Customer Reviews
Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Guide - By: T. M. Pywell, 21 Jun 2010 
May as well be writtenin a foreign language for me, but then I'm a parent, (enough said)but my boys think that it's wonderful & are now fighting each other as to who gets to look up the next part of their quest, (better than 'just' fighting, I suppose!). Seriously, it looks to have answered their questionsin a simple manner, where the gameplay wasn't intuitive, where for example having spoken to a characterin one place they had to return to another place & meet the same character again to collect a bonus item; without the book they were unaware of the need to do that task.
Allin all a very good buy, especiallyin view of the price which is a third of what the game costin the first place, after all 'they' may as well get the most out of the game that 'you' paid for!!
Enhances the game experience immensely - By: Lars Jorgensen, 18 May 2010 The gripes about this being only half the guide are moot. It clearly says on the cover & spine that this is volume 1 & only covers Johto. After completing Johto the game is officially over as the end credits roll. The Kanto section can be seen as a large side quest & as such it's fine by me to publish a separate guide for that.
That out of the way, it must be said that this book enhances the experience of the game to a level that is hard to expressin words. The game by itself is a great adventure, but this book makes sure you get to explore every nook & cranny & never feel lost or overwhelmed. It's far from the direct GameFAQs.com approach of telling the player exacly what must be donein painstakingly minute details. This is a general guide that tells you what must be accomplishedin each area & gives you gentle nudges as to how to go about your task. It's a wonderful experience.
The layout & design is extremely well done. All pages arein full color, & the level of information on each page is quite staggering. There's story, maps, side quests, catchable Pokémon, appearance stats & trainer tips. On the same page & each & every page of the story walkthrough. How they prevented this from being a cluttered mess of information overload & instead appear as a beacon of intelligence is down to brilliant design & hours upon hours of editing. This beautiful work took a long, long time to prepare.
For the catch'em'all segment out there, you're told where, when & how often the 250+ Pokémon appears around the Johto region (the first half of the game) so its easy to catch the more elusive ones.
By now I have completed the Johto section of the game (I'm an old guy with a job & can't play 10 hours a day like the kids) & the Kanto region lays open before me. But I refuse to take a single step there before volume 2 of this guide is published, because playing with the guidein hand is just so much more fun than going it alone. Until the end of May, I'm trawling through this volume to catche the Pokémons i missed the first time through & complete the areas that were not open before.
Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver : The Official Pokemon Johto Guide & Johto Pokedex - By: Mme Francoise Jouanno, 14 May 2010 
Overall a very good guide, there were only two things i was disappointed about :
The pokedex part is very detailed about move learning sets & such but only give one or two places to catch each pokemon (route 34, national park, ...) & sometimes they give only one when there are really four different places... But that is bearable thanks to the fact that each route page gives the full list of pokemon you can catch on it with details.
The second "bad" point is that some of the cave maps don't have enough contrast for me, so hard to see if ledges are up or down sometimes, but that can be helped by good light ;)
The included map / type advantages double poster is REALLY useful.
Also note, because apparently it s not obvious to most people (despite it being noted on the cover & clearly statedin the title) that the SoulSilver / HeartGold games are basically two gamesin one : the Johto game & the Kanto game. This guide only covers the Johto adventure, for Kanto there is a volume two guide :)
The Official Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver Kanto Guide & National Pokedex
So to sum it up, it's not a "perfect" guide (none of them are, it would take fifty volumes, we have bulbapedia for that) but it s a pretty damn cool one, with lots of useful extra info, a detailed adventure walkthrough & a decent Johto pokedex.
Deceptive and a waste of cash - By: I. R. A. Grant, 12 May 2010 
This was a huge disappointment to me. I bought it as I hoped that I could use it after completing the game to find any easter eggs that I missed, only to see that it ONLY COVERS JOHTO! What's more, it gives basic information, & only gives details about key battles, nothing about the smaller trainers that are around. It takes the time to point them out & say who they are but nothing more. The only useful information that I have gained from it is how to access the buildingsin the Ruins of Alpha, as having prior knowledge of Gold & Silver I wsas able to complete Johto without it.
The title of the guide is also deceptive. It does not mention anywherein the title that it is only half the guide, & that there is a second part covering Kanto. Better using a fansite or a guidesite if you get stuck, they're cheaper & more detailed.
Beware only Vol 1! - By: Lady J, 15 Apr 2010 
My son received this as a birthday gift & was exited to have a little assistance to help him on his journeyin the game, only to find out that it offered little, as he had completed everything already describedin the book. Despite being good & detailed, it seems that customers are being exploited & Amazon should make it clearin the title that it is Vol 1 & not a complete guide. The games came out together, why not the guide?
