Nintendo and Pokémon have finally announced a release date for their highly anticipated Nintendo DS titles Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver.  The date is September 12th in Japan and the price with the bundled Poké-Walker is 4,800 yen (~$48.00 USD).

This is about the standard price for a new Nintendo DS title in Japan, which makes it seem like the Poké-Walker is actually free.  The packaging appears to be a bit larger from a side-view (left), obviously to accommodate the Poké-Walker. The cover art feels a bit retro compared to the more recent games.  This may just be because the pokémon featured on the cover look like actual animals… kind of.  I dunno, something about the background just feels old-school too–I like it.  Will the NA or PAL versions feature the same art?  Only time will tell…

It is interesting to note that the last Pokémon title for Nintendo DS, Pokémon Platinum, came out on September 13th in Japan last year, making this duo of games 1 year and 1 day apart from Platinum.  The localized version of Pokémon Platinum was released March 22nd of this year.  From this one can estimate a North American release sometimes late March 2010.

However, Platinum was a stand-alone game, where Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver are two games which also include the Poké-Walker.  That is a bit of extra text to sift through and bugs to flush out.  For these reason the actual release may even stray into April or beyond…  Let’s hope that’s not the case though.

In addition to this announcement, some new screens of the game have been released which appear to be from the game’s intro cut-scene:

The screens also include an image that seems to suggest that the player is not limited to the three starters when it comes to being followed.  The elated pokémon to the right looks like a Teddiursa to me.  It is hard to tell since it’s so small, but I am positive that whatever it is, it is not a Totodile, Chikorita, or Cyndaquil.  This gives me some hope that this feature will be somewhat flexible.

There is also a cool screenshot which seems to show what the screen displays while exploring your inventory (left).  The touch screen looks like it displays all the different pockets which the player can switch through.  The top screen shows a translucent 3D rendering of the player’s character with their respective bag standing out.  I am willing to bet that when you change pockets it rustles or something.  I am still pretty impressed by the 3D rendering of the main character though…  I can haz (good) 3D Pokémon game?

Related Entries:
Pokéwalker Unveiled – Causes Pokénostalgia
Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver: First Look
Pokémon Heart-Gold and Soul-Silver Announced

Roy japan, nintendo ds, pokémon, preview 6 comments