Upon the release of Pokémon: Blue Version and Pokémon: Red Version (Game Freak, 1996), a new craze swept through playgrounds across the world. An entire generation grew up either playing Pokémon, watching the anime, playing the trading card game, and watching the feature-length movies as clever marketing and a co-ordinated release and multimedia strategy saw Nintendo’s newest franchise become not just a successful videogame franchise but a massively lucrative and popular multimedia powerhouse that endures to this day. Accordingly, February 27^th is now internationally recognised as “National Pokémon Day”, which I’m expanding to an entire month of Pokémon every Tuesday in February.

Released: 26 January 2018
Originally Released: 14 December 2000
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Game Freak
Also Available For: GameBoy Color

The Background:
I’ve talked before not just about Pokémon but also about how Pokémon: Gold Version and Pokémon: Silver Version (Game Freak, 1999) are my favourite games in the franchise. Thanks to the success of not just the first Generation of Pokémon videogames but also an aggressive multimedia strategy, Pokémon became an instant cultural phenomenon across the world, and yet the developers originally intended for Pokémon: Gold and Silver to be the final entries in the series. The sequels immediately sought to improve upon the gameplay, graphics, and mechanics of the first games; developed exclusively for the GameBoy Color, the game would feature a greater colour palette, backwards compatibility with the previous games, a real-time internal clock, and one-hundred new Pokémon to collect and battle (in addition to two new Types, Dark and Steel). Although many of these Pokémon were dropped, or significantly redesigned, during the game’s development, Nintendo offered the otherwise-inaccessible Celebi as a promotional extra and Pokémon: Gold and Silver were highly anticipated by me, personally, thanks to the new Pokémon cropping up in the anime and movies.

This Generation stands out for me for including things like a day/night cycle, breeding, and including the entire region of Kanto as post-game content and, like Pokémon: Blue and Red, Pokémon: Gold and Silver were not only highly praised at the time but also soon followed by a third entry, Pokémon: Crystal. While essentially the same game, Pokémon: Crystal was a trend-setter for the franchise, allowing players to choose the gender of their avatar, including partially animated battle sprites, featuring a whole additional side-story revolving around Suicune and the Unown, and debuting the ever-popular Battle Tower for players to further test their mettle. Again, thanks to Pokémon’s popularity and including additional elements as an incentive for a further purchase, Pokémon: Crystal was well received upon release and has been noted as one of the best Pokémon games. Many elements from Pokémon: Crystal became series staples in subsequent releases, and featured prominently in the Gold and Silver remakes, and the game was later released on the 3DS Virtual Console with the Celebi event included as standard.

The Plot:
The time has come to receive your first Pokémon from Professor Elm and challenge the Gym Leaders and Pokémon of the Johto region. However, your journey is disrupted by your mysterious rival, who stole one of Professor Elm’s Pokémon, and the villainous Team Rocket, who seek to return the group to their former glory. Things are further complicated when you cross paths with Eusine, who has made it his life gal to earn the respect of the legendary beast Suicune.

Gameplay:
As I said, I regard the second generation of Pokémon games as my favourite in the franchise; I remember going out of my way to get Pokémon: Blue when it first came out, and then snapping up Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition (ibid, 1998) simply because of how popular the franchise was, and me and my friends were so eager for new Pokémon games that we readily downloaded barely-translated ROMs of Gold and Silver just to experience them. I had Pokémon: Silver back in the day, but always wanted Pokémon: Gold and never had the chance to play Pokémon: Crystal as I was firmly into collecting for the Game Boy Advance by then, so I jumped at the chance to get it before the 3DS Virtual Console shut down for good simply because of how much I enjoyed Pokémon: Silver and Pokémon: HeartGold (ibid, 2009). Essentially, Pokémon: Crystal is the same Pokémon you know and love: the game is a top-down role-playing game (RPG) in which players get to first pick their gender, name their avatar, select from three starter Pokémon, and embark on a journey to raise a well-balanced team, challenge the Johto Gym Leaders, and take on the Pokémon League. As was the style at the time, Pokémon: Crystal isn’t prone to holding your hand; you can talk to non-playable characters (NPCs) for clues, tips, lore, and some instructions but you’re mostly left to your own devices, though the game often bars your progress behind impassable objects like trees, bodies of water, or battling trainers that can only be bypassed by defeating Gym Leaders or acquiring Hidden Machines (HMs). As before, Pokémon: Crystal utilises an extremely simple control scheme that lets you organise your party, equip and use items, and save your progress or alter settings quickly and easily, and the user interface is vastly improved over the last games, with your pack now divided into pockets for key items PokéBalls, and healing items and even lets you set an item to the ‘Select’ button for quick use.

As ever, gameplay is divided into exploring the overworld and one-on-one battles against wild or trainer-owned Pokémon. On the overworld, you’ll chat to NPCs with A, activate switches and pressure pads, and pick up items; if you walk into grass, caves, or surf on water, you’ll soon encounter a wild Pokémon, which switches the game to a battle screen where you and your opponent take turns to inflict damage or status effects on each other, or use in-battle items to heal or relieve status effects or try and capture the Pokémon. You can also run from wild Pokémon (as long as you’re a higher level), but not from a Trainer battle, and many wild Pokémon can also now flee from battle, which can make capturing them trickier. Pokémon battles are dictated by a “Type” system that’s basically a version of Rock/Paper/Scissors; Water-Type Pokémon inflict greater damage against Fire-Type Pokémon, for example, while Grass-Types trump Water and are weak to Fire. There are now seventeen different Types of Pokémon in the game, with Dark- and Steel-Types adding an extra dimension to battle as the previously all-powerful Psychic-Type Pokémon now have a formidable weakness in Dark-Type Pokémon and moves. While some moves, like Bite, have changed Type to align with this new system, it’s all pretty simple to figure out thanks to battle text informing you when moves are “Super effective” or “Not very effective” and external factors like your location, wild Pokémon names, and their colouring and appearance cluing you in on the best attack strategy. If you’re fishing in the sea, for example, and hook a Qwilfish (which is blue, clearly identified as a fish), it’s pretty obvious that you need to use a Grass- and Electric-Type to inflict maximum damage. At the beginning, you can pick between three different Pokémon, a Fire-, Grass-, or Water-Type, and I recommend keeping them in your party and five to ten levels higher than the rest of your team simply because they are your first Pokémon. You can choose to give this Pokémon, and any others you catch (but not ones you acquire via trading) a nickname to personalise them, and you’ll you can swap around your Pokémon’s moves at any time either in-battle or from the pause menu, or swap or release them from the PCs found in Pokémon Centers.

To ease you into the game, early wild Pokémon and Pokémon Trainers are all at low-levels and you’re usually always at an advantage because your Pokémon have higher stats. Winning Pokémon battles will award your Pokémon with experience points (EXP); earn enough, and your Pokémon will level-up, which will increase their Hit Points (HP), Attack, Defence, Speed, and Special stats (now split into Special Attack and Special Defense) and thus make them more powerful. One of the best quality of life improvements in Pokémon: Crystal is the addition of an in-battle EXP progress bar so you can easily keep track of your Pokémon’s progress, and you can swap out Pokémon in battles to share EXP and level them up faster, which you’ll want to do as it’s helpful (though not necessarily necessary by any means) to have a diverse team with decent Type coverage. Don’t level-up too fast, though, as your Pokémon will disobey you if they’re too high a level and you don’t have the appropriate Gym Badge. I like to circumvent this by grinding between Gym battles; by keeping my main Pokémon five to ten levels stronger, but a few levels below the level cap, it can ensure that I’m always stronger enough for the next battle, though I did notice that I was spending more time grinding between Gyms than in my Pokémon: Yellow playthrough. Pokémon will learn new moves from levelling-up, or from Technical Machines (TMs), and it’s recommended to give your Pokémon moves that play to their strengths (if they have a high Attack stat, for example, you don’t really want to have moves that are all Special Attacks) and go against their Type (teaching Poison-Type moves to Grass-Type Pokémon, for example) so they have greater Type coverage in battle. In addition to the untrackable Effort Value (EV) points (earned by consecutively battling certain Pokémon, so defeating a bunch of Hoothoot in a row will boost your HP stat by one point), Pokémon: Crystal also introduces a hidden “Happiness” stat. the more you travel with, use, and care for your Pokémon, the happier it will become; you can boost this stat by grooming them and feeding them Vitamins (which also boost individual stats) or equipping them with certain items in order to max out their Happiness and trigger their evolution.

