Pokémon Gold and Silver/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


YMMVs in Pokémon Gold and Silver

  • Breather Boss: In all versions, Janine's team is noticeably lower-leveled than the other Kanto Gym leaders, likely due to her inexperience.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome:
    • Lance and Red's battle theme.
    • The games themselves are often cited by fans as having the best music of the franchise's 8-bit era, with good reason.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • Lugia is way more popular than fellow version mascot Ho-oh despite being the mascot of the "second" version. It's also one of the most popular Pokémon period, often scoring high in popularity polls.
    • More traditional examples (as in "not very publicized") include Tyranitar (a vicious rocky Godzilla Expy) and Scizor (a metallic mantis Samurai with razor-sharp pincers that evolves from Scyther), both of which are almost as popular as Lugia. It helps that they're awesome in competitive play, too.
      • Scizor actually was Awesome Yet Impractical when he first debuted - he had a movepool that was mostly Normal-type moves that he didn't get STAB from. And then along came Gen IV which gave him X-Scissor, U-Turn and Bullet Punch, and the metallic mantis shot up to the top of the non-banned tiers.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple:
    • Blue with either Red, Leaf or Lyra.
    • Crystal/Kris with Silver was quite common. As was (and still is) Gold/EthanxSilver.
    • Gold/EthanxCrystal/Kris were quite popular back then. With the remakes this couple seemed to have boomed in popularity-it's not uncommon to find fanfics of SilverxLyra with EthanxKris as Ship Mates. [1]
  • Fridge Brilliance:
    • Why does Red go away after you beat him? He whited/blacked out and ran to the nearest Pokémon Center, just like in his games.
    • How can you tell that your rival has genuinely changed? Well, by the time of your last battle with him he has a Crobat, which only evolve from Golbat through having friendship with the trainer.
  • Fridge Logic: In the original games, once Togepi hatched from its egg you could call Elm to report it and he'd ask you to come show Togepi to him. In the remakes, once it hatches, no matter where you are or what you're doing, within minutes Elm calls you to tell you the egg hatched and asks you to come show him...how the heck does he know it hatched?
  • Gannon Banned:
  • Goddamned Boss: Koga's Muk will use Minimize to make it more likely to avoid hits, all while healing itself with its held item. And it can take a hit, too.
  • Good Bad Bugs:
    • Due to a oversight on Game Freak's part, Rest (the user falls asleep to recover HP) can be used through Sleep Talk (a move which randomly uses one of the user's other three moves while asleep). This is just one reason why the second generation had a very stall-heavy Metagame. This was rectified in later games, except it still does this in the remake.
    • Also the cloning trick, coupled with the ability to hold items. Allowing you to get up to five of the same item (and/or Mons) at once, and notably to get all three starters as much as you want (the fact that they don't show up in the Pokédex until you breed one being a small price to pay).
    • Ohhh man, the Celebi Egg Glitch. It involves breeding two Sneasels that have the same moveset with Beat Up as the THIRD move, (It doesn't have to be Sneasel, but Beat Up is its Signature Move in Gen II) getting a 'bad clone' from the above trick, and five worthless Pokemon. It works because Celebi and Beat Up share the same index number, and its not just Celebi you can get, its just that Celebi is, arguably, THE most unobtainable Pokemon of them all. For example, using Splash will get you...Mewtwo. This trick can also be used to get held items by using the fourth move, which shares index numbers with items.
  • Growing the Beard: Many people agree that this is when the Pokemon game franchise became really good in terms of playability, and to this day it's still the generation with the highest Gamerankings score along with Generation I (and is widely believed to be superior than Gen I).
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Little did anyone at the time know that another Itsuki with psychic powers would become a popular character in nerd culture a few years down the line. For Bonus Points, the Psychic-type is known as the Esper-type in Japan and Korea.
    • Route 34 is the route containing the first daycare in the series, and also introduces the concept of breeding.
