon Let’s Go! 2. However it may be done, it’s likelyPokemonhas plans to giftSilverto its fans for its 25th anniversary.