As before, battles and gameplay are as hard as you make them; if you don’t bother levelling-up a diverse team, then battles will eventually become harder to win. You can avoid a Trainer battle by staying out of the sight line of Trainers, but I recommend battling every Trainer you come up against to strengthen your team and earn PokéDollars, and some Trainers will even give you their phone number and call you with tips or for a rematch. Trainers are much more capable this time around; not only do they have all the same options as you when it comes to swapping and healing their Pokémon, but they also don’t have to worry about running out of Power Points (PP). Pokémon can still only know four moves at a time, so you’ll have to either replace an existing move to learn a new one or visit the Move Deleter to do this outside of levelling-up or to forget HM moves, and each move has a certain number of PP. When you’re all out, you can’t use that move anymore and will eventually either have to use “struggle” (which inflicts recoil damage to you), replenish PP with a Berry or Elixir, or restore your Pokémon at a Pokémon Center. If you’re not careful in battle, your Pokémon will end up “fainting” when their HP is drained and, if all your Pokémon faint, you’ll “white out”, lose some money, and respawn at the last Pokémon Center you visited. As before, you also need to be wary of status effects, which can cause Pokémon to flinch (basically miss a turn), become confused (often resulting in them hurting themselves), miss their attacks, fall sleep or become paralysed or poisoned (which also drains HP when on the overworld), burned, or frozen. While some attacks and items will also boost your stats and your chance at inflicting greater damage with a “Critical Hit”, Pokémon: Crystal features far more moves that power up and negate certain Types, like Sunny Day and Rain Dance buffing Fire- and Water-Types, respectively. You can undo these status effects using certain items, and can have your Pokémon hold Berries that they’ll automatically eat when inflicted with a status effect or at low HP or PP to help them shake off these debilitating effects.

Victory in Trainer battles earns you PokéDollars to spend in PokéMarts and at vending machines on healing items, hold items, Vitamins, single-use power-ups, and other useful gear to help you in battle or with raising your Pokémon. Items and Pokémon can be stored in PCs when required (you can still only have six Pokémon at a time, so any additional Pokémon are automatically transferred to your PC) but you can choose to have your mother save some money for you, which will award you with extra items and toys to furnish your bedroom with. Although you still only get one save file, you can manually save your progress at any time on the overworld and I recommend saving frequently, and especially before Gym Leader battles or encounters with Legendary Pokémon so you can reset if you make a mistake. Just like before, you need to defeat eight Gym Leaders to earn their badges and challenge the Pokémon League while also working on completing Professor Oak’s PokéDex by capturing Pokémon. The PokéDex has also received an upgrade, making searching for and viewing Pokémon much easier, but you’ll still only be able to fully complete it by trading with Gold, Silver, and even the Generation One games using the “Time Machine” function and by evolving Pokémon through battle, raising their Happiness, using special stones, or by trading (often now with them holding a special item). You can manually cancel some evolutions, and even have Pokémon hold an Everstone to suppress their evolution, which is sometimes recommended as Pokémon learn moves faster in their weaker forms and some moves can only be learned prior to evolution. Another new feature in this game is breeding; each Pokémon is either male, female, or gender neutral and you can leave two Pokémon at the Day Care to be raised outside of battle or, if they’re compatible, breed either a pre-evolution like Pichu and Igglybuff or a slightly stronger version of an existing Pokémon with moves they wouldn’t normally learn. When Pokémon breed, you’re given an egg; these eggs will hatch after you’ve taken a certain number of steps or cycled a certain distance, and breeding can be a great way or filling up the PokéDex quickly alongside regular battling, though you won’t be able to breed Legendary Pokémon and some take longer to produce an egg than others.

A Pokémon’s gender is clearly visible next to their name in battle, and a further quality of life feature is that you’ll see a little PokéBall next to a wild Pokémon’s name to indicate that you’ve caught it, and the game is littered with similar helpful additions mainly tied to your PokéGear. This device houses your map, phone, and a radio which lets you listen to shows offering tips or music that will either wake up Pokémon or put them to sleep and allow you to track the mysterious goings-on at the Runs of Alph. Here, you’ll investigate strange symbols and encounter the useless Unown, though there are slide puzzles to play here and twenty-four different variations of this Pokémon to find and record for a nearby scientist. Your progress is again restricted by trees, water, and dark caves, but now you also have to content with waterfalls and whirlpools. You can again get past these obstacles with HMs, which again double as faster ways of traversing the map: Fly, for example, lets you fly to any Pokémon Center on the map, but you can also use Dig to quickly exit caves (especially useful when you’re out of Escape Ropes), Teleport to warp to exits, and acquire a bicycle (but, sadly, not a skateboard) to dramatically increase up your movement speed. Many of the same minor puzzles return from the last game, meaning you’ll be pressing switches or pushing boulders or using teleport pads to get around, though you’ll also encounter slippery ice, a strange plant that can only be moved using a special water bottle, and numerous instances where the local Gym Leader is either busy with another task or won’t battle you until you’ve complete a side quest. These primarily involve the returning Team Rocket, who have been cutting the tails off Slowpoke, take over the radio tower, and steal vital components from the Kanto power plant. When team Rocket is in town, you’ll need to clear them all out to make the Gym and other areas accessible, but you’re also hounded by your rival, a red-haired boy who stole a Pokémon from Professor Elm and is obsessed with power. Other side quests include searching for a Farfetch’d in Ilex Forest, competing in a bug-catching contest, fetching medicine for a sick Ampharos, feeding Berries to a poorly Miltank, exploring Dragon’s Den, and capturing a strange Gyarados at the Lake of Rage. This will most likely by your introduction to “Shiny” Pokémon, extremely rare palette swaps of Pokémon that occasionally appear in battle. Perhaps the most prominent side quest here involves the Legendary Beasts, specifically Suicune; the three beasts are released into the wild early into the game but, while you’ll randomly encounter Entei and Raikou while wandering around and be left tearing your hair out as they constantly flee from battle, you’ll come across Eusine in his search for Suicune as you journey around Johto and eventually be able to tackle the elusive beats one-on-one to add it to your collection.

Graphics and Sound:
Obviously, Pokémon: Crystal is still going to be noticeably limited compared to later games in the series, but the improvements between this game and not just the first generation but even Gold and Silver are pretty impressive. I never thought of the Game Boy Color as being an especially powerful device compared to the original Game Boy, but this game is huge compared to the first games, with a vibrant colour palette that is far more detailed than what we saw in the first games. Towns and routes are much more visually interesting, with grass and trees and plants swaying and bobbing as you explore, the town and route names popping up onscreen, and a distinctly Japanese aesthetic to the far more impressive interiors of buildings. All of the sprites have been given a complete makeover, meaning overworld sprites and battle sprites are far more diverse and detailed; there are new Trainer classes available in the game, new animations for the PokéBalls, and not only a bunch of new moves added to the game but much more interesting and visually exciting attack animations, with more frames and colours being utilised to really make the most of the Game Boy Color’s capabilities. Although you can’t have a Pokémon follow you around like in Pokémon: Yellow, Pokémon now have little animation frames when they appear onscreen, sparkle when they’re Shiny, and even their menu and HM sprites have been overhauled to make them more distinctive.

While Johto’s towns and areas aren’t really all that different from Kanto’s, and are probably a little less visually diverse than I’d like, there’s still some fun locations to explore here. Goldenrod City has a Game Corner and a large PokéMart like Celedon City, but also an underground passage, a radio tower, an ice cave, and the Magnet Train which can allow swift access to and from Johto to Kanto; structures like Bellsprout Tower, Burnt Tower, and Tin Tower are not only great places to train ut also key to catching the game’s Legendary Pokémon; and you can even explore a lighthouse (which is full of holes to fall down) and the entirety of Kanto! Perhaps the biggest new feature in this generation was the inclusion of a day/night cycle; at the start of the game, you set the date and time and, as day turns to night, the palette changes accordingly and this even affects the evolution and appearance of some Pokémon. Different NPCs and events will also happen on certain days, and noting the date and time is essential for completing the PokéDex and acquiring certain items. Although the game is bolstered by some jaunty, memorable little chip tunes and Pokémon cries are much improved, the sound is still a bit of a weak spot here; you can tune into different radio channels to change the music though, which is fun. While your pack is far easier to navigate, its capacity is still limited, but storing and retrieving items is much easier this time around, as is rearranging the order of items in your pack, and you can interact with far more on the overworld: Berry plants, Pokémon blocking your path, and even certain trees can all be interacted with to pick-up items or trigger a battle, and you can again use the Itemfinder to seek out hidden items. Like in Pokémon: Yellow, Pokémon: Crystal features an all-new intro sequence, this one focusing on Suicune and the Unown, and you can even choose to play as a girl if you like (though this has no impact on the gameplay other than changing your sprite).

