MadCap's Game Reviews - "Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal"

Now I know what you're thinking. "Hey, Madcap! Why aren't you reviewing Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow? They were the first ones to come out and were the start of the whole worldwide phenomenon that has taken the world by storm!" Well, voices in my head that are somehow also reading the things that I type, I may indeed get to those games at some point in the future. However, the reason I chose the second trilogy of games - known as the Second Generation - is for two reasons. 1. It was the generation that I was most involved in as a child. While I caught onto Pokémon when it took the world by storm in the 90s, I didn't really play much of the First Gen at least not in the traditional sense. I mostly just messed around and didn't much care for completing the game itself.

Second Generation, though, was where I really hit the ground running. Gold Version in particular, since it was the first of the three I played, holds a special place in my heart. I built the team that I then had to recreate in HeartGold (RIP, originals due to battery life) and stomped through not only Johto, but also Kanto to take on every trainer, best every challenge, and be the best like no one ever was.

The second reason is because of a ROM hack that I'm going to be taking a look at at some point in the future, one that I've taken quite a bit of enjoyment from after having it recommended to me via e-mail. More on that later.
But to get into some background, as I said before, the Second Generation games were a big deal when they first hit the scene. Pokémon had taken the world by storm, Nintendo and Game Freak were gods of the gaming scene, and it seemed as though they could do not wrong after the First Generation was met with such resounding success. Then, on November 21, 1999 (in Japan, at least) Pokémon Gold and Silver were released to the public and boy were they a damn good time.

Along with the usual mechanics of going around the world, picking up items, and battling trainers that we'd seen in the First Gen, Game Freak threw in quite a few new things. Mechanically, they introduced Dark type - a counter to Psychic types - allowed your 'Mons to hold items that could be used in battle, a Time Machine that allowed you to trade with Red, Blue, and Yellow cartridges (handy for completing the Pokédex) and split the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense.

It also introduced the PokéGear...and your Mom saving your money to occasionally blow it on items you don't need.

...no, Mom, the socks are lovely. Please stop crying. C'mon, I'll wear them, I promise.

US Title Screens

The Second Generation also introduced the concept of breeding into the game. Just leave a male and a female 'Mon of compatible egg groups together and...an egg happens. No one knows why. Big mystery. No clues at all. The fact that Nintendo managed to get away with an E rating here is pretty surprising. Let's face the facts, even as kids we knew what was up.

And that's only a handful of the changes that were made. I already spoiled the bit about both Kanto and Johto being visitable - it being the only time in the franchise that more than one region could be visited in a game (Unless you count Birth Island in Third Gen or traveling to the Shinjoh Ruins in the HeartGold/SoulSilver event. And I don't), and there is actually more than I've listed here. Add onto that a brand new batch of 100 Pokémon to catch to add to the then actually possible "gotta catch 'em all!", and you have just one thing on your hands.

A sequel.

This is how you do a sequel.

Everything that was done in the Generation One games got supercharged here and it shows. More balance, a bunch of new and interesting creatures to battle and chat, and an entire new region to explore to our heart's content! Fully updated with both color graphics and music (hey, it was revolutionary at the time!), it was a feast for the eyes and ears. A lot of that, of course, had to do with the upgrade in technology from the Game Boy to the Game Boy Color. Even so, Game Freak utilized what Nintendo gave them well and it paid off in spades.

There are a few drawbacks, of course. I mentioned your Mom being a banking system and I'm still not overly fond of the PokéGear (it's more of a personal hang up than anything else, functionally it's fine) but there is more. First off, to criticize the plot - it's pretty much the same as the First Generation. Go around with your starter, battle and train, get all eight badges and defeat the Elite Four. Along the way, you battle a criminal organization.

Of course, that's kind of silly to complain about when every other main series Pokémon game has done the exact same thing.

Elemental rock-paper-scissors, but now in color!

But where Game Freak decided to blow everyone's minds is that, when the credits roll...you aren't just given a high-level dungeon to go down into and catch a rare Pokémon in. Oh, no...you instead unlock an entirely different region. Now, you might think you just go do the same thing you did the first time - battle and catch, train, get all the badges, and take on the Elite Four again. And you can...but that isn't the end goal this time. No, remember, the Second Generation was all about upping the ante. And up the ante they did with the introduction of a new place - Mt. Silver.

If you can get through the high-level 'Mons, brave obstacles and finally reach the summit...you battle Red. The protagonist of Red, Blue, and Yellow. You battle...yourself. Sadly, Game Freak didn't think to do the awesome thing of letting you copy save data from a Red, Blue, or Yellow game so that you could really battle yourself, but that was likely just a limitation of the technology at the time. That being said, Red is the most difficult fight in the entire game and will really put you to the ultimate test.

That being said, the battle is also completely optional, but it's very neat that Game Freak went to the lengths that they did as a sort of love letter to the fans. In fact, you could say that about the games themselves. They're a love letter to what came before and to the fans that made their franchise so successful, while also looking ahead to the future and blazing toward it. In short it is, to me, why the Second Generation is the best of them. It hit every note it needed to and it did it marvelously, helping solidifying the success of Pokémon well into the present.

You might be wondering why I haven't talked too much specifically about Crystal, however. Simply put, there isn't that much to talk about. Besides adding in a subplot involving Suicine, allowing you to play as a female trainer (which does nothing except change your sprite, so missed opportunity there), and being the first Pokémon game to have animated sprites (something that would become the standard from Pokémon Emerald onward), there isn't that much different from Gold and Silver. Unlike Yellow was to Red and Blue, which had quite a bit of difference in particular with your starter...but we'll save that for another time.

"Stop running away, you shifty son of a...!"

This is the part where I'd say "If you haven't played it, play it!" but I'm pretty sure the likelihood of that is astronomically small, particularly if you were around in the 90s. If you were, you played it. If not, you have the 3DS virtual console to get it off of. Given that it nearly sold as well as the First Generation - which themselves are some of the highest if not the highest selling RPGs of all time - then there's really no excuse, particularly if you're of the older generation.

Get out there and catch 'em all...when it was actually possible to do that.

Except for Mew.

And Celebi.

...thanks, Japan!

Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal are brought to us by Nintendo and Game Freak. They were originally released on the Game Boy Color, but are available from the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.