Pokemon Gold/Silver (Game Boy Color)

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Pokemon Gold/Silver
(Game Boy Color)

Released:
Japan: November 21st, 1999
USA: October 11th, 2000

Pokemon Gold/Silver are the true sequels to Red/Green/Blue/Yellow. Unlike other variations of the game where the basic story was the same but had a few differences here and there, Gold and Silver are completely new games. You start off as a different hero (not Satoshi) in Wakaba Town and get a starter pokemon, much like in the first game. However, there are eight new gym leaders to face, meaning eight more badges to collect before going to the Pokemon League.

The game is made to take advantage of the Game Boy Color, but'll work with older Game Boys as well. Finally, the people's skin is peach-color instead of pastey white! All the grass is green! The graphics are very good for a Game Boy game. The pokemon's attacks are impressive-just look at Metamon transform!

The game includes exactly 100 new pokemon in addition to the 151 from the previous games, from #152 (Chikorita) to #251 (Serebii). Pokemon which have only appeared in the anime such as Togepi, Buru, and Mariru are in Gold/Silver as well as a bunch of others. Some are completely new, such as Odoshishi and Mirutank, but others are further-evolved versions of some of the older ones (Kingdra's another evolution of Seadra).

Every pokemon has a gender. There is a breeding center in the game where you can drop off the male and female forms of two pokemon and they will have a baby with their combined abilities. Some pokemon are only available by breeding. Pichu is only available by breeding two Pikachu; Pupurin requires to Purin to breed, and etc. Pichu, Pupurin, Pii, Bubii, and Elekid are pre-evolved versions of Pikachu, Purin, Pippi, Bubaa, and Elebuu, respectively.

The game takes place in real time. At the beginning of your game, you set the date and time, and the Game Boy will keep up with it. It will gradually turn night (like in Zelda: TOoT) and then turn day again. Time is important because there are some pokemon you can only catch at night (like Ho-Ho, which is an owl pokemon) and vice-versa. Also, supposedly, some events only happen during the day and others only at night. In addition, some events may happen on holidays only, meaning you'll want to play every holiday!

Your items are a lot more organized than before. It'd divided into pockets, and your backpack has four. One's for regular items like potions and antidotes, one's for Monster balls, one's for important items like your bicycle and fishing rods, and the other's for TM's and HM's. You also have Pokegear, which are helpful items that often help you throughout the game. There's the Town Map, a cel phone, a radio, and a display of the current game time. Then, of course, you have the Pokemon Zukan, which looks new and spiffy!

The game can only save one game like the others. Sheesh, it seems that all Pokemon games allow only one save, including Snap! Oh well...

So what's the final verdict? Is the sequel as good as the first? Yes, it's a LOT better! And twice as big!

Here's some spoilers for those who want them. Just highlight the text for the spoilers:

You fight your way through the first eight gym leaders and then fight your final boss (Wataru). Then, after the credits go by, you return to Wakaba Town. Talk to Dr. Utsugi, and he'll give you a ticket. Go to Asagi City, and you'll be able to ride a boat (which looks much more modern than the St. Anne). Destination? Kuchiba City! Yes, you're returned to the world of the first game, and get to fight those eight gym leaders all over again! First up is Machisu, then Natsume, then Kasumi...

And so on, until you get to the Pokemon League. Guess who the final boss is? Satoshi! That's right, the absolute final boss of the game is Satoshi.

Therefore, Gold/Silver is twice as big as the originals. Certain things were taken out of the first world (there's no Safari Zone) but most of it's there. It's neat to note that the building a Kairikii was stomping the ground for in the first game is still flattening the ground!

So, that's the game for you. Sixteen gym leaders and ten league competitors. Can you beat them all?

Special thanks to Japanime for the images of the Japanese boxes.

Pocket Monsters was not created by me. It was created by Satoshi Tajiri and the crew at TV-Tokyo. Pokemon is (c) Game Freak, Nintendo, 4Kids Productions, Hasbro, Bandai, and a ton of other companies. When you have a popular anime like Pokemon, lots of people own it so it's impossible to list every company who owns a piece of Pokemon. No infringement of copyrights is meant by the creation of the web site. All images were gotten from official websites (Nintendo, TV-Tokyo, etc.) unless otherwise noted (I don't steal images from other sites!).