Enemies and Bosses:
In your quest to conquer the Pokémon League, you’ll battle a wide variety of Pokémon both in the field and in use by various Pokémon Trainers. Wild and Trainer Pokémon begin at low levels, generally between three and six, but get progressively stronger as you advance to new areas and when you’re called for a rematch, which will help you to grow stronger on a rising curve. Your ability to weaken these Pokémon for capture or defeat them is directly tied to your Pokémon’s current level and moves; if your Pokémon is weak and only knows moves like Bubble and Leer or bring an Electric-Type into a forest or a Bug-Type into a cave you’ll struggle to advance. The same applies to Pokémon Trainers; they start off using one or two weak Pokémon like Sentret and Spinarak but eventually use more formidable and evolved Pokémon. They’ll also withdraw them, heal them, or buff them with items and, while you can exploit the enemy A.I. at times, Pokémon Trainers tend to use moves that have a Type advantage over your current Pokémon. Pokémon: Crystal introduces new moves that can prolong or frustrate battles as well; Protect will render your next attack useless, Spikes will damage any Pokémon you send into battle, and some moves, like Dynamic Punch, not only hit hard but also inflict confusion on their victim. Still, with enough grinding and a diverse team, you can easily overcome every opponent you face; simply take some time between Gym battles to level-up, develop specific stats if that’s your jam, and bringing your team as close to the level cap as possible, utilising moves that are super effective and sharing EXP wherever possible, and you can easily trample over the opposition once you’ve gotten past the uphill battle at the start of the game.

After being absent for a few years, Team Rocket has come back but they’re far less of a threat than in the first generation; these nefarious individuals are easily identified by their black attire and caps and will impede your progress until you’ve cleared them out of towns, towers, and buildings. When exploring their hidden base in Mahogany Town, you’ll be constantly beset by the gang when you walk in front of security cameras, though Pokémon League Champion Lance is on hand to help you out by healing your team. When you encounter them in the radio tower, you’ll have to battle a Rocket Executive posing as the tower’s director, and they’ve been cutting off Slowpoke tails to sell them earlier in the game, but Team Rocket’s grunts really aren’t much of a threat and tend to stick to common Pokémon like Rattata, Muk, and Zubat. In comparison, your rival is much more malicious than Blue from the last game; this guy (often dubbed “Silver”) is not just rude, arrogant, and obsessed with training only the most powerful Pokémon, but also a conceited bully, pushing you away and past you and refusing to help fend off Team Rocket since it doesn’t suit his goals. Unfortunately, the rivalry between you isn’t as big of a factor as in the last game; the rival pops up at various points throughout the game, but it’s easy to forget he even exists and he doesn’t even end up being the Pokémon League Champion, which is a shame as it would’ve been easy to have him be the mastermind behind Team Rocket’s return and maybe tie him into the Ruins of Alph and Suicune sub-plots. Your rival will steal whatever starter Pokémon has a Type advantage against yours (in my case, he took Chikorita) but eventually expands his team to include Sneasel, Golbat, Magneton, Alakazam, and Gengar to give him good Type coverage across the board. However, a diverse and high-levelled team can easily send him packing in every encounter; in my playthrough, I barely even needed to swap my Pokémon out between each round thanks to teaching my Feraligatr Bite, Ice Punch, Surf, and Dynamic Punch and going into every encounter at least ten levels higher than him, making him a visually interesting but hardly challenging successor to Blue.

A whole new world to live in means eight all-new towns and eight new Gym Leaders to battle, each specialising in a specific Pokémon Type and often (but, oddly, not always) protected by a number of protégés and some light puzzles, such as a maze, obscured path, or the pushing of boulders. Other times, Gyms will be empty, locked, or otherwise barred and you’ll need to complete a side quest to gain entry. While you don’t have  to fight the Gym Leader’s minions, I recommend it so you don’t miss out on some EXP and cash, and it’s again recommended to have a diverse team on hand (though you can often helpfully find wild Pokémon nearby that can counteract the Gym’s specialty). Your first challenge is Falkner, who uses Flying-Type Pokémon; as long as you don’t have a Grass-Type on hand and, honestly, why would you?) this isn’t anything to worry about and you can improve your chances by taking a slight detour and catching a Ground-Type Phanpy. Bugsy is a walk in the park if you have a Fire-Type, though I felt the pinch against his Scyther’s Fury Cutter since I opted for Totodile instead of my usual Cyndaquil. Most players run into a brick wall when faced with Whitney and her Miltank, which can deal increasingly more devastating damage with its Rollout attack, but I honestly had no trouble besting it was a Level 28 Croconaw using Bite and Ice Punch (though a Fighting-Type Pokémon or moves are your best bet against her). Neither Morty or Chuck are much of a challenge either since you can take both out with Psychic-, Dark-, and Electric-Type moves, while Fire- and Water-Types are your best bet at taking out Jamsine’s Steelix. Electric- and Fire-Types will also allow you to make short work of Pryce’s Ice-Type Pokémon (indeed, the hardest thing about him is skidding about on the icy floor of his Gym) and, while Clair’s Dragon-Types can be intimidating and easily paralyse you, they’ll also fall pretty quickly if you have Ice-Type Pokémon or moves on hand. Defeating each Gym Leader awards you a badge that increases the game’s level cap, powers up certain stats, and allows you to use HMs outside of battle to reach new areas, and also awards you some useful TMs, like Dynamic Punch and Shadow Ball, but take care after defeating Whitney as you won’t immediately earn her badge and must talk to one of her underlings to convince her to hand it over.

Once all of the Gym Leaders are defeated, you’re ready to take on the Pokémon League. To reach the League, you need to use your HMs to navigate through Tohjo Falls and the cavernous Victory Road, where you’ll battle your rival once more and encounter some high-level Pokémon to help push your levels higher. You’ll want to make use of the makeshift Pokémon Center and PokéMart right before the Elite Four to heal up and maybe stock up on restorative items since you again need to battle all four Trainers, and the champion, consecutively to become the champ. Each of the Elite Four has a full team of Pokémon, with a general speciality in mind but also Type coverage to keep you on your toes; your first challenge is Will, who uses Psychic-Type Pokémon but, thankfully, these are dual-Types so you can use Dark-, Ghost-, Electric-, and Fire-Type moves to easily cut through his Pokémon, though you could be caught off-guard by confusion or freezing if you’re not careful. Next up is Koga, upgraded from a Gym Leader to one of the Elite Four and still rocking the Poison-Types, making him easy pickings for your Ground- and Flying-Type attacks. The only member of Elite Four to return from the first generation is, ironically, one of the weakest of that game, Bruno. Though he’s got a bigger, more diverse team, he’s still a Fighting-Type specialist so you can easily best him with Psychic-Type moves. These are slightly negated against Karen, however, since she has Dark-Types on hand but, again, her Pokémon are dual-Types so you can balance things out with Fire- and Water-Type Pokémon. Your final challenge is against Lance, the Dragon-Type expert who’s now the Pokémon League Champion. Lance is easily the toughest Trainer battle so far…on paper, at least…since he has three Dragonites and even fan favourite Charizard on his team. However, but this point my Feraligatr was way overpowered and I managed to sweep his whole team using Bite, Surf, and Ice Punch without any issue. Toppling the Elite Four sees you and your team again entered into the Hall of Fame and declared Pokémon League Champion; you can battle the Elite Four again and again to earn more cash and level-up your team, but you’ll find challenge enough awaiting you in the post-League content.

