Favourite Remake?

[Camille]

Inspired by favourite third/enhanced version thread. Which remakes of the Pokemon games are your favourites and why?

 

[Esserise]

I really admire the extent to which LGPE were willing to try out an entirely new conception for how the series could function on console. Like, I really don't want to understate how cool I think that is and how much I like seeing the series take on experiments with the more fundamental underpinnings of the core games. Especially when it comes to remakes, that's exactly the kind of thing that I want - I don't want to play the same thing I played before, I want to see how those ideas can be reimagined in light of newer technology and game design ideas. LGPE do that better than any prior remake, in my opinion... but I'd be lying if I said they didn't also have a pretty limited shelf life. I just don't think Pokémon games can get away with a measly roster of 150 species anymore. It feels too small. And beyond that, there's just nothing - nothing - to do after beating the main story other than Shiny hunting and defeating the Master Trainers (and my god that's an exercise in masochism). Granted, Sword & Shield's (non-DLC) post-game subsists almost entirely on Max Raid Battles (though it still contains a post-game story arc and a Battle Tower, which in their current form have been constants since at least Gen 6, but LGPE doesn't even have those), but hey... they work. Max Raids bring something entirely new to the series; you get to work cooperatively with other players in a novel fashion to receive rewards and Pokémon that are actually useful, and they can be used as a platform for community events like the Pokémon Day and Zeraora challenges. Master Trainers are just monotonous mirror matches where winning grants you nothing more than a customizable Trainer title.

So as far as the remake that I think has the most well-rounded gameplay while also satisfying my desire for something more innovative, I'll just take one step back and say ORAS. FRLG don't do anything interesting or experimental with the Red & Blue foundation, they just make it actually playable (which is certainly appreciated, and understandable in the context of those being the first remakes, but I can only cut so much slack, especially when Ruby & Sapphire just got done rebuilding the series mechanics from the ground up). And then HGSS are just as much of a slog as the originals, they fail to address so many of the issues I had with the original Gold & Silver to the point that if I want to relive any nostalgia, I feel like I can just stick to the originals and have many of the same problems but at least with the old-school charm still intact. I deeply loved Gen 2, and it's an experience that I, in theory, would like to see cleaned up and optimized, but HGSS just don't really do that to as much of an extent as I would like. They pack in plenty of extra stuff, for sure, and that's cool, but it's not what draws me in (and I don't think Johto was exactly starving for things to do in the first place... there's a whole post-game region and all that, you know). The little I've played of the Pokéathlon was fun, but if I'm not enjoying the game as a whole because it's too slowly paced and because of good options being distributed very poorly, that's not really going to matter because I would rather just be playing a different game.

ORAS largely avoid that problem. They're not perfect, certainly not. (God, HMs, and that fucking rock on Route 111. God, walking back Trainer customization including even the skin tone palette...) But I feel like they actually try to look at and address some of the things that didn't work so well about the originals in order to produce a smoother experience, and also try to use the technology afforded by the 3DS to produce something that feels new, which is how you get things like DexNav and Soaring. They're both innovative ideas for the series that also extend organically out of concepts and themes that were present in the originals. The story is fleshed out to give the characters clearer personalities, whereas HGSS fell pretty limp on that front, and (albeit thanks to some serendipity) is able to make good use out of Mega Evolution by injecting it into the plot. I feel like ORAS generally strike a nice balance between the overt nostalgia homages while not being slavishly faithful to the originals. And I really like the pace of the game, I feel like you get going very quickly. There's quite a bit I'd still change if I could, but I feel like ORAS are generally a good benchmark for what I think remakes should strive toward.

Of course, a lot of it is probably helped by Hoenn just being a pretty conceptually strong, and physically diverse region. They were working with good material, so to speak.

 

[Phosphene]

Donde esta Mystery Dungeon DX??? Clearly it is the best remake.

