Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver: The Official Pokemon Johto Guide & Johto Pokedex: Official Strategy Guide

Comment: it was a good strategy guide but i could have used more details and tips

Comment: This guide does a good job of walking a player through the first half of the game, however, the second half of the game and a complete Pokedex are only available by buying a second guide. Even with both guides there are certain areas of the game that are not completely covered but more than enough info to get any casual player through the game and lead them to any Pokemon they might want.

Comment: First off this should be made clear: this guide is the FIRST OF TWO VOLUMES. This guide is called "The Official Johto Guide & Johto Pokedex for Pokemon HeartGold SoulSilver, Volume 1." Notice that the Pokedex in this guide ONLY covers the JOHTO REGION, and those pokemon attainable only in that region. The entire National Pokedex including not only Kanto but all 493 Pokemon is in VOLUME 2. In my opinion, this is a bit redundant...I think they should have just made it all ONE GUIDE with just the Nat'l Pokedex, just like the previously massive Prima Pokemon Platinum Guide. I am not sure if making it into 2 separate guides for HG/SS was a ploy on Prima's part to try to make more money by charging twice for 2 books that should have/could have been all in one volume, or if there were aesthetic and/or functionality reasons for selling it as two separate guides...it's probably a combination of both, heavy accent on the charging twice for the contents equivalent of one guide. Prima did the same thing with their "Official Pokemon Diamond & Pearl" guides. Volume 1 was a 300-page "Scenario Guide" and Volume 2 was the Pokedex...unlike the HG/SS Vol.1 guide, however, the Pearl/Diamond Vol.1 did not include any pokedex at all, only the scenario guide and a series of charts.

The Platinum guide was printed on a kind of dull, newsprint-like paper, and at 624 pages, it's 3" thick. The HG/SS guides, together, are a total of 904 pages (352 + 652), so you can imagine if they printed the HG/SS guides on the newsprint-like paper, how much more massive than the Platinum guide it would be! Likely 4-5" thick, and almost too much for little kids to carry around with them. Instead, this time around Prima opted to print the guides on glossy paper like they usually do, which is much brighter, sharper and clearer than the newsprint stuff. If you put both HG/SS guides on top of each other and measure them up next to the Platinum guide, they're almost 300 pages more, but they're actually slightly LESS thick than the newsprint 624 pages! Despite being thinner, however, they are much heavier in weight.

At any rate, now that the physical aspects of the guides are out of the way, the question is, are they worth paying a total of $40 for the two volumes? Fortunately for me, I didn't pay the full retail cover prices, and in total paid around $25 for both. But not everyone finds good deals online, and most of the time in stores (especially video game stores) the books go for $19.95 each. That's the price Prima typically charges for their game manuals, except in this case it sucks because they're forcing us to pay twice for (basically) one big guide. As I mentioned earlier, this isn't the first time they've done it; the Pearl/Diamond guides came as 2 separate volumes. I guess all I can say is this: if you don't like it, look around for sales, slightly damaged, or used copies going cheaper (like on this very website!) and attempt to get the guides for less than cover price; otherwise, opt for a different company's game guide. Prima is NOT the only publisher that makes Pokemon game guides, in fact sometimes the guides by other companies (the UNofficial ones) offer up more information and clearer answers and instructions about some tougher points of the game. I've noticed that the "Official" guides don't do spoilers, and tend to avoid just handing the answers to you for some puzzles you need to deal with. They help walk you through the game, but leave the actual problem-solving to you. Some people like that, while others want the answers handed to them on a silver platter. If you're the latter, then you might not like this guide.

This guide, when used in tandem with Volume 2, contains every little bit of information you could possibly need to not only successfully navigate through the game, but also eventually end up with as close to a 100% pokedex as you can get (event pokemon can only be gotten at events, or sometimes as a WiFi gift), and where, when, and how to catch every single pokemon (and how to evolve the evolving ones) you want. The walkthrough parts are very clear, and they let you know at various points when it's OK to go in one of two or more other directions, converging again at the next step in the game. It covers all the mini-quests (like people asking you to find/bring them certain items, care for their pokemon, bringing medication to cure someone's sick pokemon, etc.) as they come in the game, and everything in the book occurs simultaneously as they do in the game. If you don't read ahead, nothing is spoiled, and yet, not even the tiniest aspects of the game are overlooked. Personally I like to play the game on my own and follow-up with what I've done and where I've been by catching up with the book, just to make sure I didn't miss anything. But it certainly works just as well by reading ahead so you're prepared for what's coming. Routes are entirely mapped out from an overhead view so you can see where you are and where you need to go. Every pokemon available in every area is catalogued, and their frequency (common to rare) and time of day when they show up are all indicated on mini-charts for each section. Gym leaders' pokemon types are given and suggestions are made on what pokemon types to use against them. The book comes with a type vs. type chart which can be removed from the book, with a map of the entire area on the other side (this is the "mini poster").

