16. Pokemon Gold/Silver & HeartGold/SoulSilver (GBC/DS)
Pokemon Silver was the first game I've ever pre-ordered. Let it be known, I was excited about this game. At this point in time, I was a full fledged Poke-maniac and couldn't wait to get my hands on a new game with a new world to explore and new Pokemon (!!!) to capture. It was just a brand new adventure in the Pokemon world I loved so much, and so I counted down to when the game would finally be mine. And when I finally popped the game into my trusty GameBoy Color, I was blown away from the start. The new Pokemon were so cool (picked Totodile as my starter of course, always go with the water types!) and the world of Johto was an incredible world to explore. The game was the perfect mix of old and new, tapping in to that wonderful Pokemon Red/Blue nostalgia (battling Team Rocket, teaming up with Lance) but always keeping things fresh by introducing new Pokemon, new types (Dark type!), and new trainers to battle.
And when I was finished defeating the Elite Four and Lance (darn those Dragonites!), Pokemon Gold/Silver delivered one of the best surprises I've ever seen in gaming: I got to go back to Kanto. What a wonderful addition to the game. I'm sure many players were all smiles as we went back to the land we loved so much and battled the gym leaders that gave us trouble a couple years prior. To top it all off, at the end of all things, we had to battle Red (Ash, everyone called him Ash). I never actually beat him in the original, but once I got the wonderful DS remake, that was my one goal. And with my team of Weavile, Scizor, Magmortar, Electivire, Feraligatr, and Gliscor I did just that. What a great adventure.