  • It Was His Sled: You can revisit the Kanto region after you beat the Elite Four, and at the very end of the game, you fight the True Final Boss, who is none other than Red, the PC from the first generation games. Both were very shocking twists in their day, but nowadays they're common knowledge. See Late Arrival Spoiler.
  • Memetic Badass:
    • Not quite as much as Red (naturally), but Blue still is very much a badass, especially in the remakes.
    • As well as Gym leader Chuck. See Memetic Mutation below.
    • Don't forget Lance.
    • To a small degree, Kris.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • Chuck was given Chuck Norris Facts-like status for a while.
    • Karen's line, "Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites," is used in the fandom as a creed against things ranging from "Stop Having Fun!" Guys, Tournament Play in general or just anything related to Smogon.
  • Nightmare Fuel: The opening in Crystal might just be the biggest Mind Screw in the franchise before the Arceus event in the remakes. The Last-Note Nightmare, dramatically setting up The Reveal that never happens, and given that there's still no Mind Screwdriver to date despite the remakes, it's unlikely there will ever be one.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: It's common knowledge that people hate Zubat. It's annoying, it's everywhere, and it has an extremely mediocre evolution in the form of Golbat. But Gen II gave it Crobat, which is much stronger, and much, much, much faster. Sure, it's still annoying as hell, but thanks to Gold and Silver, it became a very viable choice for a good Poison type in your team.
  • That One Boss:
    • Whitney. Or, more specifically, Whitney's Miltank.
    • Jasmine, especially without a Ground- or Fire-type to counter her Steel Pokémon.
    • Clair and her team of Dragon-types is where the game lets you know if you're really prepared to take on the Elite Four or not. Doubly difficult in GSC compared to HGSS, since good Dragon or Ice-type attacks at that stage in the game are either nonexistent (for the former) or require many levels of grinding beforehand (for the latter; Swinub and co. in the Ice Path are the first Mons you can readily catch with Ice attacks).
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: You name it, and it got complained about.
    • The Lavender Town music. It's a peaceful town after the Pokémon Tower was converted into a radio tower, so it sounds much chirpier than the original. Despite the in-story reason for it sounding happy, people still are divided on whether it's good or not.
    • Speaking of Lavender Town, the Pokémon Tower graveyard being converted into a radio tower was widely thought to be in poor taste. The graves were relocated to a new site, but seriously.
    • The lower levels compared to the previous generation have also been met with frustration from players. By the point of the last gym, you're still fighting measly lv.20s, leading to many tedious hours of Level Grinding necessary if you hope to stand a chance against Lance and his trio of lv.50 Dragonite.
  • Tier-Induced Scrappy: A lot of the new Pokemon were very weak compared to Pokemon from past and future generations, aside from a select few like Tyranitar, Scizor, Kingdra, Steelix, Blissey, Heracross, Forretress, Houndoom the two new Eeveelutions, Skarmory and the Legendaries.
  • Ugly Cute: Snubbull and Granbull.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion:
    • Bugsy is a guy, folks. This is lampshaded during his appearance in the Pokémon Special manga, in which Gold (Ethan's counterpart in that manga) mistakes him for a girl until Bugsy points out that he's a guy. Doesn't help that his team in the remakes is all female, and that he's referred to as female in an official strategy guide.
      • In another manga he is drawn in a more feminine manner then almost everyone in the manga, and his gender is only referred to once in the Japanese version and can be easily missed. It doesn't help that he's Ambiguously Gay in said continuity.
    • Many gamers also confused Silver for a girl in the early days.
  • The Woobie:
    • Jasmine is remarkably put-upon in-game; she's quite embarrassed when you find her at the all-you-can-eat diner, and Erika seems out to make her look foolish during the latter's off-time.
    • Blaine. His entire island of Cinnabar was burned down by a volcano, and he had to move his gym to a small cave in Seafoam Island all alone. Alleviated in HGSS though, as he now has trainers under his stead and the cave is retrofitted.
    • The final Rocket Grunt.

