Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions

Pokémon Gold/Silver redirects here. For the book, see Pokémon Gold/Silver (book).

Pokémon Gold Version ポケットモンスター　金
Pokémon Gold Version's box art, depicting Ho-Oh.
Pokémon Silver Version ポケットモンスター　銀
Pokémon Silver Version's box art, depicting Lugia.
Basic info
Platform:	Game Boy (enhanced for the Super Game Boy, Super Game Boy 2, and Game Boy Color) Game Boy Color (South Korea only) Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console)
Category:	RPG
Players:	2 players simultaneous
Connectivity:	Game Link Cable, Infrared (Game Boy Color only)
Developer:	Game Freak
Publisher:	Nintendo Daewon (South Korea)
Part of:	Generation II core series
Ratings
CERO:	A
ESRB:	E
ACB:	G
OFLC:	G8+
PEGI:	12
GRAC:	ALL (Game Boy) 12+ (3DS VC)
GSRR:	N/A
Release dates
Japan:	November 21, 1999 (Game Boy) September 22, 2017 (3DS VC)
North America:	October 15, 2000 (Game Boy) September 22, 2017 (3DS VC)
Australia:	October 13, 2000 (Game Boy) September 22, 2017 (3DS VC)
Europe:	April 6, 2001 (Game Boy) September 22, 2017 (3DS VC)
South Korea:	April 24, 2002 (Game Boy Color) September 22, 2017 (3DS VC)
Hong Kong:	September 22, 2017 (3DS VC)
Taiwan:	September 22, 2017 (3DS VC)
Websites
Japanese:	Pokémon.co.jp Nintendo.co.jp
English:	Pokémon.com Nintendo.com (Gold) Nintendo.com (Silver)
Japanese boxart Box art of Pocket Monsters: Gold, depicting Ho-Oh. Box art of Pocket Monsters: Silver, depicting Lugia.

Pokémon Gold Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター　金 Pocket Monsters: Gold) and Pokémon Silver Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター　銀 Pocket Monsters: Silver) were the first core series games of Generation II for the Game Boy Color.

During development, the games had the tentative titles of Pocket Monsters 2 (Japanese: ポケットモンスター２) or Pokémon 2 (Japanese: ポケモン２) and Pocket Monsters 2: Gold & Silver (Japanese: ポケットモンスター2　金・銀), along with a provisional release date of "late 1997". The number 2 was dropped as of Nintendo Space World ’97 in November 1997.

Originally announced for a March 1998 release in Nintendo Space World '97, the games had their launch date postponed, with Nintendo issuing a public apology where it was claimed that the developers were worn out but fully committed to the project and that they required more time to expand and improve the games further. They were eventually released in Japan on November 21, 1999, in North America on October 15, 2000, and in Europe on April 6, 2001. In South Korea, Nintendo collaborated with Daewon to release the games in the country, which occurred on April 24, 2002; the Korean versions are solely compatible with the Game Boy Color, which was released there in 2000, also by Daewon.

Unlike earlier games, Pokémon Gold and Silver take place in the Johto region, west of the region that the original games take place in, Kanto. However, Kanto can be traveled to later in the games.

As Pokémon had become an international phenomenon already with the release of Pokémon Red and Blue and Pokémon Yellow in North America and other regions, the localized versions of these games were greatly expected. Much like Red and Green (Red and Blue overseas), Gold and Silver were followed shortly by a solitary version with minor changes, Pokémon Crystal, as well as remakes two generations later in the form of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver for the Nintendo DS.

The games were available on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console between September 22, 2017, and the discontinuation of the 3DS Nintendo eShop on March 27, 2023.

Plot

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Main game

The player begins their journey from New Bark Town, running an errand for Professor Elm to Mr. Pokémon's house to discover what he was so excited about. Elm supplies the player with one of three Pokémon, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile, for this errand. After Mr. Pokémon's discovery turns out to be an Egg, the player returns to New Bark, only to find that a suspicious red-haired boy seen lurking outside of Elm's lab earlier has stolen one of Elm's Pokémon—the one that the player's choice is weak to, coincidentally. Upon defeating him and returning to New Bark, the player gives the name of the boy (the player can choose any name) to a police investigator. Elm is amazed by the Egg and insists on studying it, allowing the player to keep the Pokémon they traveled with as a first partner Pokémon. From here, he encourages the player to journey across Johto and challenge the eight Gym Leaders and then the Pokémon League. With the first Gym in nearby Violet City, the player heads off on their adventure.

After defeating Falkner for the Zephyr Badge, Elm's assistant appears to give the player the Egg, which will later hatch into a Togepi. Heading south towards Azalea Town by way of Route 32 and Union Cave, the player meets up with the villainous Team Rocket, formed again after it was disbanded three years prior in the neighboring Kanto region by a young Trainer. They are cutting off the tails of the Slowpoke that are legendary in Azalea, intending to sell them for a large profit. Kurt, a local maker of specialty Poké Balls, is greatly angered by this, and requests the player's help in chasing away Team Rocket and saving the Slowpoke. Though he falls into Slowpoke Well, hurting himself in the process, he begs the player to continue on to fight the organization with their Pokémon. After this has been done, and Team Rocket is chased away from Azalea, Kurt gives the player a Lure Ball and will make his specialty Poké Balls when brought any kind of Apricorn, one per day. After defeating Bugsy in the Azalea Gym for the Hive Badge and defeating the red-haired boy once again, the player can journey into Ilex Forest to find the Charcoal maker's Farfetch'd and get HM01 (Cut). With this, Ilex Forest can be navigated through towards Route 34. On Route 34, a Pokémon Day Care is set up, however, unlike the one found in Kanto on Route 5, it is capable of raising two Pokémon at once. If these Pokémon are similar enough, and if a male and female have been put in together, a Pokémon Egg can be produced.

Venturing into Goldenrod City, the player's third Badge, the Plain Badge, awaits. After defeating Whitney and getting the Badge, receiving a SquirtBottle allows the player to move the strange tree blocking Route 36 to the north. If it is Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday, the Bug-Catching Contest will be occurring at the National Park on Route 35, as well. In Ecruteak City, Bill, the developer of the PC Pokémon Storage System is performing repairs on the Time Capsule, and as the player arrives, he will finish, asking for them to come visit him in his parents' house in Goldenrod, where he will give away an Eevee. Another Gym is in Ecruteak, where the Ghost-type Leader Morty battles for the Fog Badge.

