26 out of 26 people found this review helpful.
So You Want To Be A Master?(Rhombus RPG Write-Off)
Date of Review: Dec 18, 2001
The Bottom Line: Do you have the skills to be...NUMBER ONE!!
Before I finally got my hands on Pokemon Gold, I had already been playing Pokemon Silver for the past 7 months since it debuted, which was if I remember correctly, September 14th 2000. During that 7 months of Pokemon Training, I had caught almost all the Pokemon available in Silver, I had one of my friends traded the Pokemon I needed from the Red and Blue versions, and I had beaten the Elite Four and the final battle about a billion times. I had like 50 or 60 Pokemon that were either above 90, or were at level 100. My teams was, to put it lightly, unbeatable. My friends and I would have little tournaments, and I would just fly through each battle. Each of the Pokemon that I used had strong attacks that nobody could do anything about.
Well, it?s been about 4 months since I got Gold, and it has had just about as much playing time as my Silver version has. Although the Gold and Silver version s have the same story line and plot, they're both different in their own way. For starters, the ratio of Pokemon per area is different between the two versions.
Plot/Story
In case you haven?t been paying attention to the Pokemon craze, here?s the scoop. You?re a trainer from the little town respectively called New Bark Town. When you?re sent by the Professor in your town, Professor Elm, he gives you the choice between three different new Pokemon; Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile. When you get to Mr.Pokemon?s house, Professor Oak is there and he deems you worth enough to have a Pokedex so he can catch different Pokemon and become a Pokemon Master by beating the Elite Four.
Gotta Catch Em? All!
When you start the game, you?ll be asked to put the hour, then minutes, and what day of the week it is along with the choice of it being Daylight Savings time or something. Before leaving your home on your adventure, your mom will give you your PokeGear.
Poke Gear
One of the new additions to the Pokemon series is the new PokeGear where a cell phone, world map, watch, and radio are at your disposal. Once you get the ?cards? for these features you?re able to use them.
Watch
When you check here, you can see what time it is and the day of the week. Oh, and did I mention the game flow goes by real time. Even if your Game Boy is turned off, the internal clock will keep ticking.
Cell Phone
After beating certain trainers, some of them may give you their phone number so you can call them up for a rematch. Main characters like Professor Elm and your mom are automatically recorded in the cell phone.
World Map
The same as the other Pokemon installments, you have a map to check where things are and stuff.
Radio
With this handy dandy little gadget, you can listen to different radio stations. Some are little talk shows, while others give useful hints to finding rare Pokemon.
Back Pack
I like this feature and think that it has really improved the organization of different items.
Items
Here?s where the general items like potions, berries, repels, antidotes, those kind of essentials.
Balls
Here?s where you keep all your Poke Balls.
Key Items
Well, duh, here?s where your key items(most important) are stored, like your Bicycle.
TM/HM
Your TMs and HMs, standing for Technical and Hidden Machines, are stored here for use.
Stuff
Like a lot of the new features, one of them is the ability to add your bike to the select button, so all you have to do is press the select button, and it saves all the time of going through the menus.
?A whole new world? ~ Aladdin 1992
Unlike the first three Pokemon installments, the Gold adventure starts in a new world called Johto, where old and NEW Pokemon run wild. Of course when you beat the Elite Four, you?re able to go to the map of the old map in Red, Blue, and Yellow versions called Kanto. After going through the eight gyms there and beat the rival, you?re then lead to a dungeon where a very familiar trainer with his Pokemon at very high levels, like in the 80?s.
As you may know, with a new world, that means new Pokemon. With the addition of 100 new little monsters, the total population is now over 250. Along with a new world, comes new trainers and gyms and towns. The new gyms use a mix of old and new Pokemon, along with the regular trainers. There are also two new Pokemon types. Because of a lot of people?s complaints on how the Psychic Pokemon have the advantage over the other types, the new Dark and Steel type Pokemon balance out the element chart.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Like all traditional RPGs, while walking around grassy areas in the world, or in dungeons, you?re attacked by a Pokemon. Depending on the time of day and area you?re in, you?re attacked by different Pokemon. When you go into battle, the first Pokemon in your line-up will go one on one with the other Pokemon. Oh, before I forget, you can only have six Pokemon in your party, and the first one in the line-up will begin the battle.
Each Pokemon is allowed a maximum of four moves. Of course you could have less, you could have even one, but I don?t see why you?d want to. Each Pokemon attacks based on its speed, and depending on each Pokemon? s strength and weakness, the battle could be real short, or real long. Whenever you knock out an opponents Pokemon, you?ll gain experience points each time. When you gain a certain amount of experience points, like a traditional RPG is, which by the way, the Game Boy Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Silver, Gold, and Crystal ARE RPGs, you?ll gain a level. On certain levels, the Pokemon can learn certain attacks. You can also teach your Pokemon attacks by using....
TM/HM
...Technical and Hidden Machines on them. TMs can be deleted or a new move can take the place of it, and HMs can?t be deleted, once you teach it to a Pokemon, it?s stuck there. So my advice, don?t teach a Hidden Machine to a Pokemon unless you want to use it as a regular attack.
Evolution
When some Pokemon level up, they could evolve at a certain level. Like Bulbasaur evolves into Ivysaur at level 14, and Ivysaur evolves into Venusaur at level 32. Of course you can stop the evolution by pressing the ?B? button. As Pokemon evolve, and level up, their stats increase as well. Attack, defense, speed, special attack, and special defense are the stats that increase as Pokemon level up or evolve. Each Pokemon?s stats are different and they also have a certain amount of HP(Hit Points).
Are you a he...or a he/she?
Another of the many new features in Pokemon Gold, all the Pokemon, except for certain ones, have a gender of male or female. The only ones that don?t have a gender are like the two legendary birds; Lugia and Ho-Oh, and the new Legendary Cats Trio. The reason why the Pokemon have genders is because now you can breed Pokemon. Some Pokemon can even produce an earlier stage Pokemon of its type, or Baby Pokemon.
Depending on the stats and attacks of each parent, an offspring could inherit a move that it normally couldn?t learn or it won?t learn it until a higher level.
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Graphics
For the Game Boy, the graphics are good, for the Pokemon series, the graphics are best yet. With over 256 colors, this game is more colorful than the other Pokemon games. All of the Pokemon?s images while in battle are different than the previous titles.
Control
Let me remind you that this IS the Game Boy, so there?s only three main buttons to press. D-Pad, ?A?, and ?B?. Like most top view side scrolling and up and down games, the North, South, East, and West positions on the D-Pad allows you to move in that direction. The ?A? button is the command, when you?re choosing attacks or menus or whatever, and ?B? is like cancel.
Sound
The music, like most Pokemon games, gets very repetitive and annoying and you?ll quickly have your Game Boy?s volume turned down and the radio playing. But I guess if you?re a TRUE Pokemaniac, the sounds won?t get annoying. Heck, I admit I?ve even caught myself humming the tunes and not realizing it.
Overall
I do recommend Pokemon Gold to the RPG players out there who want something a little bit different. But, be warned, after five minutes of playing, you will not want to stop. With the Crystal version already out with more features than Pokemon Gold and Silver, Gold might seem kind of old. Don?t worry, if you don?t know what to choose, choose em? all!
~Happy Gaming
This is part of a write-off held by Pika312. Check out his profile for all the participants. The Rhombus RPG Write-Off was suppose to be a write-off where someone could write about any RPG, whether they praise it or bash it. But there's one rule, it can't be a Square Soft title. Hence why the write-offs' called the "Rhombus" RPG Write-Off and not "Square" Write-Off. That way RPGs not developed by square could have a little spot light.
