Customer Reviews

Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver The Official Pokemon Kanto Guide National Pokedex: Official Strategy Guide

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The guide to the Kanto Region is useful, following in the same pattern as the Johto guide already released and the Sinnoh guide released for Platinum. However, the real use for this book is the complete Pokedex.
The 'Dex has every pokemon in it, with the useful charts we've all been waiting for. Using this guide you can easily see the full set of moves a pokemmon can learn, from levels gained, TMs, egg moves, and moves taught by the Move Maniac or learned through the Battle Frontier. This is all on top of the basics you would expect from a Pokedex, being a list of abilities, egg groups, stats, pokedex entries, and even Pokeathlon perfromance. Also listed are ways to obtain each pokemon in all five of the fourth generation games.
Overall a very useful guide to some of the best games to hit the Nintendo DS.

Pokemon games have generally been released a few every generation. The original games (Red, Blue, and Yellow) for the GameBoy are considered the 1st Generation games; the sequels built for the GB Color(Silver, Gold, and Crystal) are considered 2nd Gen, etc. That makes the DS gen games the 4th Gen PKMN games, and this PokeDex/Guide is built with that in mind. New and/or revised move-sets, Pokemon types, evolutions, natures, etc. are detailed and described as they are in the newer 4th Gen games, that is Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, PLatinum, and the new SoulSilver and HeartGold. In other words, those looking for a complete PokeDex for any other game should look elsewhere. Those interested in the 4th Gen games are in for a real treat.

The ultra large (500+ pages) book does exactly what its title says; its a full Kanto guide and a full PokeDex, and it does both, for the most part, extremely well.

The Kanto guide contains full and detailed maps (as are seen in-game), tips, and a complete walkthrough. The walkthrough doesn't start just as you enter the Kanto region, however, it assumes you've already beaten the Elite Four and have gained admission to the Hall of Fame. the guide features things like what Pokemon are found in what location, where items are, and dungeon "connections" (doorway "A" leads to this part of the map). The Battle Frontier, tips for the PokeWalker, the Saffari Zone, and a beefy section that details new battle strategies and PKMN teams all help to make this guide stand out from a simple bare-bones walkthropugh. A nice feature i found was a complete list of what event happens at what date, given that SoulSilver/HeartGold rely heavily on a real time clock, this feature is unbelievably important. Another neat feature was a simple recommend route to completing the entirety of your Kanto quest. The Kanto region is much less linear than the Johto region, and this "recommendation" could be very helpful to some.

One noticeable and disappointing omission is lack of any "real" info on regular trainers. Gym Leaders have a list of used PKMN as well as tips on how to defeat them, but regular trainer have just a name. The guide doesn't show what PKMN a trainer uses. Its unfortunate and is the only reason why this product gets **** instead of 5*.

The PokeDex section includes ALL 493 PKMN, and everyone has a half page devoted to it. Within its space things like possible abilities, moves (learned, TM, Move Maniac, Egg, and Battle Frontier moves all covered), evolutions, info (the same as the in-game PKDX info about the PKMN), egg type, and specially useful for completionists is the location in which you can find the PKMN (and in what 4th Gen game).

All pages have an abundance of color and are never boring. Art, images, and tips can be found in EVERY page. The edges of the pages have a mostly solid color (EX, Walkthrough = orange, Dex = Red) that makes quickly opening up the book to a certain section very easy. The same concept is applied to the Dex, where 1st Gen PKMN can be found in the pages with a green hue on the top/bottom. remember that these colors can be seen while the book is closed, so the navigation is the 500+ page book is simple.

The product is just about everything any PokeFan could wish for (the only flaw being the skimpy trainer detail), tips, strategies, PKMN info, maps, etc. Its built with a sturdy frame, is large, and the pages are nice and thick. At the very reasonable price, im very easily recommending it.

I'll agree with Veotho on essentially every point, I'd add that the Pokewalker information is also extremely useful, I'm a little disappointed that there isn't information on the Yellow Road special course that you get for going online with the game, because there are secret special Pikachu's to be had if you know the secrets readily available online. Other than that, it's a bargain and at Amazon prices they are way more reasonable than you'll likley find anyplace else.

I wanted a full pokedex, and this guide has it, besides having the walkthrough for the Kanto part of the HeartGold/SoulSilver journey. It was much cheaper here than at any store. :)

Great book and it serves its purpose, it is a shame how ever its only 1/2 of the walk through and your required to buy this book book to get the Kanto walk through.

Volume one contains the Johto portion of the game and a minimal pokedex, very minimal.


recommended with the proviso that you need both volumes.

Everyone else seems to be pretty appreciative of Prima's last few guides. But honestly, I just don't agree. I gave it four stars because it covers the information thoroughly, but ever since the Ruby/Sapphire guides, I can not say I'm even close to satisfied. The first few guides, Red/Blue/Yellow and Gold/Silver/Crystal had so many more features that helped me out personally.

They used to have trainer listings with pokemon and their levels. Gave you a heads up if you read ahead in the book and helps you prepare for the upcoming battles.

They also used to have little bios for pokemon the first time the appeared. It was my favorite parts because they give you insight to some of its moves and usefulness for now and later in the game. NOw all they do is show a picture of it, with little if any information.

Lastly, the way the guides are chronologically put together is really confusing. When they get to a certain town or area, they have these little notes that say "after you have done this or after you have been here" and then it tells you a little bit about what you should do. Its confusing to find these spots if you dont know to look in the right area. THe old books would have subsections labeled "side quests" or something like that at the appropriate point in the story and have details about each individual sidequest. Much easier to understand.

Like I said, 4 stars because it covers the information, but only because i couldnt give it a three and a half. I wish I could say Nintendo's guide is better, but the pokemon guides have just went down hills since the 1990s.

Local stores this was $20.00 and went to get it for a christmas gift and everyone was sold out here local and was suprised I found it here cheaper.

There are two volumes for this pokemon game, this is volume two specific to the second part of the game where you get to pick another starter and start on another 8 gym badges, this will help you through the second area, and includes a pokedex. I find guides very helpful and useful for all my games. (yes I buy tons of guides for every system and game)
Just be aware that there are two books for this game. Very important. Took me a minute to figure that part out myself :)

The pokemon guides come with walkthroughs, information on how to mate, and about the new poke balls that you can make on your own, and a tons of other information you can use n your journey!

Bought in advance for the coming holidays. Book is very attractive and full of pictures. Kids love Pókemon SoulSilver, and I'm sure they will love the book.

I can't recommend this guidebook highly enough! It has a detailed pokedex with egg moves, battle point moves available at the battle frontier, TM & HM moves, and more for all 493 pokemon to-date. The walkthrough it good, but even more useful are details on how to get gym leaders and trainer numbers and times to call for guaranteed rematches, and details of which pokemon are used by each gym leader, the elite four and champion, and the final battle with Ash/red along with useful moves and pokemon types to defeat them. It also includes detailed info for different pokewalker routes, which pokemon can be caught at every Kanto location, TM's available at different locations, items held by wild pokemon, abilities and moves lookup and reverse lookup, safari zone details to catch level 50+ rare creatures, bug-catching contest guide and details, a weakness chart for all 493 pokemon... There's more, but these were all my favorite features.

Overall, this is a must-have for SouSilver & HeartGold, but be aware that is only covers the Kanto region (the second half of both games). Volume 1 covers the Johto region (the first half of both games). If you are going to just purchase one, though, get this one, as it has the complete pokedex and MUCH MUCH MUCH more detailed and useful information.

We have 4 pokemon players in our home, so we have 2 copies of this guide. Yes, it's that useful!