The player can go on through Route 38 and Route 39 to arrive in Olivine City. Once there, they learn from Silver that Jasmine, the Gym Leader, is not available at the moment, since she is taking care of the lighthouse's Ampharos and refuses to leave until the Pokémon is given a special medicine from Cianwood City. The player thus surfs their way through Route 40 and Route 41 to get to Cianwood. There, they encounter the Fighting-type Leader Chuck, who presents the player with the Storm Badge. They get the SecretPotion from the Cianwood Pharmacy and goes back to Olivine. Jasmine, relieved after getting her Ampharos's medicine, goes back to taking Gym challenges. Her Pokémon specialty is of the Steel type. After defeating her, the player gets their sixth Badge, the Mineral Badge.

The player can also travel to Mahogany Town, through Route 42. The Gym is blocked by a man and the way to Route 44 and the Ice Path is blocked by another man trying to sell RageCandyBars, The only way to go is north to Route 43 and the Lake of Rage. When the player gets to the lake, they encounter the Red Gyarados. After the player battles it, they receive the Red Scale. A caped man named Lance appears on the shore and reveals Team Rocket's secret hideout to the player. The player goes back to Mahogany and storms the hideout, along with Lance. Team Rocket's plan was to emit sound waves, inducing the Magikarp in the lake to evolve into Gyarados, which caused the effect of the Red Gyarados. Once the player defeats all the Rockets and disables the wave-emitting machine, they can challenge Pryce, the town's Ice-type Gym Leader.

Upon defeating the Gym Leader and obtaining the Glacier Badge, the player receives a phone call from Prof. Elm about a strange radio signal emitted by Team Rocket, trying to connect with their missing leader, Giovanni. The player goes to the Goldenrod Radio Tower to investigate. Once there, they find the tower to be taken over by Team Rocket. When the player ascends to the top floor, they find the director of the Radio Tower, only to discover that he has been impersonated by a Rocket and that the real director is actually locked in Goldenrod's basement. Once the player enters the basement, they are once again encountered by Silver, who intends to defeat Team Rocket all by himself. He still questions the way he treats his Pokémon. Once the player gets to the very bottom of the basement, they find the Tower's real director. He gives the player the Card Key, so that they can access the higher floors of the Radio Tower.

After clearing all of the Rockets, effectively disbanding them, the player receives either a Rainbow Wing^G or Silver Wing^S to encounter Ho-Oh^G or Lugia^S, in the Gold and Silver versions, respectively. The player can either go to the Tin Tower or the Whirl Islands at this point, to challenge Ho-Oh or Lugia, respectively; alternatively, they can go straight to Route 44, now unblocked, and through the Ice Path to get to Blackthorn City. There the player can challenge Clair, the Dragon-type Gym Leader. Before giving the player the Rising Badge, however, Clair requires the player go through a test to prove their worthiness. To complete this test, the player must enter the Dragon's Den and retrieve a Dragon Fang. When the player finds the item, they receive the Rising Badge from Clair. Having obtained all eight Badges, the player returns to New Bark Town.

Professor Elm contacts the player, and awards them with a Master Ball when visited. From New Bark, the path to the Pokémon League is to the east, across Route 27 and into Kanto, then across Route 26 and through Victory Road to Indigo Plateau. When the player reaches the exit of Victory Road, Silver appears again and battles the player.

The Elite Four now awaits the player. When the player enters the League, they must face all four in sequence. Will, who trains Psychic-type Pokémon, is first, followed by Koga, who specializes in Poison Pokémon. Next is Bruno, who uses Fighting-type Pokémon, and finally, Karen, who specializes in the Dark type. After defeating these four, the reigning Pokémon Champion, Lance, challenges the player to a final battle. After his defeat, Oak and his co-host on Pokémon Talk, DJ Mary, arrive and congratulate the player. Lance then takes the player to a back room and tells the player that they are admitted into the Hall of Fame. The credits roll.

Postgame

After the credits roll, the player ends up back in New Bark Town in their room; however, Professor Elm calls, requesting a favor. After visiting his lab, he gives the player an S.S. Ticket that allows access to the S.S. Aqua, a ship that travels to and from Kanto, the region that Elm wishes for them to explore. On the first entry into the S.S. Aqua, a man will bump into the player, and will ask them for help as he has lost his granddaughter on the ship. After locating her in the captain's cabin and reuniting her with his grandfather, the ship will arrive in Vermilion City, where the player will take their true first steps in Kanto.

At this point, the player is given free rein to travel throughout the (scaled-down) Kanto region, and collect the eight Badges from Generation I's Gym Leaders. The player can accomplish this in any order; however, certain events must be completed before some Leaders can be challenged. For example, a Team Rocket grunt has stolen a Machine Part from the Kanto Power Plant and hidden it inside Cerulean City's Gym; the grunt must be encountered at the Cerulean Gym before Misty can be found at Cerulean Cape and persuaded to return to the Gym. Giovanni, the previous Leader of Viridian City, has now left, and former Indigo Champion Blue is now its Leader; however, Blue is at the site of Cinnabar Island, musing over its destruction by the local volcano's eruption. When found there, Blue will return to Viridian Gym to be battled. Blaine was the Leader of Cinnabar Gym; when the town was destroyed, he took refuge in one of the Seafoam Islands and can be fought there.

When the player has earned all eight Kanto Badges (and, therefore, all sixteen Badges in the game), Oak allows them to venture to Route 28 and, past it, Silver Cave, a location where only the greatest of Trainers can venture. Silver Cave is a grand set of open tunnels and passages which are riddled with powerful Pokémon, but the player continues to travel through to the end of the cave, where Red, now a Pokémon Master, stands alone to be fought. When Red is defeated, the credits roll again and, afterward, the player is deposited at Route 28's Pokémon Center, outside of Silver Cave.

