I agree with Sarracenia in saying that the purists should be ignored and changes SHOULD be made where neccessary even if it contradicts the original games. The 2nd Generation was my favourite, but that was purely for nostalgia reasons, and with these new games they're going to need to convince me that this is worth buying because I already have the originals on emulation.
Luckily it doesn't look to disappoint. There are hundreds of aesthetic changes, things like menu navigation have been refined even further, we're getting never seen before features (follower Pokémon, etc.), a fair few new areas, probably revised gym rosters, livelier, bigger cities, and much more. Hell, we even get a second rival (Soul), the return of Eusine, the Pokéwalker, and completely revamped gym layouts ala Platinum.
Compared to FireRed and LeafGreen, they're really upping the ante in terms of new content here. It looks like the perfect mix of nostalgia and new content.