GB Sounds

This article is about the key item whose Japanese name is the GB Player. For the Nintendo GameCube accessory, see Game Boy Player.

The GB Sounds (Japanese: GBプレイヤー GB Player) is a key item obtainable in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. After players have defeated all 16 gyms in the game, they can receive it from one of the Game Freak employees in the Celadon Condominiums. It allows a player to change the game's background music to redone 8-bit tracks from Gold and Silver.

Song information

• Several tracks that weren't in the original Gold and Silver also received 8-bit remixes. Examples include the themes of the Global Terminal and Routes 47 and 48.
  • None of the Battle Frontier facilities, except for the outside area and the Battle Tower, have an 8-bit remix of their background music.
  • However, when entered into a Battle Frontier challenge with the GB Sounds activated, the battle music is 8-bit. The effect is removed when battling a Frontier Brain.
  • Oddly, the theme that plays when a trainer successfully catches a Pokémon is not affected by the GB Sounds, despite all other victory themes being affected.
• The item only changes background themes and battle music, not other audio effects.
• Some of the original game's tracks, such as Team Rocket's themes (unless the player hasn't fought Giovanni yet), the music played when the player meets Professor Oak, and the opening and closing music, cannot be accessed using the GB Sounds, because they only play before the player has the chance to operate it. To accommodate these, the Pokémon Music Channel hosts the "Pokémon Past Archive" program every Sunday, featuring such otherwise unheard pieces in addition to a few other themes, such as all trainer encounter themes.
• The GB Sounds does not affect any radio songs, but 8-bit remixes of the songs do play as part of the "Pokémon Past Archive" on the Pokémon Music Channel every Sunday after the GB Sounds is obtained.
• Interestingly, if active during a Bug-Catching Contest, it will not convert the National Park music during the contest results. It will work normally after the results are announced, however.

Trivia

• Despite that the GB Sounds is supposed to sound like the original music from the GB/GBC, none of the songs sound exactly like the originals. The acoustics sound different, many notes have different pitches, some song's tempo is altered a tiny bit, and other notes in various songs are not even heard at all. This may be due to the different hardware of the DS.
• The image for the GB Sounds is a Game Boy with a pair of headphones.

This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items.