Becoming the Pokémon League Champion earns you a ticket to board the S.S. Aqua and travel to Kanto, where you can not only explore the entirety of the region from the first game, battling new Pokémon Trainers with higher-level Pokémon, but also take on the eight Kanto Gym Leaders once more! Because you start in Vermillion City, the order you battle the Gym Leaders is mixed up; some are missing their puzzles and protégés as well, and all have bigger, more diverse teams and, though you’ll earn their Badges and they’ll be added to your total, you can’t view these on your Trainer Card and only two of them will award you TMs after you beat them. First up is Lieutenant Surge, now rocking two Electrode and an Electabuzz alongside his signature Raichu, but he was nothing compared to my overpowered Donphan. I got a bit mixed up and fought Misty next, which you can only do after fighting past the Nugget Trainers and interrupting her date; while her Water-Type Pokémon don’t stand much of a chance against a good Electric-Type Pokémon, this won’t help you against her Quagsire so maybe switch to a Grass-Type instead. I battled Erika next, who can be frustrating with her tendency to use Full restore, cast Sunny Day, and her ability to drain HP from your Pokémon, but at this point my Feraligatr’s Ice Punch and Suicune’s Aurora Beam were more than enough to topple her. Koga’s daughter, Janine, now resides in Fuschia City’s Gym but she uses Poison-Types just like her dad so you can get past her in much the same way you did him, and Brock and Sabrina are similarly easily taken out using Water- and Dark-Types, respectively. Since Cinnabar Island was wrecked by a volcanic eruption, you won’t find much of anything there except a Pokémon Center and Blue, the Viridian City Gym Leader, who directs you to the similarly barren Seafoam Islands to battle Blaine. Neither Blaine nor Blue have any underlings to worry about and, while Blue’s team is as diverse and powerful as ever, yours should be more than up to the task of matching him blow for blow and recapturing the Kanto Gym Badges.

With these in your possession, Professor Oak allows you access to Mount Silver and the game’s most taxing challenge of all: a battle against Red, the protagonist from the first game, who’s well-rounded team not only has great Type coverage but is also in the high-seventies (with his Pikachu being the highest-level Pokémon you’ll face in the game at a whopping Level 81). While battling Red is tough in and of itself, it’s made all the more difficult by the fact that you need all the GMs to even reach him, meaning you’re at a severe disadvantage since you’re either down a couple of Pokémon to make room for a HM slave or have had to substitute better moves for HMs. Aside from red, there are some one of a kind Pokémon to find in the wild, too: Sudowoodo block your paths and need triggering with the Squirtbottle, you’ll need to tune into Kanto’s radio stations to awaken the Snorlax blocking your path, a Shiny Gyarados waits in the Lake of Rage, and you’ll encounter a wild Lapras in Union Cave’s basement every Friday. Although Kanto’s Legendary Pokémon are entirely absent (the power plant is now up and running, Seafoam Islands is a simple cave, Victory Road has been rearranged, and Cerulean Cave is inaccessible), Johto’s are literally out and about to find. Entei and Raikou will randomly appear in different areas of Johto, fleeing immediately (or using Roar to scare your Pokémon off) and forcing you to use the PokéDex to track them down and use moves like Spider Web and Mean Look just to have a chance at catching them, damage and status attacks you inflict will carry over even if they flee, however, but these two are still a massive headache to get a hold of and Pokémon: Crystal makes things unnecessarily difficult by forcing you to have caught all three Legendary Beasts to even spawn an encounter with Legendary Bird, Ho-Oh, atop Tin Tower. Conversely, one of my favourite Pokémon, Lugia, can only be fought at Whirl Islands after reaching Pewter City and acquiring the Silver Wing, and all of these Legendary Pokémon (and some wild Pokémon) can be a chore to catch unless you inflict sleep or paralyse and whittle them down to a slither of health as they just love to break out of PokéBalls and, unlike the last games, where you obviously used the instant-catch Master Ball on Mewtwo, it can be tough to decide which Pokémon to use your Master Ball on here (though I’d recommend Ho-Oh).

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Both Johto and Kanto are littered with pick-ups to be found, gifted from NPCs, or bought from PokéMarts. All the same healing and restorative items from the last games return, such was Potions, Revives, Awakenings, and Antidotes, though you can now find various Berries that have the same function and can be held and automatically used by Pokémon in battle. As you progress, PokéMarts will start to sell more advanced items, like Hyper Potions, Max Revive, Escape Ropes, PokéDolls to help you flee battles, and likes of X-Attack for a one-time stat boost. Vitamins and evolutionary stones a far harder to find on the overworld, but can be bought from Goldenrod and Celadon City’s Department Stores and are great for raising individual stats and quickly evolving Pokémon, and you’ll also find Nuggets to sell for cash (and sell most items you find) and key items like the Itemfinder, EXP All, and various rods. Another new addition to the game are held items that give your Pokémon certain boosts and buffs; Quick Claw can make them move faster, fr example, while Amulet Coin will double the cash you earn and Leftovers will see them restore a little bit of health between every move. Many of these will increase the power of certain Types, such as Charcoal powering-up Fire-Types, and some are even needed to be held for Pokémon to evolve.

As ever, you’ll need a steady supply of PokéBalls if you want to catch ‘em all; these again come in three purchasable types (regular PokéBalls, slightly better Great Balls, and even better Ultra Balls), with the Master Ball being a one-of-a-kind, never-fail PokéBall that is best saved for a Legendary Pokémon. You can also find Acorns in trees and, when you give these to Kurt in Azalea Town, he’ll turn them into one of seven new PokéBalls after a day of waiting: Level Balls make catching lower level Pokémon easier, Friend Balls increase a Pokémon’s Happiness stat faster, Lure Balls make it easier to catch Pokémon encounter while fishing, Moon Balls make it easier to catch Pokémon that evolve using a Moon Stone, Heavy Balls are best used against heavier Pokémon, Fast Balls can be useful against Pokémon like Entei and Raikou who like to flee from battle, and Love Balls increase your chances of catching Pokémon of the opposite gender to your own. Like last time, TMs can only be used once, while HMs can only be unlearned using the Move Deleter, and different Pokémon level-up, breed, and hatch at different speeds and at different times of the day; some don’t learn useful moves for some time, others don’t learn any decent moves at all (I’m looking at you, Unown!) or moves that boost their stats, which is useless to me as I prefer to fill my move slots with offensive moves. Some Pokémon also don’t evolve at all, which can lower the incentive on using them as you don’t see as much progression when battling with them, while other Pokémon have abilities like Sweet Scent that can attract wild Pokémon, and you can also have Pokémon hold various mails to send messages to other Trainers you trade with.

Additional Features:
Although Generation two added one-hundred extra Pokémon to the original 151, “only” 223 are actually obtainable within the base Pokémon: Crystal game so you’ll need to trade with Gold, Silver, Red, Blue, and/or Yellow in order to complete the PokéDex and fulfil Professor Oak’s life dream and earn yourself a nifty little certificate for you efforts. A lot of your post-game time and energy will be spent catching, raising, trading, and breeding Pokémon to fulfil this objective, and the day/night cycle and new additions to the gameplay mean you are given far more options to evolve and acquire Pokémon. As mentioned, you can store a limited number of phone numbers on your PokéGear and battle Trainers again when they call you, or travel to Viridian City and make use of the Trainer House to battle either a random challenger or the last human player you fought against, which remains a fun addition, and battles and trades such as this are a great way to extend the life of the game and motivate you to getting your team up to the maximum level. Also, you’ll be spending a lot of time in the Game Corners trying to buy or earn the coins necessary to get those elusive Pokémon and traipsing around Johto trying to lure out the Legendary Beasts, but this generation of Pokémon remains my favourite for its unmatched post-Elite Four content.

As mentioned, you get to travel to Kanto after becoming the Pokémon League Champion! This, effectively, doubles the timespan of the game but, while Kanto is now populated with much tougher Trainers than before, your team should be more than capable of winning the day. Still, I’ve always loved this feature, and Kanto is notably different, too; towns, caves, and routes have been switched about, new Pokémon are included, and certain areas are either inaccessible or altered, which really shows the flow of time since the last games. You can talk to Red’s mother in Pallet Town, where you find out he took off and hasn’t been seen in years, get the power plant back up and running so you can hop on the Magnet Train, and pay a visit to the new radio tower in Lavender Town, which replaces the haunted Pokémon Tower. Viridian Forest is now gone, as is Cerulean Cave, and Mount Moon is much shorter than before, but I loved seeing Blue installed as the Viridian Gym Leader and just being able to explore this region again and really wish that subsequent Pokémon games had done something similar. Pokémon: Crystal is also notable for being the first game to include the Battle Tower; located just off the coast off Olivine City, this facility lets you battle other Trainers and awards you Vitamins for consecutive victories. Though never really something I’ve enjoyed, the Battle Tower is a fun extra inclusion, and even offers level and Pokémon restrictions to keep you from using Legendary Pokémon. Best of all, though, is that the 3DS version of the game includes the GS Ball event, meaning you can place the GS Ball in a shrine at Ilex Forest to spawn the elusive Celebi and finally, legitimately, catch the little blighter!

