Handheld Wars #165 - Pokémon (Round 2) (Civil War)

Gen II GSC was and still is the pinnacle of pokemon gaming IMO, for a number of reasons.

First, it built on the elegant simplicity of gen 1's mechanics, without delving off into the convoluted OR becoming gimmicky & unbalanced, like the gens that succeeded it.

Second, just like gen 1, gen II holds the distinction of being the most creator driven pokemon title in terms of its art direction, thanks to pokemon grandmaster Ken Sugimori's extensive involvement. You're the man, Ken. I love gen II's pokemon designs and I think they were a bit more consistent in quality than 1's. In fact, I think gen 2 might have my favorite overall pokemon designs of any gen.

Thirdly, the amount of enhancements and overall content they packed into GSC is just staggering by pokemon standards, even MODERN pokemon standards. In addition to the 100+ new pokemon of Jhoto, the game contains just about every single original gen 1 mon for the player to catch, since, as Cervantes pointed out, you unlock Kyoto after you conquer the gym leaders of Jhoto. I can't think of another pokemon title that does a perfect job of including wild older pokemon without screwing up the lore, since later gens (namely V, VI, and VII) are set in regions that aren't located anywhere near the first 3, so seeing pikachu in a region based off of France or America spoils the illusion of realistic worldbuilding (IDK, that's just how I feel, anyway).

Lastly, Pokemon Gold and Silver has what might be the single greatest, most mind boggling ending battles in video game history. I'm thinking of that scrap that goes down at Mt Silver...does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Honestly, I can only think of two complaints I have about gen II off the top of my head. The first is that there's no way to buy any or all TMs. Most of the TMs are only acquired once, and once you use them, they're gone forever, so if you want an infinite supply your only choice is a cheating device or abusing glitches to duplicate them. My second complaint is that in Gold and Silver there is no battle tower, a feature that wasn't added until the Crystal version. I'm so glad that this feature became standard by gen III because going back I can tend to get bored with these two games without it. 

Overall though, Gold, Silver, and (I assume) Crystal are masterpieces and the quintessential pokemon games as far as I'm concerned. I've spent over a 1,000 hours with Gold and Silver throughout my life, and while I personally prefer the pkm lineup of Gold, you can't go wrong with either. They were two of the most important games of my childhood, they improved on RBY in almost every area, and I love them to death. I proudly award them 9.5/10.

THE END



I played rom hacks that are better then gold silver and crystal and not only are they better they destroy the hell out of the games gamefreak puts out. Pokémon Resolute version which is my favorite hack is honestly one of the best Pokémon games I have played if not the best one and at the end you get to challenge red at MT silver. 

It's too bad I'll never get a chance to play it now.