Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver, released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Kin and Pocket Monsters Gin (ポケットモンスター 金・銀, Poketto Monsutā Kin, Gin, lit. "Pocket Monsters Gold, Silver"), are two Game Boy Color enhanced video games for the Nintendo Game Boy. Released in 2000, these games started the second generation of the vastly popular Pokémon video game series. These games feature a new region called Johto, 100 new Pokémon and many more additions. They are also backward compatible with the first generation of games (Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow).
New region of Johto
Pokémon Gold and Silver introduces a separate region from the one in the original Pokémon titles (Kanto). This new region, named Johto, offers one hundred new Pokémon for players to capture and discover with a new version of the Pokédex; other new features include the Pokégear, Berries, a full-color world, special Pokéballs, and breeding Pokémon to produce Pokémon Eggs from which baby Pokémon hatch.
The player has the choice of starting with three different Pokémon, as usual. Chikorita is the Grass-Type starter that evolves into Bayleef and Meganium. Cyndaquil is the Fire-Type starter that can evolve into Quilava and Typhlosion. Totodile is the Water-Type the player can choose, which evolves into Croconaw and Feraligatr. The player may only get the other two Pokémon he or she did not choose from Professor Elm by trading with another copy of Gold, Silver, or Crystal.
The rival is much different from the one presented in Red and Blue. This time, he steals a Pokémon from Professor Elm (the person who gives players their starter Pokémon) and becomes the player’s rival throughout the course of the game. His name is unknown at first, but like the rival in Red and Blue, the rival will start with a Pokémon that has a type advantage on the player's Pokėmon; eventually, like in previous games, the player names him. His rough personality and lack of love for his Pokémon shows players what their attitude should not be like. However, he gets a change of heart on a Mt. Moon battle seeing that his harsh attitude gets him nowhere. In the manga he is Giovanni's son.
Team Rocket has returned with a new attitude, since the disappearance of their leader Giovanni, and once again tries to take over the world, starting with the Johto region. They begin with petty things (such as cutting off the tails of Slowpokes to sell as food for a high price) before becoming more devious, such as a plan to use radio frequencies to artificially induce evolution in some Pokémon, as well as trying to contact their missing leader using radio broadcasts.
Additions
More specialized Poké Balls were introduced in this game. For example, a Lure Ball is more effective if used against a Pokémon caught with a fishing rod, and a Friend Ball will make a Pokémon more comfortable and friendly to its trainer much quicker. To obtain these balls, Apricorns must be picked from special plants found throughout Johto, and Kurt in Azalea Town will fashion these into the different balls based on their color. However, Kurt can only make one ball at a time, and players must wait until the next day for Kurt to finish the ball. Although these specialized Poké Balls and Apricorns were not in future generations, there were other specialized balls.
The game introduces shiny Pokémon, i.e. Pokémon which have a different coloring than normal Pokémon of their species, and which appear very rarely (estimated to be a 1/8192 chance). In this second generation of games (though not the third generation which followed on GBA), these Pokémon often have better stats than regular non-shiny Pokémon, but can never get the maximum stats for that species. There is one exception to the shiny Pokémon system: A Red Gyarados can be found at the Lake of Rage. Since it is part of the storyline, it is impossible not to encounter this Pokémon.
The Pokérus (Pokémon virus) was introduced. The virus is even rarer (About a 1 in 32768 chance) to get than a “shiny” Pokémon, and raises the amount of stats that the player’s Pokémon gain each time the infected Pokémon levels up.
There are also three Legendary Pokémon (Raikou, Entei, and Suicune) that wander around Johto after they have been “awakened” at the Burnt Tower. These have been informally called the “Legendary Dogs” or “Legendary Cats” (a point of hot contention among fans, though Nintendo usually refers the them by their individual names or as “Legendary Pokémon”, only once having called them cats) and “Legendary Beasts” (by those wishing to avoid sparking debate). They change locations every time the player moves to a new location, though they can be tracked with the Pokédex once sighted. If encountered, they instantly attempt to run away, and if unable, use the move Roar, which ends the battle by forcing the player's retreat. Because of this, many players catch them with a Master Ball to avoid the hassle of attempting a battle. However, if the player does engage them in battle, any HP loss or status effects will stay the next time they are encountered.
