Awesome! Time for some funny captions!

Looks like someone slammed face first into a wall...

Hey, jumpluff, you'll actually fly better if you try floated with their cotton puffs rather then flapping them.

Hey, do I have any bumps or dents under me?

238... 143... Ready! Set! HUT!!!

Yeah, i heard that there were some rumors of Mewtwo in it.

Also, i heard that Latias and Latios were in i too. I wonder if both will be in one game, or will Latios be put into HeartGold and Latios will be in SoulSilver ( For example)?

1. Apricorn Pokeballs Upgrade:
Well it wouldn't really be Johto without Apricorn Pokeballs, afterall it was the first region to feature multiple kinds of Pokeball who's catch rate depeneded on a certain requirement (as well as the feature of growing a tree to obtain berry-like fruit to manipulate into items). Though there are several things I'll like to bring up due to this latest update (and will probably be my longest latest feature update):

First off, we have ot think about backwards capability with Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. What do I mean by that? What I mean is that there are no Apricorn Pokeballs in the Sinnoh Generation IV games, so if you want to trade a Pokemon in a Apricorn Pokeball to your Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum you have a small problem there. Now the most obvious thing to do will be having a NPC somewhere who can take Pokemon out of Apricorn Pokeballs and into normal Pokeballs (or maybe a Pokeball you have on you of your choosing), or even have Kurt able to do this. Another option is to just have the Pokemon go into a normal Pokeball as soon as the trading process begins.
Now let's go into the effects of the Apricorn Pokeballs. Now in Generation II when they were introduced several of their effects were... well... not very useful (and some still aren't in my opinion). In addition there are now newer Pokeballs that either have the same effect or are better. Now what do I mean? Let's take a look:

- Pokeball - Apricorn Color - Catching Conditions - Catch Rate -
- Fast Ball - White Apricorn - Capures Pokemon that Flee - x4 -
Not a lot of Pokemon have the ability to flee. Infact the only non-legendary one that I can think of is Abra which is easily enough to catch in a Pokeball. However with the Legendary Beasts (Entei, Suicune, and Raikou) coming back and all are going to be Roaming Pokemon *groan*, these Pokeballs will probably come into more use. However newer Pokeballs such as Dusk Balls (if it's at night) or Quick Balls (which is considered to be the Fast Ball's replacement) also have a 4x catch rate meaning, though it is just as good as them, if you're able to buy the newer Pokeballs they might be a better yet as you won't have to grow them.
- Friend Ball - Green Apricorn - The wild Pokemon has a happiness value of 200 after being caught - x1 -
Crobat and Blissey. This was why this Pokeball was intorduced, and pretty much remains to be the reason why this Pokeball is useful. With Pokemon that evolve needing a certain height of Happiness, they need to have a Happiness of 220 or more. So with the captured Pokemon's Happiness set to 200, you'll only need to raise its Happiness by 20 which can be easily done simply walking 5,120 steps. And being the day and night cycle introduced in Generation II will probably be coming back (after being perfected in the Sinnoh Generation IV games), I think it would be a good idea to also have Eevee catchable in the Wild like they have been in Platinum (under certain conditions of course) to extend on the usefullness of this Pokeball. As for Togepi, unless they allow you to put it into a Pokeball you want it to go in, I'm not mentioning it, Baby Pokemon, or any other non-Generation II evolutions that need Happiness.
- Heavy Ball - Black Apricorn - Between 220-440 lbs.; Between 440-660 lbs.; More then 660 lbs.; Under 220 lbs. - +0; +20; +30; -30 -
The Apricorn Pokeball that was one of the most USELESS Pokeballs. If done right this Pokeball could of had some use, but no, they decided instead of multipliers they'll instead add and subtract numbers. Also, this is the only Pokeball that punishes you if you use it incorrectly by making itself have a lower chance of catching a Pokemon. The problem is that there are very little Pokemon this will be effectful on and for those who it is better to just use another Pokeball altogether! Take a look: (Note: The Pokemon I have on the list are catchable in the wild in at least one game)

