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.