The National Pokedex, including all the stats, moves, level met at, etc., and exact area where to find EVERY SINGLE POKEMON, including event Pokemon, is found in the 2nd Volume. The Pokedex included in Volume 1 covers ONLY the pokemon you can find in the Johto Region of HG/SS, and I suggest not even LOOKING at Volume 2 until you've successfully explored and completed the Johto Region (you simply will not NEED Vol.2 while you're exploring Johto).

Besides just the walkthrough, there are charts GALORE, from every single TM, HM, & learnable moves, to every single item and location, every interactable character, every building and what you can accomplish there, etc. Someone else said in their review that they feel that the "tone" of the guide is "childish," which I do not agree with. First off, even though the Pokemon games are enjoyed by players from ANY AGE, the games ARE, basically, geared toward younger players, so what do you expect the tone of the guide to be? Like they're talking to an adult? Most of the people using the guides WILL BE children, and IMO the language of the guide may even be a bit over the heads of pre-teen kids. Secondly, I do not feel that the tone of the guides are "childish" or geared toward the very young to begin with; it's all straightforward stats, data, and journey information. If ANY of Prima's guides were "childish" in nature/syntax, it was their Diamond/Pearl guide. The text's type size was HUGE, like either for a toddler whose eyes haven't adjusted yet, or a 90-year old with failing eyesight; likewise, the language simple, and it really DID give one reading it the feeling that they were being talked to like they were 10 years old. Thankfully, they ditched the pandering, "reading to a gradeschooler" attitude with the Platinum guide, where they likewise ditched the gigantic text that looked like it was meant either for a kindergartener, or a 90 year old with failing vision. At any rate, we ARE talking about POKEMON here, and as much as adults also love the Pokemon games, the guide's creators are not going to assume they're talking to 20 or 30 year olds, obviously. That considered, the guide has a fairly neutral tone, easy enough for young kids to understand while not being patronizing and making older people feel like they're being treated like a simpleton.

I have to admit, the first time I bought the Volume 1 guide, I did not look very closely at the cover in the store and see that it WAS volume 1 of 2, and was rather irked when I got home & realized that I then needed to go buy a second volume for another $20. The cover ONLY says "vol. 1" in a tiny corner, and a bit more noticeably on the spine, but if one doesn't look closely enough, one might grab this guide not realizing there's a 2nd half to it. Then they GOTCHA, you feel like you HAVE to buy vol.2! Fortunately for me, I found a good deal here on Amazon and I didn't feel so bad about needing to buy 2 Volumes to complete the guide because I got nearly 1,000 pages of story walkthrough, maps of everywhere, charts of every item, every move, everything, plus the COMPLETE National Pokedex of every single pokemon in existence to date, and I am left wanting NOTHING. Every single possible question I could think of is answered by either vol.1 or vol.2, Johto & Kanto regions respectively, and finding the information in the brightly colored, fully illustrated guides is direct and easy to do. There is nothing lacking in content; the only reason I give it a less than perfect score is for the fact that Prima kind of sneakily attempts to sucker you in to buying 2 guides that should technically be one, although any Pokemon fan who owned the Pearl/Diamond guides should be aware of this to begin with. If you are unhappy with this scenario, as I suggested, search for sale items - there are LOTS of guides going for HALF PRICE and even less, due to some slight cover damage or folded pages (take note that some USED manuals come sans the tear-out posters/charts; it's usually listed in the seller's item information), and you can get both guides for the price of one like I did, or, simply go with another company's guide. There are actually more than one brand of "official guides" for Pokemon games, plus there are plenty of equally as thorough unofficial guides out there.

Comment: Exactly in good condition as listed. Very prompt shipping and communication follow thru from seller. Thumbs up to seller!

Comment: If you've picked up past incarnations of the Pokemon guides, you'll be familiar with the walkthrough format. Sometimes these guides seem a little ot of order, but there is a helpful "recommended route" section at the front of the book that will help you identify and determine where you are and what you need to do next. I still think they should put a guide to each section of the map with a list of all pokemon available in that section and instructions for catching them if there are any tricks (i.e. Night time, After getting a certain item, etc.)

Overall it's a good guide, the price is right here and if you are looking for a hard copy of the walkthrough you aren't gonna do much better.