Blurb

Enter a whole new world, with new Pokémon to capture, train and battle! Meet Professor Elm and get the all-new Poké Gear, including map, radio, cell phone and clock. Set the clock then watch as day turns to night and events take place in real time— and be sure to keep an eye out for Pokémon that come out only at night!

Features

Gyms

There are eight Pokémon Gyms in Johto, each with their own type affiliation. The Gym Leaders are Falkner (Flying), Bugsy (Bug), Whitney (Normal), Morty (Ghost), Chuck (Fighting), Jasmine (Steel), Pryce (Ice) and Clair (Dragon). These Gyms notably feature the types not accounted for by Kanto Gyms, with the exception of the Dark type. Since Kanto is accessible after entering the Hall of Fame, players can visit the eight Pokémon Gyms in the region, even though there have been some changes. The Gym Leaders are Brock (Rock), Misty (Water), Lt. Surge (Electric), Erika (Grass), Janine (Poison), Sabrina (Psychic), Blaine (Fire) and Blue (various).

Elite Four

Gold and Silver introduce a new Elite Four syndicate, though it is found at the same location as it previously was in the Red and Blue versions: Indigo Plateau. The Elite Trainers are Will (Psychic), Koga (Poison), Bruno (Fighting), and Karen (Dark); the Champion is Lance, who uses Dragon-type Pokémon. Lorelei and Agatha, who were part of the Elite Four in Generation I, do not appear in Generation II, nor are they mentioned.

Pokémon

The games feature 100 new Pokémon species, plus the 151 Pokémon of Generation I. Despite this, not all Pokémon are available to a single player, regardless of version; trades must occur between players in order to complete their Pokédex without the use of cheats or glitches. In addition, most Pokémon associated with events in Generation I—including the Kanto first partner Pokémon, the Fossil Pokémon, the legendary birds, Mewtwo and Mew—are absent from all Generation II games and must be traded over from Generation I via the Time Capsule. Celebi is the only Pokémon introduced in Gold and Silver that can only be legitimately acquired by attending a Nintendo event.

Version-exclusive Pokémon

For unknown reasons, two sets of Version-exclusive Pokémon, Phanpy and its evolution Donphan, along with Teddiursa and its evolution Ursaring, were swapped between the Japanese and localized releases, with the former available in Japanese Gold and international Silver and with the latter available in Japanese Silver and international Gold. However, this situation did not occur with the remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver.

The Korean versions of Gold and Silver do not have this change.

Gold 0056 Mankey Fighting 0057 Primeape Fighting 0058 Growlithe Fire 0059 Arcanine Fire 0167 Spinarak Bug Poison 0168 Ariados Bug Poison 0207 Gligar Ground Flying 0216 Teddiursa Normal 0217 Ursaring Normal 0226 Mantine Water Flying

Silver 0037 Vulpix Fire 0038 Ninetales Fire 0052 Meowth Normal 0053 Persian Normal 0165 Ledyba Bug Flying 0166 Ledian Bug Flying 0225 Delibird Ice Flying 0227 Skarmory Steel Flying 0231 Phanpy Ground 0232 Donphan Ground

Pokégear

The Pokégear is received at the beginning of the game from the protagonist's mother. It has several functions, some of which will need to be unlocked during the game by receiving special expansion cards. The Pokégear displays the day of the week and the time of day, entered at the beginning of the game, a map of Johto (and later Kanto) once the Map Card is obtained, a cellphone, allowing the user to make calls to people that they've traded phone numbers with, and a radio which allows the player to get tips from Professor Oak and DJ Mary on Oak's Pokémon Talk, affect how active wild Pokémon are by playing "Pokémon March" or "Pokémon Lullaby" on the Pokémon Music station, or listen to the Lucky Channel to keep track of the Radio Tower's lottery promotion.

Apricorns

More specialized Poké Balls were introduced in these games. A Lure Ball is more effective if used against a Pokémon caught with a fishing rod, a Heavy Ball is used to catch large, heavy Pokémon like Snorlax, and a Friend Ball will make a Pokémon more comfortable and friendly to its Trainer much more quickly. To obtain these Balls, Apricorns must be picked from special plants found throughout Johto, and Kurt in Azalea Town will fashion these into the different Balls based on their color. However, Kurt can only make one Ball at a time, and players must wait until the next day for Kurt to finish the Ball.

Advances in gameplay

Gold and Silver introduced a number of features to the Pokémon video game franchise, many of which set a new standard for every game in the series that followed.

