I'm sure we all loved the Johto series, even almost as much as we loved the Indigo Plateau series. And Pokémon Gold was the first (alongside Silver that is) game of the new season. If I remember correctly the games came out before the Pokémon Johto Journeys was even aired on American television, but I digress. Gold version was addition to one of the many great Pokémon classics, as soon as it was released it was a big hit. I personally loved the game, it was different than the others in its own unique way.

Lets start with the game play, it was the same as the classics. You know roam around, catch em' all and become the Johto League Champion. However, there was a bit more to it than just that. For example, there was so many more Legendary Pokémon to catch (Raikou, Entai, Suicune, Lugia, Ho-oh, Mew and Mewtwo [also in Japan only, through a link cable and a cell phone, Celebi]). Another extension to the game was that once you defeated the gym leaders, and elite four you were now allowed to traverse through Kanto. Where it all began, and collect more badges. Although once you get the 8 badges of Kanto, you cannot face the Kanto Regions elite four. However, Prof. Oak will permit you entrance into the dangerous Mt. Silver where you will find rare and strong Pokémon, and the original Champion himself, Red.

Now there couldn't be anything else different about the game, right? Wrong, there is a few other things that are different. Like the bag, and the Pokegear. Your backpack now has more pockets, so now you can carry more items along with you throughout your journey. You now have a pocket for your items, pokeballs, key items and berries (which were added to the games as well. Berries do different things for your Pokemon if you feed it to them or let them hold it). Also, three new features have been added; 1. The Pokegear, this contraption was given to you by your mother and it is a town map, telephone, and radio all in one (pretty convenient huh?) this item is the Pokémon worlds first cell phone. Now you can call Prof. Elm, Bill, your mom and any other Trainer you beat in battle and register numbers with. You will also receive calls from these people, some calls will be a part of the story while others will be either to battle or ask how you are doing. 2. Hold items, a hold item is an item that you can have your Pokémon hold to use during battles (examples; berries, quick claw and leftovers). The item will have a certain use in battle, whether it be healing or restoring a status aliment or even powering up a move. Berries however can only be used once if holding, considering it is a berry (look at it like this if you have your Pokémon hold Berry and it restores health by itself  in the middle of battle, it just ate the berry you gave it so your Pokémon is healed and the berry is gone). 3. Do you remember teaching your Pokémon HM moves, then going to press start to use it outside or battle? Well in this game all you have to do is walk up to where you want to use your HM move and press A, the game will ask you if you want to use "insert HM move name here" and you just simply press yes. A small change, but a huge impact on the game play (can you say time saving?).

Now my rating, I gave this game a 10. These Pokémon games were a big part of my childhood, so a lot of them will get perfect 10s. It was a great game, and no matter how long time passes or what new and updated Pokémon games come out these will always be my picks and I will always play them. Graphics, sound and addictiveness I gave a 10, the graphics and sounds because they were changed and looked and sounded amazing. The overworld looked updated, and the Pokémon sprites were redone and updated. As for the addictiveness, when I got Pokémon G/S/C I never wanted to put them down, I loved them. I was sucked into them from the start, Johto being one of my favorites.

Gamefreak/Nintendo tried something different this time, they actually tried to put a story into the game. That is why instead of just leaving the story blank I gave it a 7, they tried really hard on the story. The story is partially about you trying to find out who the red haired guy is stealing that Pokémon from Prof. Elm's lab (Silver), why Team Rocket is around and finding out more about the legendary dog Pokémon Raikou, Suicune and Entai while still collecting badges and going on to defeat the elite four. Sound like a long and confusing game? Well think again, because it really is not as hard as it sounds and it is not as long as you might think either. It is about as hard as your average Pokémon game so I rated the difficulty a 5, considering (like I said in other Pokémon game reviews) a lot of Pokémon games were not that hard. I also gave the depth a 6 (instead of a 5) because even though it wasn't that long of a game, it was a bit longer than the originals. Only by a tiny bit, and the story was added making it seem more legit as a real problem going on in the world that you have embarked your journey upon.

All in all, Pokémon Gold was a wonderful game. There was a few differences and a few similarities but over all it is still considered a Pokémon classic, not only through my eyes but through the eyes of a lot of Pokémon lovers. I highly recommend this game to all Pokémon fans, I'm sure that a lot of people will get as much enjoyment out of it as I do. Have fun with your Pokémon adventures in the land of Johto everyone.

Good review, besides the fact I think, because of all the obtainable Pokémon, plus twice as many gyms, deserves a better depth score. But I agree with everything else, especially the overall score! This was the first Pokémon game I ever played. Still love it.

Gold was one of my favorite gameboy games in the entire series. I maxed out my hours on my Gameboy color which eventually shifted to Gameboy Advanced.


And then corrupt save thing happens and then I was ridiculously sad....



I must agree, I would have given it a higher depth score. There is A LOT to do after you beat the Elite 4. It's almost like a completely different game. Not to mention all the game-link battling that could be done always gave you a reason to keep playing the games and keep your game in top shape. The game could technically take months to 100% it if you are talking about catching all 251 Pokemon, leveling them all to level 100, and that's not even including shiny collecting and all that.

I think personally the story should be lower too. I mean, it didn't really have THAT much of a story. But perhaps I'm comparing that to the more recent games. I suppose not very many Gameboy games at the time had much story in them in the first place, so I suppose the rating is at least justified.

Thank you both patar4097 and jlh I worked pretty hard on my reviews and this one I do believe is my longest and most worked on lol I know a lot of people really like this version jlh, me being one of them out of the G/S/C line up though my favorite will always be Crystal.