Pokemon Gold/Silver

[Xanatos]

Introduction

As a long time gamer I've encountered only few games that managed to expand and improve over their predecessors as much as Gold and Silver did. Gold and Silver, later on Crystal as well, set certain standards that even their sequels failed to meet.

Story & Characters

As with every other Pokemon game, at least those in main series, you're a young lad who's dream is to become a Pokemon Master. After receiving your first Pokemon your journey begins. During that journey, you'll battle other trainers, gym leaders, catch and raise your own Pokemon, visit new and old places, even collide with a villainous group known as Team Rocket.

Pokemon Gold and Silver feature 100 new Pokemon as well as all of the old ones out of which are dozen exclusive to one version only, same case as was with older games. It features a more interesting rival, certainly one with more depth. Kanto, a region where events of first Pokemon games are set, being included as well means you'll encounter old characters and see how much they and their Pokemon have changed. As for other noticeable characters, there's Lance, the famous Dragon Master and head of Elite Four, who now has impact on the main story.

Gameplay

The most important thing is that the main core stayed pretty much intact, the main reason older games were so addictive. The gist of it is to catch and raise your own Pokemon which may or may not evolve into stronger forms. You do so by battling. Battling wild Pokemon or random trainers is rather easy thing to do, all you have to do is chose one out of four moves your Pokemon can perform. There's more to it of course, like knowing which type is effective against which, but the main essence is simple and easy to get hang of it. Thanks to brand new feature you can now battle certain trainers again, all you have to do is exchange your number with them. What makes these battles interesting is the more you battle your opponents the stronger their Pokemon get. Sometimes you also receive calls to be informed of certain rare Pokemon or your friend is just saying halo.

What's also new is the way you obtain Pokemon. Aside your usual where you have to use pokeball to catch a Pokemon there's a day care system in Gold and Silver where you leave two Pokemon of opposite gender to mate after which you receive an egg. There are certain Pokemon that can be only obtained this way. Gold and Silver also introduced day and night, time and seasons, there are Pokemon that only appear at certain time at day, some even once a week. There are tons of new items to use, which reminds me, now your Pokemon can hold items be it for restoring their health in critical condition or to raise their attack. Tons of new moves for your Pokemon to learn such as Whirlpool which is also a HM used to pass certain obstacle, or Steal where your Pokemon can actually steal items from other Pokemons. You can find trees with berries, and apricons, later one is used to make different pokeballs. You can also participate in various contests, there are several new ways to evolve your Pokemon...

Though the most important addition is two new types, Dark and Steel, which purpose is to balance older ones, most noticeably Physic and Fighting type.

Music

It's funny how tunes limited by Game Boy itself can put those made for far more advanced systems to shame.

Presentation

If you take into consideration that Gold and Silver are released on pretty much same system as their predecessors the improvement is simply staggering. The slick and organized menus, gorgeous sprites, the sheer amount of content... it's unbelievable how much Pokemon evolved with these two games.

Replay Value

Over 200 Pokemon to catch, two huge regions to explore, 16 badges to collect, not to mention how fun and addictive these games are... I've clocked over 200 hours in Pokemon Gold on one save file alone.

Final Verdict

10/10

[The furthest light]

there's a continuing problem with Pokemon games and it's that they're getting stale, they have to pull them selves together and kick us in the crotch with an absolute epic one, i sincerely hope they do.

[Xanatos]

I couldn't agree more. I lost interest in Pokemon games after third generation. Black & White changed few things and were somewhat fresh, but not enough I'm afraid. Pokemon design is also getting worse with every generation, I mean in Generation V you can fight an ice cream for God's sake. Clearly they're running out of ideas, hope things will get better though.

[The furthest light]

yeah and trubbish is just grimer wearing a bin bag, i think they should re-make the hoeen seriers and then do a massive one with all of them intertwined, now thatwould be worth waiting for

[nikewillson]

The Pokemon games which are very famous and the best options for the children is discussed as the books of these games are designed by using the gold, silver with improved over their predecessors are really nice. Please produce some more attachments for the more detailed view.