I did a similar thing last year - I found an old copy of FireRed that I started when the game came out in 2004. I had 6/8 badges, so I decided to complete the game with my "cleverly named" team featuring such stars as Hawk the Pidgeot and Turtleman the Blastoise.
Only slightly embarrassing to have some of them in my PPL team this year
But seriously, it's kind of fun to finish what your younger self started! Even when your younger made a lot of tactical errors. On the other hand... I love all the remakes over and above the originals. So there's always the temptation to just play HG/SS
And man, yeah, it is so weird not having a lit screen. I've been using a GBA SP with terrible battery life to play Emerald for the first time, and angling the screen to catch the light is so foreign now.