Out of the three remakes I've played (HGSS, ORAS, LGPE), I'll have to go with HeartGold and SoulSilver, though I will admit that I am probably biased in this regard. I feel that it updated and expanded the region moreso than ORAS and it isn't LGPE. While LGPE did try out something new in terms of both story and mechanics, as Esserise pointed out above, I just feel that at the same time it walked back several things such as held items, abilities, and non-Kanto (pre)evolutions, though whether that was due to remaining faithful to the source or a desire to make the game less complex is up to debate (at least in the first two cases). There's also the fact that LGPE was ultimately so bland for me to the point that I didn't finish it.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

HG and SS, because it was a nice update to the originals. As far as I remeber, they didn't cut anything and kept on adding stuff. They took the elements not only from Gold and Silver but Crystal's improvments and story to include it. The new (compared to P/D/Pt) walking feature was just what was missing and the Golden Leaves and Crown was a great touch to mark the bond between Trainer and Pkmn. The GB sounds was the cherry on top and how pandering to nostalgia should be made.
On the opposite, ASOR was a shame by including Megas and by not taking advantage of Emerald's contributions: it's LAME and out of place for Team Magma to have a base in Lilycove, something that was fixed in Emerald, only to shove it there in the remakes. Rustboro City? The graphical limitations make it seem more like Rustboro Town. The only good thing is soaring and that's made using Mega Lati@s when it should be with any Flying-type but GF didn't make the effort.
FRLG were nice improvements to the original games and the better features are the VS Seeker, Fame Checker, obviously the Sevii Islands and the area screenshots. The only thing that was missing was the day/night cycle.
I didn't played LGEP because it isn't appealing to me, namely after FRLG. Enough is enough and the original Kanto should be done with FRLG. Want to go back to Kanto? Expand and improve it beyond the bad nostalgia pandering.

 

[Aulos]

I would say OR/AS, because I enjoyed Omega Ruby so much more than Ruby. I feel like OR did the region justice, and made me appreciate it all a little better. Plus, that Pokedex feature (I forget what it was called - DexNav? Can't keep them straight, sorry lol) was excellent.

All of the remakes are excellent aside from LGP/E, though.

 

[Puddle]

These kinds of threads are fun! It's a very close call between ORAS and HGSS, the near-perfect remakes of my two childhood regions. If you'd have asked me on a different day I might have chosen HGSS, but I'm feeling enthusiastic about ORAS at the moment. Hoenn was a beautiful region already and the remakes took it to the next level. Soaring is one of my favourite features of all time (Latias and Latios are two of my favourite Pokemon, which helps), as is being able to catch Deoxys without an event. Contests and Secret Bases were both improved upon; I especially love the QR code system because it means retro gamers will be able to share their Bases with others for years to come, without needing to connect their consoles to the internet. Mega Evolutions were also at their best in this game, with plenty to choose from even during the main story.

ORAS's only drawback for me is that some of the music isn't as emotive and impactful as it was in the original Ruby and Sapphire. On the whole though, I think ORAS did a much better job of recreating the music faithfully than HGSS, which changed some of the tracks too much.

 

[Insanish Danish]

HGSS hands down. They were pretty much perfect in every way and easily my favorite games of Gen IV, no question. I like all the remakes better than their respective original games though, so there's also that.

 

[Bolt Strike]

HGSS by a long shot, they're the only games to significantly improve over the original. FRLG just improved the post game while keeping the original game intact. ORAS made some improvements but also stripped away the Emerald content. And LGPE... yeah, the less said about that game, the better. There's still a lot more I wish HGSS had changed, but they added a lot of features from the original, added a ton of new Pokemon to catch in the post game, and brought back a lot of cut areas in Kanto, and they didn't cut anything of significance from GSC.

 

[Almonds]

HGSS and ORAS are my top favorite remakes. I chose ORAS for all the improvements they made to make the game accessible and easy for everyone.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'll go with HG/SS. Part of it might be due to how Silver was my first Pokemon game, so being able to experience it again through was really special. But I also loved a lot of the new features. Getting names for the Team Rocket grunts and admins was neat, bringing back the Pokemon walking feature was great and the Pokealthon was fun. Kanto still felt a bit too barren, but being able to rechallenge Gym Leaders was cool.

