It’s a matter of preservation, too.
This year’s Pokémon Day has come and gone, and there’s something about it that’s still making me grumpy.
I’m not normally one to make a big stink about the games that I want companies to make, or to grumble when I don’t get my way.
I’m aware that Nintendo, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company are huge operations, and they have a habit of surprising and delighting fans rather than kowtowing to their every whim.
But still, prior to Pokémon Day, I had seen the rumours that Pokémon Gold and Silver would be getting a remake.
I try not to get sucked in by ‘leaks’, because I know some of them turn out to be wrong, but this time I couldn’t stop myself from getting excited. Allow me to explain why…
What’s so special about Pokémon Gold and Silver?
I played Pokémon Silver when it first launched on Game Boy Color, back in 2001 for UK-based fans, and it has remained one of my favourites in the franchise ever since.
While new generations and gimmicks come and go, something about this one was special to me.
Maybe it’s the fact that Lugia is one of the coolest-looking legendaries, and the starters were pretty loveable as well (Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile, if you were struggling to remember).
Maybe it’s the fact that it added new mechanics, like held items, and new features like the Pokégear communication device.
Maybe it’s the fact that, while later games would move towards 3D graphics, Gold and Silver stuck faithfully to the nostalgic top-down view of Red and Blue – but still managed to feel new and exciting.
Most of all, I think it’s the fact that Pokémon Gold and Silver had some of the best moments in the franchise to date. Even after you’ve completed the eight new gyms, the game still has surprises in store, including a twist that felt massive at the time.
Once you’ve beaten the main game and conquered the Pokémon battling scene of the new Johto region, you can travel to the Kanto region from Red and Blue and revisit all your old haunts from the previous game!
I remember this realisation being properly thrilling at the time, and it had a top pay-off as well.
It was great to pop back to iconic Kanto locations and see how they’ve changed, but the big finale was something utterly special — you got to battle the main character from Red and Blue, essentially going toe to toe with your younger self.
This felt epic at the time, and that whole Kanto jaunt still feels like one of the coolest ideas ever to be plumbed into a Pokémon game.
It is, I fear, also part of the reason why Gold and Silver haven’t been remade yet — the developers would also have to remake the Kanto section, essentially making this a double-length project compared to remaking any other Pokémon title (as none of the others have region-hopping twists).
Why is it so hard to play Pokémon Gold and Silver?
I’ve been hoping for a new way to play Pokémon Gold and Silver for years. And in the weeks since Pokémon Day, when the rumoured Gold and Silver remake was not announced or event hinted towards, I’ve started to think that this is more than just an entitled fan request.
It is, in fact, a matter of game preservation. Of making sure that classic titles are preserved in a playable form for future generations (and me) to enjoy.
You see, Pokémon Gold and Silver are pretty hard to play these days. And I don’t mean they’re difficult in a gameplay sense. I mean, unless you’re willing to go down some dodgy routes in real life, it’s physically and logistically challenging to actually play Gold and Silver in any official way.
Even if you have a physical Game Boy Color cartridge for Gold or Silver (which I do), you might find that it doesn’t really work anymore.
The game has a day-and-night cycle, and the physical chip that powered this time-tracking mechanic is likely to fritz out if you try to use it in 2024. The game may not save at all if you try to use an old cartridge, and the day-night system definitely won’t work.
A cursory glance at the internet will tell any curious fan that, if they want to get their old cartridge working again, they’ll need to disassemble it and replace the chip with a new one.
The mention of a soldering iron is the point at which I gave up on this project. Apologies to my DT teacher, but I’m really not a very soldering iron sort of person.
My lack of soldering skills wouldn’t really be a problem if Gold and Silver were readily available in a digital state. And for years, back in the Nintendo 3DS era, they actually were.
You might remember that the 3DS had something called the ‘Virtual Console’, which essentially allowed you to play Game Boy games natively on the 3DS. Gold and Silver were brought to this retro-loving storefront in 2017.
However, good things often come to an end, and Nintendo discontinued the Virtual Console in March 2023. If you bought Gold or Silver before that, you can still play it on 3DS. But if you didn’t, you can’t buy them now, even if you do still have a 3DS knocking about.
The Nintendo Switch does not have a Virtual Console. And despite the fact that heaps of old Game Boy Color games have been made available through the Nintendo Switch Online service, Pokémon Gold and Silver are not among them.
Like a lot of other classic games, Pokémon Gold and Silver have essentially fallen through the cracks in terms of legitimate ways of playing them. Your original cartridge won’t work, and Nintendo’s current console doesn’t offer you any way to play a digital version.
Is it any wonder that Pokémon fans love playing ROMs and other hacked, modded and unofficial versions of their old favourites? If Nintendo aren’t going to make them available, what else are they meant to do?
It’s worth noting that Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver, DS remakes of Gold and Silver, came out in 2009, and I have no reason to believe that those cartridges don’t continue to work.
But still, you can’t buy DS games digitally anymore, and these versions have never been ported to Switch either. So it’s really not a super-accessible game in any form at this point.
Will there ever be a Pokémon Gold and Silver remake?
As it stands, a new Pokémon Gold and Silver remake has not been announced through any official channels.
There are no announced plans to bring back the original games, in all their retro glory, onto the Switch. The same goes for HeartGold and SoulSilver, which have never been made officially available anywhere but the DS.
I’d definitely settle for a Switch Online port of the originals at this point, or a simple Switch release for HeartGold and SoulSilver.
I’d also settle for a chibi-style remake in the same vein as 2021’s Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which would be slightly less exciting than the version that was rumoured not too long ago.
Prior to the 2024 Pokémon Day presentation, whispers swirled that a Gold and Silver remake was going to be announced, with the rumoured game being touted as a sequel to the Switch titles Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee (which were, to all intents and purposes, shiny new versions of the first generation games — Blue, Red and Yellow).
Let’s Go Wooper and Let’s Go Togepi were the rumoured titles for these new Gold and Silver remakes, with Reddit users poring over logos that seemed to have leaked on 4chan. The original 4chan post has vanished now, but the Reddit discussion remains, as does my sense of disappointment.
Pokémon Gold and Silver are great games, and it’s quite tricky to get access to them nowadays unless you’re willing to break open your old cartridge and go at it with a soldering iron, or download illegal ROMs – neither of which are options I’d imagine Nintendo condones.
With Pokémon Legends Z-A in the pipeline, it’s clear that Game Freak is still interested in revisiting old eras. And with the Nintendo Switch 2 rumoured to be getting closer, perhaps there’s a chance that Nintendo is holding back some ideas for the time being to help sell its next console.
So, who knows what the future could hold? For now, though, I’ll keep on grumbling to myself…
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