This game and his counterpart are probably the best looking of the franchise. They made a massive work in remaking Johto and the pokemon companion sprites, greatly appreciated. Johto is now a really recognizable region and has his calm and romantic mood that I loved was enfatized. Battle frontier's return and good features like pokehatlon makes this game better than the original in every aspects. However, there are some problems, like the limited pool of pokemon due to some of the 2nd gen originals only available in kanto, and gym leader's teams that often are kanto's pokemon based (why giving a pidgeotto and a schyter to them when there was noctowl and heracross). But the major problem for me was the leveling. Base pokemon trainers has low level pokemon and cannot be battled again but with a randomic system that is unable to compensate for the massive level gap your pokemon are gonna meet in the last phase of the game (the fourth gym leader has a level 25 ace, the seventh has it at 32, and suddenly the eighth that is basically just a few minutes from the previous has it at 41 and is way stronger than the others), that means the only way to level up is to battle wild pokemons for hours, which is really boring. That would have been fixed by the Vs seeker from sinnoh titles. Still a peak pokemon game.

Beautiful story even outside of pokemon's standards, with a good message for children yet really enjoyable for adults by dealing with mature themes, well built characters and fair difficulty, not too hard nor too easy, and they really brought out NDS's full capabilities for maps and backgrounds. Also, very good encounter design, the game flows incredibly well if you explore all the routes and dungeons available before each city gym (gym leader's pokemon's type is always weak to the previous route's pokemon and useful MTs are strategically placed). Special mentions for the OST, some of the bests and most inspired of the franchise. Favourite pokemon game.