• Splitting the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense.
  • This increased aspects of strategy, for Pokémon were now more specialized. Some were good special attackers, while others were better physical attackers; the same now held true for Defense and Special Defense. For example, Cloyster has a decent Special stat in Generation I, but in all later games, has a decent Special Attack, but low Special Defense.
• Storing items such as healing items, Poké Balls, and Key Items in separate compartments in the Bag.
• Held items are introduced, which raised the bar for strategy, allowing players to outspeed opponents, heal ailments, restore HP in battle, boost the power of moves of a specific type, or increase the Pokémon's friendship, among other uses.
• All Trainers battled by the player had their own unique name, except Rocket Grunts.
• Some Trainers are available for rematches later in the game.
• A time system was also introduced.
  • Throughout the game, Pokémon appearances are influenced by time of day: morning, day, and night. Hoothoot, for example, only appears at night (since it's an owl-like Pokémon).
  • Certain events are also determined by the day of the week, like the Bug-Catching Contest which is held in Johto's National Park on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
  • Depending on the day of the week, either "Pokémon March" or "Pokémon Lullaby" can be heard on the PokéGear radio.
    • "Pokémon March" raises the chance of a Pokémon appearing when the player walks into the grass, while "Pokémon Lullaby" decreases that chance.
• A wide expansion of the concept of genders. In Generation I, only Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ had known genders, which were considered separate species entirely.
  • In Gold and Silver, this was expanded so that most Pokémon can be male or female. Different Pokémon of the same species may now have different genders.
  • Some species are male-only such as Hitmonchan, or female-only such as Chansey. Some species are gender unknown, such as Magnemite, Voltorb, and all Legendary and Mythical Pokémon as of this generation.
• The introduction of breeding, including Egg Groups, and Ditto being able to breed with any Pokémon capable of breeding.
  • In these games, all legendary and mythical Pokémon are gender unknown and unable to breed.
• The introduction of Shiny Pokémon—Pokémon which have a different coloring than their species has normally, and which appear very rarely.
  • In this generation, Shininess is based on the Pokémon's IVs.
  • In this generation, Shiny Pokémon often have higher stats than regular Pokémon, but can never achieve maximum stats for that species.
  • In this generation, the chance of finding a Shiny Pokémon is 1 in 8192.
  • In this generation, the odds of an Egg hatching into a Shiny Pokémon can be significantly increased if one or both parents are Shiny.
  • There is one Pokémon guaranteed to be Shiny: a Red Gyarados can be found at the Lake of Rage. Since it is part of the storyline, it is impossible not to encounter this Pokémon as Shiny.
• Pokérus (a portmanteau of "Pokémon" and "virus") was introduced. Encountering a Pokémon with the virus is even rarer than encountering a Shiny Pokémon, with the odds estimated to be somewhere around a 1 in 21,845 chance. Pokérus doubles the special experience (a concept adapted to later installments as effort values) that the player's Pokémon gain each time the infected Pokémon participates in battle (provided the battle is won and the infected Pokémon does not faint).
• The Pokédex now has multiple ordering systems: the Pokémon can be sorted by Old Pokédex number (later known as National Pokédex), New Pokédex number, or by name. The Unown Mode (which lists Unown forms) was also introduced in this pair of games.
  • For comparison, the Pokédex in the Generation I core series games only displayed the Pokémon ordered by the Kanto Pokédex (which formed the basis for the National Pokédex in later games).
  • The feature to order Pokémon by name was introduced in the Pokédex from the Pokémon Stadium series, starting with the Japanese Pokémon Stadium. However, this option was only added to the core series in Pokémon Gold and Silver.

Types

• Two new types were introduced: Steel and Dark.
  • These two types serve to balance the Psychic type, which previously was only weak to Bug-type moves. In addition, the Steel and Dark types also balanced the Fighting type, which was only super effective against Normal-, Ice-, and Rock-type Pokémon; Steel and Dark are both weak to Fighting-type moves. Steel-type Pokémon are known for their very high defense; they are highly resistant to many types and their moves are strong against Ice- and Rock-type Pokémon. Dark-type Pokémon are immune to Psychic-type moves and have moves with malicious-sounding names, such as Bite (previously Normal-type) and Thief, which are super-effective against Psychic-type Pokémon. Dark-type Pokémon are also strong against Ghost-type Pokémon, thus being the only type that has an attack advantage over Ghost-type Pokémon besides Ghost-type moves themselves. Dark-type Pokémon are also weak to Bug-type attacks.
• Some type match-ups were changed as well.
  • Ghost-type moves previously had no effect on Psychic-type Pokémon; this was changed to super-effective as it was in the anime.
  • Poison-type moves were previously super effective against Bug-type Pokémon, and Bug-type moves were super effective against Poison-type Pokémon; this was changed to Poison doing normal damage to Bug and Bug becoming not very effective against Poison, seriously limiting the effectiveness and usage of both types.
  • Ice-type moves were also made not very effective against Fire-type Pokémon (previously doing normal damage).
• Four moves had their types changed.
  • Gust, previously Normal-type, became a Flying-type move.
  • Bite, previously Normal-type, became a Dark-type move.
  • Karate Chop, previously Normal-type, became a Fighting-type move.
  • Sand-Attack, previously Normal-type, became a Ground-type move.
• Two Pokémon, Magnemite and Magneton, changed from being Electric type to being Electric/Steel.

Graphics

• The way the game handles color on the world map has been improved.
  • Overworld sprites no longer change their palettes when moving between areas.
• The updated battle screen showed both how much experience points a Pokémon had until its next level and whether an encountered wild Pokémon's species has already been captured.

Music

• In Kanto region, remixes of most of the overworld and battle music from the Generation I games are used. Some notable exceptions include Cinnabar Island's music and the music from various Team Rocket hideouts.
• Some music themes changed compared to their Generation I counterparts.
  • The theme shared by Cerulean City and Fuchsia City was removed, as well as the Cinnabar Island theme. Cerulean City and Cinnabar Island now use the same theme as Viridian City, Pewter City, and Saffron City. Fuchsia City now uses the Celadon City theme.
  • "To Bill: Leaving Cerulean City" was removed as well. This is the theme shared by Routes 24 and 25 (the pair of northern routes leading from Cerulean City to the Sea Cottage). They now use the "Road to Cerulean City: Leaving Mt. Moon" theme (the same music as Routes 3–10, as well as Routes 16–22).
• If the player goes to another area while riding the Bicycle, the Bicycle theme is replaced by the theme of the current area. In Generation I, the Bicycle theme played at all times while the player was riding the Bicycle.
  • Route 17 (Cycling Road) now uses the "Road to Cerulean City: Leaving Mt. Moon" theme as well. Ironically, it's not possible to listen to the Bicycle theme in the Cycling Road, because the player is required to enter from another route while riding the Bicycle, which causes the normal area theme to be played. In Generation I, conversely, the Bicycle theme was the only music theme available in the Cycling Road. In other words, it was not possible to listen to a regular area theme, which would require getting off the Bicycle in this generation.

Regions

Johto

Main article: Johto

Gold and Silver introduced a new region to the Pokémon universe, Johto, located directly west of the Kanto region featured in Generation I. Johto's culture is notably more old-fashioned than Kanto's, especially in the more rural areas, which are more plentiful than in Kanto. Like Kanto, it has a sea to the south and mountains to the north.

Kanto

Main article: Kanto

Gold and Silver offer the player the chance to return to the Kanto region where the Generation I games are set. This is available once Johto's Gyms are conquered and the Elite Four is defeated. Here, players will find that many things have changed over the past three years.

