Pokémon Gold and Silver: Difference between revisions

Set [[Time Skip|three years after]] the events of ''Pokémon Red and Blue Versions'', [[Hello, Insert Name Here|a young trainer]] sets out to collect the eight badges of Johto (based on the Kansai region of Japan as well as the western part of the Chubu region) and challenge the Elite Four so that they can earn their own place in the hall of fame. Along the way, however, they have to contend with [[The Rival|a callous thief]] and the reemerging threat of Team Rocket.

 

 

One year later, an [[Updated Rerelease]] appeared: ''Crystal''. On top of a new subplot revolving around Suicune, a slight graphics bump, and other minor differences, ''Crystal'' marked the debut of the [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]] option in the series, by offering players the choice of a male ''or'' female player, instead of simply giving them a male character to assign a masculine or feminine name to (thereby bypassing the unintentional [[Les Yay]] that could've resulted -- now it's the result of lines written for the male player character being read to the female one).

* [[An Interior Designer Is You]]: You could decorate your room with various dolls and such, thanks to Mystery Gifts. Your mother would also buy things with the money you sent home after battles.

* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]: One of the Trainers in the Burned Tower (removed in ''Crystal'') is named Dick. A trainer in the "Firebreather" class, no less. Now there's a mental image that nobody wanted. It's probably not a coincidence that his name was changed to Richard in HGSS.

* [[Intentional Engrish for Funny]]: Earl speaks entirely in broken English, though in his ''Pokémon Stadium 2'' appearance, he speaks normally so people could understand him, as he gave hints and advice that were imperative to competitive battling.

* [[Numbered Sequels]]: Subverted; the [[Working Title]] of the games was ''Pocket Monsters 2: Gold and Silver''.

** Lampshaded when you get to Indigo Plateau. In the original games there was a nice man who would have his Abra teleport you home, since you couldn't fly between Kanto and Johto and thus your only other way back until you beat the Elite Four was walking back. In the remakes you can now use Fly to get back, but the old man is still there offering his services... only to note that because of Fly most trainers turn him down. (In fact, the game doesn't even ''let'' you take him up on his offer, not offering a Yes/No choice after he's finished talking.)

*** The games however does manage to find a use for Abra's Teleport. A guy and his Abra (possibly copycats of the two at Indigo Plateau or the actual two) are the only way to leave the Sinjoh Ruins (from the nearby cabin) without going thru the whole ceremony with Arceus in the Sinjoh Ruins.

** The Hoenn and Sinnoh games at least had some justification for this, but the Johto remakes don't even bother. Ethan or Lyra will just block your way to Kanto until you go meet with the Kimono Girls and battle Ho-oh/Lugia.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The random candy bar you got in Mahogany Town in Johto can be traded to a Kanto NPC for the TM for [[Action Bomb|Explosion]], the most powerful (albeit suicidal) move in the game.

** Gym Leader rematches. Before you can request another fight, you have to get them registered in your Pokégear. To do that, you have to talk to them after meeting certain criteria. Problem is, you have to meet them at certain locations (some of which are rather obscure) at a certain time on a certain day of the week, instead of simply talking to them at their respective Gym. There's even a couple that are gotten from an NPC other than the Gym Leader. Good luck finding all of them without a guide, even with the NPC that will randomly call you to give info about a random Leader. A good example of this is Jasmine, who appears at the Olivine City Diner between 13:00-14:00. Said diner is not important in the least outside of this one time and looks like a normal house, so you may not have just overlooked it every time you were in town.

** Want to find a specific Pokémon in the Johto Safari Zone? Unlike previous generations, your Pokedex area listing doesn't include the Safari Zone, so you're on your own. After acquiring the National Pokedex, you can customize the Safari Zone using "blocks" to attract different species (mostly Hoenn or Sinnoh region Mons) that wouldn't normally appear at all, but again, good luck trying to attract a specific one without consulting a strategy guide for help.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]:

** The starting favor from Elm is changed from the player fetching an object that turns out to be an egg from Mr. Pokémon for Elm, to Elm asking the player to walk a Pokémon for him. When contacted by Mr. Pokémon in the scene, Elm thinks he is just bugging him about "another egg" (as Pokémon eggs are common knowledge since Generation II-III). This is a holdover from the ''Crystal'' version, where Elm asks a similar favor before he gets Mr. Pokémon's email.

