Thom F

Pokemon Gold, Silver & Crystal Review

Pokemon Gold & Silver were released in Japan in 1999 for the Nintendo Game Boy, one year later it was released internationally. But Gold & Silver were intended to be the last Pokemon games, and so they were made to be the best. Obviously they weren’t the last games, but the best? Possibly.

I actually have a bit of history with this one. When I was 9 or 10, I was gifted a Game Boy Advance SP and a copy of Pokemon Silver. I loved it, even if I never got far.

A year later, an updated version named Pokemon Crystal was released for the Game Boy Colour, it’s widely considered the best version of the game, and it’s the one I played for this review.

Once again, the game starts with Professor Oak introducing you to the world of Pokemon, but before that you’re asked to set the time, that’s right! There’s now a day/night cycle. Certain people or Pokemon might only appear at night for example, or maybe someone only appears on Tuesday.

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I should probably mention that the games are now in full colour if you play them on the Game Boy Colour

It’s beautiful!

So after your chat with Professor Oak, you leave your house and explore New Bark Town, it has one more house than Pallet, but it’s just as extravagant. To the side of the lab is a mysterious red haired guy who decides to push you away if you get close, I hope he’s not important.

So Professor Elm (he’s completely different to Oak) decides that you need a starter Pokemon to help you travel to Mr. Pokemon’s house, there’s:

Chikorita, the worst one by far, since it’s weak to the first 2 gyms and doesn’t get much better

Cyndaquil, overpowered incarnate

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And Totodile, a physical attacker for a special type (yep, that’s still a problem)

So you, with your Cyndaquil because trust me you aren’t picking the other two, head off to Mr. Pokemon, who has an egg to deliver back to Elm, oh and Oak’s there.

Oh no, Professor Elm’s been robbed! It was that red haired guy, he took Totodile, because again, who picks the other two? So he decides to battle you and loses. This is Silver, son of Giovanni, I called him ??? because that’s his name in the first battle. He’s not very nice, and doesn’t really get better until some very subtle character development that isn’t even mandatory.

So after handing the egg to Elm, you set out on your journey, but I should probably explain everything new first.

To start off, there are two more types:

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Houndoom

Dark

Steelix

And Steel

They were both made to balance psychic types, on top of that, the special stat has been split into special attack and special defence, meaning that Alakazam now crumbles at anything, no matter how powerful.

If you’re lucky, you might find a shiny Pokemon, they’re differently coloured Pokemon, that’s about it. Here’s some of my favourites;

There’s always a shiny Gyarados that you have to battle to progress, as a result, this is usually the first shiny you find, and I’m glad it was Gyarados, since the red looks amazing

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Shiny Gengar may not be too different, but the difference is really good

Shiny Sudowoodo decided to become a cherry blossom tree, and it looks great

Shiny Umbreon’s a simple change, but the blue is amazing

I love goooooooooooooooooooooooold

Shiny Smeargle is so good it became its normal colour scheme in later games

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If I were to ever make a shiny team, it would be those six aside from Smeargle that doesn’t sound like a half bad team.

Pokemon can hold items now! It sounds super exiting but the most they do in this game is boost a Pokemon’s stats or heal them at low health.

Finally, there’s a new mechanic related to the Pokemon day care, which normally just levels up your Pokemon. But now if you’ve got two compatible Pokemon in there, they can breed! Riveting stuff, but this is the key to creating your best possible team.

Speaking of teams, here’s mine by the end of it

Typhlosion, I chose Cyndaquil like everyone else. So I have a fire badger!

Ursaring, it’s a grizzly bear

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Sandslash, fast & it’s a ground type, that’s all you really need

Venomoth, this poison bug is a better psychic than both of those types

Cloyster, ice is quite possibly the most important type in these games, so it’s good to get one that can take hits

Xatu, it’s a psychic bird that looks like a totem pole.

Now, let’s get into the adventure you’ll do.

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New Bark Town, it’s basically just Pallet Town with a few more houses. West from New Bark is.

Cherrygrove City, population wise, it’s the same as New Bark, but this time it’s got a Pokemon Centre and Poke Mart. Oh, and there’s a random guy who gives you a Mystic Water after getting the Surf HM.

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Violet City, this place houses the Sprout Tower, a tower dedicated to battling Bellsprouts, at the top you’re given the HM for Flash. This city also has a flying type gym, so good luck with Chikorita.

South from Violet are the Ruins of Alph, a place where you can find alphabet soup!

These are Unown, and they’re useless.

Going further south from Violet is the Union Cave, which on Fridays houses a Lapras! Once you’re out of the cave you leave to

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Azalea town, this place has a well where the returning Team Rocket are cutting off the tails of Slowpoke, and you have to stop them. Oh, and there’s a bug gym, but that’s not a problem unless you chose Chikorita.

If you try to exit to the east your Rival will challenge you to a battle, he only cares about being the strongest. But once he’s defeated you make your way through the Ilex Forest, and you grab the HM for Cut.