The Summary:
I’ll be the first to admit that, when it comes to the second generation of Pokémon games, I’m extremely biased when it comes to these games. For me, this was when Pokémon was at its peak of popularity; we were so desperate to play these new games and so captivated by the new Pokémon and mechanics, and while I’ve enjoyed Pokémon games since these, none of them have quite been able to recapture the magic of Johto. Consequently, it was an absolutely joy to finally play through Pokémon: Crystal; the game is such a massive step up from its predecessors, improving and refining basically everything from the first game and adding much-needed quality of life mechanics like the EXP bar, better item and Pokémon management, and vivid, impressively detailed graphics for such a basic handheld system. The new features offered in this generation were also fantastic; the day/night cycle was a fun little inclusion, one I missed from the Game Boy Advance titles, and adding breeding really helped to speed up PokéDex completion as you could raising Pokémon traditionally whilst also getting in the steps to hatch and egg and get Pokémon to breed all at the same time. Adding the ability to rebattle previous Trainers was great too, though the constant interruptions from phone calls does get annoying; while I love the aesthetic, detail, and colour of the game, I have to admit that Johto doesn’t really stand out all that much and is basically like a reskin of Kanto for the most part, but Pokémon: Crystal adds a few extra bells and whistles to compensate for that. Animating the Pokémon, for starters, really helps to make the game feel much more alive, as do all the additional attacks and battle animations that help the game feel faster, more action-packed, and less like a Tiger Electronics LCD game like in the first generation. Being able to play as a girl was a nice inclusion, as was the attempt to expand on the Legendary Beasts by giving Suicune a larger role, but ultimately these aspects and the rival system weren’t as prominent as they could’ve been. Thankfully, the new Pokémon more than make up for this, with some of my all-time favourites being found in Johto (Ampahros, Lugia, Houndoom, Typhlosion, and Marill, to name a handful), and I loved seeing how the world has changed since the last game. Of course, this is best seen in the still-unmatched post-game content; letting you travel to, explore, and challenge Kanto once more was an ingenious idea and makes the game feel so much bigger than even some of the Nintendo DS titles, which generally settled for the Battle Frontier and little else. Add to that the tough-as-nails battle against Red, the ability to trade to the previous generation, and the addition of Celebi to the game and you have what very well may be the definitive version of classic Pokémon for me.

My Rating:

Fantastic

Are you a fan of Pokémon: Crystal Version:? How do you think it compares to the original games and which of the second generation titles was your favourite? What did you think to the new mechanics introduced here, like breeding, genders, and the day/night cycle? Did you struggle against Whitney and her Miltank? What did you think to the rival? Did you enjoy getting to revisit Kanto and did you ever capture Entei and Raikou? Which of the Pokémon games, and titular monsters, is your favourite? How are you planning to celebrate National Pokémon Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Pokémon, sign up to leave them below or drop your comments on my social media and be sure to check in next week for more Pokémon content!

Upon the release of Pokémon: Blue Version and Pokémon: Red Version (Game Freak, 1996), a new craze swept through playgrounds across the world. An entire generation grew up either playing Pokémon, watching the anime, playing the trading card game, and watching the feature-length movies as clever marketing and a co-ordinated release and multimedia strategy saw Nintendo’s newest franchise become not just a successful videogame franchise but a massively lucrative and popular multimedia powerhouse that endures to this day. Accordingly, February 27^th is now internationally recognised as “National Pokémon Day”, which I’m expanding to an entire month of Pokémon every Tuesday in February.

Released: 27 February 2016
Originally Released: 12 September 1998
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Game Freak
Also Available For: Game Boy

The Background:
Although I’ve talked about Pokémon quite a bit in the past, a review of one of the classic titles is long overdue. Initially developed as Capsule Monsters, Pokémon was the brainchild of game designer Satoshi Tajiri, who spent his childhood collecting insects and sought to make a videogame around the same subject, one that emphasised exploration and collecting rather than needless violence. It was the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto who suggested producing two GameBoy cartridges to realise Tajiri’s dream of allowing players to trade and battle using the system’s Link Cables. Artist and long-time friend of Tajiri Ken Sugimori spearheaded the designs of the titular Pokémon alongside a handful of others (including Atsuko Nishida) than ten people who conceived the various designs for all 151 Pokémon, and the original Pocket Monsters: Red and Green proved an immediate hit in their native Japan and were soon followed by a third version, Pocket Monsters: Blue, which included upgraded sprites, alternative dialogue, and other gameplay tweaks. This was the version of the game that served as the basis for Pokémon: Blue and Red, which became an instant cultural phenomenon upon release in the West.

For its international release, Pokémon was accompanied by an aggressive multimedia marketing strategy and ancillary merchandise; much of this revolved around franchise mascot Pikachu, who was at the forefront of the still-ongoing anime series, which served as the perfect accompaniment to the videogames. So popular was Pikachu, and the anime, that a fourth version of the game was produced to capitalise on both; Pokémon: Yellow Version not only featured all-new battle sprites and gameplay mechanics, but also contained characters, references, and alterations based on the anime. The game was made to coincide with the franchise’s first feature-length adventure, was the last Game Boy title released for the system outside of Japan, and became the fastest-selling handheld game of all time upon release. Because it was essentially the same highly praised videogame as before, Pokémon: Yellow Version was highly praised; while some questioned its release and viability considering all-new Pokémon games were set to be released, critics noted that the game offered just enough to keep fans and newcomers happy. Pokémon: Yellow Version was pretty influential; the gameplay mechanic of having a Pokémon following the player’s avatar around would return in later titles, the game received a manga adaptation, and it was eventually released on the 3DS Virtual Console with the ability to communicate with the then-current Pokémon titles.

The Plot:
The time has come for you and your childhood rival to receive your very own Pokémon from Professor Oak, However, you arrival too late and are lumbered with a disobedient Pikachu to accompany you as you challenge the eight Kanto Gym Leaders in a bid to become a Pokémon Master. Your journey is also fraught with danger as the vindictive Team Rocket seeks to steal Pokémon for their own nefarious ends, to say nothing of having genetically created the most powerful Pokémon of all!

Gameplay:
Just like its predecessors, Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition is a top-down role-playing game (RPG) in which players are introduced to the wonderful world of Pokémon by the kindly, if forgetful, Professor Oak. After naming your avatar and your rival, you’re charged with heading out into the Kanto region, exploring fields, caves, and buildings in search of Pokémon, powerful native creatures that are used to trade, raise, and battle with other Pokémon Trainers. If you’ve played Pokémon: Red, Blue, or even Green before, you’ll be immediately familiar with the concept but, even though it lacks the influx of hand-holding and mandatory tutorials of the modern games, Pokémon: Yellow does a good job of introducing you to the context and mechanics of the game and then sending you on your way to figure things out for yourself or find clues by chatting to the many non-playable characters (NPCs) scattered throughout Kanto. Since it released on the Game Boy, Pokémon: Yellow has a very simply two-button control system and user interface; I say “simple” for this latter aspect as it’s both easy to navigate and incredibly restrictive. You can open your bag to view your inventory from the pause screen, and your items will be listed in the order you picked them up; you can shuffle them about using the ‘Select’ button but your inventory is limited, so you’ll need to deposit some items on your PC to make room. Your PC inventory is similarly arranged; everything’s in a list here and there’s no onscreen text to tell you what items do, so it can be a little tricky to navigate and figure things out at times. Gameplay is divided into two distinct modes: exploring towns and other areas, and battling Pokémon. In the former, you wander around on a four-way grid, chatting to NPCs with A, activating switches, and picking up items; if you enter grass, you’re very likely going to trigger an encounter with a wild Pokémon, who also spontaneously attack in caves and when traversing the sea. When this happens, the game switches to a battle screen in which you and your opponent take turns to inflict damage or status effects on each other, or use in-battle items to heal or relieve status effects or try and capture the Pokémon. You also have the option to run, however if the opposing Pokémon is at a higher level than yours or you’re in a Trainer battle this option is either limited or completely restricted.