* [[Kansai Regional Accent]]: Numerous characters speak with either a Kansai-ben accent or another sort of accent. Kurt, ''Whitney'', Bill, etc.

* [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]: In the original Gold/Silver, you only found out you could revisit Kanto from Red/Blue near the "end" of the game when an NPC stops you on your trip to Victory Road to tell you "you've just taken your first step into Kanto! Check your map!" In the remakes, ''everybody'' knows that Johto and Kanto are neighboring regions. It's pretty obvious after examining the world map (moving the cursor to the right side changes the "Johto" text to "Kanto" even if there are no Kanto locations marked yet), and not too far into the game people start mentioning places in Kanto you may come across during your travels. Even before the remakes were released, one of the trailers showed the protagonist taking the Magnet Train along with images of Pallet Town and other famous landmarks from Kanto.

* [[Lost Forever]]: Mr. Pokémon gives you the Exp. Share if you trade him a Red Scale obtained from battling the Red Gyarados. If you happen to NOT talk to him in between the time you battle the Red Gyarados and receive a Kanto Starter Pokemon from Professor Oak, he'll give you the orb needed to catch Kyogre/Groudon instead, leaving the Exp. share unobtainable. However, another Exp. Share can be obtained from Goldenrod Radio Tower Lottery if the player can match 3 digits.

* [[Sequel Difficulty Spike|Remake Difficulty Spike]]:

** The Gym Leaders are noticeably more difficult than they were in the second generation, thanks to abilities (Bugsy's Scyther has "Technician", increasing its Quick Attack by 50%, and Whitney's Miltank has "Scrappy" ([[The Scrappy|how fitting]]), enabling it to hit Ghosts who would otherwise be immune to Normal attacks) and better AI tactics (like the "Spore Punch" combo, where Chuck's Poliwrath puts your Pokemon to sleep so they can't disrupt its powerful Focus Punches) or simply because the elemental types are better balanced than originally, and this works out in the AI's favor quite often. Even the physical/special split introduced in Generation IV seems to favor the AI (for example, "Flame Wheel" now relies on Cyndaquil's physical Attack, which is lower than its Special Attack).

* [[Retcon]]: A lot of it due to the story being reworked to be taking place around the same time as Generation IV and after Generation III.

* [[Retraux]]: ''HeartGold'' and ''SoulSilver'' have a key item called the GB Sounds (which is unlocked by getting all 16 badges) that, when activated, makes almost all overworld and battle music 8-bit, even for (some) tracks that didn't exist in any 8-bit ''Pokémon'' games (i.e. music originating in those games, other DS games, or the GBA games). Every Sunday the music radio station plays 8-bit tracks not accessible with the GB Sounds (i.e. music that only plays prior to obtaining the GB Sounds or music from radio stations, which aren't affected by the GB Sounds).

* [[Sidetracked By the Gold Saucer]]: Voltorb Flip, which [[Regional Bonus|the Japanese can't play on their copies]]. Even in-universe, as the character that usually advises you about the local gym leader is too busy playing the game to show up at the Celadon City gym.

* [[Spear Counterpart]]: The Bird Keepers in the remakes seem to be this to Bird Keepers of ''Diamond'', ''Pearl'', and ''Platinum'', which had female Bird Keepers instead of male ones like the rest of the series (including these games), as they have the same clothing and hair color. However, since the Vs. Recorder upload data is shared with Platinum, the female Bird Keepers still appear in the Battle Frontier.

[[Category:Nintendo DS]]

[[Category:Pokemon Gold And Silver]]