Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver have finally been confirmed, and I'm delighted. The second generation is easily my favorite, not the least because it features some of the best postgame content. Even if it were just a straight remake, there would be a lot there to keep me busy.

Happy as I am though, I could always be happier. That in mind, here are a few additional features that I would love to see in the upcoming remakes.

1. Let the Poor Pokemon Roam Free

Watching the first clips of Heart Gold and Soul Silver, I was extremely pleased to see a tiny Chikorita trailing after our hero. It looks like after what seems like years of pleading, my starting Pokemon of choice willfinally be able to trail after my avatar. This is wonderful, but I'm hoping that the designers don't stop there.

Since the graphics don't seem to be getting much of an upgrade for Diamond and Pearl, it would be great to see the devs put some effort into building a nice-sized pool of creatures who can follow along outside their PokeBall. Allowing popular favorites like Umbreon or Charizard to trail along would go over quite well, I think.

Unfortunately, given GameFreak's track records in these matters, I don't think think it's entirely realistic to expect that Salemence will be able to follow my character around Johto. I'm not in the mood to complain though -- I probably would have picked Cyndaquil to follow me around anyway.

2. A True Challenge 

I'm not delusional -- I know that Pokemon is meant to be easy enough for five years to complete without difficulty. I don't expect the main quest to be much of a challenge, and in any case I wouldn't want it to be. My eye is on the post-adventure content. 

That in mind, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that gym leaders will once again be available for rematches after the main adventure is completed. I don't want the leaders to stop at level 64 though -- I want them to go all the way. I want them to eventually hit level 100, which would make for an excellent challenge, and an excellent chance to level-up certain Pokemon besides.

Pokemon Emerald previously offered hidden level 100 trainers, so I don't think this is too much to ask. I don't just want to grind through the Battle Tower, I want the chance to have some truly epic battles with gym leaders and the Elite 4 alike.

3. Introduce At Least One New Meaningful Area 

If there was one thing the previous round of remakes -- Fire Red and Leaf Green -- did right, it was the addition of a chain of islands that offered a whole new set of post-quest challenges. It kept me playing long after I had fulfilled my original objective -- capturing all of the original creatures and trading them over to Ruby and Sapphire.

Gold and Silver already features some phenomenal post-game content, offering the chance for players to head back to the original game's Kanto for a shot at eight more badges. In my wildest dreams though, Ruby and Sapphire's Hoenn lies even beyond that, offering a chance to go and get even more badges. For the first time ever, every region would be accessible in a single generation.

I'm not a crazy person though, so I'm just going to ask for a new chain of islands, if only to keep things fresh. Throw in a few extra battle challenges, and an even more difficult Satoshi (the original Gold and Silver's ultimate trainer), and I think I would be quite satisfied.

In the end, I think all of these requests are quite reasonable, not the least because I've seen them before. But I don't just want Game Freak to fulfill these wishes -- I want them to really go above and beyond for a change. I want to be able to say, "This wasn't the definitive Pokemon experience, because there's no such thing. But Heart Gold and Soul Silver come pretty darn close."

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So now that they have officially been announced, what do you want in the new remakes?