Looks like the rumors were true. Nintendo has announced a fall release in Japan for the remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver, which previously debuted on the Game Boy. Good news for owners of DSs, since neither the original DS, DS Lite, or DSi are compatible with classic Game Boy titles.

The remakes, titled Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, will likely feature graphical as well as feature updates to take advantage of the DS's two screens as well as touch input. The two original Pokemon games, Pokemon Red and Blue, were also previously remade into Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green on the Game Boy Advance.

The Pokemon franchise -- Pocket Monsters in Japan -- have enjoyed growing popularity through the games (every Nintendo console since the Game Boy, handheld or otherwise, has seen at least one major Pokemon game released) as well as the anime television series and motion pictures. The latest game, Pokemon Platinum, topped the DS sales charts for the month of March.

Though we have not received word from Nintendo yet as to when Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver will make their way over to North America, we'd be surprised if, given the timeframe for previous Japanese-to-Western ports of Pokemon games, they didn't debut sometime in 2010 (along with what we hope will be some catchier titles).