SoulGold vs Heart & Soul: which Johto remake should you play?

Which one should you play?

Play SoulGold, unless you need Kanto. Then play Heart & Soul.

Heart & Soul is the faithful remake: HeartGold and SoulSilver on a GBA, Kanto postgame intact, nothing else changed. SoulGold uses Johto as the base for a much bigger game, with 702 dex entries, every Mega, boss legendaries and a Hard mode.

They share maps, tiles and a name that sounds alike, so people mix them up. I mixed them up myself the first time I went looking. They’re separate projects by different people, and a save from one won’t open in the other. I beat SoulGold on v1.2.1, postgame included. I haven’t finished a Heart & Soul run.

How SoulGold and Heart & Soul are related

1. Lil Dill’s team released Heart & Soul v1.0 on 26 September 2025. It’s a faithful GSC remake, open source, meant as a base for other Johto hacks.
2. smithk200 ported most of Heart & Soul onto pokeemerald-expansion, RHH’s modern engine.
3. rahtak built SoulGold on that port. The first beta was 20 July 2026, v1.2 came on 3 October, and 1.2.1 on 21 October.
4. Heart & Soul rebuilt itself on pokeemerald-expansion for v2.0 on 23 August 2026. v2.0.2 is current and is the last major update.

So both now run on the same engine family, which is why the confusion got worse. SoulGold borrows a few 2.0 assets with credit, like the regional surf sprites and the Pokégear radio visuals. It isn’t a Heart & Soul release, and the Heart & Soul team didn’t make it. I had to sketch this family tree on paper before it clicked for me.

Feature by feature

	Heart & Soul (v2.0.2)	SoulGold (v1.2.1)
Creator	Lil Dill and the PokemonHnS team	rahtak
Base	Emerald, pokeemerald-expansion (2.0); Modern Emerald before that	Emerald, pokeemerald-expansion 1.15.x, via smithk200’s port of Heart & Soul
Region	Johto, plus the full Kanto postgame from HGSS	Johto only, expanded with new areas and a new tileset; no Kanto
Story	Faithful to HGSS, Kimono Girls and Eusine included	Johto story plus a rival legendary questline, Kitakami, Vajra Desert and South Johto content
Pokémon	Gen 1 to 3 plus later evolutions (no Regis)	702 Pokédex entries, 959 species and form entries, all 608 non-legendaries obtainable
Mega Evolution	Not in the feature list	All 118 Megas, type-generic stones, new Megas for Typhlosion, Meowscarada and Primarina
Starters	Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile	Nine: the Johto and Kalos trios plus Sprigatito, Torchic and Popplio
Legendaries	Standard encounters	Boss fights with 2 to 4 health bars, form changes mid-fight, guaranteed catch after winning
Difficulty	“Not a difficulty hack”; optional Challenges menu	Normal or Hard (Hard = tougher Doubles gyms and Elite Four); trainer and wild scaling toggles
Level caps	Not stated	12/19/26/34/42/45/48/55/58/62/70 with None, Soft or Hard enforcement
Mechanics toggles	Physical/special split and Fairy type are optional	Always on; Gen 9 moves, abilities and items
Postgame	Kanto, 16 gym rematches, Battle Frontier and Trainer Hill from Modern Emerald	Battle Tower, Vajra Pyramid, Rocket Arcade, Battle Café, Title Defense, innate abilities at Lv 75/85/95, 121 trophies
Following Pokémon	Yes	Yes, toggle, with Mega forms as followers
Shiny odds	Customisable	1/256 default, 1/512 or 1/1024
Status	Complete; 2.0 is the final major update	Complete with postgame; patched three times in October 2026
Source	Open source on GitHub	Source on GitHub; Hackdex is the only official distribution

What Heart & Soul does that SoulGold doesn’t

Heart & Soul has Kanto, with the full HGSS postgame. That means the eight Kanto gyms, the Kimono Girls, Eusine, Voltorb Flip, the PokéGear radio and sixteen gym rematches. SoulGold is Johto only. If Kanto is half of why you love HGSS, Heart & Soul is your game. I missed Kanto more than I expected during my SoulGold run.

It also plays closer to the original. The roster stays Gen 1 to 3 plus later evolutions, the physical/special split and Fairy type are optional, and trainer teams follow Crystal Legacy’s rebalance. It’s the game you remember with the rough edges sanded off.

SoulGold feels different from the first route. Every route has ‘mons from nine generations, trainers hold items, and Falkner on Hard leads with a Tailwind Rufflet.

Heart & Soul is also done changing, since 2.0 is the last major update. SoulGold still gets fixes every week. Good for the game, less good if you want your version to stay put.

What SoulGold does that Heart & Soul doesn’t

SoulGold has 702 dex numbers and every Mega, with 18 type-based stones plus the Bondstone for your starter. Three Megas are new:

• Mega Typhlosion: Fire/Ground, Drought, 149 Special Attack
• Mega Meowscarada: Grass/Dark, Protean, 140 Attack and Speed
• Mega Primarina: Water/Fairy, 134 Defense, 128 Special Defense

Legendaries are boss fights. Lugia and Ho-Oh are two-bar fights in the story and four-bar level 80 fights in the postgame. Mewtwo in the Nameless Cave cycles both Mega forms across four bars. Kyogre and Groudon go Primal. Win and the catch is guaranteed with any ball. Lose and it waits for you to retry. Those fights are the part of SoulGold I bring up first when friends ask.

Hard mode makes gyms and the Elite Four Doubles with tougher teams. Level caps come in Hard or Soft, and there are scaling toggles.

The postgame has five battle facilities and a Title Defense against a random level 85 challenger. Innate abilities unlock at levels 75, 85 and 95, and 121 trophies hand out Pokémon at milestones. My Hard run with Hard caps is in the review.

Can you move a save between them?

No. Different Pokémon data, different maps, different flags. Start fresh in whichever one you pick.

Each game has its own rules too:

• Heart & Soul saves from before 2.0 don’t work on 2.0 or later. 2.0 was a rebuild.
• SoulGold saves only go forward. The 1.1 update raised PC boxes from 16 to 19, and that made going back impossible.

Update SoulGold whenever Hackdex has a new version. Never downgrade.

Who should play Heart & Soul and who should play SoulGold

Play Heart & Soul if:

• You want to replay HeartGold or SoulSilver without a DS
• You care about the Kanto half
• You like the original 251-era roster better than 700 entries
• You want a remake that won’t change again

It isn’t a difficulty hack. Pick it for comfort.

Play SoulGold if:

• You’ve beaten Johto before and want it bigger and harder
• You want Megas in a Johto game
• You like level caps and Doubles gyms
• You want a postgame that lasts
• You’re a dex completionist. All 608 non-legendaries are catchable in one save, and the reward is the Arceus egg.

Got time for both? Play Heart & Soul first. Same bones, so SoulGold’s additions hit harder once you know what was there. Only time for one, and Kanto isn’t a dealbreaker? SoulGold.

My pick: SoulGold

SoulGold is the better game. Heart & Soul is the better remake. For faithful HGSS on GBA with Kanto, nothing beats Heart & Soul. For Johto as a full modern game with every Mega, boss legendaries and a real difficulty curve, take SoulGold. It’s the one I’d replay.

Next, see how it stacks up against the DS originals in SoulGold vs HeartGold and SoulSilver, or compare every option in the Johto hack list.