In addition to the above three legendary Pokémon, Gold and Silver contained two new "Legendary Birds": Ho-Oh and Lugia. Ho-Oh is said to control Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. Lugia is said to control Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. Of the two, the one depicted on the game cartridge is encountered at level 40, while the other can be found at level 70 after the player defeats the Elite Four.
Known to many players, another legendary Pokémon was included in the game: Celebi. Analogous to Mew in the original set of games, Celebi could only be obtained through devices like GameSharks or through official Nintendo promotions. It was actually available in the Japanese version of the game.
Several new moves were also added, and as a result, a move deleter was introduced. He can be found at Blackthorn City, and his main purpose is to delete these new moves from a Pokémon in order to allow them to be traded to the older generation games. The move deleter can remove any move, including HM moves.
Time
A time system was introduced. At the beginning of the game, Professor Oak awakens the player before the traditional intro sequence. He asks the player the time, then the day of the week. The game’s clock is set accordingly. Afterwards, the protagonist’s mother will ask about Daylight saving time.
Throughout the game, Pokémon appearances are influenced by time of day; morning, day, and night. Hoothoot, for example, only appears at night (since it’s an owl-like Pokémon). On specific days, people will appear at specific locations and give the player items. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the bug catching contest is held in the national park. Lastly, in the tunnels underneath Goldenrod City, there are shops and stalls where people appear at specific times on specific days. Depending on the day of the week, either "Pokémon March" or "Pokémon Lullaby" can be heard on the Pokegear radio. Only one of them will play each day. In other words, the player could listen to Pokémon Lullaby as much as he or she wanted to that day, and the next day, he or she could only listen to Pokémon March. Pokémon March raises the chance of a Pokémon appearing when the player walks into the grass, while Pokémon Lullaby decreases that chance.
In addition, Eevee's two new evolutions, Espeon and Umbreon, will only come about at a certain time of day once Eevee levels up after becoming extremely attached to its trainer. Eevee will only evolve into Espeon in the morning or daytime and into Umbreon only at night.
Type changes
Two new types were introduced, Steel-type and Dark-type. These two types serve to balance the Psychic type, whose only weakness consisted of Bug-type moves; however, Bug-types lacked any powerful offensive moves in past games. In the second generation games, moves like the powerful Megahorn (120 power move with 85% accuracy) were added. Ghost-type moves are also now super-effective against Psychic-type Pokémon, as opposed to not having any effect previously. In addition, the Steel and Dark types also balanced the Fighting type, which was only "super effective" against Normal, Ice and Rock types; Steel and Dark are both weak against Fighting. Steel-type Pokémon are known for their very high defense; they are highly resistant to many types and their moves are strong against Ice- and Rock-type Pokémon. Dark-types are immune to Psychic-type moves and have moves with malicious-sounding names, like Bite and Thief, which are super-effective against Psychic-type. Dark-types are also strong against Ghost-types, thus being the only type that has an attack advantage over Ghost-type Pokémon besides Ghost-type moves themselves.
Another major change from the original series was the splitting of the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense. Again, this increased aspects of strategy, for Pokémon were now more specialized. Some were good special attackers, while others were better physical attackers; the same now held true for defense and special defense. For example, Cloyster has a decent Special stat in Red/Blue/Green/Yellow, but in all later games, has a decent Special Attack, but low Special Defense.
Some type match-ups were changed as well. In Pokémon Red and Blue Ghost-type moves had no effect on Psychic-types; this was changed to super-effective as it should have been. Poison-types originally were effective against Bug-types and Bug-types effective against Poison; this was changed to Poison doing normal damage to Bug and Bug becoming not very effective against Poison, seriously limiting the effectiveness and usage of Bug-types and Poison-types. Ice-type moves were also made not very effective against Fire-types (previously they did normal damage). In this version several moves had their type changed. For example, the move Gust was a Normal-type in the first generation games but is now a Flying-type move; the move Bite was a Normal-type move in the first generation, but now is Dark-type. Two Pokémon, Magnemite and Magneton are now Electric/Steel (in Red and Blue, they were pure electric).