Pokémon battles operate using a “Type” system that is, essentially, a version of Rock/Paper/Scissors; Water-Type Pokémon will be more effective against Fire-Type Pokémon, for example, while Grass-Types trump Water and are weak to Fire. There are fifteen different Types of Pokémon in the game and each has different capabilities against the other; Normal-Type Pokémon moves won’t have any effect against Ghost-Types and will barely touch Rock-Types, for example. It’s a pretty simple system to figure out and battle text will always tell you if moves are “Super effective” or “Not very effective” so you can figure out the best course of attack; location, Pokémon names, and their colouring and appearance can also clue you in on the best attack strategy, too. So, if you’re in a cave and encounter a Zubat, you’ll probably want to use an Electric- or Rock-Type attack to inflict maximum damage and if the opposing Pokémon is blue or encountered at sea, it’s mostly likely a Water-Type. Unlike in the previous games, you’re forced to start your journey with a Pikachu, one who refuses to stay in its PokéBall and who follows you around on the overworld. You can interact with Pikachu at any time and the game stresses treating it well so that it shows more affection towards you, though unlike in the modern games this has no real in-game benefits and you can just as easily deposit it in a PC and never use it. Having Pikachu is an issue in the early game as your first real challenge is Rock-Type Pokémon Gym Leader Brock, so you’ll need to explore the nearby towns and fields to catch a Fighting- or Grass-Type Pokémon to actually stand a chance against his Pokémon, but the game has a pretty consistent difficulty curve. Early wild Pokémon and Pokémon Trainers are all low-level Pokémon with limited moves, and you’re generally always at an advantage as your Pokémon usually always have higher stats. Pokémon battles will award you with experience points (EXP); earn enough, and your Pokémon will level-up, which will increase their Hit Points (HP), Attack, Defence, Speed, and Special stats and thus make them more powerful and more capable in battle. Unlike in later games, there’s no onscreen indication of your EXP progress unless you manually head into the menu screen, which can make levelling-up a bit of a chore.

While you can get pretty far with just one or two powerful Pokémon, it’s recommended that you have a diverse team with decent Type coverage in their moves; many Pokémon can learn moves either from levelling-up or from Technical Machines (TMs) that are of a different Type, so you can have a Water-Type Pokémon bust out Ice- or Psychic-Type moves, which can make them more useful in battles, and you can both swap out your Pokémon to share the EXP gained from battles and earn hidden Effort Value (EV) points by consecutively battling certain Pokémon (so, for example, if you battle a bunch of Geodude in a row, you’ll gain an extra boost to your Defence when you level-up) and you can also find (or purchase, for an extortionate price) Vitamins that will boost individual stats. While it’s important to consider things like this in battle, and the moveset of your diverse team, it’s not always that necessary and is only as complicated as you make it; I usually settle for my starter Pokémon being about ten levels higher than my other Pokémon, then train up the rest in teams of two (usually Water/Fire, Electric/Psychic, and a wild card) to have a consistently strong team. If you walk in front of another Pokémon Trainer, they’ll initiate an inescapable battle with you; in a Trainer battle, you can’t run or catch the opposing Pokémon, and trainers have all the same options as you while not being limited by Power Points (PP). This means that they can swap out their Pokémon, heal or buff them, and they can attack without fear of running out of PP; each move has a different amount of PP, from five to thirty, which dictates how often you can use that move. When you run out of PP, you can’t use that attack anymore until you replenish it with an Elixir or restore your Pokémon at a Pokémon Center; if all your PP is drained, your only option is to “struggle”, which inflicts some serious recoil damage, so it’s wise to use your best moves sparingly. In battle, Pokémon will take damage; when their HP is drained, they’ll faint and need to be revived with a Revive or for free at a Pokémon Center but, if all of your Pokémon faint, you’ll “black out”, lose some money, and respawn at the last Pokémon Center you visited. You also need to be wary of status effects, however; some Pokémon attacks will cause you to flinch (essentially miss a turn) or become confused (which can cause your Pokémon to hurt themselves) and, in this version of the game, have a tendency to miss entirely or land “critical hits” for extra damage, but Pokémon can also be put to sleep, paralysed, poisoned, frozen, and burned, all of which will either drain your HP or leave you vulnerable to attack. You can undo these status effects using certain items, but even if you emerge victorious your Pokémon will still steadily lose health on the overworld if poisoned, so you’ll either need to keep your inventory well stocked or be mindful of the nearest Pokémon Center.

Winning Trainer battles also nets you PokéDollars, which you can spent in PokéMarts and at vending machines on healing items and other useful gear to help you out in battle or in raising your Pokémon. Items and Pokémon are stored in PCs when you run out of room (you can only have six Pokémon at a time, so any additional Pokémon are automatically transferred to your PC, though you’ll need to heal them if you choose to use them) and the game allows you to manually save your progress at any time (though you only get one save file to use). I recommend saving frequently, and especially before Gym Leader battles or encounters with Legendary Pokémon as this allows you to reset the game on the off-chance that you’re defeated, thus sparing you from losing money. You’re given two primary goals in the game: Battle the eight Gym Leaders to earn their badges and challenge the Pokémon League and complete Professor Oak’s PokéDex, which you do by capturing every Pokémon in the game. When you encounter a Pokémon, its basic data is stored in this encyclopaedia so you can see where it appears on the overworld; you can then hunt it down and catch it and either try to capture its next form or “evolve” it by levelling-up, using special stones, or trading it. The majority of Pokémon will evolve into at least one extra form through levelling-up, which will add their new form’s data to the PokéDex and make them stronger; you can cancel evolution at any time by pressing B and this is sometimes recommended as Pokémon learn moves faster in their weaker forms and some moves can only be learned prior to evolution. Similarly, each Pokémon can only know four moves at a time; when it grows strong enough to learn a new move, you can choose to either replace an existing move or not learn the new one, but you’ll need to visit the Move Deleter to do this outside of levelling-up or to forget Hidden Machine (HM) moves. When you capture a Pokémon, you’re given the option of nicknaming it; again, this doesn’t really do anything beyond personalising them to your Trainer and your characters are limited, but it’s a nice touch for making your team unique.

Navigation in Pokémon: Yellow is pretty simple; you can get a town map early on (or view them in Pokémon Centers) that shows you the different towns, locations, and “Routes” you can travel, but your progress is constantly restricted by trees, bodies of water, dark caves, and patches of grass. You can climb ladders to reach different levels of caves, hop over ledges for shortcuts, and get past these obstacles with HMs but you’ll progressively earn more convenient ways to travel across the map. Pokémon like Abra can Teleport you back to the last Pokémon Center you visited, Escape Ropes will allow you to quickly exit any areas you’re in, you’ll acquire a bike that dramatically speeds up your movement speed, and you’ll eventually be able to fly and surf to quickly get around the overworld. Some areas will require some rudimentary puzzle solving, generally involving pressing switches (either hidden ones or by pushing boulders onto them) to open doors, teleporting using special pads, or spinning around in maze-like environments. You’ll also be given some fetch quests to complete that will open up new areas and gift you items, need to acquire keys and tickets to open doors or access locations, and be able to trade (or buy…) with NPCs to acquire new Pokémon. Trading can also be done in Pokémon Centers, which allows you to trade Pokémon with a friend (or battle them, if you like) to get Pokémon that aren’t in the game or evolve certain Pokémon, like Haunter/Gengar. Traded Pokémon level-up faster then regular Pokémon, though you can’t change their nicknames and they’ll always have the Trainer ID of their original Trainer. You also need to be mindful of levelling-up too quickly; if you’re Pokémon is too high a level, and you don’t have the appropriate Badge, they may disobey you by ignoring your commands or loafing around. In addition to the slot machines available to play in the Celadon City Game Corner and the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City (which gives you a time limit to catch rare Pokémonby baiting or angering them), Pokémon: Yellow also adds printer functionality for the Game Boy Printer and a cute little mini game that lets you net points by pulling of mad tricks with your surfing Pikachu!

