It's not easy to remember a time when a Pokemon product release was not an immediate hit. 2010, however, was a much different time for the franchise. The heights it had seen during the peak of Pokemania in the late 90s and early 2000s were but a wistful memory at this point. The trading cards had seen sales drop significantly, switching manufacturing from Magic publishers Wizards of the Coast to an internal team. The third-generation release of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire in 2003 started a slow downturn for the series. The games released on the GameBoy Advance to good numbers, but down from both the original GameBoy and GameBoy Color titles. 

In 2009, the remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver, Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver, released to middling sales numbers (by Pokemon's incredibly high standards, at least). As a result of both lower sales and the massive interest in the intervening years, the resale price of the games shot up incredibly. Secondhand prices of a complete in box version of either game went as high as $300. One of the most notable aspects of these second-generation remakes was the accessory that came packaged with the game, the Pokewalker.

The Pokewalker is a fascinating piece of video game history. The device is a legitimate pedometer - a device that counts steps - and a very good one at that, with an Iowa State University study finding that the Pokewalker was more accurate than many other pedometer available at the time. "In comparing all those measures, the Pokéwalker did very well," said Lanningham-Foster, who researches the measurable health benefits of active video games. "It's very accurate and precise. So as a tool that can be used to actually change behavior and a child can use to truly understand and learn about how much they're walking, it could be a good tool." As well as encouraging both physical and social interaction in order to fully utilize it, the Pokewalker was a great gameplay feature.

By earning ‘watts’ through regular pedometer usage, players could catch Pokemon and find items that could be transferred over to their Nintendo DS. The device also made interacting with other players effortless. If you ever used a Nintendo DS during its lifetime, you will remember what a nightmare it was inputting peoples' friend codes in order to play with them online. Connecting your Pokewalker with other players' would allow you to mix records, unlock their current player info and active party in the trainer house - a nondescript building in the latter stages of the postgame. 

One of the other back-of-the-box features was Pokemon that actually followed you around, letting you interact with them. The ability to turn around and interact with your Pokemon at any time was a nice addition. While this could technically be done in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, it could only be done in a specific area of the game. HeartGold and SoulSilver were the first time the feature had a fully-fledged return since Pokemon Yellow on the original GameBoy.  

Two things that were truly unique to these games were the Pokeathlon and Voltorb Flip. The Pokeathlon replaced the contest system from the third-generation games, and offered significantly more involved gameplay compared to contests. The Pokeathlon is a series of mini-games you could use your Pokemon in; you play the games, you earn points, then you exchange those points to unlock hard to obtain items. Game Freak have not made much of an effort to create a similar feature since. The mini-games themselves are quite simple, but offer plenty of variety in how you approach the games, and what Pokemon you use. The varying stats in each game encourage you to use Pokemon sitting in storage that might not have seen the light of day otherwise.

Voltorb Flip, meanwhile, really only exists because of a technicality.

Because of restrictions in gaming laws in Europe, the typical slot machines that exist in older titles cannot be featured in the PAL versions of the game without bringing up the ESRB rating. Rather than produce another version of the game for that region omitting the mechanic (which still exists in the original Japanese release), they opted to create a game to replace it. Voltorb Flip has been described as “a cross between picross and minesweeper”. Using the stylus to tap cards reveals information about the nearest Voltorb. Using this information, you could determine which slots contained game-ending Voltorbs, or safe spots that could advance your game. The game is actually really fun, and I think most players would like to see Game Freak at least attempt to do something similar rather than just omitting the problematic game corner every release without offering a substitute.

These games had a massive amount of content. While the regular Johto section has a decent amount to do in it before you fought the Elite Four, you also then have a remastered version of Kanto from the original Pokemon Red and Blue too. After finishing the Johto section of the game, players can go off and explore a whole other region.

This section culminates in one of the most challenging battles in the entire series. After climbing Mt. Silver, the highest point of the game, you encounter Red, the canonical trainer from the first game. Despite technically being a different character, Red’s team is based off of Ash’s from the anime. Red’s team is best known for his level 88 Pikachu, the highest level Pokemon encountered in a battle in the entire series.

It’s hard to explain just what an incredible moment this is. Most players go wandering up to the top of Mt. Silver not expecting anything, or perhaps a copy-paste legendary encounter. Red being made a boss encounter at the very end of the game brought back some of that word-of-mouth factor the games haven't really had since the original Red and Blue, as everyone was learning the game's nuances for the very first time. Not only is there a whole chunk of game after the Elite Four, but it culminates in a totally unexpected battle with a Pokemon legend! It really is a series pinnacle.

Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver were a breath of fresh air at the time of their release, and haven't been matched since. The final Pokemon games released on the Nintendo DS were Pokemon Black and Pokemon White, with both games being panned at the time (the fact that they came directly after Heartgold and Soulsilver did them no favors). After the mess of Pokemon Black and White, the series saw a significant shift in design philosophy going forward. Smartphones started becoming more popular, and Game Freak became fairly open about needing to shift their design to keep up with modern kids and the kinds of games they had access to at the time. 

While the Pokemon games released since have their audience and defenders, it seems that the effort in creating new content and building as full a package as possible isn’t the priority it once was for Game Freak. Until that changes, Heartgold and Soulsilver will likely continue to be seen by many as the last great Pokemon game.