* Pokemon With Weight Between 220-440 lbs.: Tropius, Graveler, Munchlax, Claydol, Spiritomb, Rhyhorn, Dewgong, Rhydon, Donphan, Lairon, Mewtwo, Ursaring, Wailmer, Pupitar, Solrock, Lunatone, Regice, Raikou, Suicune, Bronzong, Entei, and Ho-Oh (Remember, these are the Pokemon this Pokeball is USELESS against)
* Pokemon With Weight Between 440-660 lbs.: Registeel, Rayquaza, Onix, Lugia, Lapras, Mantine, Camerupt, Regirock, Gyarados, and Hariyama (Here is shows use for catching Lugia, Registeel, Regirock, and Rayquaza as they have a catch rate of 3. And we know Lugia and Rayquaza are in HeartGold and SoulSilver)
* Pokemon With Weight Between 660 lbs. Or More: Hippowdon, Arceus, Palkia, Kyogre, Wailord, Steelix, Regigigas, Heatran, Snorlax, Giratina, Dialga, and Groudon (Once again this Pokeball proves useful in catching Legendaries. And being that we know Kyogre, Groudon, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina are in HeartGold and SoulSilver, this Pokeball just became a useful Legendary catcher).

So as you see, while the Heavy Ball was practically useless in the Generation it was introduced, now with them including the heavy Legendaries I suspect this Pokeball might be used as a Legendary catcher. But for any other Pokemon besides Legendaries, it's completely useless.
- Level Ball - Red Apricorn - Same or lower level than wild's; Higher level than wild's; Double the level or more than wild's; Four times the level or more than wild's - x1; x2; x4; x8 -
Great Pokeball to use if you go out catching Pokemon with your level 100s. Also being you'll have the chance to capture a Level 1 Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina, this Pokeball might be your second Pokeball to use against them if you find yourself without any Heavy Balls.
- Love Ball - Pink Apricorn - If the player's current Pokemon and the wild Pokemon have opposite genders - x8 -
Too bad Legendaries don't have genders... or do they? Remember Latios and Latias are rumered to be in HeartGold or SoulSiver and being those annoying roamers have a catch rate of 3 a x8 multiplier will be very, very appealing. And if Heatran is in HeartGold and SoulSilver and you find yourself out of Heavy Balls this might be a considerable option (just remember to switch to a Pokemon with the opposite gender of Heatran's).
- Lure Ball - Blue Apricorn - Wild Pokemon must be hooked by a Fishing rod - x3 -
Oh poor Lure Ball, it was the fire Apricorn Pokeball to be replaced, by two different kinds of Pokeballs no less! That's right, both the Net Ball and Dive Ball don't only replace this Pokeball, but outrank it! Net Ball has a x3 multiplier not only to ANY Water-type Pokemon, but as well as Bug-type Pokemon too! And the Dive Ball is x3.5 multiplier to Pokemon catchable by fishing, surfing, or diving! Poor Lure Ball, it had so much potential but got twice outranked a Generation later.
- Moon Ball - Yellow Apricorn - Only if the wild Pok�mon evolves with a Moon Stone - x4 -
The only Pokemon which evolve using a Moon Stone is Nidorina, Nidorino, Clefairy, Jigglypuff, and Skitty. While these Pokemon aren't difficult to capture in a Pokeball but if you really want one of these Pokemon or their evolution then this Pokeball will no doubt catch them easily.

So as you can see, the Apricorn Pokeballs now have an awful lot of potential, especially for catching Legendary Pokemon.
It's also cool to here that you can now carry around a Apricorn tree and pick a certine kind of Apricorn any time you like (when they are ready of course). I'm going to guess you can only carry one Apricorn tree around at a time and will probably have to plant the current Apricorn tree you have before you can pick up another one. However from what I have found my guess most of the time you'll be carrying around Black, Red, and Pink Apricorn trees around to get a healthy supply of Heavy Balls, Level Balls, and Love Balls when it's time to go out Legendary hunting.
But now with all this said and done, I do find it kind of dissapointing that they didn't extend the Apricorn Pokeballs. Right now their are only seven colors of Apricorns: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, White, Black, and Pink. But what about colors like Purple, Brown, Orange and Grey? And why just stop there, why not throw in a Rainbow color too! They could have done a lot more with the Apricorn Pokeballs then bringing them back and allowing you to carry one around (most of the things I mentioned above are because of newly added Pokemon from Generation III and IV). But oh well, at least we got our Apricorn Pokeballs back!

(Money may not grow on trees, but Pokeballs do!)

2. Going Back To Kanto:
Okay, it was kind of obvious Johto was going to return, this was confirmed with the news that you'll be able to use the Magnet Train and S.S. Aqua which were the "cooler" ways of travelling between the two regions. I have really nothing to say here except I hope they include information on what happened to and appearances (and maybe even battles with) Giovanni, Agatha, and Lorelei who just completely vanished in the game. I wouldn't hold my breathe of having access to the Sevii Islands... though it wouldn't be bad if we could go there. All I really want to see if the PokeGear map of Kanto. I'll talk about the Battle Frontier below.