Holding items
A new feature, Pokémon being able to hold items, raised the bar for strategy, because players could use held items to outspeed their rivals (Quick Claw), heal ailments (berries), restore HP in battle (Leftovers), boost element-specific attacks (Miracle Seed), or increase the Pokémon's happiness (Soothe Bell), among other uses.
Held items can be acquired on their own, but some are found already attached to Pokémon. For example, trading a Kadabra/Alakazam may result in obtaining a Twistedspoon, which is the only way to obtain this item. If the Pikachu that is given by Oak at the beginning of Pokémon Yellow is traded to Gold or Silver, it will be holding an item called the Light Ball, which doubles Pikachu's Special Attack power. Because of this, many players do not evolve their Pikachu and instead keep the massive power boost. Many other wild Pokémon hold items too, such as Leftovers from Snorlax and Lucky Punch from Chansey.
Breeding
With the introduction of breeding, all Pokémon belong to one or two breeding groups. It is important to note that legendary Pokémon cannot be bred; they are genderless, and will not breed, even with a Ditto (which can breed with any Pokémon capable of breeding).
A baby Pokémon will be born when a male Pokémon and a female Pokémon that share at least one breeding group are left at the Pokémon Daycare. In the case of Pokémon that are always male (Hitmontop, Nidoking, Tauros, etc.), or Gender Unknown group Pokémon (Magnemite, Voltorb), the only way to produce a baby from these species is by breeding them with a Ditto.
A baby Pokémon will inherit the species of its mother (or non-Ditto parent in the case of a Ditto breeding) and inheritable moves from its father (when it’s not a Ditto). Fathers always pass down TM moves that the baby’s species could learn, which are valuable (since some are only obtainable one time). If both parents know a move that the baby could learn by increasing its level, the baby is born knowing that move as well. Fathers may also pass down special moves called “Egg Moves” to the baby that it would not normally be able to learn by leveling up or evolving.
Changed Kanto
After beating the Elite Four at the Pokémon League, players can travel through Kanto, the region from the previous games, and see how things have changed over the past three years:
- The player can meet and battle many of the characters from the previous games, including the rival of the original games, Blue (Green in the Japanese versions). After completing the quests in Kanto, the player can access a new area in Johto and battle Red, the protagonist of the original games. Another quite notable difference is that Koga, gym leader of Fuchsia City (now Elite Four member), has been replaced by his daughter, Janine.
- Most of the music from the first generation games are used, and have had some major remixing done to most battle themes, and minor remixing done to the remaining tunes.
- Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres are no longer here, partially because they can already be caught in Red/Blue/Yellow. The Cerulean Cave and Mewtwo are also gone, though an NPC does mention the dungeon and an item called a "Berserk Gene" (presumably a gene from Mewtwo) is found in the water near where the Cerulean Cave once was.
- A key is no longer required to open the door to Lt. Surge in the Vermilion Gym, the garbage cans are all empty (except for trash) and there is no door at all.
- The Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town is replaced by a Radio Tower, similar to the one in Goldenrod City. In turn, the Pokémon gravesites were moved into the newly added Soul House.
- The Power Plant has also been altered, and it is now in use, which may be a reason why Zapdos is no longer there. Its use is to power the newly-opened Saffron City Magnet Train. After Copycat's house was torn down for the station, she received a free rail pass from a man at the station, which she gives to you after returning her lost doll from Vermillion City.
- Copycat still lives in Saffron City, but has moved to another home. Her old house is now the Magnet Train station.
- The Fighting Dojo leader is away training, so the Fighting Dojo only provides a Focus Band item left behind, which can be held by a Pokemon.
- The Safari Zone is closed while the warden is "on a vacation". Instead, the Johto Bug-Catching Contest at the National Park takes its place.[1] A portal to the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City is also found, but is also not used. A player can use GameShark or a similar device to find the unfinished Safari Zone.[1]
- A volcano has destroyed everything but the Pokémon Center on Cinnabar Island. Blaine has moved his Gym to the Seafoam Islands (which could be why Articuno left).
