A Big Improvement Over The Already Great Pokemon Red And Blue

The big Pokemon craze started back in 1998 here in America. It started with the television show, then the Red/Blue versions of the video game came out. Those two were hits. Everyone loved them, and after they beat them, they wanted other versions, or parts. Well, about a year after that, came Pokemon Yellow. That was the same thing as Red/blue except it was a little harder, Pikachu was your starting Pokemon, and their were some different people to fight. Finally, about a year after that came; Pokemon Gold/Silver versions. However, those did not become as popular as Red/Blue/Yellow, because they came out when Pokemon started to die out. I ended up buying this from a friend for a few bucks. While it's the same thing as Silver, which I had beaten earlier, it was worth the money.

Story

Gold/Silver's storyline was quite different from the others stories. It starts out with your character getting out of bed and going downstairs. You talk to your Mom and she says to go see your next door neighbor. That is Prof. Elm, a Pokemon Researcher. You talk to him and he will assign you with a task to go and see his friend Mr. Pokemon, because Mr. Pokemon has something for Elm. Elm will then give you a Pokemon to protect yourself. You may choose between a grass type, water type, or a fire type. And for those people who do not know, the three starters are not Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. You than leave for Mr. Pokemon's house. Go through some fields, a city and than another field. Talk to him and he will give something. I forgot what that something was though. Anyway you than head back to your home town. But on your way, Elm calls you and says that something terrible has happened in the lab, and to get back here right away. While heading back you encounter your rival for the first time. He battles you and runs away after. You than return to Prof. Elm's lab and he says that one of his three rare Pokemon he caught (the three where you choose your starter) has been stolen! The one to steal it was your rival who encountered you while heading back to the Professor's house.


You have a big adventure from here. Starting in the world of Johto (the new world for Gold/Silver), going into the world of Kanto (the old world from Red/Blue/Yellow), you have many tasks and challenges to complete. Many things have changed in the old world since Gold/Silver takes place 3 years after Red/Blue/Yellow. You will meet Gary, Ash, Prof. Oak and most other people from the old games. Also, there is now 16 badges to get. However, only 8 are required for the Pokemon League, but all 16 are required to complete the game and go to the final dungeon.

Pokemon

There are 251 Pokemon in Gold/Silver. So this will be a lot harder to become a Pokemon master and collect all the Pokemon. I have gotten all 16 badges and been to the final dungeon and still have not gotten even 150 Pokemon. Some of these new Pokemon include; Noctowl, Sentret, Crobat, Totodile, Bayleef, Togepi, Sudowoodo, and Steelix.

There is also two new types of Pokemon. In addition to the 15 originals there is now Steel and Dark types. Steel is good against Rock and Fire. Dark is good against Psychic. I'm not sure if any thing is good against Dark. Some Pokemon now have had there element changed. For example, Magnemite was Electric type in the old versions, now he is Electric/Steel.

Finally there is also tons of new moves. All of the old ones stood, and now there must be about 40 new moves! Some new moves include; Steel Wing, Sacred Fire, Giga Drain, and Rock Smash. Also some older moves have had the elements changed. For example, the attack, Bite was Normal, but now it is Dark.

Breeding

There is a cool new feature in Gold/Silver, which is breeding your Pokemon. However, this is not an easy thing to do. First you have to go to the day-care next to Golden Rod City in Johto and leave a Male and a Female Pokemon with the two day-care people. The Pokemon can be breaded, than in a certain amount of time, they will have an egg. You go back to the day care and talk to the old man. He will give you the egg and after time of having it in your party, it will hatch. Different Pokemon left in the day-care will result in a different Pokemon bread. New born Pokemon are at level 5.

PokeGear

This is your pack of cool thing that can be fun to use. You start with a cell phone, a back pack, and a radio. You can store 10 number in your phone. You start with Mom's and Prof. Elm's. Later you can get Bill's to help with remembering how many Pokemon are in your box. You can also get trainers numbers for tips on catching rare Pokemon and for re matches with the trainer. Back pack has different slots to hold different kinds of items. The radio is kind of useless. It's just to listen to music while walking. There is no use for it, except the Poke Flute channel which is used to wake Snorlax later in the game.

Graphics

Well, theirs not much to say. Out of all the other Game Boy Pokemon games, Gold/Silver have the best looking graphics. Their improved quite a bit from red/blue. Like when your in battles the Pokemon are not all blocky and are curved and neat looking. Looks good for a two year old gameboy color game.

Sound

Well, the sounds are a lot like bumps and clashes and stuff like that. However the music is not to bad. While riding your bike play's energetic music, towns play different kinds of music for each one. Your radio provides a total of 7 (8 with the secret one) different channels with music to play anytime, anywhere.

Final Comments

Pokemon Gold is a great game for Pokemon fans and non Pokemon fans!

Random Info.

Year of Release: 2000
Developer: Game Freak
Console: Game Boy Color
Genre: RPG
1 Player (2 Players with system link)

Final Rating: 9.6/10