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

The games add 100 new Pokémon and follow a player’s journey to learn how to battle Pokémon. Each game can be played alone, but they share the same story. To complete the Pokédex in each game, players must trade with the other game and with earlier Pokémon games. The Johto Saga in the Pokémon anime is based on the new region introduced in these games. A third game, Pokémon Crystal, was released in 2000.

Pokémon Gold and Silver received high praise from critics when they were released. Some people consider them the best games in the series and among the most important games for the fifth generation of video game consoles. They continued the success of Pokémon Red and Blue, helping the Pokémon franchise grow into a very successful business. These games sold almost as many copies as Red and Blue and sold over 23 million units by 2010. This made them the best-selling games for the Game Boy Color and the third most popular games for the Game Boy family of systems.

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 side view, with players controlling the main character as they move through a fictional world. Players can explore different environments, 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 players and the Pokémon take turns fighting.

The main goals in the game 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. A key part of the game involves training Pokémon by battling others found in the wild or owned by other Trainers. As Pokémon gain experience points (EXP) through battles, they level up, which changes their abilities, battle stats, and the moves they can learn.

Pokémon Gold and Silver keep the basic mechanics from earlier games, like capturing, battling, and evolving Pokémon. However, new features were added. 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 items that give battle advantages. Special Poké Balls were added to help catch Pokémon in specific situations. A new item called the Pokégear functions as a watch, map, radio, and phone, allowing players to contact other characters who share their phone numbers for rematches or rare Pokémon tips.

The games introduce three new legendary Pokémon—Raikou, Entei, and Suicune—that roam Johto and change locations often. These Pokémon can be tracked using the Pokédex’s habitat feature, and they will flee during battles but lose health. Shiny Pokémon, which have different colors than regular Pokémon of their species, are very rare, appearing 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 them. The game also introduced new moves, but these moves cannot be traded to older games. To fix this, a move deleter was added to erase moves from Pokémon. Additionally, the "Special" stat was split into "Special Attack" and "Special Defense," making battles more strategic.

A new feature called Pokémon breeding allows players to breed Pokémon by placing male and female Pokémon from the same breeding group at a Pokémon Daycare. If they share a group, they may produce an egg that hatches into a young Pokémon. The young Pokémon inherits its mother’s species and moves from its father. However, legendary and mythical Pokémon, along with some others, 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, located to the west of the Kanto region from the earlier Red and Blue games, and three years after the events of those games. The design of Johto was inspired by Japan's Kansai and Tōkai regions, with many temples and traditional Japanese styles included in the region's design.

As in the previous games, the player character receives their first Pokémon from Professor Elm, a local Pokémon scientist. The player chooses between Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile. The journey then involves earning eight Gym Badges in Johto, followed by challenging the Elite Four and the Johto League Champion to become a Pokémon Master. The player faces a mysterious rival who took one of Professor Elm’s other Pokémon and frequently challenges the player. The player also encounters Team Rocket, who have reunited to find their former leader, Giovanni, and restore the group’s former power. Eventually, the player stops Team Rocket for good, defeats the Elite Four and the Johto League Champion on Indigo Plateau, and travels to the Kanto region from the earlier games. There, the player challenges the Kanto Gym Leaders and notices changes from the events of Red and Blue three years earlier. For example, Cinnabar Island has been almost entirely covered by a volcanic eruption, leaving only a Pokémon Center. After defeating the Kanto Gym Leaders, the player can enter the dangerous Mt. Silver area, where powerful Pokémon live. Deep within Mt. Silver’s caves is Red, the main character from the Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow games and the Indigo League Champion, who can be challenged 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. They became the most popular exhibit at the event. Unlike the previous game in the series, Pokémon Yellow, the new titles were not just small upgrades to Pokémon Red and Blue. Instead, they introduced a new story, a new world, and new Pokémon species. Gold and Silver were designed for the Game Boy Color, which allowed the games to use full color and more detailed images. Other features shown included Pokémon breeding, held items, a game tool called the PokéGear, a real-time clock, 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 for these Pokémon came from the imagination of the software developers at Game Freak. These ideas were inspired by their childhood experiences, such as reading manga, which are Japanese comic books, and activities like catching insects. These experiences led to the creation of Pokémon." Similar to the exclusive Pokémon Mew in Red and Blue, the Pokémon Celebi was included in Gold and Silver but could only be obtained after attending a Nintendo promotional event. The first event offering Celebi was Nintendo Space World 2000 in Japan, where 100,000 attendees received the rare Pokémon. To qualify, players had to send in a postcard to enter a lottery for a certificate 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, matching the end of the anime's first season. However, delays occurred because Game Freak was working on other projects, such as Pokémon Stadium and localizing the first generation of games. These delays caused the original release date to be taken over by Pokémon Yellow. Programmer Shigeki Morimoto noted that the long development time was partly due to the small team of only four programmers. Satoru Iwata, then president of HAL Laboratory and later Nintendo's CEO, helped the team by creating tools to compress Pokémon graphics.

Junichi Masuda composed the game's music on an Amiga computer. He converted the music to MIDI data and then adapted it for the Game Boy Color.

