Don't buy the official Nintendo HG/SS guide (and guide discussion thread)

[Lotos]

I bought it.  It only goes up to the Elite Four I think.  No Kanto.  Just like the D/P guide doesn't go up to that island.  They have been seriously lacking in quality, though I will admit this one is better than the D/P one, but at a $5 price increase.  Now that I think of it, I only buy them for the maps so I can challenge all of the trainers and get all of the items.  They need to make a stripped guide like that for like $10.  That would be a nice guide.

In my own opinion, the R/B and G/S guides had the highest quality.  My R/B one was destroyed and my G/S one was lent to a cousin, but I clearly remember the G/S guide and it was definitely high quality.  I remember they even had a page for the rare Pokémon/the ones you could only get once.

Discuss the official guide books here and compare them to the products of third party companies.

Edit: Added a few words that I forgot.
Edit2: Turns out, the D/P guide was $15 and the HG/SS one was $20.
Edit3: One last edit, a grievance I have with the new guides.

Here's a grievance I have with the new guides.  They sell the main guide, and a "Pokédex" guide separately, which had the level up moves/TMs you could teach them and all of the locations of where to catch the Pokémon.  This used to be included in the official guides.  They had it in the guide for FR/LG and HG/SS, but only did the first two generations, not the third.  The D/P guide didn't even give out the moves except for the starters.  I don't think they even gave you the TMs you could teach them.

[SkyMyl]

Tch, and here I was going on about how I needed the guide. Guess I'll stick with Serebii.

Anyway, the RBY and GSC guides were made by Versus Books. Versus Books did a lot of darn good guides, high quality stuff that you don't see in many official guides nowadays.

[DededeCloneChris]

Did you check if it's a Prima Guide? If it is, they lack useful information all the time. They screwed up the Brawl Guide by not listing the trophies, and the grades for each character they gave are horrendous.

[Thirdkoopa]

They screwed up the Brawl Guide by not listing the trophies, and the grades for each character they gave are horrendous.

That sounds hilarious, I think I heard about the grades part. Anyone got a link to that?

[So_So_Man]

Did you check if it's a Prima Guide? If it is, they lack useful information all the time. They screwed up the Brawl Guide by not listing the trophies, and the grades for each character they gave are horrendous.

The prima guide for original red/blue was pretty good, even though it may have been missing directions from time to time

[DededeCloneChris]

The prima guide for original red/blue was pretty good, even though it may have been missing directions from time to time

My point just got proved.

[…]

I miss the Nintendo Power guides.

[So_So_Man]

My point just got proved.

by missing directions i mean not saying "push rock a onto pressure plate a".  In fact, if i remember correctly, it was very good about warnings and stuff.  It probably mentioned that you can only get 1 master ball, and i remember it mentioning that after v. forest the next chance for a pikachu catch is powerplant

[JrDude]

Woah, I thought you were making a guide or something, then you said it doesn't go to Kanto so I was like "WHAT?! HG/SS DOESN'T GO TO KANTO?! lier"
I'm an idiot.

[Lotos]

Woah, I thought you were making a guide or something, then you said it doesn't go to Kanto so I was like "WHAT?! HG/SS DOESN'T GO TO KANTO?! lier"
I'm an idiot.

Don't worry.  I misread threads all the time.

[Lotos]

Tch, and here I was going on about how I needed the guide. Guess I'll stick with Serebii.

Anyway, the RBY and GSC guides were made by Versus Books. Versus Books did a lot of darn good guides, high quality stuff that you don't see in many official guides nowadays.

If you need it for the maps, I believe the maps are almost identical to the G/S maps.

Versus Books.  No wonder that name looks familiar.  They made a guide for Sonic Adventure 2: BATTLE combined with a Sonic Advance guide.  It was one of the best guides I've ever received.  Link to it on Amazon.

I miss the Nintendo Power guides.

Ah.  That's were what the official guides were called.  I remember back when they had sections in the magazine itself.  Those were high quality guides.  I think I have one for Pikmin and another for Super Mario Sunshine somewhere.  SHIT.  Remember when they used to give you one for free for resubscribing to Nintendo Power for a year?  I would hold off on asking my parents for guides just for that.

[Zero]

Yes I had a feeling it'd be bad, like the D/P guide was because of the size of it. The Platinum guide is huge and it's a very good guide. It has everything you'd ever need really.

There's always Serebii and Gamefaqs though.

[えっちーせんぱい]

It would be funny if HG/SS didn't go to Kanto; No one would have bought the game then~

[Lotos]

It would be funny if HG/SS didn't go to Kanto; No one would have bought the game then~

I would have, but I'd hope it would be $30 for all of that missing story.

[Lotos]

Bumping, as the guide said in that basic intro part where they tell you the mechanics of the game and the like that you can get both birds in each version, just at different levels.  The Pokedex thing says that you need to trade it over from D/P/Pt.  You also need to trade over Suicune apparently, even though I just got the bell thing (I think?) to summon it after beating the Kimono Girls.