Changes concerning the geography of Kanto:

• Most routes were shortened, but cities and towns generally remained the same size except Celadon City, which shrank slightly.
• Viridian Forest is unavailable as a standalone area, being replaced by shrubs located in a small section of Route 2.
  • There is no grass within these shrubs, so technically wild Pokémon cannot appear in the Viridian Forest. Wild Pokémon are still available elsewhere in the grass of Route 2.
• Mt. Moon is dramatically reduced in size, now consisting of only one base floor with a couple of connectors.
• Diglett's Cave and Rock Tunnel have a similar layout as they did before, but reduced in size.
• The Underground Path from Celadon City to Lavender Town has been sealed indefinitely, ostensibly due to vandalism. A sign cites local complaints about battles there and a local Biker Gang complains about it closing down because it was their base.
• A volcano has destroyed Cinnabar Island, leaving a water-filled crater behind. However, the Pokémon Center is still available as usual, as the only building left. Blue mentions that the "whole town" disappeared, which may imply that the Pokémon Center was destroyed and rebuilt.
• The main cave of Seafoam Islands is unavailable. As a result, no wild Pokémon can be found in the Seafoam Islands.
• The Route 23 has been reduced to a short path between Victory Road's exit and Indigo Plateau.
• The Victory Road's length has been shortened, and no longer includes the barriers, boulders, and pressure sensors. No Trainers are found, except for one battle with the player's rival as part of the storyline.
• The Cerulean Cave is gone, though a man near the cave ruins does mention the dungeon, and a hidden item called the Berserk Gene can be found in the water near its former entrance.

Changes concerning the wild Pokémon available in Kanto:

• Pokémon seen in the wild are different: several Generation II Pokémon can be found not only in Johto, but in Kanto as well.
• Some Pokémon that were previously restricted to the Safari Zone can be caught in wild areas, such as Rhyhorn in Victory Road and Kangaskhan in Rock Tunnel.
• Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Mewtwo are unavailable, which may imply that they have already been caught in Generation I.
• Only one Snorlax is found in Vermilion City, as opposed to two Snorlax which were found at Route 12 and Route 16 in Generation I. This may suggest that one Snorlax was caught by Red, given that he was required to battle at least one Snorlax to proceed on his journey, and now Red has a Snorlax on his team.

Changes concerning the Gyms and Gym Leaders of Kanto:

• Kanto Gym Leaders use Generation II Pokémon in addition to Generation I Pokémon.
• Koga, the former Gym Leader of Fuchsia City and now a member of the Elite Four, has been replaced by his daughter Janine.
• Blaine has moved his Gym to one of the Seafoam Islands due to Cinnabar's volcanic eruption.
• Blue, the rival of Generation I, is now the leader of the Viridian City Gym.
• Giovanni is nowhere to be seen, though he is clearly mentioned many times, as Team Rocket aims to find him.
• Due to a power outage, a key is no longer required to open the door to Lt. Surge, and the garbage cans in his Gym are all empty (save for trash).

Changes concerning other people found in Kanto:

• Red, the Generation I protagonist, appears in Johto's Mt. Silver Cave, serving as the game's true final challenge. His highest level Pokémon is a level 81 Pikachu. Red also has a Snorlax at level 75, a Blastoise, Venusaur, and Charizard, each at level 77, and a level 73 Espeon. The first five Pokémon are specially obtainable in Pokémon Yellow.
• In the English version, and languages other than Japanese, the old man in Viridian City has now had his coffee, and says, "Hey, kid! I just had a double shot of espresso and I am wired!" In the Japanese version, he lets up a hiccup referencing the fact that he was drunk in the Generation I games. In both versions, he also references the fact that in Generation I he taught the player how to catch Pokémon, but does not attempt to teach this time around.
• Bill's house (Sea Cottage) is still present at the Cerulean Cape, but Bill is currently visiting his family in Johto's Goldenrod City. The house is being watched over by his grandfather.
• The Copycat still lives in Saffron City, but has moved to another area of town. Her old house was demolished to make way for the Magnet Train station. As compensation, she received a free rail pass from a man at the station, which she gives away to the player after the return of her lost doll. According to her mother, this is the same doll that Red exchanged for TM31 (Mimic) in Generation I.
• Kiyo, the Fighting Dojo's master is away training in Mt. Mortar, so the Fighting Dojo only provides a Focus Band left behind. When Kiyo is found and defeated, he will give away a Tyrogue.

Changes concerning other facilities in Kanto:

• The Pokémon Center on Route 4, outside Mt. Moon, is no longer there, leaving the player to trek all the way to Pewter City to heal their Pokémon.
• The museum in Pewter City is closed for renovations.
• The bike shop in Cerulean City is closed, and the owners have moved to Goldenrod City in Johto.
• The formerly-abandoned Kanto Power Plant is now used to power the new Magnet Train (which may have led to the departure of the Pokémon that once infested the plant in Generation I).
• The Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town has been replaced by a Radio Tower, similar to the one in Goldenrod City. Access to the upper floors of this Radio Tower is restricted, a safety precaution taken as a result of Team Rocket's takeover of Johto's Radio Tower.
  • In turn, the Pokémon grave sites were moved into the newly added Soul House.
• The entrance to Team Rocket's headquarters in the basement of the Celadon City Game Corner has been removed, although a man in Celadon's Pokémon Center alludes to it.
• The player can no longer enter Silph Co.'s upper levels due to increased security.
• The Safari Zone is closed while the warden is on a vacation. Instead, the Bug-Catching Contest at the National Park takes its place.

Connectivity

Players may trade Pokémon between two cartridges or battle with another cartridge using a Game Boy Game Link Cable. To take full advantage of this feature, several Pokémon are exclusive to each game of the pair or the Generation I games, and others require trading to evolve, making trading necessary to complete the Pokédex. The games can trade and battle with Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Using the Time Capsule, the Japanese versions can trade with Japanese versions of Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow; and the Western and Korean versions can trade with Western versions of Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow. The cartridge releases of Pokémon Gold and Silver are completely incompatible with games from Generation III onward.

Trades between Pokémon games in different languages are possible; however, a Japanese game cannot connect with a non-Japanese game without causing corruption. If a battle between a Japanese game and a non-Japanese game is attempted, the battle simply does not work, with the save files left unharmed. Korean games can trade and battle with Western language games; however, while the Korean games do support the Latin alphabet, the Western language games do not support Hangul, so the names and Original Trainers of Pokémon from Korean games will use a variety of unrelated characters located at equivalent codepoints to display Korean names (potentially including control characters, which may cause a variety of issues).