In 2018, early versions of the Japanese-language demo for Gold and Silver, shown during the 1997 Nintendo Space World presentation, were found online. These included two debug versions of the games and two versions modified to work on standard Game Boy hardware and most emulators. The existence of these ROM images was previously only a rumor until they were anonymously shared on the "Pokémon Reverse Engineering Tools" (PRET) Discord server in May 2018. The demo was quickly shared with members of The Cutting Room Floor website. The ROMs were analyzed, translated, and used to create a spreadsheet with details about Pokémon species, moves, items, characters, maps, and music. The ROMs were first posted anonymously on 4chan's /vp/ board in May, with an official release from The Cutting Room Floor later that day. The demo featured a larger world map than the final game (based on the entire Japanese archipelago, unlike the final region, which is based on the Kansai region of Japan) and included about 100 unused or changed Pokémon designs.

Earlier in May 2018, Pokémon artist Atsuko Nishida revealed that Pikachu was originally planned to have a third evolution named "Gorochu." Additionally, Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri shared four unused designs that were meant for the original Pokémon games.

While cut content is common in video games, the amount of cut content in the Gold and Silver demo has been described as "overwhelming." Matthew Byrd, writing for Den of Geek, noted that much effort was put into the Pokémon that were eventually removed, suggesting that Game Freak may have deleted them during testing 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 works 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.

Anticipating high sales, Nintendo set its first production shipment for the games in Japan at three million, predicting that eventually more than eight million copies would be sold in the country alone. However, they were soon forced to cut the first shipment number in half following an earthquake in Taiwan, which Nintendo said had damaged their cartridge manufacturing facilities. Regardless, speculation arose that Nintendo was instead using the event as an excuse to limit shipment and keep the demand high.

As a precursor to 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 further promote the games, Nintendo modified five Chrysler PT Cruisers to resemble the new Pokémon Lugia and had them driven around the United States. The vehicles had fins and tails attached to them and were painted with logos and images of the Pokémon franchise. In addition, they were equipped with a television set connected to game consoles, which allowed spectators to play Pokémon Puzzle League, Hey You, Pikachu!, and Pokémon Gold and Silver. The television series Pokémon GS, based on the games, was announced to be part of the fall lineup on Kids' WB. The show features the same protagonist Ash Ketchum in a new region with different Pokémon species from the games. The localized English names of the 100 new Pokémon were kept confidential by Nintendo, with the company releasing names periodically. The domain names 'pokemongold.com' and 'pokemonsilver.com' were registered for this very purpose, and such names released included Chikorita, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Togepi, Hoothoot, and Marill.

In September 1999, Nintendo announced that Gold and Silver would be released in North America in September 2000. In May 2000, Nintendo announced the official North American release date of Gold and Silver would instead be October 16 of that year. The release date was later changed to October 15. In North America, Nintendo started accepting pre-orders for the games in August; a CD-ROM was available as a pre-order bonus that included clips and music from Pokémon the Movie 2000, screenshots from Pokémon Gold and Silver, 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—approximately 600,000 copies of the games were pre-ordered in just two months, compared to 150,000 copies for Pokémon Yellow. As the release date neared and retailers began to receive shipments of the games, some retailers—such as Electronics Boutique—chose to sell them immediately upon receiving the games; first using them to fulfill pre-orders, and then selling the remaining copies to walk-in customers. The games were reportedly obtainable 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 game in the United States.

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

Pokémon Crystal was received well by critics, although many commented that there were just not enough new additions and features to significantly set it apart from Pokémon Gold and Silver. Pokémon Crystal has sold nearly 6.4 million units worldwide.

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

Reception

Pokémon Gold and Silver received high praise from critics. Many people believed that the longer gameplay and new features made the games as exciting as the original Pokémon games. Craig Harris of IGN gave the games a perfect score of 10 out of 10, saying that the games improved on the original in many ways. He noted that the games had many small additions that made them even better. Frank Povo of GameSpot praised the games for including a clock feature, which allowed players to experience different events based on the time of day. He said this feature added variety to the game. Povo gave the games an 8.8 rating, calling them "great." Nintendo Power ranked Gold and Silver as the sixth best Game Boy / Game Boy Color games, highlighting the new Pokémon, 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 that after playing the games for many hours, he could not find any negative aspects. He noted that Nintendo and Game Freak improved the original game, creating a sequel that was long, challenging, and enjoyable. He added that this success helped the Pokémon series grow in popularity.

Pokémon 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 over 1.4 million copies. By April 2000, about 6.5 million copies had been sold in Japan. Silver sold slightly more copies than Gold, with a difference of about 100,000 units.

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 made them the fastest-selling games ever. Peter Main, an executive from Nintendo, predicted that the games would sell 10 million copies worldwide within six months. In the U.S. alone, the games sold 2.9 million copies within a few weeks.

In Germany, Gold and Silver received two Double Platinum awards from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) for selling over 800,000 copies by 2002. In the United Kingdom, the games received two Platinum awards for selling over 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 published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. The games were first released in Japan on September 12, 2009. They were later released 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 making the new versions feel fresh for those who had recently joined the series. The games received positive reviews and were among the highest-rated Nintendo DS games on Metacritic. In terms of sales, they are among the best-selling Nintendo DS games of all time, with a total of 10 million copies sold by July 2010.