It wasn’t long after release that Pokemon Red and Blue became a full on international phenomenon. You couldn’t leave the house without hearing the name or seeing someone playing it on the their Game Boy. At least that was the case for me, but I was a kid back then. What’s interesting is the fact that neither me nor anyone I played it with ever considered that Nintendo would ever make a sequel. We were still playing the originals every single day, and there was always something new to discover. When Nintendo did announce the sequels, dubbed Pokemon Gold and Silver, fans went absolutely crazy. The developers were creating over a hundred brand new Pokemon, and even introducing new types in an effort to drastically enhance gameplay. For some reason when these were released I had just worn myself out on the originals and skipped out on them. Years later I’ve finally played Gold and Silver, and Nintendo really nailed it.
The storyline here takes place in the same world, but within a different region of it. Taking the place of animals, bugs, and fish in this world are Pokemon. These little creatures are used for a variety of purposes but in this case we’re going to focus on their abilities to fight. At the start of the adventure we’re introduced to the land of Johto which features different terrain, new towns, and of course new Pokemon. Just as in the original here we play as a young up and coming Pokemon trainer. He is given a creature with which to start his journey (a choice from three) by the kind Professor Elm. Another youngster soon breaks into his lab and steals one of the other Pokemon from him. It’s up to your character to not only track down and defeat this fire haired youth, but also travel the land challenging Gyms and their leaders (the most powerful Pokemon trainers in the land) and collecting badges from them. Upon completing this task you can take on the Elite Four in an effort to be recognized as the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the land. Unfortunately there’s something more sinister going on in the background with the revival of the evil Team Rocket, and it’s up to you to stop them along the way. The story and most aspects of the scenario are pretty much a re-tread.
Pokemon Gold and Silver play in a very similar way to the originals. As a Pokemon trainer you set out into the world with only one creature. While the goal outlined in the story is to collect all of the badges and defeat the elite four you’re also challenged to capture all of the Pokemon in the world. Gold and Silver are fairly traditional role playing games. You wander throughout the world from an overhead perspective as you travel across the country side, into towns, through buildings, and even into deep dark caves. Battles occur in one of two ways; you will be attacked either by wild Pokemon while walking through tall grass. When you walk in front a of a Pokemon trainer you will also be challenged to a battle. Battles are strictly turn based affairs and play out similarly to most others belonging to this genre. The Pokemon at the top of your list is sent into battle at the onset, and you select one of four commands for them (all are specific to each creature, and you can customize it to your liking). Actions are carried out and blows are exchanged between the two Pokemon at this point. When a creature runs out of hit points they ‘faint’ and the trainer sends out their next combatant. If they run out then the battle is over. You can have up to six Pokemon with you at once, and the rest of your catch is stored elsewhere and can be withdrawn whenever you choose.
Many are quick to write off the battle system as something geared toward children. It’s actually extremely complicated when you familiarize yourself with its nuances. Each Pokemon is rated with a ‘type’ which is basically their element. Some creatures have both a primary and secondary type which further complicates things. This determines their strengths, weaknesses, and generally which type of special moves they can learn as they level up. Each type is strong and weak against several others, and the spectrum is quite large here. You have standard ones such as normal, fire, water, grass, electricity, flying etc., but things get more colorful with ghost, psychic, dragon, ice, and poison. Gold and Silver are most notable for introducing the brand new dark and steel types to the mix. These were no doubt an effort to balance some of the overpowered elements from the original such as psychic, and although they’re underutilized in this release it’s still a huge step forward. In addition several new special moves have been added to the mix, and some have even switched types. This re-balancing is actually pretty beneficial to the experience in my opinion.
That’s not all that Game Freak added to the mix with Pokemon Gold and Silver however. For starters, the games now run on a battery based clock. The time of day changes in-game, and this affects the experience in several ways. For starters, some Pokemon only appear in the wild at specific times of the day. Johto itself is a very fun area to explore, but I was initially disappointed with how small it is when compared to Kanto of the original. There’s a reason for that; after beating the elite four you travel to a re-made version of Kanto (made smaller in order to cram into the cartridge). Here you can challenge all of the gym leaders anew, and even an enhanced version of the original elite four. Because time has passed there have been some changes, and it’s extremely fun to notice all of them. The best part of the game however is the fact that, at the very end of the adventure, you can actually challenge the protagonist from Pokemon Red/Blue. He’s the final boss, and believe you me; he’s no pushover. The fact that there are over one hundred new Pokemon, a day/night system, and you can travel back to Kanto makes this one incredible package. It must have taken some real wizardry to cram it all into this one cartridge. You can even battle/trade with owners of the original games, but unfortunately the old versions aren’t compatible with any of the new creatures.
The graphics are a noticeable improvement from the original release. Unfortunately these titles are still held back by the original and very limited hardware. The overworld graphics aren’t particularly great. Characters lack detail, and many of the backgrounds are solid colors with only the most basic textures. Battle scenes are about the same, but what’s impressive is the fact that Nintendo was able to contain within this cartridge every single one of the designs. There’s over two hundred different Pokemon, and they all feature a detailed battle sprite. There’s no animation, but they still look really good by Game Boy standards. In addition the developers implemented Color support and it makes the whole game look very nice. The soundtrack is also very well enjoyable, but the new music doesn’t stand up quite as well as the old stuff. Thankfully both are contained here, and so it’s hard to be mad. What’s cool is the fact that each Pokemon has their own battle cry, and while these are just simple bleep and blip jingles they’re still highly memorable.
Pokemon Gold and Silver is one of those rare sequels that delivers more than anyone could have ever expected. This is a well crafted adventure that’s absolutely chock full of content. I would go so far as to say that this is the most packed release on the Game Boy. Unfortunately Nintendo made the poor decision to not make their future games compatible with those on their original handheld. This means that there’s little point in playing this release, but thankfully they have remade it for the Nintendo DS.
