Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver are role-playing video games created by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color in 1999. These games are the first in the second generation of the Pokémon video game series. They were released in Japan in 1999, in Australia and North America in 2000, and in Europe in 2001.

The games add 100 new Pokémon species and follow a player’s journey to become a skilled Pokémon trainer. While the games can be played separately, they share the same story. To complete the Pokédex in each game, players must trade between these games and earlier Pokémon games. The Johto Saga in the Pokémon anime is based on the new region introduced in the games.

Pokémon Gold and Silver were very successful, selling over 23 million copies. They became the best-selling games for the Game Boy Color and the third best-selling for the Game Boy family. In later years, they were considered some of the most important games in the fifth generation of Pokémon games and among the greatest video games ever made. These games also helped the Pokémon series grow into a billion-dollar franchise.

A third game in the same generation, Pokémon Crystal, was released in 2000. In 2009, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Gold and Silver, remakes called Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were released for the Nintendo DS.

Gameplay

Pokémon Gold and Silver are played from a third-person, top-down perspective, meaning players view the game from above, like looking down on the world. Players move the main character around the fictional universe, interacting with objects and people. As players explore, they will find different areas, such as grassy fields, forests, caves, and seas, where various Pokémon live. When a Pokémon is randomly encountered, the game switches to a turn-based battle scene where the Pokémon fight.

The main goals in the games are to complete the main story by defeating the Elite Four and Pokémon Master Lance to become the Champion, and to complete the Pokédex by capturing, evolving, and trading to collect all 251 Pokémon species. A key part of the game involves training Pokémon by battling others found in the wild or owned by other Trainers. This process uses experience points (EXP), which help Pokémon level up and gain new abilities, such as improved battle stats and new moves.

Pokémon Gold and Silver keep the basic mechanics of capturing, battling, and evolving Pokémon from earlier games, but they add new features. A real-time clock tracks the time and day of the week, affecting events like Pokémon appearances. New items were introduced, including berries that restore health or cure status effects, and held items that boost Pokémon in battle. Special Poké Balls were added to help catch Pokémon more easily in certain situations. The Pokégear, a new item, acts as a watch, map, radio, and phone, allowing players to call other characters who offer their phone numbers for rematches or hints about rare Pokémon.

The games introduce three new legendary Pokémon—Raikou, Entei, and Suicune—that roam Johto and change locations frequently. These Pokémon can be tracked using the Pokédex’s habitat feature, but they will try to flee and lose health during battles. Shiny Pokémon, which have different colors than normal Pokémon of their species, appear very rarely, about once in every 8,192 encounters in earlier games. Two new Pokémon types were added: Steel-type Pokémon are immune to Poison-type moves and have strong defenses, while Dark-type Pokémon are immune to Psychic-type moves and are strong against Psychic-type Pokémon. New moves were added, but Pokémon that know them cannot be traded to first-generation games. A move deleter was introduced to erase these moves. The "Special" stat was split into "Special Attack" and "Special Defense," adding more strategy to battles.

Pokémon breeding was introduced, assigning Pokémon to one or two breeding groups. If a male and female Pokémon with at least one shared breeding group are left at a Pokémon Daycare, they may produce an egg that hatches into a young Pokémon. The young Pokémon inherits its mother’s species and some moves from its father. However, legendary and mythical Pokémon, along with certain other species, cannot breed. Ditto can breed with most Pokémon except those in the No Eggs Discovered Group, even if the other Pokémon is male.

Plot

Pokémon Gold and Silver take place in the Johto region, which is located to the west of the Kanto region from the earlier Red and Blue games. The Johto region is three years after the events of the previous games. The design of Johto was based on Japan's Kansai and Tōkai regions, with many temples and traditional Japanese styles included in the region's features.

As in the previous games, the player character receives their first Pokémon by choosing between Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile from Professor Elm, a local Pokémon scientist in Johto. The player then begins a journey to earn eight Gym Badges in Johto, followed by a challenge against the Elite Four and the Johto League Champion to become a Pokémon Master. The player faces a mysterious rival who stole one of the other Pokémon from Professor Elm and often challenges the player to test their skills. The player also encounters Team Rocket, a group that has reunited to find their former leader, Giovanni, and restore their past strength. Eventually, the player stops Team Rocket and defeats the Elite Four and the Johto League Champion on Indigo Plateau.

After completing these challenges, the player can travel to the Kanto region from the earlier games and face the Kanto Gym Leaders, discovering how much has changed in the three years since the events of Red and Blue. For example, Cinnabar Island has nearly been completely covered by a volcano; only a Pokémon Center remains. After defeating the Kanto Gym Leaders, the player may enter the dangerous Mt. Silver area, where powerful Pokémon live. Deep inside Mt. Silver's caves is Red, the main character from the Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow games, and the Indigo League Champion. The player can challenge Red in the game's most difficult final battle.