OR/AS is a close second. It incorporated Mega Evolution really nicely, expanded Wally's role a bit, gave a bit more depth to Brendan/May due to the updated graphics, the climaxes were great and I thought that the post-storyline was pretty solid. I also loved the updates to the Secret Bases.

Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee would be third. It is ultimately a Yellow remake with some Pokemon Go features to make it stand out as opposed to the other way around. It definitely was trying too hard to be as faithful to the original Yellow and I wish that they had at least updated the movepools, but the games were still ultimately fun in my book. I liked the graphics, I adored seeing Pokemon in the overworld, especially when that made Shiny Hunting a bit easier, I loved traveling through Kanto, having Pokemon walk with you again based on your own choice was cool. petting Pikachu/Eevee was always adorable and I actually liked the rival Trace. It would have been nicer if they did a bit more with the post storyline mode at least, but these were still pretty fun remakes.

FR/LG would be fourth. I still don't think that they're terrible, but I think all of the other remakes stand out more to me. Granted, these are the first remakes so that ideally would happen anyway, but I just don't remember much about these FR/LG that I enjoyed compared to the other sets.

 

[WyndonCalling]

HGSS forever, for all the reasons set out above and more. The only marks against it are awful wild levelling and some ropey sprites, otherwise it's excellent. I also think it's by some way the most beautiful-looking game in the franchise, with those lovely, deep overworld hues, and the music's also utterly stellar. Can't bang the Johto drum enough.

I must admit I'm quite surprised at the cooler reception for FRLG, because Gen 1 is frankly embarrassing from a mechanical standpoint. I consider FRLG the first 'real' Kanto game in a sense, and I truly believe that the original 151 remains the best single regional roster, even if it is spread a little thin at times. Great tunes once again.

In my mind, Gen 2 is the first to bring us respectable mechanics, Gen 3 brings the graphics into the modern era, and Gen 4 delivers the final adjustments and perfects the whole package.

 

[Aozora]

This one's really tough for me- FRLG, HGSS, and ORAS are all probably contenders for my favorite main series games. I guess I'd have to go with FRLG though, since RBY, in my opinion really needed remade a lot more than the others. GSC and RSE are still pretty good on their own. I also really like the Sevii islands part of FRLG.

 

[Sheep]

hgss had their issues, but were near perfect! only main downside to me were the sluggish animations (as seen in all gen IV games). the gameplay was so good and there was so much to do. <3 I loved the pokéathlon too, it was incredibly fun! having to play it on certain days to get specific stones was a little tiring sometimes though, I remember being impatient lol. oras are probably tied with hgss for the first spot too, since I love Hoenn so very much and found these remakes to be extremely fun! even though there was no Battle Tower, the other content made up for it for me.

 

[Daenerys]

HGSS and it's not even close. FRLG were good too but I dunno, I can't play them for more than 15 minutes at a time whereas I can keep playing HGSS over and over because there's so much to explore and things to do even though I completed the game 10 years ago.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

I enjoyed ORAS the most.

 

[CynthiaLover]

ORAS, no question about it. Here are my reasons for NOT liking the other remakes.

While I will admit I never played FRLG, the fact that it was yet another Kanto run, which, by that point, I was getting REALLY sick of, did it no favors to me. Plus, from what I've seen, they barely added anything of worth to it, really just the Sevii Islands and even THAT is forgettable to me. Sure, it made the Gen 1 games more playable, but the fact of the matter is it was more-or-less a cut-and-paste rerun of Gen 1 with a small side area and that's that. That's not good enough to warrant a remake, so I'll pass on those two.