- Pokémon seen in the wild are different: many Johto Pokémon exist in the grass. Some Pokémon that were previously restricted to the Safari Zone, such as Kangaskhan, can be caught in the wild.
- The Bike Shop in Cerulean City has been closed down, due to the owners moving to Goldenrod.
- Gym Leader rosters are updated to include Johto Pokémon.
- Blue, the rival in Red and Blue is now the leader of the Viridian City Gym. Giovanni is nowhere to be seen, though he is mentioned. Red, the player’s character from Pokémon Red and Blue and Yellow shows up in Johto, in Mt. Silver and serves as the game's true final boss battle.
- Victory Road’s length has been drastically shortened, and no longer includes the barriers, boulders and pressure sensors.
- Viridian Forest has been reduced to that of a small group of trees visible outside the forest entrance.
- The other caverns and the Viridian Forest all have the same layout as they did before (with the exceptions of Mount Moon and the Seafoam Islands), just shrunk down.
- The tunnel from Celadon City to Lavender has been closed, ostensibly due to "vandalism". The game cites local complaints about battles in said tunnel.
- The museum in Pewter City is closed for renovation.
Glitches
There is a well known glitch in this game used to clone Pokémon often referred to as the interrupted save. It involves placing the Pokémon that the player wishes to clone into a box in Bill's PC that has room for at least one more Pokémon, then initiating an incomplete box change. When switching to another box in the PC, the game says that it is saving and asks the user not to turn off the power. The player must turn off the game just as the word "Saving" has appeared. When the player turns the game on, they will appear at the location they last saved. They should find the Pokémon in their party and Bill's PC. This trick can also be used to duplicate items by giving the Pokémon that item to hold. There are variations on this trick that allow the user to retain items, money, or TMs after using them to enhance a Pokémon by performing the interrupted save immediately following use.
This glitch was removed from the third generation games (Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire), yet returns in Pokemon Emerald.
Internal battery failure
A common problem found in the second generation of games is a problem with the internal battery after roughly six years. The internal battery is located inside of the cartridge which allows the game to save the user's progress. Many people have reported that their games no longer save due to this problem. It is possible to fix this, but the cartridge must be opened and the battery must be taken out, and a new battery must be soldered in.[2] The battery model is similar to model CR2025, and can be purchased at any electronics store. However, the internal battery has small conductive tabs spot-welded to its exterior, and are difficult to remove from the original battery. Although if the parabler secondry battery can be obtained by further dismantling of the game this will automatically fix the problem if removed and then the rest of the game is put back together
Pokémon Gold and Silver beta
In 1997, Nintendo put the first details and screenshots of their next Pocket Monsters game online. It was initially named "Pocket Monsters 2 Gold & Silver", and was developed for Game Boy and Super Game Boy and was planned for release at the end of the same year. Following a year without press releases, the official Nintendo site was updated with new information on Pokémon Gold and Silver. It gave information on the revised release date (June 1999) and it was stated to be compatible with the then-unreleased Game Boy Color. The Pokémon in Pokémon Gold and Silver were just a few of many different designs that Game Freak created. 100 new Pokémon were added, and even those often went through redesigns before making it into the final product.
After release of "Pokémon Gold & Silver", rom hackers began to notice odd things leftover in the game data that do not appear in the final copy. Some of the most interesting are beta versions of every town in Johto, Beta maps of every room in the lab from Cinnibar Island (from Red and Blue), and text referring to "SWEET HONEY", an item that was removed from Gold & Silver versions and not seen again until Pokémon Diamond & Pearl. Some of the more stange bits of leftover data include the text string: "(Player) Recieved VOLTORBBADGE!" while there is no pointer referencing this bit of text and no beta script has ever been found calling it, it leaves you to wonder exactly what it was there for. Also found in the rom is a beta version of tileset 1, which is, to say the least, interesting. Also less important are strings of text for people who in the current version only appear on a certain day of the week, with strings proclaiming "It's not (DAY). That's too bad."
There have been a few attempts by hackers to "Re-make" the beta version of the game using recovered data from the released version and educated guesses, however none of these has ever been completed into a playable rom image, the best one so far merely allowing you to walk around the beta maps and do nothing.
See also
References
PKMN.CO.UK Article on Beta Information