Development

Gold and Silver were first shown to the public at the November 1997 Nintendo Space World Expo in Japan, becoming the most popular exhibit at the event. Unlike the previous game in the series, Pokémon Yellow, the new titles were not just a small upgrade to Pokémon Red and Blue. Instead, they introduced a new storyline, a new world, and new Pokémon species. Gold and Silver were designed for the Game Boy Color, allowing the games to use full color and more detailed images. Other features shown included Pokémon breeding, items that Pokémon could carry, a game tool called the PokéGear, a clock that showed the real time, and the ability to play with older games in the series.

During an ABC News interview, Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of Creatures Inc., explained how new Pokémon species were created. He said the ideas came from the imagination of Game Freak’s software developers, who drew inspiration from their childhood experiences, such as reading manga, which are Japanese comic books, and from activities like catching insects. Just like Pokémon Mew in the earlier games, the exclusive Pokémon Celebi was included in Gold and Silver but could only be obtained by attending a Nintendo promotional event. The first official event offering Celebi was Nintendo Space World 2000 in Japan, where 100,000 attendees received the rare Pokémon. To participate, players had to send in a postcard to enter a lottery for one of 100,000 certificates that allowed them to attend the event and claim Celebi.

Ishihara stated that development of Gold and Silver began immediately after the release of Pokémon Red and Green in Japan. The original plan was to release the game in 1998, aligning with the end of the anime’s first season. However, delays caused by Game Freak working on Pokémon Stadium and localizing the first generation of games pushed the release date. Pokémon Yellow took over the original release schedule. Programmer Shigeki Morimoto noted that development took three and a half years partly because the team had only four programmers. Satoru Iwata, then president of HAL Laboratory and later Nintendo’s CEO, helped by creating new tools to compress the Pokémon graphic code.

Junichi Masuda composed the game’s music using an Amiga computer, converted it into MIDI data, and then adapted it for the Game Boy Color.

In 2018, early Japanese-language demo versions of Gold and Silver, shown during the 1997 Nintendo Space World presentation, were discovered. These included two debug versions of the games and two modified versions that could run on standard Game Boy hardware and most emulators. The ROM images were shared anonymously on the "Pokémon Reverse Engineering Tools" (PRET) Discord server in May 2018 and later posted on 4chan’s /vp/ board. The Cutting Room Floor website analyzed and translated the ROMs, releasing a spreadsheet with details such as Pokémon species, moves, items, non-playable characters, maps, and music. The demo featured a larger world map than the final game, which was based on Japan’s Kansai region, and included around 100 unused or altered Pokémon designs.

Earlier in May 2018, Pokémon artist Atsuko Nishida revealed that Pikachu was originally planned to have a third evolution called "Gorochu." Additionally, Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri shared four unused Pokémon designs that were never included in the original games.

While cut content is common in video games, the amount of removed material in the Gold and Silver demo was described as "overwhelming." Matthew Byrd of Den of Geek noted that many designs were cut during testing, possibly due to balance issues.

Release

In September 1999, the games were announced for release in Japan on November 21, 1999, and a North American release date was estimated for September 2000. Nintendo announced the release of the Pocket Pikachu Color, a full-color portable digital pet similar to the one released the year before. The unit is compatible with Gold and Silver, allowing the transfer of in-game currency known as "watt points." Pocket Pikachu Color was planned for release in Japan on November 21, 1999, the same day as the release of Gold and Silver. In addition, an officially licensed Pikachu-themed Game Link Cable developed by Kemco was set for release in Japan on November 18, 1999. The product functions like a normal Game Link Cable and consists of a yellow cable with a figure of Pikachu on one end and a Poké Ball on the other.

Nintendo expected high sales and planned its first shipment of the games in Japan to be three million copies, predicting that more than eight million copies would eventually be sold in the country alone. However, Nintendo later reduced the first shipment to 1.5 million copies after an earthquake in Taiwan damaged its cartridge manufacturing facilities. Some people believed Nintendo used the earthquake as an excuse to limit shipments and keep demand high.

To prepare for the North American release, Gold and Silver were displayed for audiences to interact with at the 2000 American International Toy Fair in New York City. To promote the games further, Nintendo modified five Chrysler PT Cruisers to look like the new Pokémon Lugia and drove them across the United States. The vehicles had fins and tails attached, were painted with Pokémon logos, and included televisions connected to game consoles. Spectators could play Pokémon Puzzle League, Hey You, Pikachu!, and Pokémon Gold and Silver on the cars. A television series called Pokémon GS, based on the games, was announced for the fall lineup on Kids' WB. The show follows the same main character, Ash Ketchum, in a new region with different Pokémon species from the games. Nintendo kept the English names of the 100 new Pokémon secret and released them gradually. The domain names 'pokemongold.com' and 'pokemonsilver.com' were registered for this purpose, and names like Chikorita, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Togepi, Hoothoot, and Marill were shared over time.