Graphics and Sound:
Since it released on the original Game Boy, Pokémon: Yellow is pretty limited in terms of its graphics and visual presentation compared to later games in the series, but I think these early Pokémon games still did a really good job of making the most of their limited hardware. While most of the towns don’t really look that different, they vary in size and colour palette and all have a unique music track associated with them; some have larger buildings like the Celadon City Department Store, a science museum, and the haunted Pokémon Tower, while others are flanked by caves, bodies of water, or are literally islands in the middle of the ocean. Towns all contain a number of houses with NPCs to talk to, some of whom will give you hints, items, or side quests to progress further; Routes are sometimes blocked by trees or a sleeping Snorlax, and you’ll find fun elements to interact with, like a Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems (SNES) in your bedroom, Mr. Psychic, and Copycat. Routes are generally littered with Pokémon Trainers, grass, and items to find but some items are hidden from view; you can tap A to pick these up at random but an Itemfinder will help by emitting a beep whenever a hidden item is nearby, and HMs like Cut and Flash will make short work of trees, grass, and dark caves to help you progress.

Sprites are all pretty adorable as well; while many NPCs all look the same, they have a lot of personality in the things they say and all have an appreciation or some kind of advice to give regarding Pokémon. Your avatar is clearly recognisable despite the limited graphics and colour palette, and you’ll always be able to spot your rival, Gym Leaders, and agents of team Rocket thanks to their unique sprites and accompanying themes. In Pokémon: Yellow, Pikachu is your constant companion, waddling around behind you on the overworld and spitting out a grainy, but ambitious, cry of “Pika!” when thrown into battle. Pikachu has unique entrance and exit animations in battle since it doesn’t use a PokéBall, but otherwise battles remain largely the same; limited animation frames are used to convey the impact of moves on Pokémon and the moves themselves are represented by the screen shaking, flashing lights, and partially animated sprite work that is largely reused over and over. You can actually turn battle animations off in the settings, which speeds the game up a bit, but takes away some of the fun in my opinion; still, the frame rate can struggle a bit at times both in and out of battle, and you’ll find the Pokémon cries are a little distorted because of the hardware. Pokémon: Yellow completely overhauls the in-battle sprites of the Pokémon and adds in numerous influences from the anime in the form of additional NPCs who gift you new Pokémon, Chansey’s being in Pokémon  Centers, and Jesse and James of Team Rocket fame, which helps add a little visual flair to the game but I really don’t care for many of the new battle sprite designs. Finally, all of the jaunty, memorable tunes are here to enjoy in all their chip-tune glory, and the game features a brand new intro video and theme tune as well.

Enemies and Bosses:
As you journey around Kanto, you’ll encounter a variety of wild Pokémon out in the field and in use by a number of different Pokémon Trainers. Wild Pokémon start off at a low level, usually between three and six, and stay at that level in each area; a level four Caterpie you encountered in Viridian Forest will stay level four when you return in the post-game, but wild Pokémon levels increase as you journey to new areas, meaning you’ll face progressively tougher opposition as you go on, which will help you to grow stronger on a rising curve. Your ability to weaken these Pokémon for capture or defeat them entirely is directly tied to your current level and the moves you know; if your Pokémon are under-levelled, you’ll face a tough time even with the Type advantage, but if you bring a Normal-Type into a cave or a Fire-Type to the sea then you may struggle even if you’re at a higher level. This is true of the Pokémon Trainers you encounter; while they start off pretty simple and use weak Pokémon like Rattata and Pidgey, they eventually use more formidable and evolved Pokémon and also have more on hand. They’ll also withdraw them, heal them, or buff them with items and, while the enemy A.I. can be janky and easily exploitable at times, Pokémon Trainers tend to use moves that have a Type advantage over your current Pokémon. Still, with the right training regime and a diverse team, you can easily overcome every opponent you face; simply take some time between Gym battles to level-up, maybe focus on developing certain stats, and bringing your team as close to the level cap as possible, utilising moves that are super effective and sharing EXP wherever you can, and you can easily trample over the opposition once you’ve gotten past the uphill battle at the start of the game.

Your most persistent foes in the game are the nefarious Team Rocket; easily identifiable by their black attire and caps, this gang of Poké-nappers have taken over buildings and even entire towns in a bid to steal Pokémon for their own evil uses or to acquire technology like the Silph Scope and Master Ball. For the most part, Team Rocket grunts aren’t much different from other Pokémon Trainers you encounter and are actually fairly predictable as they stick to common Pokémon like Zubat and Ekans, but you’ll also have to battle the duo of Jesse and James a few times throughout the story as these buffoons have been added in as sub-boss battles in key areas of the game. Like their anime counterparts, Jesse and James use Koffing/Weezing, Ekans/Arbok, and Meowth in battle and even spout their famous catchphrase, though they’re basically just another grunt to fight past rather than being pivotal to the plot. Another recurring obstacle is your rival; this arrogant and rude little git will pop up at the worst times, challenging you to a battle to prove his superiority over you and changing up his team as the game progresses to show how he’s tried to amass the most powerful Pokémon team possible. Unlike in the previous games, your rival starts off with an Eevee, which he eventually evolves into either Flareon, Jolteon, or Vaporeon (in my case, it was Flareon), and your rival will be both the first Pokémon Trainer you battle and the last as he eventually manages to become the Pokémon League Champion in keeping with his annoying ability to always stay one step ahead of you. While your rival can be a tricky customer, a diverse and high-levelled team can easily fend him off; in my game, he ended up with a team of Sandslash, Alakazam, Exeggutor, Cloyster, Magneton, and Flareon so it’s simply a case of shuffling your team so that your Water-Type goes out first and then swapping out your Pokémon between each knock out so you can hit a super effective move or have a better chance to resisting his attacks. Probably his biggest advantage is speed, as he often has Pokémon that have higher Speed stats, his Type coverage, and his eventually use of Potions and buffs to keep his team going strong but you can overcome him at every turn if you just take the time to do some grinding.

In your quest to challenge the Elite Four, you’ll need to travel to at least eight different towns and battle the eight Kanto Gym Leaders. Each Gym Leader specialises in a specific Pokémon Type and is protected by a number of protégés, but some Gyms even include little puzzles that you have to solve. You’ll need to investigate the bins in Lieutenant Surge’s Gym to lower the electrical barrier protecting up, navigate an invisible maze in Koga’s Gym, take an optional quiz in Blane’s Gym, and travel along spinning pads in Giovanni’s Gym. Other times, Gyms will be closed, locked, or otherwise barred and you’ll need to go on a short (or long, in the case of the last Gym) side quest to gain access but, once inside, you can often choose to avoid fighting the minions if you don’t feel like it (but I don’t recommend this as you’ll miss out on some EXP and cash). Since each Gym specialises in a Pokémon Type, the game pushes you to have a diverse team on hand, but you can often find helpful Pokémon in the wild nearby that can counteract the Gym’s specialty. Things start off relatively easily; as long as you can grab a Mankey, you can easily take out Brock, and your Pikachu will absolutely trounce Misty, but things can get difficult when fighting Lt. Surge and his Raichu…unless you’ve been grinding or snagged a Diglett from the nearby cave. By the time you reach Koga, you should be powerful and varied enough to easily overcome every subsequent Gym, though he and Erika can cause issues by inflicting status effects with their Poison- and Grass-Type Pokémon. Blaine can also be tough because of his powerful Arcanine, but you can easily overpower him with a Water-Type if you’ve been training one for a while. Giovanni, the leader of team Rocket who you battle prior to tackling him in his Gym, is heralded as Kanto’s most powerful Gym Leader but, while he has some intimidating Pokémon on hand, his focus on Ground-Type moves means a Water- or Flying-Type can significantly neuter this threat (especially if you snagged Articuno earlier).

Defeating the Gym Leaders nets you not just a big cash payout and their Gym badge, but also a TM that allows you to teach their favourite move to one of your team. You’ll need every one of these Gym Badges, and most of the HMs, to navigate through Victory Road, a cave full of high-level Pokémon (and a great place to level-up your team) that stands as your final challenge before the Elite Four, the most formidable Pokémon Trainers in all of Kanto but, before you can reach them. Thankfully, there’s a makeshift Pokémon Center and PokéMart right before the Elite Four, so you can heal up and buy some restorative items before tackling them, and you’ll probably need these as you have to face all four Trainers in a row, and the champion, without any healing breaks in between, so you’re left with your team and the items you have on you. Lorelei and Bruno don’t really pose much of a problem; focusing on Water- and Ice-Type and Fighting-Type Pokémon respectively, you’re in a great position to overwhelm them with your Pikachu, which should be about level sixty by this point, and an Ice- or Psychic-Type Pokémon like Kadabra or Poliwrath. Agatha is a bit of a hurdle, however; specialising in Ghost-Type Pokémon, her Gengar’s love to confuse you, put you to sleep, and drain your health with their moves, so again it’s helpful to have a strong Psychic-Type Pokémon on you. Lance is probably the most unique challenge in the whole game as he utilises Dragon-Type Pokémon, a Type that you really don’t encounter anywhere else in the game except in the safari Zone. Sporting powerful moves like Thunderbolt, Hyper Beam, Ice Beam, and Dragon Rage, his Dragonairs and Dragonite can be tough to get past unless you have Ice- or Dragon-Type Pokémon or moves of your own, which you definitely will if you snagged Articuno our taught Ice Beam to someone on your team. After you topple the,, and the champion, Professor Oak registers you and your team in the Hall of Champions and you can review this, and any subsequent victories, from your PC after the credits roll.