(All aboard! Next stop, ADVENTURE!... and Saffron City.)

3. A Buggy Kind Of Contest:
The Bug-Catching Contest never interested me, though hopefully they'll inlude more Bug-type then they did as well as better prices which change time to time. I'm also hoping they'll include more types of catching contests, like the Seaking-Catching Contest in the anime (though it might be a better idea to change it to a Fish-Catching Contest in the games). The Safari Zone in Kanto will probably be accessible but that still isn't the same as a Pokemon-Catching Contest due to you don't win a prize for making the better catch. Also it wouldn't hurt to have these Pokemon-Catching Contests over Wi-fi for local and maybe even global competitions! Playing against an NPC is okay, but you don't get a more thrill or accomplished feeling like you do playing against another person. However I do have to wonder if they plan of changing the name of the Parkball due to the introduction of the Park Ball in Generation IV.

(Please don't replace me! You can call me... call me... Bug Ball... or Insect Ball... Any kind of Ball just don't replace me!)

Part 2 coming right up!

(Like my new digs? I decided that I needed a more permanent decoration rather then the ones which flashed on the screen a few seconds in my old lair. Unfortunetly my overworld sprite didn't really change that much.)

5. Don't Count Your Togepi's Before They Hatch:
Of course it's Togepi, what other Pokemon can it be? Riolu? Anyway the quest really only has you hatch it, bring it to Professor Elm to have him look at it, and that's pretty much it. Though it was a Key Item in Generation II, I wonder if they might change this is HeartGold and SoulSilver since you only need 2805 steps to hatch a Togepi Egg.

(Don't worry, you don't need to wash it, pretty much because it's not the egg that is importent but the Pokemon inside of the egg.)

6. Here's Bait In Your Mouth And Mud In Your Eyes:
We already guessed that the new area next to Cianwood was either a Safari Zone or Palpark, and as it turns out the former was correct. Now this makes me wonder whether the Safari Zone in Kanto will be open or remained closed. If it remains closed then they could have the Safari Zone Warden go over to the Cianwood City Safari Zone, or maybe even have the two Safari Zones opened at different times with each having certain Pokemon only catchable in that respectable Safari Zone. Eitherway it's nice to see that Cianwood City is finally getting something more added to it as the only reason you ever had to go there was to have a Gym Battle with Chuck.

(Nothing to do in Cianwood City? Pfft, what about all the rocks that you can smash? What's more fun then going around with a Tyranitar smashing rocks to dust!)

7. The (3rd) Final Frontier:
Oh, so that's what the new location next to Olivine City is, a new Battle Frontier! This is certainly surprise, or maybe not considering that ever since Emerald every third version has a Battle Frontier so I guess this also going to hold true for remakes (FireRed and LeafGreen doesn't count due to being released before Emerald). I wonder how this Battle Frontier is going to work, because there is no clear set-up for Battle Frontiers:

Region - # Of Frontier Brains & Battle Facilities - Reward
Hoenn - 7 Frontier Brains & Battle Facilities - Symbols


Sinnoh - 5 Frontier Brains & Battle Facilities - Commemorative Prints

Yay, no clear pattern (at least this far), so anything is up in the air at this moment. I was kind of hoping that if a Battle Frontier was going to be created, it would be a shared one between Kanto and Johto and it'll be the Orange Island "Gym Leaders". However I guess the Orange Island Gym Leaders are doomed to stay as anime exclusive.
But speaking of the anime... how are they going to fit TWO Battle Frontiers!?!? There was already enough argueing going around about where the Sinnoh Battle Frontier was going to take place in Sinnoh or Johto, but now with a second one the season they'll have to fit this into will explode unless they make it two seasons: One for the Sinnoh Battle Frontier and another for the Johto Battle Frontier. This could work, we have yet to hear or see any Generation V Pokemon possibly meaning the Pokemon Company needs some time to get things together so having Ash compete in two Battle Frontier woudl be a good way to keep the anime going as well allow the Pokemon Company time to create the Generation V games and not having to worry about putting the anime on hold.
Hopefully the Johto Battle Frontier will be as creative as the Hoenn Battle Frontier as, while it wasn't bad, the Sinnoh Battle Frontier felt a little lacking.
Well at leas we know why they chose to put the Battle Frontier next to Olivine City... you do know right? You don't? Here's a hint: It was a feature first introduced in Crystal which included a series of battles which might have started off this whole Battle Frontier feature. Still don't know? Remember the Battle Tower? That's right, in Crystal the first ever Battle Tower was on Route 40 and just west Olivine City... and wouldn't you know it the HeartGold and SoulSilver Battle Frontier is right in that spot, even using the same Gatehouse (which means you'll most likely have to complete the game before you can get to the Battle Frontier, like always)!