Pokémon Gold and Silver are compatible with Pokémon Stadium 2. While link battles are not possible directly between Pokémon Gold and Silver and the Generation I games, a player may challenge a Generation I game using Pokémon Stadium 2. Japanese Pokémon Stadium 2 can communicate with Japanese Generation I and II core series games, but not other languages; Western Pokémon Stadium 2 can communicate with Western Generation I and II core series games, but it does not recognize Japanese games and cannot read the save file from Korean games.

Pokémon Gold and Silver are also compatible with the Game Boy Printer. It is possible to print Pokédex entries, the Diploma, Pokémon Storage System Boxes, Party Pokémon, Mail, and Alph Ruins Stamps.

Mystery Gift

Main article: Mystery Gift → Generation II

Mystery Gift is a 2-player feature that allows players to be gifted a random item by interacting with another player. This feature uses the infrared port on the Game Boy Color. The games that support Mystery Gift are Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, Pokémon Stadium 2, and Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS. Mystery Gift can be used up to five times per day, receiving no more than one gift from each player each day.

When Mystery Gift is used to connect to another Generation II core series game, each of the connected games will receive a random item, and the opponent in the Trainer House will be replaced by that other player. When it is used to connect to Pokémon Stadium 2, the handheld game will receive an item; some items can only be received when communicating with Stadium 2. When connecting to Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS, the player decides on a number of Watts to transfer from the device, and the item received will depend on the amount of transferred Watts.

Virtual Console

The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console release uses 3DS wireless communication as a substitute for the Game Link Cable. The Virtual Console release disables Game Boy Printer compatibility.

Mystery Gift can be performed with other Virtual Console copies of Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal using the Nintendo 3DS system's infrared port. They cannot perform Mystery Gift with the Game Boy Color versions, Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS or Pokémon Stadium 2.

Japanese, Western, and Korean Generation II core series games do not recognize each other when attempting to link them via 3DS wireless communication or infrared. However, different language Western games (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) can link with each other.

Localization changes

Cover of Pocket Monsters Geum·Eun

• Pokémon Gold and Silver can be played either on the Game Boy or the Game Boy Color in all languages except Korean. However, the Korean version of these games is only compatible with the Game Boy Color, due to the need for more memory in order to properly render the Korean characters.
  • In the Korean releases of Gold and Silver, the English Super Game Boy borders (respectively labeled POKéMON GOLD VERSION and POKéMON SILVER VERSION) are present but unused.
  • In the Korean versions, the credits are presented in English. The Japanese games would later replicate this in Generation V but only when character mode is set to kanji.
• Due to a possible oversight in the international versions, the Japanese quotation marks are used in certain parts of the dialogue, like in radio stations. This was corrected in Crystal.
• Nineteen Pokémon, including Jynx, as well as five Trainers, had their sprites changed between the Japanese and Western versions. The Korean versions use the same sprites as the Japanese versions. The changes made for Western versions were also taken into account for the Japanese and Western versions of Pokémon Crystal, although they were instead incorporated in the new sprites.

Beauty - Japan / South Korea Sprite	International - Longer shorts, no longer winks	Sage - Japan / South Korea Sprite	International - No longer prays	Medium - Japan / South Korea Sprite	International - No longer carries beads
Swimmer♀ - Japan / South Korea Sprite	International - No longer winks	Fisher - Japan / South Korea Sprite	International - No longer smokes	Silver (Japan) - Striped belly	Silver (Japan) - Shiny back
Silver (international) - Stripes on belly removed	Silver (international) - Shiny back color change	Gold (Japan)	Silver (Japan)	Crystal (Japan)	Gold/Silver (Japan)
Crystal (Japan)	Gold (international) - skin color change	Silver (international) - skin color change	Crystal (international) - skin color change	Gold/Silver (international) - skin color change	Crystal (international) - skin color change
Gold/Silver (Japan) - Pinsir's back has a stripe	Gold/Silver (international) - Pinsir's back has a round mark	Gold (Japan)	Silver (Japan)	Gold (international) - Feraligatr's extra stripe has been removed	Silver (international) - Feraligatr's extra stripe has been removed
Gold (Japan)	Silver (Japan)	Back sprites (Japan)	Gold (international) - Lanturn's yellow face marks have been removed	Silver (international) - Lanturn's yellow face marks have been removed	Back sprites (international) - Lanturn's yellow face marks have been removed
Gold (Japan)	Silver (Japan)	Back sprites (Japan)	Gold (international) - Pichu's neck pattern was altered	Silver (international) - Pichu's neck pattern was altered	Back sprites (international) - Pichu's neck pattern was altered
Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Flaaffy's hair was merged	Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Politoed's extra spots were removed	Gold (Japan)	Silver (Japan)
Gold (international) - Aipom's belly was altered	Silver (international) - Aipom's belly was altered	Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Sunkern's back pattern was altered	Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Wooper's back stripe was removed
Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Girafarig's neck stripes were moved slightly	Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Qwilfish's tail fin pattern was altered	Gold/Silver (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)
Gold/Silver (international) - Sneasel's eye was altered	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Sneasel's ear had a detail added	Silver sprite (Japan)	Silver (international) - Teddiursa had white spots added to their feet	Gold/Silver (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Slugma's back bumps were removed
Silver (Japan)	Silver (international) - Donphan's trunk was altered, along with their eyes and mouth	Gold (Japan)	Silver (Japan)	Gold (international) - Stantler had spots added to their back	Silver (international) - Stantler had spots added to their back
Silver (Japan)	Silver (international) - Blissey's wing pattern extends a little over her arm	Gold/Silver back sprite (Japan)	Gold/Silver back sprite (international) - Pupitar has one less stripe

Localization changes shared by Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal

Graphics

• In the Japanese games, the Pack and Pokémon party are respectively the 2nd and 3rd options of the menu. They are reversed in the English version.
• In the Japanese and Korean versions of the Trainer Card, the names of all Johto Gym Leaders are written above their faces (each Japanese name consisting of exactly three katakana characters). In the international versions of these games, the Gym Leader names are not written on the Trainer Card, possibly owing to the longer English names.
  • This was based on the Generation I games, in which the names of the Kanto Gym Leaders were also removed from the Trainer Card in the localizations.
• In the Japanese and Korean versions, the Pokémon summary screens are vertically aligned in a similar fashion to the Generation III games. In the Western localizations, due to the space constraints, the layout was reverted to the horizontally-aligned one of the Generation I games.
• The amount of PC boxes in the Pokémon Storage System was changed from 9 to 14 in the localizations (including the Korean ones) due to the maximum number of Pokémon per box being decreased from 30 to 20.
• In the Japanese and Korean versions, the Pokémon in the Pokémon Storage System's layout is enclosed in a text-box frame and the Pokémon list appears in the background. In the Western localizations, there is no frame surrounding the Pokémon but the Pokémon list appears in a text-box frame.
• In the Japanese and Korean versions, the sign of Pokémon Centers in Johto have a Poké Ball drawing with the letters PC next to it. In the Western localizations, the sign was changed back to the one used in the Generation I games. The Pokémon Center signs in Kanto use the old design in all versions.
• In the Western localizations, the gender symbol for the Nidoran is shown twice during battles due to the gender symbol being placed next to the level indicator instead of next to the Pokémon's name as in the Japanese and Korean versions.
• In the Japanese and Korean versions, SonicBoom's animation is a shock wave hitting the opponent. For undisclosed reasons, it was changed to a tornado hitting the opponent in the Western localizations, making it very similar to Gust.
• In the Japanese version, the butsudan (Buddhist shrines) return in some Celadon City buildings as previously seen in the Generation I games, and now there are butsudan in Violet City, Azalea Town, Ecruteak City, Mahogany Town, and the Mt. Moon Gift Shop as well. They return the text "ぶつだん だ…… うーん おせんこうの におい" (It's a butsudan... Hmm, the smell of incense.) in Japanese and "What is this? Oh, it's an incense burner!" in English.
  • In Generation I, the references to butsudan were also removed in the localizations, where each one was called a "sculpture of Diglett".
  • In Generation II, Kurt's house has butsudan with a different text, mentioning the "god" (kami-sama) of the forest, which was changed to "protector" in the localization; in either case, this is a reference to Celebi. This butsudan returns "もりのかみさまを まつってある" (This is to worship the god of the forest.) in Japanese and "It's a statue of the forest's protector." in English. In the Generation IV remakes, this shrine remains in Kurt's house, but the player cannot interact with it.

Gameplay

• In the Japanese and Korean versions, Phanpy and Donphan are found in the wild in Pokémon Gold while Teddiursa and Ursaring are found in the wild in Pokémon Silver. In the Western localizations, these were switched. This change was not replicated in the international versions of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• The party of Pokéfan Alex, a Trainer found on Route 13, is made of Pokémon that have names ending in "king" (Japanese: キング). Due to Magikarp not sharing this trait in the Western releases (its Japanese name is コイキング Koiking), it was replaced by Seaking in order to stay true to the theme. Unlike Magikarp, which is level 58, the Seaking is level 29 like the rest of his team. In the Korean versions, his team is the same as in the Japanese versions since Magikarp's Korean name is 잉어킹 (Ingeoking) and both Nidoking and Slowking also have the word "king" (Korean: 킹) in their Korean names. This was also not redone for Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver since Alex still has a Magikarp in the localizations, which is now level 65.

Differences in the Virtual Console release

• The Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console releases can link with other Virtual Console Generation I and II core series games via Nintendo 3DS wireless communication, simulating the Game Link Cable. Like in the original releases, they can only communicate with the Virtual Console Generation I core series games by using the Time Capsule. Unlike the VC releases of Generation I games, closing the communication normally does not cause the emulator to restart, although it does restart if the communication was cut due to an error. When initiating a link, the Virtual Console menu on the touch screen replaces the Cable Club attendant's dialogue. Additionally, all of the Game Boy Printer features are disabled, although the option still appears in the Pokédex and the PC menu.
• Mystery Gift can be performed with other Virtual Console copies of Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal using the Nintendo 3DS system's infrared port. Unlike other link features, the user interface remains unchanged from the original games.
• Using Poké Transporter, Pokémon can be sent from the Generation II core series games to Pokémon Bank, and from Pokémon Bank, they can then be moved to Generation VII core series games.
• In battle, when a Pokémon attacks, its HUD doesn't disappear for the duration of the animation as it did in the original releases. This causes several graphical oddities, such as the animations of Tackle and Splash causing the user's HUD to move along with its sprite. This was corrected in the Virtual Console release of Pokémon Crystal.
  • Also, some moves had their animations changed slightly to tone down the flashing by dimming the screen, although this is not the case in all localized releases.
• In the Japanese releases, Jynx's sprite has been replaced with the sprite used in Western versions, as the original had previously fell under controversy for its resemblance to blackface.
• Even if the Nintendo 3DS clock is adjusted, the in-game clock stays the same time as before.

Reception

Gold and Silver were generally well received. IGN rated the games a "Masterpiece" 10/10, with the reviewer stating that "after playing the game for dozens of hours", he really couldn't think of a bad point to make about Pokémon Gold and Silver. Gaming magazine Famitsu gave them a score of 34 out of 40. Pokémon Gold and Silver hold a rating of 89.56% and 91.35%, respectively, on GameRankings.

Sales

These are the fourth best selling Pokémon games, with sales exceeding 23.10 million units.

Japanese sales

By December 31, 2006, the end of their 372nd week on the Japanese market, they had sold 7,006,760 copies, being 3,442,772 from Pokémon Gold and 3,563,988 from Pokémon Silver.

Battery life

Cartridges of the Generation II games typically lose the ability to save in a shorter time frame than copies of other Pokémon games due to the battery maintaining both the saved game and real-time clock data, causing it to drain quicker. A symptom of a battery running dry is the game's inability to keep track of the time correctly and the error message TIME NOT SET may also appear on the title screen.

