Well, like it or not, Pokémon is back. And with the release of Pokémon Gold and Silver for the Game Boy Color last October, Nintendo's flagship franchise has finally returned to its roots. After moonlighting in puzzle games, pinball games, and even photography games, the Pokémon can once again be found in a "catch-'em-all" style role-playing title.
Was it worth the wait? For the most part, yes.
The game starts by introducing us to a young boy. This boy has a dream to become a Pokémon master. He starts off this quest by visiting the home of a nearby professor, who bestows upon him one of three different creatures and warns him to take care of the lovable little monster. With the new Pokémon by his side, the scrappy youngster sets off to defeat the eight gym leaders and establish himself as an elite trainer.
Sound familiar? It should.
Although it contains a few new twists and turns, the story is basically a rehash of the originals. Of course, the strength of the Pokémon games has always been gameplay, not story. Gold and Silver are no exceptions. The basic concept is the same, meaning that you still have to capture hoards of the little creatures, raise them into fighting machines, and use them to defeat other trainers en route to Pokémon glory. However, unlike the story, the gameplay does feature innovations. Plenty of them.
For starters, there's the internal clock. The addition of said clock alone leads to two innovative new concepts. First, certain Pokémon can now only be caught at certain times of the day. Also, there are time-specific events that occur, such as bug-hunting contests. Through these, you can acquire items or even different types of Pokémon not normally available in the game.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. The addition of the cell phone allows you to set up rematches with defeated trainers. Pokémon are now broken into male and female genders, which allows for breeding. Pokémon can hold a healing or status recovery item in battle. The game's interface has been cleaned up as well, making it easier to keep track of items and store Pokémon. There are tons of minigames and hidden Pokémon, such as the legendary Lugia and Ho-Oh. All in all, there's a lot of stuff packed into this little cartridge, and it's all good.
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