After the Ilex Forest is Goldenrod City, this place has everything; a dept. store, a free Eevee, a radio tower, a casino, a train station and a normal type gym that everyone except me finds hard.

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Up north is Ecruteak, home of culture. In this city you’ll grab yourself the Surf HM, and awaken the 3 legendary beasts:

Raikou

Entei

& Suicune.

In Crystal there will also be a man named Eusine here, on the trail of Suicune, he has an amazing theme, but doesn’t really matter. So after fighting your rival again, there’s the Ghost Type gym. My favourite gym in the game because it introduced me to one of my favourite Pokemon, Gengar.

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Going west from Ecruteak is Olivine City. In this place the gym leader is off taking care of a sick Pokemon up in the lighthouse.

Going west again brings you to Route 40, home of the Battle Tower in Crystal. All you do is battle people for poultry rewards, but it’s basically the only enjoyment you can get out of the game after finishing it.

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Going south-west from there brings you to Cianwood City. This is where you’ll find your 2nd encounter with Eusine, who will try to prove himself to Suicune by battling you, he’s nothing special. But there is a guy who’s been robbed by your rival, so he gives you a free Shuckle (I don’t understand either)

There is also a Fighting Type gym here, but you probably have a decent Flying or Psychic Type to take care of it. Even then, Grass and Ghost work just as well.

After healing the Ampharos that’s manning the lighthouse, you can finally battle the Olivine gym… Later! You can fight it now, but the Steel Type gym

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leader’s team is a good 6 levels from the last gym leader, so I save it for later.

Going east from Ecruteak brings you to Route 42, over here is Mt. Mortar, a cave of waterfalls, and Suicune’s also here hanging out.

Mahogany is east of Route 42, but you can’t really do anything here right now, so you go up north to The Lake of Rage, where you fight a shiny Gyarados. After the fight you are greeted by Lance of the Elite Four who needs your help to defeat Team Rocket in Mahogany Town (remember those guys?)

After Lance assaults a guy with his Dragonite, he easily defeats Team Rocket and also your rival, who is starting to realise that being nice is better than not.

After Team Rocket is defeated there is an Ice Type gym to take care of, and it’s really easy.

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Team Rocket have taken over the Goldenrod radio tower! And now you and only you have to stop their schemes of summoning their former leader, Giovanni. Along the way you fight your Rival and four Rocket Executives, who don’t have names until the DS remakes.

After Team Rocket is taken care of you can go east of Mahogany to the Ice Path, this place isn’t that long, and has some decent Ice Types, which will definitely help you in a few minutes.

Blackthorn City is the final city in Johto, and it houses a Dragon Type gym. I hope you like fighting Dragonairs, because they’re the only dragons! (There is also Kingdra I guess)

Once the final gym is done and dusted, you can head to the Tin Tower in Crystal to catch Suicune. But what you really need to do is go west of New Bark to Kanto!

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The only place you can go to now is the Pokemon League, so that’s what you do, but not before fighting your rival again. The league is miles easier than Red & Blue though, there’s Will, a Psychic user, Koga and Bruno, returning from Red & Blue and using Poison and Fighting types respectively, and Karen, a Dark master.

The champion is Lance. There isn’t really a big reveal like Red & Blue, and it’s kinda obvious as soon as you see him, but his battle is just full of more Dragons. Ice Types are your best friend here, with Rock Types also being useful.

Guess what, you’re only ¾ done! There’s still the rest of Kanto to explore. But it’s a sombre experience as certain areas have been shrunk, like Mt. Moon, or removed, like Viridian Forest. The only real plot that happens here is a lone Rocket Grunt who steals the Power Plant’s generator. There is also a fight with your rival, who subtly shows character development through his Crobat, which can only evolve if it trusts its trainer. But Blue (the rival from Red & Blue) is a gym leader in Giovanni’s replace now, I guess.

After getting all 16 badges, Professor Oak gives you access to Mt. Silver, the final area of the game. There is only one reason to go here, and anyone who’s gotten this far will know what it is…

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It’s you! Red from generation 1 is back, with a vengeance! He packs the hardest team to beat in the game.

There’s Pikachu, who really only serves as an annoyance

Venusaur, who hits with high power SolarBeam and Sunny Day combos

Espeon, it hits like a truck and has virtually no weakness

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Blastoise, this thing can trap you in with Whirlpool and make sure you have a bad time

Snorlax, Rest and Sleep Talk is the greatest combo of moves in the game, and Red’s Snorlax has both of those

And finally, Charizard, to be honest, nothing special compared to the others.

And that was Pokemon generation 2, a great time overall. Mostly everything is more balanced, and it adds mechanics that later games would later take and refine. Best games? Not a chance, my main problem with this game is the level curve, or rather a lack of it. Your Pokemon will be in the late 30s by Lance, I guarantee it. But anyway, this is probably the best place to start if you want to get into the series.

Final score if you like numbers is: 8.5/10