(This is either for the Cianwood City Safari Zone or the Olivine City Battle Frontier... Being those were the previous two topics I spoke about I think I can put this here without too much complaint.)

Well, that's all I have to say! Meanwhile all we can do is just wait for more news to come and the games to be released September 12 (in Japan).

Battle Arcade??? Why is that your Favorite?

1. Just Hanging In A Lair:
While Rayquaza's floor design is somewhat new, I do see some similarities between Kyogre's and Groudon's floor pattern with their Emerald "battle flash" designs. The main difference is that for Kyogre the design was flipped 90 degrees so that the shapes that were on the side of the Emerald's "battle flash" is now the top and bottom shapes of their lairs. For Groudon, they also flipped it 90 degrees somewhat but instead the shapes which are most similiar are now on the sides rather then being on top and bottom. For a better idea of what I mean just compare the designs below:

(Now for Kyogre having its design in red makes sense as it has the pattern as red on its body, however for Groudon it being blue it a bit odd. I know it's suppose to show that Kyogre and Groudon are the same yet different, but nowhere on Groudon's body is there blue, especially the pattern on its body which is black.)

2. Berry, Berry Interesting:
Making smoothies/juice out of Apricorns for the Pokethlon, why not? Anyway seeing that they have all 7 types of Apricorns (Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Black, White, Pink), which I guess also means that no new Apricorn colors have been added *sigh*. Anyway I'm going to guess mixing different color and amount of Apricorns together will make the smoothie/juice give out different Pokethlon Stats.
In addition I'll like to correct myself in something which I said about the Apricorn Planters. It seems like you'll have four Apricorn Planters (or at least might have at one point able to own four) to grow either one type of Apricorn faster or several types at the same time. With this I guess you have a bit more strategy to do as you can have two be for growing Apricorn to be made into Pokeballs and the other two to make smoothies/juice out of. Eitherway looks like they did upgrade the use of the Apricorn afterall... now if only they added a few more colors to choose from.

(Aww, how cute, you use a Squirtle Watering Pail to water the Apricorn Planters!)

3. Guess It Is Time To Be Running Up Them Stairs:
The only event I'm going to comment on is the Push Circle, how are you going to be able to control all of your Pokemon? I mean it looks like there is an awful lot going on in that screen and I'm pretty sure that'll make it only harder to control all of your Pokemon.

(Chop those blocks, run those laps,
and push those Pokemon out to the sack!)

4. Environment Is Wherever The Trainer Chooses It To Be:
Whoa, changing the lay of the land with a flip of a few switches? Man, that must drive the Pokemon on those land masses nuts. Getting serious, this sounds like a very interesting and quick way of getting to the zone you want, but catching the Pokemon you want is a whole other story as I'm sure everyone knows. It seems like each zone is going to be connected by connecting peices (possibly gate houses) in the middle of the side, bottom, and top of those specific zones. Anyway we so far have confirmation of a Sand Zone which I'm going to guess is based off a desert, so judging by the other zones I would say that they might be based off a Forest, Field, Mountain, Lake, and one which I cannot see due to an option menu blocking it. However with the 5 zones I mentioned above it pretty much covers all type of Pokemon (except possibly Cave dwelling and Sea Pokemon), so whatever the 6th zone might be (if there even is one) we already have all Pokemon home environments covered.

(Gah, it's so hot! Let me just catch that Cacnea so I can go to the mountain and cool off... and catch a Snover!)

5. The Facilities Are Over Here:
Hey, nothing too special, just wanted to show that the Battle Frontier will indeed be where the Battle Tower was on Route 40 and even use the same Gate House.

(However it looks like the Gate House will be "teleporting" you to the Battle Frontier area rather then it being just a house representation on the map. What I mean is that if you use a "Walk Thorugh Walls" cheat, unless you walk through the Gate House you won't be able to get into or out of the Battle Frontier.)