I see MaxmoefoePokemon doing a segment called Maxmoefoe's Postcard Collection where he mentions these Japanese Pokemon slots. I've asked, asked, and asked, but no one ever replies and he never responds on how to play the slot machines and there's no links in his videos.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions are remakes of the original Pokémon Gold and Silver.

• 3Leftover Content
• 5Unused Items
• 11Unobtainable Shiny Pokémon
• 17Regional Differences

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Moves 468-470

When taught to a Pokémon, data about unused attacks 468, 469 and 470 does not necessarily freeze the game. Such attacks are special, have a power and accuracy of 100 and a PP of 10. Other invalid attacks do not give this data and simply freeze the game as soon as they are recalled, perhaps suggesting that the move database was once intended to end at 470 as a nice round figure rather than 467 (Shadow Force).

Leftover Content

Files originally found in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl have found their way into HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Item Bag

The sprites for the Diamond/Pearl male hero's item pocket selection's upper screen remain. Missing are the female hero's purse and Platinum's white bags.

Overworld Sprites

Several overworld sprites were not reintroduced in HeartGold and SoulSilver but still exist within the game, such as the associated data for the playable male and female characters (as they appeared in Diamond and Pearl) including their 'berry planting' poses and Gym Leaders (with the exception of Maylene and Crasher Wake, who appear in Celadon and Johto Route 47, respectively).

Slot Machines

Most graphics from the Diamond/Pearl slots game remain, including the Clefairy bonus mode. The slots had a design overhaul in Japan, but were replaced by a Voltorb Flip minigame for everyone else.

The Underground

There are quite a few files related to the huge underground complex found in the three earlier Pokémon DS games. Most (if not all) of the 2D graphics remain, including the traps, radar pinging, and the mining mini-game. It's a possibility that it was going to be remade, being that the walking sprites for both the Diamond/Pearl heroes exist with the other underground files; Platinum's heroes are missing. There is also an entire map header dedicated to the Underground, however, the map matrix responsible for it just reloads the entire Johto and Kanto overworlds.

Audio Data

The sound file (sound_data.sdat) from Diamond/Pearl is still in the game's files, completely unused.

Pokétch Graphics

Pokétch graphics used in Platinum are all still in the game's files, including the two unused graphics from Diamond and Pearl.

Lost Debug Mode

Nearly 2,000 text strings can be found talking about changing values for unknown debugging features. However, the debug menu code is probably lost. This debug mode is apparently based on the one in Platinum, containing references to events such as the Distortion World; it seems more of it survives than in that game.

To see the debug mode strings, please look at the Notes page.

Unused Items

Photo Album

'A nice photo album for storing all the photos taken along your adventure.'

In the final version, photos are stored on your PC instead.

Slowpoke Tail

'A very tasty tail of something. It sells for a high price.'

Existed in the original Gold/Silver, it has been upgraded to a key item but ends up unused.

Lock Capsule

'A sturdy Capsule that can only be opened with a special key.'

This unreleased event item, intended to be transferred to Black and White to unlock an event there, can be added to the Bag through hacking. Since its only intended purpose is to be transferred to another game, it does absolutely nothing in HeartGold and SoulSilver. However, if the Lock Capsule is obtained by a correctly configured Mystery Gift, then an option to view the Lock Capsule's status will be added to the Mystery Gift menu.

The Lock Capsule can't be found by the Relocator unless this option is unlocked, either – presumably an anti-cheating measure.

Blank Item Data

Blank item data occupying 21 identifiers exists between identifiers 0x0070 (Griseous Orb) and 0x0087 (Adamant Orb). These are perfectly formatted items which do not crash the game, unlike invalid items. They use the error handler '???' as a name and a ? symbol as the picture, suggesting that they may have once been items from Diamond/Pearl when they were still in development.

Unused hex values

There are many hex values that go unused and have the same data as the Blank Item Data. It appears that some glitch items above 0x0F00 have similar sprites of already existing items but have a different colour palette. They don't seem to be usable but may possibly connected to other data like map data. In earlier generations, performing an item underflow glitch and swapping some of the items under the cancel button seem to change up the game concluding that the items are connected to other data of the game. It is currently unknown if glitch items in gen 4 connect with other game data.

Unused Wild Held Item Data

Some Pokémon when found in the wild has a chance of holding an item. But several Pokémon can only obtained via evolution or other means, so catching a Pokémon with these items is impossible.

Route 23

Route 23, the huge route on which Victory Road is situated in Pokémon Red/Blue, Yellow, and FireRed/LeafGreen right after the Pokémon League Front Gate on Route 22, is unceremoniously replaced by the Pokémon League Reception Gate in both the original Pokémon Gold/Silver, Crystal, and HeartGold/SoulSilver. However, a small stretch leading from the northern exit of Victory Road to the Indigo Plateau's front door is still identified within Gold/Silver/Crystal as 'Route 23'; in HeartGold and SoulSilver, this stretch is identified as Indigo Plateau.

Nonetheless, the location header for Route 23 is present in HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Unused Text

There are unused text strings related to the unused Photo Album key item.