The cartridge memory is powered by a CR2025 or a CR2032 battery. Since it powers the memory containing the save file, the battery running out or interrupting the power by removing the battery will cause any current save file to be erased and internal clock to be reset. External power sources and third party devices have been used to maintain or backup and restore the save file to and from an external memory or a personal computer.

Staff

Main article: Staff of Pokémon Gold and Silver

Music

Main article: Pokémon HeartGold & Pokémon SoulSilver: Super Music Collection

Pokémon Gold and Silver are the only paired versions which have not had any sort of official soundtrack release of the games' original tracks. The closest approximation to such a release is Disc 3 of Pokémon HeartGold & Pokémon SoulSilver: Super Music Collection, which is based on the GB Sounds item and the Pokémon Past Archive radio program of HeartGold and SoulSilver that is meant to emulate the style of chiptunes. However, not all of the old-style music is available on the CD. Additionally, Discs 1 and 2 of the aforementioned soundtrack contain remixes of the music originating from Pokémon Gold and Silver (and Crystal).

Version history

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Version history (Japan-only: 1.0 vs 1.1)

Development cycle

Main article: Development of Pokémon Gold and Silver

Gallery

Title screens

• 

  English Gold title screen (Game Boy Color)

• 

  English Silver title screen (Game Boy Color)

• 

  Japanese Gold title screen (Game Boy Color)

• 

  Japanese Silver title screen (Game Boy Color)

• 

  Korean Gold title screen (Game Boy Color)

• 

  Korean Silver title screen (Game Boy Color)

• 

  English Gold title screen (Super Game Boy)

• 

  English Silver title screen (Super Game Boy)

• 

  Japanese Gold title screen (Super Game Boy)

• 

  Japanese Silver title screen (Super Game Boy)

Flyers

• 

  Front of Japanese Flyer

• 

  Back of Japanese Flyer

Virtual Console icons

• 

  English Gold Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console icon

• 

  English Silver Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console icon

Trivia

• Tsunekazu Ishihara, the games' producer, originally thought that these games would be his last project working with Pokémon, and thus the company invested in the Trading Card Game and licensed various merchandise as means to assure the success of Gold and Silver as "the ultimate Pokémon titles".
• These are the only pre-Generation IV Pokémon games ever released in and localized for South Korea prior to the foundation of both Nintendo of Korea and Pokémon Korea in 2006. Nevertheless, the Time Capsule is available in the Korean versions of Gold and Silver.
• The North American release date of Pokémon Gold and Silver was initially announced to be October 16, 2000 by Tsunekazu Ishihara at a press conference ahead of E3 in May 2000.
• The Japanese Super Game Boy border of Pokémon Gold (labeled POCKET MONSTERS GOLD VERSION), but not of Pokémon Silver, is present but unused in all releases of Pokémon Crystal. Similarly, in the Korean releases of Gold and Silver, the English Super Game Boy borders (respectively labeled POKéMON GOLD VERSION and POKéMON SILVER VERSION) are present but unused, since they only support the Game Boy Color.
• In the Korean versions, the credits are presented in English. The Japanese games would later replicate this in Generation V but only when character mode is set to kanji.
• Due to a possible oversight in the international versions, the Japanese quotation marks are used in certain parts of the dialogue, like in radio stations. This was corrected in Crystal.
• These games were the first to have Legendary Pokémon as mascots and the use of precious stones or metals as title names.
• Gold and Silver, as well as their remakes, have the most types that have been specialized in by Gym Leaders, adding up to 15.
  • If one includes the Elite Four, the Ground type is the only type that is not specialized in by an important Trainer in these games.
• None of the in-game trades in Gold and Silver feature the player trading away or receiving a Generation II Pokémon, making them the only games in which a player must link up with another player to trade Pokémon of that generation.
• Gold and Silver are the only versions where wild Pokémon battle music is different between day and night.
• The box arts for Pokémon Red, Yellow, and Silver are the only three instances where the English Pokémon logo is shown partially covered by some element (in this case, Lugia's crest).
• Gold and Silver are the only Pokémon games released in a pair to have completely different sprites between each other.
• Prior to the Virtual Console release announcement, Pokémon.com listed Pokémon Gold and Silver with a PEGI rating of 3.
• According to a FAQ page that was available in February 1999 on Pokémon.com, there were originally no plans to release an American version of Pokémon Gold and Silver, as well as any other Pokémon games that had only been released in Japanese at the time.
• Pokémon Gold and Silver were the last Game Boy Pokémon games to be compatible with models prior to the Game Boy Color.
• To celebrate the 24th anniversary of Gold and Silver in Japan, The Pokémon Company released a series of animated LINE stickers featuring Unown.

In other languages

Language Title Japanese ポケットモンスター金・銀 Chinese Cantonese 精靈寶可夢 金／銀 Mandarin 精靈寶可夢 金／銀 精灵宝可梦 金／银 French Pokémon Version Or et Version Argent German Pokémon Goldene Edition und Silberne Edition Italian Pokémon Versione Oro e Versione Argento Korean 포켓몬스터 금・은 Spanish Pokémon Edición Oro y Edición Plata

See also

• Gold and Silver walkthrough

References

Core series games and DLC

Gen I

Red

Green

Blue^JP

Red

Blue

Yellow

Gen II

Gold

Silver

Crystal

Gen III

Ruby

Sapphire

FireRed

LeafGreen

Emerald

Gen IV

Diamond

Pearl

Platinum

HeartGold

SoulSilver

Gen V

Black

White

Black 2

White 2

Gen VI

X

Y

Omega Ruby

Alpha Sapphire

Gen VII

Sun

Moon

Ultra Sun

Ultra Moon

Let's Go, Pikachu!

Let's Go, Eevee!

Gen VIII

Sword

Shield

+

Sword and Shield Expansion Pass (DLC)

The Isle of Armor

The Crown Tundra

Brilliant Diamond

Shining Pearl

Legends: Arceus

Gen IX

Scarlet

Violet

+

The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero (DLC)

The Teal Mask

The Indigo Disk

Legends: Z-A

Pokémon games

Core series • Side series • Spin-off series • Pokémon mini • Individual spin-offs • Betas • Demos

This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.