YMMVs in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

  • Accidental Innuendo: Any time Kurt gives you the custom Poké Balls, due to most of them having innuendo-ish names. "Kurt gave you the Friend Balls!" "Kurt gave you the Heavy Balls!" "Kurt gave you the Love Balls!"
  • Alternate Character Interpretation: There's a number of pictures (on the Japanese side) and stories (on the Western side) depicting Lyra as a full-blown Yandere.
  • Americans Hate Tingle: When Lyra was first revealed, she was quite loved in Japan due to her cuteness. A good chunk of the American fanbase however, didn't like her, mainly due to being the Replacement Scrappy for the first playable girl character ever in the series.
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: The remakes, because they simultaneously brought both the Johto region and the Pokémon to be found [only] there back on track after Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire infamously locked the first two generations of the franchise out of backwards compatibility. In fact, some fans are now willing to warm up/open up to the third generation just because of this.
  • Anticlimax Boss/Badass Decay: Despite being a Bonus Boss, Giovanni only has four Pokémon ranging from Level 40 to 46--if you got past the Elite Four, and you almost certainly have by the time you get to him, you'll have no trouble at all.
  • Base Breaker: Lyra. Mostly for replacing Kris. Although she did receive a noticeable spike in popularity once fans realized she dressed like a Mario cosplayer.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Definitely has the best tunes out of all of Gen IV.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Silver becomes nicer later on, but he still falls victim to this among Fan Girls, even when he's still a Jerkass.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: The Rocket executives, especially Proton and Petrel. Proton for being an attractive asshole and Petrel for being a Nice Guy despite being a part of an evil team.
  • Epileptic Trees: The fact that Ariana is a female, high-ranking executive of Team Rocket has led to the prevalent theory among the fandom that she's Silver's mother. Exhibit A. Exhibit B. Exhibit C. It doesn't help that Ariana is Welsh for "silver".
    • Fandom sometimes takes this further by implicating that Mars (one of Team Galactic's Executives) and Roark (Sinnoh Gym Leader), both from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, are also a part of this family tree, the common variant being Mars is also Giovanni and Ariana's offspring (and by proxy, Silver's older sister), while Roark is Silver and Mars' half-brother due to having Byron as his father. For example, see here.
  • Evil Is Sexy: All four Rocket Executives fall into this for many fans.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Technically, "Gold" is no longer his canon name. Some fans refer to his first design as "Gold" and his redesign as "Heart" or with his canon name "Ethan" to distinguish the two, but it's much more common for both to be called "Gold".
    • Lyra was called "Soul" in the pre-release days. Oddly enough, early screenshots called Ethan "Soul", whereas Lyra was "Heart". She has also been called "Mariko" in Japan and Maria/Marioette in America due to her overalls, brunette hair, and poofy hat making her look similar to a certain other Nintendo character.
    • Quite a few comics jokingly refer to Silver as "???", due to that being his name in the first battle against him in Gold, Silver, and Crystal. "Silver" itself can also count. It's never given in-game as a default, never given in an official source, and his anime counterpart has no name to go by. The name is listed in the data for the game, however, like Leaf, it's debatable.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Game Breaker: If you trade a certain Movie Arceus from a DPPt save to this game as soon as possible, you can get the legendary Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina of your choice and with your OT before the first gym.
  • I Knew It!: It has long been theorized that Silver was the son of Giovanni à la Pokémon Special, after being strongly hinted at in FireRed and LeafGreen ("Giovanni's child has red hair"). It was confirmed in this game, also granting him a Freudian Excuse.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Silver, after details concerning his childhood come to light.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Lyra, especially in Japan.
  • Memetic Badass: Red already was considered this in the original games, and this status carries on here.
  • Memetic Molester:
    • Lyra, especially concerning the "Lyra Raped My Poor Quilava" copypasta.
    • Also, of course, Silver's stripping scene. Silver, hating Team Rocket is not a good excuse for stripping people. Not that the fandom has any problem with it.
  • Memetic Mutation: Joey's Ratatta is in the top percentage of Rattata!
  • Memetic Outfit:
    • Most HeartGold and SoulSilver artwork portray Red in his original outfit rather than what he wears in FireRed and LeafGreen.
    • Blue's HGSS clothes.
  • The Scrappy: The Spiky-Eared Pichu. It exists only as a tie-in to the 12th movie and can't learn new moves or even evolve. It's pretty much a Promotional Powerless Piece of Garbage, unless you use it right when you first get to Ilex Forest, at which time it is a Disc One Nuke. (But not for long.)
  • That One Boss: Quite a few of the easier leaders from the original games really pick up the slack here. For example, Bugsy's Scyther now not only possesses a 70 power Bug move in U-Turn, but also now has an 80 power Quick Attack thanks to it's Technician ability. Even with a Geodude, this thing WON'T be easy to take down.
    • Whitney's Miltank is one level lower, but EVEN WORSE THAN BEFORE. She now holds a Lum Berry so status effects will be useless when first used, has the ability Scrappy which causes Ghosts to be hurt by Normal moves, and now knows Milk Drink to naturally heal in battle.
    • Morty was already tough before, but his Gengar's Shadow Ball now runs off it's very high Special Attack stat. Without a Normal type, this monster will steamroll you with impunity.
    • Chuck now uses variations of the Focus Punch strategy to horrifying effect, such as Double Teaming with his Primeape so it can't be hit out of the move, and having his Poliwrath put your Pokémon to sleep so it will launch Focus Punches uninterrupted.
    • Clair now has a Gyarados to back up her easy-sauce Dragonairs. And her Kingdra is even more dangerous than before thanks to it's Sniper ability, which increases the power of Critical Hits.
    • Bruno and Karen of the Elite Four went from pathetic to actually threatening this time around. Bruno has a Hitmonchan packing all three elemental punches + Bullet Punch, all of which are now useful not only due to the Physical/Special split, but due to it's ability Iron Fist. His Machamp also packs No Guard to make it's moves always hit. Karen however can cripple your team in different ways: annoying and stalling you with Umbreon, getting a cheap guaranteed faint with Destiny Bond, and sweeping you clean with a Nasty Plotting Houndoom.
    • Sabrina has reclaimed her status as this with a vengeance: her Pokémon mostly not only carry Focus Blast, but also can boost their Special Stats with Calm Mind.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Everything has been complained about at one point or another, even the color of the goddamn grass. Out of all the games, these have probably suffered Ruined FOREVER the worst so far.
    • Not everyone was fond of the remixed music (particularly the themes for Lavender Town and Goldenrod City), but Gamefreak provided an option in the games that switched everything to the classic eight-bit tunes.
    • Voltorb Flip replacing the slots, and more importantly, removing the ability to buy coins.
    • Lack of room decoration.
    • Discussed by the Gamefreak President in the Celadon Condominiums in Kanto.

"We are remaking an old game, but this is quite a challenge. Old fans would not want us to mess with their good memories... but there is no point in just redoing the same thing, right?"

  1. ↑ Despite the fact that Kris/Crystal doesn't appear in the game canon anymore with the replacement that is Lyra...but no one wants to see Lyra's dear childhood friend alone in romance.
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