Sinjoh Ruins Return Trip

As is well known, the Arceus distributed at Japanese movie theatres and at Toys 'R' Us can enable the player to enter an area called the Sinjoh Ruins and choose between a Level 1 Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina, all holding their signature items.

What is less well known is that the unused Hall of Origin event Arceus within Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum can, if obtained through a hacked Azure Flute or a warp to the Hall, enable a second trip to the Sinjoh Ruins, where the Hiker in the cabin has some different dialog and it is possible to choose one of the dragons that you did not choose the first time (complete with the really creepy cutscene). There is no way to obtain the last dragon whatsoever.

The Hiker in the cabin's special return-trip dialogue:

Arceus ???-Type

Arceus' ???-type form from previous games makes its final appearance here, as Black/White would take out the ???-type entirely.

Unobtainable Shiny Pokémon

For the sake of consistency, every Pokémon in every Pokémon game is given a Shiny variant. Most Shiny Pokémon have been obtainable through random chance encounters or event distributions, including most Legendary Pokémon. However, a few Pokémon cannot be obtained in this form without hacking, and as a consequence, normal players would never be able to see their Shiny coloration.

Arceus

Arceus has a Shiny palette for each of its 18 forms, including the unused ???-type (see above). However, because the only way to obtain it legitimately was through distributions, the Shiny version of Arceus was left unobtainable through normal means. Shiny Arceus was later made available as a distribution via serial code in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire with the purchase of tickets to the 18th Pokémon movie.

Spiky-eared Pichu

The Spiky-eared Pichu from the special Ilex Forest event (unlocked via the Shiny Pichu distribution) has a Shiny palette as well. However, it cannot be obtained as Shiny from the event.

Head Smash Nosepass

Nosepass gained the ability to learn Head Smash as an egg move in these games. Normally, that wouldn't be notable, because everyone and their mother gained the ability to learn Head Smash as an egg move in these games.

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Except Nosepass can't breed with anything that learns Head Smash, making the move unobtainable. Oops!

The egg move was removed in Pokémon Black and White and remains unavailable as of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, despite that an Aegislash or Sudowoodo would be able to pass down the move.

Anti-Piracy

If the game detects it is being played on a flash card or emulator, it will freeze at the start of a battle with the player's Poké Balls constantly spinning. Most emulators are able to avoid triggering this.

Unused Textures

There is an unused texture within the 41st tileset in the game, which simply spells 'YoBi'. When translated, it simply means 'preliminary'.

A texture with the word 'gym' on it. It's a placeholder graphic for a placeholder model.

Unused 3D Models

There are unused 3D models for both Dialga and Palkia from the title screen of Diamond & Pearl.

Obsolete References to Gold/Silver/Crystal Features

There are several references in the game's dialog to features that were present in the original Gold/Silver/Crystal, but are either no longer present or have been altered in such a way that the references are no longer relevant.

• Kurt in Azalea Town still refers to 'Poké Ball' in the singular form in most of his dialogue. In Gold/Silver, he would only turn one Apricorn at a time into a Poké Ball for the player, whereas in Crystal and HeartGold/SoulSilver the player can give him multiple Apricorns at a time and receive multiple Poké Balls, making his speech slightly awkward. This is probably just a typo.
• In the English versions, the poster on the first floor of the Goldenrod Radio Tower advertising the 'Lucky Channel' remains. This was the radio show in Gold/Silver/Crystal that would broadcast lottery numbers which, if they matched the Trainer ID of any of the player's Pokémon, would allow them to win prizes. The show is no longer broadcasted in HeartGold/SoulSilver, having been replaced by Felicity the lottery attendant behind the counter at the Radio Tower, who tells the player the daily lotto number when spoken to. In the Japanese versions, it refers to the show as だいこうひょうポケモンくじ (The Super-Popular Pokémon Lottery) instead of ラッキーチャンネル as in the originals, indicating that this could have been a new yet scrapped show instead.

Regional Differences

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Game Corners

In all non-Japanese versions of the game, the traditional slot machines were replaced with a Minesweeper/Sudoku hybrid called Voltorb Flip. This was due to then-recent European legislation which automatically prescribes a 12+ rating to any game featuring interactive gambling content. While this same law previously affected Platinum as well, it was only in the European versions of the game. Although the original Game Corner maps from the Japanese version of HeartGold and SoulSilver are no longer accessible in regular gameplay, they still remain within the internal data: the Goldenrod one has a hexadecimal identifier of 0x00B7 and the Celadon one is 0x017D. Read more here.

In the Japanese version, the modified Game Corner maps also exist without events or warps. Their identifiers are 0x0218 (Goldenrod) and 0x0219 (Celadon).

Sage

In the Korean versions, the sprite for Sages was seemingly altered for religious reasons: the prayer beads were removed, the robes were slightly recolored, and a red robe was added on their left shoulder. Their title was also changed to 수행자 (Ascetic); in Gold and Silver, it was 중 (Monk).

GTS Notifications

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In the Japanese version, players could receive e-mail messages stating when a trade on the GTS was complete. In the North American and European versions, players could only receive notifications through Wii Messaging. This change also applies to Pokémon Platinum.

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