| A
lot of people seem to forget that Pokemon was a great game
long before it was actually marketable. Essentially
"Pokemon 2," Pokemon Gold and Silver build on the
first game's success and refine an already excellent game.
If you've
played Pokemon, you pretty much know how things are going to
go. Once again you'll jump into the shorts of a plucky young
would-be Pokemon Master. Once again you'll help a Pokemon
researcher catalog all of the world's Pokemon. And once again
you'll have a rival attempting to thwart you at every turn.
While the story is the same, Game Freak has added a number of
cool and innovative features to the gameplay to make Pokemon
Gold and Silver more than more of the same.
Everyone
wants to know about the new Pokemon, so let's getnew
characters out of the way first. Pokemon Gold and Silver add
100 new Pokemon to the ever-growing, ever-cutening menagerie.
Having already established itself, Creatures Inc. decided to
take even more creative license with the monster designs. Some
of the new Pokemon are downright weird, but most of them are
pretty darned cool. At the beginning of the game, you're
presented with a trio of Pokemon to choose from. The choice is
pretty much the same as it was before: Hinoarashi is an
adorable aardvark with a flaming posterior, Waninoko is a
sprightly blue gator, and Chicorita is a bizarre quadruped
with an enormous leaf growing from its head. Like the Nidoran
duo of Red and Blue, all Pokemon now come in male and female
flavors. As one would deduce from this, you can now breed
Pokemon by putting a male and female Pokemon together for a
period of time, resulting in an egg. A few of the new Pokemon
are actually earlier forms of Pokemon Red and Blue, such as
Pikachu's adorable, evolutionary precursor, Pichu, and can
only be gotten by hatching an egg. In addition to the previous
15 types of Pokemon, Gold and Silver add two new types to the
mix - Dark and Steel. The primary purpose of Dark and
Steel-type Pokemon is to make up for a few weaknesses in the
previous games' lineup. For example, Dark-type Pokemon are
strong against the previously unassailable Psychic-type
Pokemon. Additionally, you can import your favorite Pokemon
from previous versions of the game through the Time Capsule,
which is found in every Pokemon Center.
The biggest
change is the addition of time to the Pokemon experience.
Unlike most games with time cycles, Pokemon's is not scaled
down - time passes in real time. When you start the game,
you're asked to set the cartridge's internal clock. Assuming
you set it for your real time, the game will represent the
current real-world time in the game. For the most part, this
changes which Pokemon are out roaming in the wild. At night,
you can expect a completely different mix of Pokemon than you
can expect in the morning or midday. Additionally, certain
events take time to happen - the Pokeballs master, Gantetsu,
needs a full real-world day to forge new Pokeballs for our
hero, for example.
Pokemon
Gold and Silver also introduce the Pokegear, an expandable
computer wristwatch. Built into the Pokegear is a cell phone
and phone directory. Certain trainers will offer their phone
number after being defeated. Occasionally trainers will call
you for a rematch, a cool feature that really helps the game
feel more alive. The hero's mother will also call to give you
money or items as you progress through the game. Later in the
game you can get map and radio expansion cards, which will
make the Pokegear even more useful.
Beyond
these two major differences, Pokemon Gold and Silver provide
you with a number of small improvements. The inventory
interface has been turned into a handy backpack that
auto-sorts items into four different pockets based on what the
items are. The Pokemon storage boxes on the PC are now easier
to navigate and manage, as well. Players equipped with Game
Boy Colors can now exchange and battle Pokemon, trade items,
and even receive mysterious parcels from the Pikachu Color
virtual pet.
Pokemon
Gold and Silver will work on any Game Boy but were obviously
made to show off the Game Boy Color. The world of Pokemon
looks fantastic in true color, and Pokemon Gold and Silver are
probably the best-looking color-native games the system has to
offer. The music is catchy and peppy, featuring many remixed
tunes from Pokemon Red and Blue.
While it
may be hard to believe, Pokemon Gold and Silver are every bit
as exciting as the original games were at first, despite the
various similarities between the titles. The abundant new
features, gameplay options, interface improvements, and, of
course, new Pokemon make Pokemon Gold and Silver easily the
best Pokemon games yet. So good are they, in fact, that going
back to the old games is surprisingly difficult. While these
games are probably almost a year away from a US release,
Pokemon fans should probably wait - reading Japanese is
important to advance in Gold and Silver.
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