

A new trainer must step up to the plate, one willing to serve the world of research while pursuing his or her own dream of becoming a Pokémon master. As such, Professor Oak's Pokédex is out of date. New gyms have sprouted up in countless lands, the number of would-be trainers has increased, and new species of Pokémon are being discovered daily. Since that time, the world of Pokémon has changed considerably. And not to mention that this battle was challenging, something some of the newer games are definitely lacking.It has been three years since Ash Ketchum completed his quest to become a Pokémon master. Hell, they even gave Red a Pikachu as a nice shout out to the anime. The final climatic battle against Red, the player character from the first generation, was nothing short of epic.

The shoutouts to both the original trilogy and the anime were perfectly executed.

It’s time to go back to your favorite areas from the first generation, re-imagined in beautiful color. You think you’ve beaten the game, only to realize you are only halfway through it. Take care: this section involves spoilers on a 17-year-old game! Pokemon Gold and Silver not only included its own full-length story in Johto, but also completely incorporated the Kanto region itself. The legendary dogs in addition to Lugia and Ho-Oh more clearly tied into the game’s lore and story as well, giving extra special meaning to catching those illusive rascals. This mechanic made players feel so much more accomplished than walking into a cave and finding a legendary just sitting there waiting for you. These difficult games of hide-and-seek made catching the three legendary beasts all the more exciting.
#Steel beasts gold gameplay series#
Pokemon Gold and Silver were also the first in the series to introduce legendary Pokemon that could actually move around the map. This was one of the first games I actually paid attention to the nuances of Pokemon stats and didn’t just spam overpowered Psychic moves to victory. Separating the relatively vague Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense increased strategy in battle. Adding Dual-typed Pokemon helped with this too. Probably the biggest change mechanically was the introduction of Steel and Dark-type Pokemon, which fixed balance issues with Poison and Psychic types. I don’t think my parents appreciated either of these, however, when I came asking them late at night how breeding works. The ability to breed Pokemon not only forced genders onto our favorite creatures but also gave us cute little baby Pokemon like Pichu and Elekid. I remember setting up a jerry-rigged flashlight in my room just so I could play under the covers to catch those pesky nocturnal Houndours or level my Eevee into an Umbreon. Limiting certain events and Pokemon’s availability to certain times of the day added a lot of variety and immersive changes to the gameplay. The day and night cycle based on a real-time internal clock was borderline genius. Glitches were rampant – who doesn’t remember exploiting the Old Man glitch to find MissingNo? Or going through the insane number of complicated steps required to trick the game into spawning a Mew? But Pokemon Gold and Silver took everything we loved about the OG Pokemon games and refined them. As much as I loved my overpowered Alakazam, type balancing wasn’t quite refined. While Red, Blue, and Yellow (and Green) set in motion the international Pokemon craze, these games were a bit rough around the edges. In fact, we think that Gold and Silver are the best games in the entire Pokemon franchise. What I didn’t realize was just how important these games became to the series as a whole. Nintendo’s Game Boy Color was my very first self-purchased gaming device, and growing up in the 90s, Pokemon was the thing to play. I will admit that these two Pokemon games have always held a special place in my heart. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited when I first heard that Pokemon Gold and Silver were coming to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. Here’s why we think these two classics are the best games in the series. Pokemon Gold and Silver recently released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.