In September 1999, Nintendo announced that Gold and Silver would be released in North America in September 2000. In May 2000, the release date was changed to October 16, 2000, and later to October 15. In North America, Nintendo began accepting pre-orders for the games in August 2000. A CD-ROM was available as a pre-order bonus, containing clips and music from Pokémon the Movie 2000, screenshots from the games, a Pokémon-themed desktop wallpaper, an offer for a Nintendo Power Player's Guide, and Pokémon-related trivia. The games had record pre-order sales—about 600,000 copies were pre-ordered in two months, compared to 150,000 copies for Pokémon Yellow. As the release date approached, some retailers, like Electronics Boutique, sold the games immediately upon receiving shipments, first fulfilling pre-orders and then selling remaining copies to customers. The games were reportedly available as early as October 11.

The games were released in Australia on October 13, 2000, and in Europe on April 6, 2001. Nintendo spent between $12 million and $14 million to market the games in the United States.

Pokémon Crystal Version is a third version of the game, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on December 14, 2000, in North America on July 30, 2001, and in Europe on November 2, 2001. The plot and gameplay of Crystal are similar to Gold and Silver, but it includes several new features.

Pokémon Crystal received positive reviews from critics, though many noted that it did not have enough new additions to clearly differentiate it from Gold and Silver. The game sold nearly 6.4 million copies worldwide.

In June 2017, The Pokémon Company announced through a Pokémon Direct broadcast that the games would be re-released worldwide on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on September 22, 2017.

Reception

Pokémon Gold and Silver received high praise from critics, who noted that the longer gameplay and new features made the games as interesting as the original Pokémon games. Craig Harris of IGN gave the games a perfect 10 out of 10 score, saying, "Although the original Pokémon game was great, Gold and Silver improve on it with better gameplay, more features, and more content. There are so many small changes it is hard to list them all." The games were especially praised for their internal clock feature. Frank Povo of GameSpot said, "The first major change in Gold and Silver is the addition of a time element. While it might seem like a simple idea, the clock adds more variety to the game." Povo gave the games an 8.8 score, calling them "great." Nintendo Power ranked Gold and Silver as the sixth best Game Boy and Game Boy Color games, highlighting new Pokémon, improved features, and full-color graphics.

Overall, Gold and Silver were described as strong additions to the gaming world that would appeal to many players. Harris said, "After playing the games for many hours, I cannot find any negative points about Gold and Silver. Nintendo and Game Freak improved the original game, creating a sequel that is long, challenging, and fun to play. Pokémon is popular for a reason, and Gold and Silver will help the series grow even more."

Gold and Silver continued the success of Pokémon Red and Blue, helping to build the Pokémon franchise into a multi-billion dollar business. On the first day of release in Japan, the games sold 1,425,768 copies. By April 2000, about 6.5 million copies had been sold in Japan. Silver was slightly more popular than Gold, selling about 100,000 more copies.

In the United States, the games sold 1 million copies before their release. During the first week of release, they sold 1.4 million copies combined, breaking the previous sales record held by Pokémon Yellow. This success was expected, as Peter Main, an executive at Nintendo, said, "Kids love to play Pokémon. In 2000, the best-selling game for home consoles was Pokémon Stadium, and the best-selling handheld game was Pokémon Yellow. However, Gold and Silver will sell even more than those games. We expect to sell 10 million copies of both games in less than six months." Within a few weeks, the games sold 2.9 million copies in the U.S.

In Germany, Gold and Silver received two Double Platinum awards for selling more than 800,000 copies by 2002. In the United Kingdom, they received two Platinum awards for selling more than 600,000 copies. By 2010, Gold and Silver had sold 23 million copies worldwide.

Legacy

Pokémon HeartGold Version and Pokémon SoulSilver Version are improved versions of Pokémon Gold and Silver. They were created by Game Freak and released by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. The games were first available in Japan on September 12, 2009. They later came out in North America, Australia, and Europe in March 2010.

The game director, Shigeki Morimoto, wanted to honor the experiences of players who enjoyed the earlier games while also making the new versions feel fresh for those who had recently joined the series. The games received good reviews and were among the best-rated Nintendo DS games on Metacritic. In terms of sales, they are some of the most successful Nintendo DS games ever, with a total of 10 million copies sold by July 2010.