BATTLING RED ON TOP OF MT. SILVER
One of the most iconic battles in the history of Pokemon takes place on the summit of Mt. Silver. Red was the main character from Pokemon Red and Blue, and now you have to face him in an ultimate match against his high-leveled Pokemon.
Getting permission from Professor Oak is the only way for you to fight against Red and his diverse team of monsters. This moment made all of the other gym leaders and Elite Four champions seem weak in comparison since Red was the strongest trainer that you would fight against for three generations of the Pokemon games.
Defeating his Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Venasaur, Charizard, and Blastoise proved to be very difficult but if you succeeded, you would be rewarded with the end credits for the game and a feeling of just being the very best that no one ever was.
FINDING RED GYARADOS
Red Gyarados is found in the Lake of Rage near Mahogany town in Gold and Silver. What’s really cool is once you defeat/capture Gyarados, you end up teaming up with the Elite Four champion, Lance, who will help you discover a secret Team Rocket headquarters based in Mahogany town.
Getting to the Lake of Rage involves battling a few Team Rocket members who stand in your way, but once Lance comes and greets you at the lake – that’s when things get really interesting. Lance notices your mad skills and wants your help to defeat Team Rocket. You don’t know that he is the champion at this point so once you do end up fighting him later on, it makes for a very surprising moment down the line.
SETTING SAIL TO KANTO
It’s no secret that Pokemon Gold and Silver are two of the best sequels to any video game ever. It added so much to the Pokemon formula, especially one certain aspect of the game – the ability to go back and explore the entirety of the Kanto region from Pokemon Red and Blue.
If you were young like I was when the games came out, you might not have had access to the internet or even knew about researching video game information to find out that there was a whole other region to explore. Getting eight badges and defeating the Elite Four to then being able to do it all over again was such a huge surprise. Getting on the S.S. Anne and sailing over to Kanto was an amazing feeling – a sense of awe and discovery. The “second quest” of Pokemon Gold and Silver is what makes the game that much better and deserves to be relived over and over again.
DISCOVERING THE WILD DOGS IN THE GRASS
The legendary dogs are the trio of legendary Pokemon that go by the names of Suicune, Raikou, and Entei. Upon entering the mysterious Burned Tower in Ecruteak City, you must descend the charred tower all the way to the basement, where you will then run into the trio of monsters. Once you awaken the beasts, they all scatter in different directions, relocating to separate locations around the Johto region.
Each time you enter a new route, city, or town, the locations of the beasts change, which makes it very difficult to encounter and capture all three. There are tricks you can use to run into them to make the encounter a bit easier to happen but it’s rare nonetheless. That magical moment when you’re walking through some grass and encounter a wild Suicune is crazy and when it does happen, the feeling is pure joy and astonishment. The mission to catch all three of them is definitely challenging but oh so rewarding.
LUGIA/HO-OH BATTLE
Ho-Oh and Lugia are of course the legendary Pokemon of Gold and Silver (Ho-oh for Gold and Lugia for Silver). Atop the Tin Tower is where you find the legendary Pokemon that is Ho-Oh. Getting to the fiery bird is no joke; going through the puzzle that is the Tin Tower takes some thinking and a bit of patience but catching this level 70 Pokemon and putting him on your team will be very helpful once you have to fight Red or the Elite Four.
The Whirl Islands is where you’ll encounter the diving Pokemon, Lugia. This encounter lies deep within a watery cave that houses the very powerful Pokemon. Getting to Lugia requires a few Hidden Machines like Surf, Waterfall, and Flash, making it impossible to get to early in the game. These battles aren’t part of the main storyline like future Pokemon titles would start to do later on, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that finding both of these creatures are very rewarding.
CATCHING DIFFERENT POKEMON AT NIGHT
Another big feature that Gold and Silver brought into the Pokemon series is the day/night cycle. Not only are there different Pokemon in different routes but you can find certain Pokemon at nighttime and during the day. Having trouble finding that Hoothoot that you want so bad? Try looking around at night and Hoothoot will surely appear right in front of your eyes.
You could be a dedicated Pokemon trainer and base your real life time around your Pokemon game or you can just be a cheater and change the in-game clock to whatever you desire, it’s up to you. Day/night cycles made catching Pokemon that much more strategic and truly improved the way players encountered certain monsters.
USING APRICORNS TO CREATE UNIQUE POKEBALLS
If Great Balls and Ultra Balls weren’t doing the trick when it came to catching stronger Pokemon, then the Pokeball maker, Kurt, would become your best friend. With some Apricorns and Kurt’s help, you can have custom-made Pokeballs that will help you catch Pokemon when certain requirements were met.
Seven new types of Pokeballs were introduced in Gold and Silver: Level Ball, Love Ball, Friend Ball, Lure Ball, Moon Ball, Fast Ball, and the Heavy Ball. Different colored Apricorns found throughout the Johto region will make these Balls for you to use. The effects range from being able to easily catch heavier Pokemon to catching Pokemon who easily escape battle, like the legendary dogs. It was a really cool feature that would later be added to future iterations of Pokemon.
DISCOVERING THE SECRETS OF THE RUINS OF ALPH AND THE UNOWN
The Unown were such strange Pokemon in Gold and Silver. Finding out that there were 26 of them, each symbolizing a different letter of the alphabet was even stranger. Surrounding the Ruins of Alph, you’ll find four separate sliding block puzzles that resembled mysterious Pokemon – Omanyte, Kabuto, Aerodactyl, and Ho-Oh – solving these puzzles would drop you into the ruins while also unlocking all ‘letters’ of Unown.
Another weird fact about the ruins is that if you turned on the radio while you were down in them, you will hear strange noises known as Mysterious Transmission on channel 13.5. The mystery and the history behind the ruins is pretty creepy and makes that whole discovery very intriguing and engrossing.
Catching all 26 variations of the Unown would grant you access to print them off of your Game Boy Printer, which was one of the few ways that that printer was actually used.
Published: Jun 7, 2017 10:00 am