HGSS is no better than its original counterparts. It has all the same issues and problems (sans glitches) that the original Gen 2 had, just with updated mechanics. Johto was still barren and worthless, the pacing was still horrid, the level curve was still a royal pain in the arse, the Mon distribution was still terrible, HMs are still as annoying as ever, and the story was meh at best. Every time I play HGSS it ends up a chore, as there is nothing of worth in it for me, thus my "adventure" gets cut short pretty much after Morty due to just how much of a hassle it is to me. Sure, it had some new stuff, but I found all that to be rather underwhelming or useless. I don't care about walking Pokemon unless it actually has a benefit, Pokethon was too much work for not enough reward, and every other addition just isn't fun to me. Plus, again, we have to deal with the ever omnipresent Kanto, which, unlike most, I see it as the second half of the game, not a post-game (anything after Kanto I consider post-game, such as Red), which is already a deadly nail in its coffin. I just don't see how this game is so beloved, as all I see are the same issues and problems that plagued the Gen 2 games, just with updated graphics and mechanics. Really, as a whole, I feel Johto sucks and I'd consider it the second worst region in the games, mainly because it's completely outshone by its next door neighbor Kanto, which I consider the worst region of all.

And speaking of Kanto, now we come to LGPE. Seriously? Why did these games even need to exist? We're back to the primitive mechanics of RBY (such as no abilities, which can make or break a Mon), the same 150 Mons (153 if we count Mew and the Meltan line), now with the even more annoying GO mechanics. These games just aren't worth the $60 price tags. Sword and Shield offer more than these games, and that's BEFORE considering the DLC. And, again, we have to revisit the ever infuriating Kanto region. Sure, I get that they're supposed to "introduce" GO fans to the core games, but, still, they're not worth it. They could've not bothered with those games and actually put more effort into Sword/Shield instead. If anything, they're the worst of the worst of all remakes and I would love to see them (and Kanto as a whole) burn to ashes, as they offer NOTHING of worth to the franchise.

Meanwhile, ORAS is pretty much my idea of a near perfect remake (keyword: near). They took the base story and heavily fixed it, made Team Aqua and Team Magma actually interesting by fleshing them out (and made their endgame goals more logical), they made the already beautiful region even more gorgeous, they managed to get the Mega Evolution subplot installed better than XY ever did, and each of the characters are now more fleshed out and interesting (though post-game Wally became bit of a player punch, since he became, in essence, a RL Smogon player). Plus, they added a bunch of new and creative functions, such as DexNav and Soaring, expanded the dex to include Mons like Roserade, the ever-useful Move Tutors, while also severely revamping Super Contests and Secret Bases, turning them into actually fun side-quests. The pacing is also much steadier than past games, making them almost a joy to play. While it's drawbacks are things like the still rather ugly chibi models (though compared to XY they actually look halfway decent), HMs are still an absolute pain to deal with (especially the ever-annoying Rock Smash), and, although I don't really care about this bit but I know others do, no Battle Frontier for those who want it, instead just having XY's battle facility cut-and-pasted in its place. Really, out of all the remakes, these are the ones I'll return to again and again because they're actually fun to me and don't have a bevy of annoying properties like the others have. Plus, I gained a new Hoenn waifu in the form of ORAS Courtney, so there's also that. But, overall, ORAS is pretty much what I would call a near perfect remake of a game.

 

[mikechuu]

HeartGold and SoulSilver no doubt. G/S/C are my favorite games, and Johto is my favorite region. HGSS did an amazing job at enhancing the original games!

ORAS was good as well though. LGPE were visually gorgeous.

FRLG are my least favorites. Just didn't enjoy them.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

For me, HG/SS hands down. They were the most faithful to their original counterparts. OR/AS was a close second, because while it was disappointing not to have adapted any content from Emerald, I still enjoyed the new Mega Evolutions and because Hoenn was my first region in the franchise.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Out of all the core series Pokémon game remakes, which ones are your favorites? Not including the Sinnoh remakes in the poll yet, since we don't know much about them yet as of this thread being created.

 

[Juliko]

I was only able to pick one in the poll, but my favorites are Heart Gold/Soul Silver and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. I grew up with those two games in particular, and the improvements the remakes made for them really elevated them to new levels. Granted, not everything was improved (Johto's awkward level curve come the Johto League), but those are relatively minor compared to everything else.