Although you’re given a multitude of opportunities to catch the wild Pokémon encountered in the game, some are much rarer than others. In Mount Moon and the Fighting Dojo, you’ll be given the opportunity to pick from one of two Pokémon (with the former being fossilised and needing to be restored on Cinnabar Island), immediately meaning that you won’t be able to acquire the other without trading. You can win (or buy) Game Coins to purchase rare Pokémon in Celadon City, encounter unique Pokémon like Kangaskhan and Dratini in the Safari Zone, and, while you’ll battle an enraged Marowak, the only way to acquire one is to evolve a Cubone. Similarly, you’ll have just two chances to capture a Snorlax as the bulbous Pokémon block your path in two places, but you’ll only get one chance to catch the three Legendary birds, Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos. These powerful elemental birds are found in Seafoam Islands, Victory Road, and the Power Plant, respectively, and you absolutely need to save before battling them as they won’t appear again if you knock them out and save after. You’ll also need a hefty supply of PokéBalls, Pokémon moves that inflict paralysis, freezing, or sleep, and a whole lot of luck and patience as the game’s annoying tendency to have balls “miss” can make these battles needlessly frustrating. When trying to catch the bird son this play through, I continuously ran out of Ultra Balls or kept knocking the birds out, but then random managed to catch each within five throws of a weaker Great Ball, so go figure. After besting the Elite Four, Cerulean Cave will open up; this cavernous area is a great place to level-up and find some new items, but is also home to the most powerful Pokémon in the entire game, Mewtwo. This genetically-engineered, Psychic-Type Pokémon can deliver massive damage with Psychic and even heal itself with recover but, while it’s entirely possible to capture it using status effects and Ultra Balls, it’s much easier to simply toss the never-miss, one-throw capture Master Ball at it and add it to your team to wipe out all subsequent challenges.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
As you explore the wide land of Kanto, you’ll find plenty of pick-ups strewn around, be gifted them from NPCs, or will be able to buy a variety of items from PokéMarts. These include healing items like Potions, Super Potions, and Hyper Potions, restorative items like Revive and Max Revive, and status-healing items like Awakening and Antidote. These are relatively commonplace, though are not widely available across the region; the PokéMart in Pewter City will forever sell the basic PokéBalls and Potions, while only the more expensive items are available in Celadon City and at Victory Road. Other items can also be acquired that can aid you in battle; PokéDolls can help you flee from battle, the likes of X-Defend will boost your stats for that battle, and you can snag a PokéFlute that lets you wake up sleeping Pokémon without having to constantly buy Awakenings. Vitamins and evolutionary stones are far harder to find on the overworld, but can be bought from Celadon City’s Department Store and are great for raising individual stats and quickly evolving Pokémon to their more powerful forms, and you can also fend of random encounters with repels, find Nuggets to sell for cash (and sell most items you find), a Coin Case to play slot machines, and key items like the Itemfinder and EXP All if you capture enough Pokémon to appease Professor Oak’s aide.

One of the most common items you’ll need are PokéBalls; these come in three purchasable types (regular PokéBalls, slightly better Great Balls, and even better Ultra Balls) and you’ll need a lot of them to complete your PokéDex, especially as they often miss when tossed at their target. The Master Ball is a one-of-a-kind, never-fail PokéBall that is best saved for Mewtwo, and you’ll also need to plan out exactly how you want to use your TMs as these can only be used once. Some can be bought for Game Coins, but mostly you get one use and that’s it; conversely, HMs can be used multiple times but you’ll need to visit the Move Deleter to unlearn them. As you level-up, your Pokémon will learn new moves, with their most powerful moves becoming available if you put the effort into raising them. Some are harder to evolve than others as they level-up slower or don’t learn decent moves for some time, others mainly learn moves that boost their speed, attack, or defence, which doesn’t help me as I prefer to fill my move slots with attacking moves. Some Pokémon also don’t evolve at all, which can lower the incentive on using them as you don’t see as much progression when using them.

Additional Features:
Of the 151 Pokémon available in this generation, 137 are available to catch or own in Pokémon: Yellow either by evolving or trading in-game. As you play, you can consult with Professor Oak on your progress and he’ll offer feedback and tips for where to catch new Pokémon, and you’ll need the three fishing rods and the HMs to find all the Pokémon available in the game. Even if you catch or evolve everything available, you’ll still need to trade with a copy of Pokémon: Red and/or Blue to complete the PokéDex; although you unfortunately still have no legitimate way to acquire the elusive Mew, you don’t need it to complete the PokéDex and will be gifted with high praise from Professor Oak and even a certificate from the game’s developers. While many of the areas you visit are mandatory, some are optional; you can explore caves to find new Pokémon and shortcuts, bring water to checkpoint guards to make travelling a lot easier, and tackle the Fighting Dojo to earn either Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee. Although there’s no way to battle any of the Pokémon Trainers or Gym Leaders again after you’ve beaten them, the aforementioned Seafoam Islands, Victory Road, and the Power Plant all include diverging paths that lead to one of the Legendary Birds, and you can challenge the Elite Four and the champion over and over again to level your team up to the maximum level and earn big cash to spend in the Game Corner and snag those rare Pokémon and items. You can revisit the Safari Zone as often as you can afford the entry fee and search about for the rare Pokémon found there, and pull off a few glitches to both allow these Pokémon to appear in the overworld and duplicate your items (though you risk corrupting your save file if you do this). Post-game content is primarily focused on completing the PokéDex and travelling to the Cerulean Cave to capture Mewtwo; otherwise, you’ll probably be spending most of your time grinding, capturing, or trading and battling with other players using the online functionality.

The Summary:
It’s been a long time since I played the first generation of Pokémon and it is a little jarring returning to a simpler time before many of the gameplay mechanics and quality of life improvements that were introduced in subsequent games. The core gameplay is still there, and it’s just as simple to get to grips with the mechanics once you get going, but there’s no denying that things are much slower and more aggravating in Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition. The lack on an in-battle EXP bar, the messy organisation of the PCs and inventory, and not being able to keep track of the Pokémon you’ve caught outside of viewing the PokéDex make things a bit tedious as you’re constantly going back and forth and scrolling between menus (you even need to manually activate HMs rather than the option simply appearing when you press A near objects). Battles are made incredibly frustrating due to the janky A.I. that sees critical hits, confused attacks, missed moves and missed PokéBalls dragging things down, and many of the new artwork for the Pokémon really is incredibly ugly. On the plus side, though, this remains a timeless gaming experience; everything you loved about the first generation of Pokémon is here, plus a little more thanks to the influences from the anime: while it’s annoying that you can’t evolve your Pikachu, it’s cute having it following you around and saying its name and playing the surfing mini game, and I loved seeing Jess and James pop up as opponents (I just wish they had played a bigger role in the narrative). Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition is certainly the definitive game of the first generation, allowing you to acquire all three of the Kanto starters and offering a variety of Pokémon previously exclusive to its predecessors and even including new layouts for some areas. While subsequent sequels quickly made these first games irrelevant by improving every aspect of the presentation and gameplay, there’s still a lovely hit of nostalgia to be found here and Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition remains as entertaining now, despite its flaws, as it was back in the day.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition? How do you think it compares to the original games, and which of the first generation titles was your favourite? Did you enjoy having Pikachu as your partner or did you just leave it in a box? Which of the Gym Leaders did you struggle against? Did you nickname your Pokémon and who made it into your final team? Did you ever complete the PokéDex? Which of the Pokémon games, and titular monsters, is your favourite? How are you planning to celebrate National Pokémon Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Pokémon, sign up to leave them below or drop your comments on my social media and be sure to check in next week for more Pokémon content!